Brother is moving house next week.
The new property will be his first with wireless broadband, and he's showing some interest in connecting his internet-enabled Panasonic TV.
In an example of the partially sighted leading the blind, he's asked me how to do it.
Am I right that all he needs is a LAN (?) cable from the router to the TV?
The router is a new install, so is there any merit in asking the BT man to put it near the TV?
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>> Am I right that all he needs is a LAN (?) cable from the router
>> to the TV?
...or buy a pair of powerline adapters, as discussed here:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=6&t=11408
Then the LAN cable just runs from the powerline box in the mains socket to the TV (there might be a long enough cable that comes with the adapters).
Or you can buy a "wireless bridge" or "access point" (~£20) which looks a bit like a wireless router, but picks up the existing wireless signal and puts it out on a LAN port, which you connect via cable to the TV.
If your brother's router can be positioned near enough to the TV such that it may be connected fairly easily ie. his wife doesn't complain about all the wires, then that might be the best option.
Last edited by: Focus on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 09:24
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Mine is connected with a
NETGEAR RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N USB Adapter WNDA3100v2 - Network adapter - Hi-Speed USB - 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n
Cost about £25
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>> Mine is connected with a NETGEAR RangeMax
www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-RangeMax-Wireless-N-Adapter-WNDA3100v2/dp/B002RLC7WO/
EDIT: note some of the reviews say it doesn't wotk with all Pannys
Last edited by: Focus on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 09:41
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>> >> Mine is connected with a NETGEAR RangeMax
>
>> EDIT: note some of the reviews say it doesn't wotk with all Pannys
>>
I know the reviews I read when I bought mine said it had to be the V2 version etc
but maybe problems have been found since ?
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Also, Panasonic will do a wireless dongle thing which will plug into the TV and connect to your brother's network. Might not be the cheapest option though.
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>> Also, Panasonic will do a wireless dongle thing which will plug into the TV and
connect to your brother's network.
>> Might not be the cheapest option though.
>>
The Panasonic dongle was £90 when I investigated but is now half that price.
Netgear is even cheaper.
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At the risk of appearing dumb, can I check I have the Powerline connector arangement correct?
Powerline 1 plugs into wall socket near the router, with an ethernet cable from the router's output to the Powerline plug.
Powerline 2 plugs into a wall socket near the television with an ethernet cable from it to the television.
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Thanks.
I couldn't get the ebuyer link to open, but I am on the caravan site's dodgy not-very-broad band.
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>> I couldn't get the ebuyer link to open
TP-Link 200Mbps Powerline Adapter - Twin Pack: £30
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...TP-Link 200Mbps Powerline Adapter - Twin Pack: £30...
Could be the way to go.
Sounds more reliable than the Netgear dongle which might not work with brother's telly.
Although I see in the other thread, Smokie talks about having a long ethernet cable, so one of those would work even if the telly and router are a few metres apart.
Trailing the cable from one to the other would be the sticking point.
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Got my Powerlines for £28.04 here, but you have to pay using PayPal and enter the code PAYPAL15 at checkout.
They arrived today, just about to try them out...
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 20:38
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... and they work a treat, straight out of the box, once I'd RTFM :-)
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And should you ever care, they'll work in any country with simply your normal plug adaptor. Quite handy to take a pair away with you sometimes.
Also, some of the sites say that they don't work on extension leads etc. etc. Whilst this does weaken the signal, nine times out of ten they'll work perfectly fine whatever you do.
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Both ends of mine are on extensions and don't seem to be affected.
Now, maybe I'll get the wireless one too and do away with the downstairs access point... It's become unreliable at giving out IP addresses, requiring reboot, and it would de-clutter the cupboard of wires a little...
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I had a nightmare with wireless in my house. The walls were too thik etc. etc. Ultimately where I didn't have suitable cabling I used powerlines rather than struggling with wireless. Including a powerline with a wireless access point plugged into it for visitors.
Always reliable, always high-speed, and the only time I ever struggled was when I plugged a phone charger into a two-way adapter with the powerline. Dunno why, it was fine sharing with a lamp, a radio, and various other things, but the telephone charger caused it serious grief.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 22:11
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+1 on the powerline adapters. My Panny is connected through the same and works fine. With Youtube the old XP computer struggled with buffering whilst the TV worked fine.
