# NETFLIX to TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456 "2011-11-19T15:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/21 "2011-11-20T13:48:21Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > New HP Touchsmart 310 PC, but no HDMI connector. Guess I will just have to buy an adapter and a long cable. You’ll spend $40 on that. Spend an extra $10 and get a Roku, and never have to fiddle with cords and connecting your TV/computer again. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/22 "2011-11-20T16:16:46Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > We have NETFLIX and I would like to know how we can see the movies on our TV. Anyone know? Since you live in Columbia, you better answer some basic questions. [ol] [li]Do you have a router?[/li][li]Do you have wifi?[/li][li]Does your TV have a HDMI connector?[/li][li]If you don’t have HDMI, what kind of connector does your TV have?[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/23 "2011-11-20T16:50:13Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Since you live in Columbia, you better answer some basic questions. > > [ol] > [li]Do you have a router?[/li][li]Do you have wifi?[/li][li]Does your TV have a HDMI connector?[/li][li]If you don’t have HDMI, what kind of connector does your TV have?[/li][/ol] Router, yes. WiFi, yes. TV HDMI, yes. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/24 "2011-11-20T20:54:44Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > Router, yes. > WiFi, yes. > TV HDMI, yes. Great. Just get a Roku LT. It is $50 in the states and they will throw in a HDMI cable for $10. I don’t know if Roku sells them in Columbia. [http://www.roku.com/roku-products](http://www.roku.com/roku-products) I could have made you a deal on my Roku box, but I already sold it. I’m not sure how difficult it is to order stuff from the U.S. in Columbia. Did you verify that you can watch Netflix by watching it on your PC? Apparently there are some tricks to watching Netflix overseas. [http://vpnfreedom.com/netflix/how-to-watch-netflix-outside-the-us/](http://vpnfreedom.com/netflix/how-to-watch-netflix-outside-the-us/) ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/25 "2011-11-20T22:12:25Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Great. Just get a Roku LT. It is $50 in the states and they will throw in a HDMI cable for $10. I don’t know if Roku sells them in Columbia. > > [http://www.roku.com/roku-products](http://www.roku.com/roku-products) > > I could have made you a deal on my Roku box, but I already sold it. > > I’m not sure how difficult it is to order stuff from the U.S. in Columbia. > > Did you verify that you can watch Netflix by watching it on your PC? Apparently there are some tricks to watching Netflix overseas. > > [http://vpnfreedom.com/netflix/how-to-watch-netflix-outside-the-us/](http://vpnfreedom.com/netflix/how-to-watch-netflix-outside-the-us/) Not difficult to order stuff from the USA, but shipping is not cheap. Yes, we do watch Netflix on our computers…no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/26 "2011-11-20T22:26:08Z")
I don’t think Rokus work anywhere but the US. Whatever you get will have to be the same format as whatever model TV you have. Most of North America uses NTSC format, is South America the same? ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/27 "2011-11-20T22:56:01Z")
I’m not sure that computer has any video outputs at all. I googled HP TouchSmart 310 and it looks like an all-in-one desktop model. No tower, just a monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Is that the one you have, **robcaro?** That looks like a really nice computer, by the way. However, it doesn’t have a video out. [This is the back](http://www.youbulb.com/cdn//2010/12/HP-TouchSmart-310-1000z-Desktop-Computer-picture_5.jpg) of the monitor, and I see some USB ports and an ethernet port but no VGA, RCA, HDMI or S-video outputs. Can you confirm that, **robcaro?** If that is the case, you can’t use your computer to watch Netflix on your TV. You’ll have to get a Netflix-capable streaming device such as a Blu-ray player or a Wii or other gaming system or something like a Roku (that works in Colombia). ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/28 "2011-11-20T23:36:53Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > I’m not sure that computer has any video outputs at all. I googled HP TouchSmart 310 and it looks like an all-in-one desktop model. No tower, just a monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Is that the one you have, **robcaro?** That looks like a really nice computer, by the way. > > However, it doesn’t have a video out. [This is the back](http://www.youbulb.com/cdn//2010/12/HP-TouchSmart-310-1000z-Desktop-Computer-picture_5.jpg) of the monitor, and I see some USB ports and an ethernet port but no VGA, RCA, HDMI or S-video outputs. Can you confirm that, **robcaro?** > > If that is the case, you can’t use your computer to watch Netflix on your TV. You’ll have to get a Netflix-capable streaming device such as a Blu-ray player or a Wii or other gaming system or something like a Roku (that works in Colombia). Right…no VGA, RCA, HDMI or S-video outputs. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/29 "2011-11-20T23:42:26Z")
It looks like your only option for getting Netflix on your TV is to buy another electronic device, my friend! ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/30 "2011-11-21T01:26:35Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Oh, and just an IMHO if you don’t mind… > > I have had Netflix streaming for over a year. The selection sucks, IMO. The reason is because it’s too cheap. (Netflix really needs to charge more money, and offer a better selection as a result.) > > Last month I tried Blockbuster. It was _horrible_; I couldn’t get anything to play. A couple weeks ago I tried Amazon streaming. It is _awesome_. There’s a huge selection of movies, and they charge you for each movie you watch. The price is typically $3 to $4 for standard resolution, and $4 to $5 for HD. It’s more expensive than Netflix streaming, but well worth it IMO. Netflix streaming is $7.99/month. I don’t care how crappy the selection is, as long as you can find two movies a month (or 4 television episodes) to watch, it is a better deal than Amazon. The amount I stream through Netflix would cost me somewhere between $800 to $1,000 a month on Amazon. But the more salient point is that there’s no need to choose just one. You can easily have both. