So our TV selection comes down to this: bigger screen or internet-ready (because we can’t afford both). We’re buying a Sony Bravia and we have just installed Netflix for Wii, which also comes with an internet channel, but my husband is wondering if we’re limiting ourselves too much by not getting an internet ready TV. (Of course, at the same time he really really wants the bigger screen). So, is the Wii connection good enough? What would we be missing if we just had Netflix for Wii?
We have a media computer hooked up to our TV. Problem solved.
Sounds like it. 
Thanks Zsofia.
The Wii puts out 480p - standard DVD quality, I believe, so it should be “good enough” at least until streaming HD content is available. (Probably not until we all have fiber to the home, rather than regular “high speed” connections.)
I haven’t tried using my Wii to stream Netflix yet as I use my Blu-Ray player instead. My BD player also does a handful of other “internet” sources and I’ve never felt the urge to mess with them. Most YouTube video is dreadful quality to begin with and it won’t look any better on a large screen.
The Wii works pretty well. The menu’s a little difficult to navigate but the quality is quite good.
I am not an expert but I suspect the biggest issue for you is not what you’re missing instantly but what you might miss in the future. For instance, those Internet-ready TVs almost certainly work with Netflicks but your Wii has it covered. I think most Internet-ready media devices right now are very much quarantined and only work with specific services like Netflicks.
Anyway, personally I think you’d be much better off with the larger TV. When they started putting Netflicks on Blueray players, TVs, and gaming systems I was really interested in getting one, but I didn’t want a TV or to play video games and the Blueray players were several hundred. After about a year I picked up a netflicks equipped Blueray player for about $100 at Best Buy and I used it every single day.
So I guess what I’m saying is, as far as I know, if you can do it with an Internet TV you can do it with some media peripheral too, and you’ll be able to add that to your system in a year or in several years much more inexpensively than updating your TV.
Incidentally - and this is more speculation - if as an example, Hulu came out with “Hulu direct to your TV” in 9 months, there’s no guarantee at all your Internet TV would even work with it. Maybe you could download a firmware update that would allow your Internet-ready TV to play Hulu videos, or maybe it wouldn’t ever work for you. Maybe only brand new Internet-ready TVs get that feature.
Get the bigger TV. Streaming internet video, in whatever form it eventually takes, will always just boil down to the problem of getting the right signal to your TV, and there will always be oodles of relatively cheap solutions to that problem. On the other hand, there’s no way to finagle your way from a small screen to a large screen.
The media computer solution is really easy AND upgradeable. Originally we needed an adapter because Netflix wouldn’t play nice with the TV thing, but that’s no longer true. The boyfriend just built us a computer inexpensively and we plugged it in. It’s nice to have a wireless keyboard with a trackball in it, but they’re a little expensive (and surprisingly hard to find) and you don’t need that - a keyboard and mouse do fine, or there are other solutions. Evidently we could make my iPhone a remote for it, but we’re happy with the keyboard. We watch Netflix and Hulu on it all the time, sometimes YouTube or downloaded files or whatnot. In fact, we no longer have cable because we were just watching the media computer all the time and occasionally popping in a Netflix DVD.
I like Netflix for Wii, but I’m a movies-only guy, and mostly independent and foreign movies-- not stuff that’s going to look much different in HD, Blue Ray, 1080 Up-Your-Butt, whatever. YMMV.
This.
Buying an add-on to a TV that isn’t really used for much yet is just begging to be wasted money. Who knows if whatever format or standard the TV-makers built in will ever get used much. Even if it does, you’ll be able to buy an external box that does it better for $100.
Can you download netflix if you have this setup?
Yes. Being an actual PC, you can also manage your Netflix queue in addition to streaming movies
It’s just like having a laptop, only the screen is your enormous TV. And Netflix Watch Instantly looks very good on it, too.
Yes! My place is small, so when I got my flatscreen I just consolidated all media by hooking up the desktop PC to the big TV, got a wireless keyboard and mouse, and my couch is the command center. If I need a desk for anything (which is rare) I use the coffee table while just sitting on the floor with the couch as a backrest.
I was able to throw out the clunky old CRT computer monitor along with the CRT TV (well, gave them away), AND give the old desk back to my parents. My living room is so much bigger now!
Yeah building a simple media PC is the shit. I’ve been watching TV and movies like this for about 6 or 7 years now. I got the Netflix disc for my Wii but I haven’t even run it yet…not sure if I’ll ever try it.
For anyone who has a media PC with an ATI-based card, check out the Remote Wonder. I keep my wireless mouse and keyboard tucked away on a table, and keep my Remote Wonder next to me. It can be somewhat finicky and crashes from time to time, but it saves room on the couch 
If you have wifi/bluetooth and a smart phone, you can probably get an app that will let you use it as a remote. If you’re like most people, you’re going to have your phone with you anyways, so you don’t ever have to worry about losing it. And, with the right software (and a touch phone), you can even use it like a touch pad. It’s nice.
You can also buy an infrared remote at Walmart that comes with a USB dongle, for like $30. It’s more of a traditional remote.
We really find the wireless keyboard more intuitive, because there’s always going to be some actual computer crap you have to do and it’s easier if you can do it the way you’re used to. Ours has a little trackball in the top corner and two little mouse buttons, so you don’t have to worry about having somewhere to work your mouse on and there’s just one thing to keep track of. Works very well.
Thanks everyone. We’re going with the bigger tv set, since there seem to be so many options for the internet. Now my husband will try to talk me into an even bigger set.