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Panasonic claims that wireless adapters won't work (other than their own) on its televisions - I've told its customer department that that is poppy cock...:-) It also claims (or did at one time) that only a particular Buffalo external hard drive could be used to record TV programmes. Again Panasonic were advised this was nonsense as my Seagate 1T USB external hard drive works fine.
The main problem is that it's all too easy to select External Recorder when setting up the timer instead of scrolling down toe USB External Drive.... Customer Relations were staggered to learn this fact.
I can connect my Panny via an Ethernet cable, a wireless adapter or through a Panasonic Blu-Ray player which is wirelessly linked to the modem router.
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Thanks Stu, and the others who replied.
Ultimately it's up to brother, but I can now point him in the right direction.
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"Panasonic claims"...
Isn't this all down to supportability? There's a mass of devices that can connect successfully, and they no doubt know that, but to extensively test with each and every one, plus new ones on the market, would cost too much. So they say that only specific devices which they've tested are supported.
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>>Isn't this all down to supportability?>>
I don't think so..:-)) My Panny is just over two years old now (first TV with both Freeview and Freesat HD tuners) and Panasonic had all sorts of dire warnings on their website etc about lack of compatibility. It's because I always refuse to take anything at face value that I checked for myself.....
The Customer Relations department tried exactly the same tack at the time but did agree, after persuasion, to try out what I had found out for themselves (especially the timer recording advice) and conceded I was correct.
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Might be unlikely but it does mean they can change their firmware such that it still works with Panasonic devices but nothing else, and say 'well we did warn you' if owners of non-Panasonic devices complain.
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That logic is also in question as for any particular advantage to Panasonic as the TV would still work fine with an Ethernet cable connection...:-)
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>> That logic is also in question as for any particular advantage to Panasonic as the
>> TV would still work fine with an Ethernet cable connection...:-)
Didn't quite understand that statement. But to clarify, I'm guessing it would be quite easy for the Panasonic firmware to check whether the attached wireless dongle is Panasonic or not, and refuse to work if it isn't. That's independent of the Ethernet (wired) connection, which of course you could switch to, but the idea is to avoid wasting money on equipment that is going to stop working at some point in the future. However I'm only talking hypotheticals.
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>>hat's independent of the Ethernet (wired) connection, which of course you could switch to..>>
The very point I was making...:-) All the wireless adapters etc I had at the time worked fine with the Panny, despite the firm's claims. Perhaps just covering their backs...?
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>> The very point I was making...:-)
But you appeared to be ignoring the waste of money aspect :)
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>>But you appeared to be ignoring the waste of money aspect :)>>
Well it's about two-and-a-half years since my Panny hit the market and I can't recall anyone expressing concern because a wireless adapter or whatever won't work with it or other models..:-)
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Which is why I used terms such as "Might be unlikely" and "I'm only talking hypotheticals" :)
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>> All the wireless adapters etc I had at the time worked fine with the Panny, despite the firm's
>> claims. Perhaps just covering their backs...?
which is why Smokie refers to supportability. It's not that it won't necessarily work but if it doesn't they are not going to help you getting it to work. Same goes for computers. Some software will claim it's only supported on particular versions of Windows but works on later ones too. But some software simply won't work.
I work in IT and when it comes to supportability, if the company producing the software doesn't say support a product on Windows 2008 R2 you can't use it can you. Without support it's not going to be acceptable in case you have problems down the line. Or Microsoft issues a patch which then breaks the software. In the case of the TV, a firmware upgrade might stop a USB adapter from working for example.
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>> My Panny is just over two years old now (first TV with both Freeview and Freesat HD tuners)
>> Panasonic had all sorts of dire warnings on their website etc about lack of compatibility.
>> It's because I always refuse to take anything at face value that I checked for myself.....
>>
I have a couple of dual tuner Panasonics and the Panasonic dongle was £90 at the time but I trawled the web for info and bought a Netgear one for £30 the day before the price went up to £50.
Friends bought a similar set just after us but only the Freesat tuner no longer included. One Scart socket but screen menu says two so RTFM is not always the answer either.
Panasonic add ons are not cheap. Skype camera was £150..
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>>Panasonic add ons are not cheap. Skype camera was £150.>>
Which is why cheaper alternatives are sought...:-)
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Connecting a telly to the internet - Focusless
