TV without an aerial
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We want to put a TV on our chimney breast with the minimum of wires etc. Ideally just the power cord.
With a lot of channels being broadcast via broadband now, would it be possible to dispense with the aerial altogether and purely stream wirelessly to the TV?
Would it be a pain in the backside navigating channels etc?
With a lot of channels being broadcast via broadband now, would it be possible to dispense with the aerial altogether and purely stream wirelessly to the TV?
Would it be a pain in the backside navigating channels etc?
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Yes, as you can use UK based services such as TVPlayer, TVCatch-up or FilmOn. The catch with them all is that you need a Chromecast or AirPlay to easily get to your TV and have a good UI.
The bigger catch is that the video quality is very very average, if not poor.
The only online service I know of that is really good for high quality live UK TV is a Swiss outfit called Zattoo. That will only work if you VPN or Smart DNS to Switzerland. Smart DNS isn't free, but it is cheap, and although Zattoo has a free service, the video quality is horrid.
The positive side is that all up it costs probably around £6 a month or so, and that will give you near HD quality streams for the BBC channels and ITV1 and SD quality for the rest. Most major free channels are there, the UI is so good I prefer it to satellite, you have a near full PVR for home recordings, and it will also have available for catch-up, every programme from every channel for 7 days (normal catch-up doesn't include every programme).
There are full reviews here, just select UK from the Live TV section.
Oh, and for Sky, Now TV is great and not too expensive for the Movies and Entertainment packages, they include live and catch-up. Best bet is to get a now TV box.
Finally, that Smart DNS which is needed for Zattoo will also get you so many other free services from around the world (US, Australia, Ireland, Canada, NZ etc), plus every region of Netflix if you subscribe to Netflix as well that it is worth the £3 or cheaper per month.
You can do it. Just browse through that website I linked, everything there and more is available via a DNS service, and there is so much available it is mad.
Do you have a satellite box or freeview box in the house. If so, you could just use a simple video sender (assuming tv has scart or av sockets). These usually allow to change channels remotely as well.
Another option could just to buy a (wifi) now tv box (£10) which accesses all the main UK channel catchup services. On ITV Player you can access live tv, and I think you can on BBC as well.
If you go for a PC type of solution, easiest way of changing channels is to install a PC remote control app on a tablet or smartphone (and on PC as well). My personal favourite is Splashtop (free for LAN use). Very easy to use.
Teamviewer is also good but a bit clunkier than Splashtop (leaves annoying NAG screens to buy a licence even though you don't need one for personal use).
But since you are going to have to install a mains cable anyway why not just run an aerial to it as well? And perhaps a couple of HDMI leads while you're at it.
If you want to hide the cables it would be possible to bury a length of trunking in the plaster so they emerge behind the TV out of sight and go in down near the floor. That way at least you have options should you decide that the online offerings are not enough or want to add some other service in the future.