Recently, my wife and I purchased a new television.  It was fun to browse and explore all the new acronyms, but in truth my knowledge of televisions is a bit sub-par.  The thing was, I was pretty happy with my CRT (cathode ray tube – the technology behind the pervious generation of TVs and those big clunky monitors).  The problem, as is always the case with technology, was that I wanted more than my old box could deliver – HDTV (High Definition Television) was calling… I am not qualified (even after my shopping research) to give you the full scoop on HDTV.  All I can tell you is that HD TVs use a connector called HDMI and that each of these cables runs about $40 – which is just stupid as you need one for each device you want to attach… (editorial, yes, but does that mean it’s untrue?)
Tirade completed, what I am qualified to discuss are the possibilities that your new TV will bring, should you decide to buy one… Â Basically, we’re talking 3 big opportunities - mass storage, internet, and PC input/Digital Video Recording (DVR). Â These are fun and might even make the silly HDMI cables worth it…
Mass Storage – the USB jack
My new TV has a USB port. Â This means that if I have photos, music and some types of video on a portable hard drive or thumb drive, my TV can show it. Â Is your wife throwing her 50th baby/wedding/anti-man shower this year? Â Earn brownie points showing her how to play her “super-cute” pictures through your new TV. Â The TV can read the USB drive and let’s you choose what you want to play with an easy interface.
The internet – the Ethernet Jack
When I first heard about this one, I admit that I was dubious – “why would I want my TV on the internet?”, I said rather rudely to the friendly sales dude (“Doug”). Â To his credit, Doug didn’t call me an idiot. Â He just logged into his Netflix account right there on the sales floor and started streaming a movie. Â Um… Suddenly, my pea-sized brain caught on. Â Netflix, Hulu, YouTube – these are all free places for media online – why shouldn’t they be broadcast straight to your TV? Â To get this to work, you’ll need an internet connection (duh) and an ethernet cord (the thing that plugs your computer into your modem or router). Â Wireless options exist as well.
Digital Video Recording and Playback – the PC connector
On the back of my new TV, there is an input that looks a lot like the monitor output on my computer.  For those in the business world, it’s the connector on a monitor or projector to which you attached your laptop to share your screen.  This remarkable little port allows you to push the image from your computer, to your TV.  This is part 1.  Part 2 of the DVR setup is a computer running windows 7 and a TV tuner card or USB stick.  Simply put – you need a way to get the TV signal into your computer so you can record it – that’s the TV tuner.  Windows 7 is the easiest way to record TV (it comes with a media center).  When everything is set up, signal from your cable would go to your TV tuner and into your PC.  Your PC would record it and save the recordings for you.  When you want to play them, you plug your PC into the PC input of your TV and voilà – digital media.  Not bad eh?
When I got my new TV, the features above made me wonder why no one had told me this was all possible before… Well now you don’t have the same excuse. Â Ha! Â If you’re still nursing an old CRT box, now is the time to explore an upgrade – and the “extras” like those described above will sweeten the deal quite nicely.
Enjoy!
~ab
This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Hardware.
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