StanleyB
03-03-2012, 09:52
One issue that worried me from the start with internet access on my WIFI enabled TV was the requirement to buy a dedicated USB wireless dongle. I helped in the design of USB dongles for Trendnet and knew that USB wireless was far slower than wired RJ45. However I had devised a way to bypass a wireless USB dongle by converting it to a wireless RJ45 dongle. And fortunately my recently acquired Sony had no problem with recognizing and accepting my far better, cheaper, and most importantly, a faster internet connection method.
For those of you who wish to emulate my cheaper and better alternative wireless dongle, here is what you do:
1. Get a wireless repeater with a RJ45 socket on it. I got one of THESE (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Wireless-N-Wifi-Repeater-802-11N-Network-Router-Range-Expander-300M-US-Plug-/370567659956?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item56478dc1b4).
2. Set the repeater up as per the manufacturer's instruction so that it acts as a repeater between your router that is connected to the internet, and any PC in your home. That bit is important since you are going to swap the PC for the TV after setting up the repeater.
3. Plug the wireless repeater in a mains socket as close as possible to the TV.
4. Get a suitable length of RJ45 cable that will reach from the RJ45 socket on your TV to the RJ45 socket on the repeater. It is important that TV and the repeater are switched off when you make this connection otherwise you won't get a valid IP address from the router.
5. After you have wired up the TV and repeater, switch the repeater on first and then the TV.
6. Go into the TV internet connection menu and set it for auto setup. This will allocate a suitable IP address to the TV, and will be recognized as a wired RJ45 connection by the TV.
And now you got a far faster and cheaper wireless internet TV than you otherwise would have had with the manufacturer's own USB wireless dongle :). To give you an idea of how much better my solution is: I haven't yet encountered any buffering delays in the iPlayer video stream on the TV, whilst I can't say the same for the same video stream on my laptop sitting just a few feet away.
My next step is to try to send videos from my laptop to the TV via my wireless set up. If anyone has any handy tips on that, I suggest adding it to this thread so that we have a complete internet TV solution all in one place.
For those of you who wish to emulate my cheaper and better alternative wireless dongle, here is what you do:
1. Get a wireless repeater with a RJ45 socket on it. I got one of THESE (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Wireless-N-Wifi-Repeater-802-11N-Network-Router-Range-Expander-300M-US-Plug-/370567659956?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item56478dc1b4).
2. Set the repeater up as per the manufacturer's instruction so that it acts as a repeater between your router that is connected to the internet, and any PC in your home. That bit is important since you are going to swap the PC for the TV after setting up the repeater.
3. Plug the wireless repeater in a mains socket as close as possible to the TV.
4. Get a suitable length of RJ45 cable that will reach from the RJ45 socket on your TV to the RJ45 socket on the repeater. It is important that TV and the repeater are switched off when you make this connection otherwise you won't get a valid IP address from the router.
5. After you have wired up the TV and repeater, switch the repeater on first and then the TV.
6. Go into the TV internet connection menu and set it for auto setup. This will allocate a suitable IP address to the TV, and will be recognized as a wired RJ45 connection by the TV.
And now you got a far faster and cheaper wireless internet TV than you otherwise would have had with the manufacturer's own USB wireless dongle :). To give you an idea of how much better my solution is: I haven't yet encountered any buffering delays in the iPlayer video stream on the TV, whilst I can't say the same for the same video stream on my laptop sitting just a few feet away.
My next step is to try to send videos from my laptop to the TV via my wireless set up. If anyone has any handy tips on that, I suggest adding it to this thread so that we have a complete internet TV solution all in one place.