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/31 "2011-11-21T04:06:51Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > I don’t think Rokus work anywhere but the US. Whatever you get will have to be the same format as whatever model TV you have. Most of North America uses NTSC format, is South America the same? NTSC doesn’t matter. NTSC, PAL and SECAM are the old analog formats. HDMI is for digital signals. Here is an article about using Roku overseas. It looks it is the same stuff about getting a VPN connection to get a U.S. IP address. I learned a little about that trying to stream Doctor Who off the BBC web site. [http://vpnfreedom.com/roku/how-to-use-the-roku-box-outside-the-us/](http://vpnfreedom.com/roku/how-to-use-the-roku-box-outside-the-us/) ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/32 "2011-11-21T04:16:10Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > Right…no VGA, RCA, HDMI or S-video outputs. Wow. I got a Vizio Tablet computer for $190 at Costco last week and it has a micro-HDMI connector and it has a Netflix App on the desktop. It is useless for me, because I dropped streaming when they started charging separately for it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/33 "2011-11-21T04:25:30Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Since you live in Columbia, you better answer some basic questions. Nitpick: Columbia is a [university](http://www.columbia.edu). Colombia is a [country](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html). … Another vote for Roku. We were early adopters and ended up with two of them (and gave a couple as gifts). But then again, or our main television we’ve switched over to a (home-built) HTPC. We keep a Lenovo mini [hand-held keyboard/mouse](http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Multimedia-Remote-Keyboard-N5901/dp/B0036VO67I). The PC interface is much better than the Roku, speed is faster, and we can look up questions on IMDB if we get the inkling, watch any net-based stream, read XKCD when someone gets up for a minute, etc. If you can cable your HP and find a spot for the remote keyboard (it’s really small), you’ll be a bit happier. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/34 "2011-11-21T04:34:29Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I have had Netflix streaming for over a year. The selection sucks, IMO. The reason is because it’s too cheap. (Netflix really needs to charge more money, and offer a better selection as a result.) First, this is entirely dependent on what you want to see from Netflix streaming. Second, the amount charged and what they are allowed to stream are not co-dependent variables. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/35 "2011-11-21T06:53:59Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Nitpick: > > Columbia is a [university](http://www.columbia.edu). > > Colombia is a [country](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html). Sorry. The trouble is I don’t tend to check the words that aren’t flagged as wrong. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/36 "2011-11-21T07:31:44Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > First, this is entirely dependent on what you want to see from Netflix streaming. Second, the amount charged and what they are allowed to stream are not co-dependent variables. Is that just an assertion on your part or do you have some documentation? From what I’ve seen the streaming side only pays a few cents a movie to stream, so content acquisition is the major cost. The content providers don’t want to dump content that can generate major income on pay per view into the Netflix all you can watch buffet, so Netflix will pay through the nose for popular content. If Netflix raises their rates and/or gets a lot more subscribers, then they will have a much larger pot of money to acquire content. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/37 "2011-11-21T14:53:55Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > NTSC doesn’t matter. NTSC, PAL and SECAM are the old analog formats. HDMI is for digital signals. Here is an article about using Roku overseas. It looks it is the same stuff about getting a VPN connection to get a U.S. IP address. I learned a little about that trying to stream Doctor Who off the BBC web site. > > [http://vpnfreedom.com/roku/how-to-use-the-roku-box-outside-the-us/](http://vpnfreedom.com/roku/how-to-use-the-roku-box-outside-the-us/) :smack: I just learned a little as well! Ignorance fought; thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/38 "2011-11-21T17:59:06Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Is that just an assertion on your part or do you have some documentation? Have you been hiding under a rock, or did you miss the fact that Netflix offered Starz $300 million plus to renew their deal (currently worth $30 million)? Netflix can offer the moon, but content providers would rather balkanize the online streaming market to get their share. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/39 "2011-11-21T18:33:32Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Have you been hiding under a rock, or did you miss the fact that Netflix offered Starz $300 million plus to renew their deal (currently worth $30 million)? Netflix can offer the moon, but content providers would rather balkanize the online streaming market to get their share. Holy cow, you’re not kidding. [From the LA Times](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/netflix-offered-300-million-plus-but-starz-wanted-higher-prices.html): > [@](#): > > Netflix offered Starz more than $300 million per year to renew their agreement, but the pay cable channel was insistent on so-called tiered pricing, according to people close to the negotiations but not authorized to speak on the record. Tiered pricing would require Netflix subscribers who want movies and television shows from Starz and other premium providers to pay more than the standard $8 per month. > > That demand was apparently a key sticking point in talks that fell apart Thursday, meaning the two companies’ deal, which began in 2008, will expire at the end of February. > > Starz wanted Netflix to charge a premium price for its content in order to put the popular online video service more in line with cable and satellite providers. Protecting relationships with multiplatform video programming distributors (MVPDs) like DirecTV and Time Warner Cable is critical to Starz. The MVPDs are wary of Netflix because they fear customers will “cut the cord” if enough fresh content is available online at a lower price. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456/40 "2011-11-21T19:05:48Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Is that just an assertion on your part or do you have some documentation? As you can see from the site posted above, it is documented. Though, I guess you could say that by becoming cable-lite (and raising costs far more than the last round of increases), they could expand content. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-to-tv/603456.md?page=3)