You don’t need a TV card. I don’t have one, and my TV is very old, no HD. You just go into the display control panel of the computer, find where the monitor settings are, go into advanced settings, and change the output to TV. Some laptops even switch over automatically. Here’s one site with instructions; if you google it you’ll find lots of sites. Mine uses an S-video cable for video and an audio cord for sound. It came with a remote control, but they’re cheap to buy if yours doesn’t have one.
My laptop doesn’t have an S-video output, but an S-VGA cable to the S-VGA port on back of my fairly new TV works just fine. No sound card, so I connect the headphone output to the audio input of the TV with a simple patch cord. No special settings - you just hit F5 to switch to displaying on the monitor. It is basically the same as making presentations on a projector with your laptop.
I have a remote control for PowerPoint presentations - I need to see if that works with the NetFlix viewer.
Besides watching movies, it works great showing pictures on your TV to a bunch of people - or even a few.
I only have a monitor port on the back of my laptop(and a printer port). It’s not that old a laptop, either.
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I have my BluRay player, my Wii, and my brother’s PS3 (linked to his account) connected to Netflix in my house. One thing I’ve noticed is that the different devices have slightly different implementations. For example, on the Wii I can browse the entire Instant Viewing library and watch anything – on my BluRay player I can ONLY browse things I’ve put in my Instant Queue. That’s kind of a bummer, since I have to mark things on my computer and put them in a queue before I can view them on the TV. I still use it more than the Wii, though, because of the HD resolution. So you might want to look up some reviews or something if those are the sorts of things that might bother you.
I’ve been quite happy with my Roku for a couple years now but it hasn’t been flawless. I’d say about 1 in 5 movies it has to rebuffer and during peak times (say a Friday night) I sometimes can’t get play to start in the first place. But I’ve never blamed that on the Roku, assuming it to be a Netflix issue.
When I got the Roku I figured I’d eventually replace it with a bluray player but that hasn’t proven to be the case. I’ve found that the I’m always able to find something I’d like to watch (New Releases aren’t a big draw for me) and at this point I think it has been more than a year since I actually used my DVD player (the 4 Netflix DVDs I have currently have been sitting there for months) so I don’t expect Blu-Ray would be different.
I do have a Wii but it didn’t support Netflix when I got the Roku and having to deal with a disc seemed like an unnecessary aggravation.
One of these might work for you:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040113&p_id=2509&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011407&p_id=4724&seq=1&format=2
I have Roku, TivoHD, and PS3. Roku is the simplest but of course streaming video is all it does. No gaming, no other functions. It does stream from various sources though, not just Netflix. It’s a small box (about the size of a mouse pad about 3 inches tall) and totally silent which is nice for a bedroom.
TivoHD has a slow interface and all you can do is browse your pre-existing Instant Queue. But it works. The newer Tivos should be faster.
PS3 has a nice fast interface and you can browse/search as well as access your Instant Queue. Right now you have to insert a Netflix disc but I think after the Netflix agreement with Microsoft expires there will be an app that installs to the PS3 hard drive. The PS3 will also play PS3 games, MP3 files, photographs, and digital video in formats like AVI or MP4.
I have the Roku box, and it works very well. Also, I cannot imagine how they could have made it easier to use. Registering it against your Netflix account is simple, after that it just works.
I suspect that is the simplest option, and we didn’t have any requirements outside of Netflix. If you are on the fence about a blu-ray player or a game console, I imagine those would be good Netflix options as well.
You might be able to do it with a smartphone, assuming someone has created the proper app. I currently stream Pandora to my stereo using my Android phone. This would seem to be a similar kind of function.
Just wanted to say that I didn’t mean to imply the Roku is flawless, only that in my limited experience it has been more reliable than the Wi-fi enabled Sony Blu-ray player. I’ve swapped the boxes on both TVs and they continue to perform the same way. So, whatever is causing the Blu-ray to be flaky doesn’t appear to be caused by issues with the TV itself or the distance from the router.
I use the Wii or my computer. My sister uses her PS3 or her computer.
I find myself using the Wii more, she uses the computer more. I think the Wii is super simple. She thinks the PS3 is a bit tedious. I’ve never seen a PS3 used for Wii though so I don’t know why.
I don’t know if you have noticed this. But, the standard Roku HD player is down to 70 dollars. I know it is 30 dollars more than you want to pay. But, I wanted to make sure you realized that the player had dropped so low. I think it had been hovering around 100 for a long time. Oddly, the SD player is 80 dollars. I am not sure why.
Oh. And by the way The Roku HD works fine on an non HD television.
Just to chime in…
For someone who isn’t interested in videogame consoles I’d go with a Roku player. They’re relatively cheap and super easy to setup. I got one for my mother for mother’s day earlier this year and she loves it. She’s pretty technology savvy though and maintains her own home network, so MMV with your own parental units.
I’ve tried streaming Netflix on the PC, Xbox360, PS3 and Roku players and have only had issues with the Xbox. Sometimes it works flawlessly and other times it’s slow to load up and buffer selections. On those instances though I can’t rule out simple ISP congestion so it may not have been the Xbox’s fault.
Ebay has 'em for $50 used.
I’m getting a Roku tomorrow and canceling cable. I feel so utterly liberated.
I can’t wait till Sezmi comes to my city. Once I have that, I’ll have everything I watch in their channel lineup (with DVR, be still my heart! save for Futurama and It’s Always Sunny.
No ports on the side?
I use both my PS3 and my Iphone. They are both awesome.
One thing just occurred to me. Google TV is coming out soon, and it is rumored that Apple is going to rev up Apple TV in a big way very soon. I would be willing to bet that Netflix exists in at least one of these two devices. Two more options to consider over the long haul.
I see today that Roku has dropped their prices - $60 for the SD version and $70 for the HD version. That may be a consideration. Not quite the $40-$50 range but heading into that territory.
Rumor has it the new Apple TV device is being announced tomorrow for $99 and will include Netflix streaming, among other things. Presumably, that’s why Roku dropped their prices today. It’ll be worth waiting another, say, 15 hours to see what Apple does.
As mentioned above, the biggest difference between the various devices is that the interface is not standardized. My Xbox 360’s interface is much better than my Samsung Blu-Ray player’s (in fact, that one is pretty horrible).
Given that Apple does interfaces better than just about anyone, I’m hoping that it moves the Netflix interface forward, because even the pretty good ones (like my 360) could still use some work, in my opinion.
Uh, USB ports.