I got quite excited about the new smart TVs, thinking that they would provide BBC i-Player, ITV-Player and 4oD all through the main TV. But having read some forum postings and reviews, I find that 4oD is unavailable; moreover, it seems the other two players are slow and awkward to use.

I like the look of the Samsung Smart but am totally put off by the poor reviews regarding the above. I suppose there will be firmware up-dates and new apps in due course but, in the meantime, is there some kind of external device that will enable me to access the three catch-up players via a Smart TV?

I have a Mac PB and can access all the players via this. I understand that the MBP can be connected to an HD TV via a cable but it would be a fag to keep plugging it in. There’s also the point that I might want to use the Mac when my wife wants to catch up with a TV programme. Is there an alternative to using my MBP? We can watch all the players via an i-Pad; is it be possible to link an i-Pad to a TV in order to get access to the players? Any other suggestions, pse?

Thanks in advance.

W

It will be on Sky within a few weeks,
a couple of months at most.

Sky have BBC iplayer, ITV Player, Demand 5.

Many on demand channels from their line up too.

I use the Xbox 360 for iPlayer, 4OD and Demand 5. they all work great.

Never used it but here is a ipad to HDMI lead for £15,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro%C2%AE...8449964&sr=8-1

Channel 4 disable the HDMI output on the 4oD app though.

But yeah, apart from a few apps that disable it the HDMI output on the iPad works very well.

4oD doesn't actually seem to be available on many platforms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4oD

If a games console isn't available and you don't subscribe to a service that offers it then connecting the MBP to the TV is the only low cost option really.

Thanks for the helpful replies.

However, I don't have SKY or the xbox but am restricted to Freeview via an aerial; I also have a broadband connection with WIFI. I don't think that I would want to access the internet or use Skype via the TV, but merely use it for standard viewing.

Anyway, I'm psd that I didn't fall for the assistant's spiel at Curry's, where I was assured that all the players would be available via the Samsung. The internet functions on the latter are getting really poor ratings, with people saying that BBC i-Player is OK but that there are problems with the ITV version and that there is no 4oD at all.

What is the general feeling? Is it expected that Samsung will fix these deficiencies and make the various players as easy to use as they are with a computer? If I think the issue is going to be solved, I might buy one and soldier along with an i-Pad for the players in the meantime. Even though from what Roush says, 4oD will not work via a cable from an i-Pad. (Although an MPB laptop would be OK?)

On the other hand, are there other smart TVs available that don't share the disadvantages of the Samsung?

On a different tack, I'd like silver surround and not an all-black cabinet.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

W

My Samsung TV has ITV Player, BBC iplayer and Demand 5 apps on its Smart Hub

you should give serious consideration to Sky

it saves the BBC iplayer etc to its hard drive. No buffering problems or anything like that . It stores it like a normal programme so its wife proof to watch a saved programme

Does anyone know if the Humax FREEVIEW box do the same or similar device ??

The Humax HDR FOX T2 running the custom firmware can copy the streaming buffer to a mpeg4 file. No time limit or encryption either including iplayer HD. No ITV or other catch up though but you can do the same with Youtube.

The PlayStation 3 has BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, and 4OD, the services that the OP is looking for. It would also double as a Blu-ray player, DVD player, CD /MP3 music player, photo viewer, LoveFilm, Netflix etc if any of that is of interest.

Oh yeah, you can play games on it too.

Thanks. I think its a great idea saving to a hard drive.

I wonder how long it will be before you can save direct from tv to a USB hard drive for download services ??

The SMART market would really take off , as buffering / picture quality is a killer.

Of course the only problem now is download limits in broadband

I have a PS3 and the catchup services work terribly, especially ITV Player and 4oD.

If you try them on the 360 you will see what I mean, it's night and day, I subscribe to Xbox live just to be able to use them on the Xbox! Lol.

I don't understand why the PS 3 and Xbox wont record to its hard drive ?

I also have both consoles, and am fully aware of the quality of both. I was just pointing out that the PS3 actually has the three services that were mentioned in the opening post of this thread, whereas the Xbox360 does not.

Nether does the PS3... The ITV app is there but crashes at pretty much every advert, it's unusable.

Also the Xbox has 5oD too which works well.

I have one of these

http://liliputing.com/2012/12/rikoma...-giveaway.html

You can download all the players from the google market iplayer, ITV player etc.

Strangely there is no 4od app, you watch 4oD on the web browser like you do on a PC as the browser has support built in. It does go full screen though so you don't know its running in the browser once the programme starts.

If you are invested in the apple world then I was going suggest Apple TV but 4od app on the iPad doesn't allow airplay but you might be able to AirPlay from the mac.

4od is available on a Youview box.

You don't really need any special device if you can access youtube.

All channel 4 catchup programs are here

https://www.youtube.com/user/channel4

I must say that generally I am very happy with my Samsung Smart TV and find that BBC iPlayer and ITVPlayer now work a lot better than they used to but they're still not perfect. There are regular updates for these apps so I guess they are still working at fixing the bugs. Demand5 only launched a few days ago so I haven't really had a chance to try it out (I don't watch Channel 5 much anyway).

It is disappointing that 4oD isn't available yet but there doesn't appear to be many devices that Channel 4 support right now - hopefully they will make some progress this year. I've used 4oD on Playstation 3 and it freezes all the time so I wouldn't recommend it.

You can use a Samsung Smart TV to access YouTube (but not all content!) and you can stream videos, music and photos wirelessly to your TV from your computer. Apps for LoveFilm (£4.99 per month) and Netflix (£5.99 per month) are also available if you would like to watch on demand films and TV series. It's possible to plug an external hard drive into your Smart TV and record live TV onto it but I haven't tried this as I use Sky+ to record live programmes.

I wouldn't bother with the Web Bowser unless you get a wireless keyboard as it is far too much hassle to use with the remote control and it doesn't support Flash (if it did then it would be possible to watch 4oD through channel4.com).

Have you considered YouView? It's basically a Freeview box that has a hard drive so you can record live TV, however, you can also get catch up TV from BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5. Just connect the box to your TV aerial and internet connection and it's ready to use. It costs around £250 on the high street but there's no subscription charge at all.
http://www.youview.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouView

I've got a samsung tv too - no channel5 catchup service though. The bbc iplayer works perfectly but find the itvplayer extremely limiting, only a small selection of shows on it and freezes most of the time anyway. I have a panasonic viera on which it is slightly better but still nowhere near the quality of the iplayer.

Anyone had any success with the riko stick for ch4od?

Yep, I have a Riko MK802 III stick and just this minute finished watching Utopia on 4OD.

There is no app for Android, you just go on the website using the browser.

Works perfectly as long as you install the latest Flash plugin from the Adobe website.

The problem with 4oD and ITV Player on the PS3 is that they actually just use the PS3's awful browser, unlike iPlayer which is a proper app.

On the 360, all of them are proper apps rather than just using a crap and unstable browser.

The Demand 5 app from Channel 5 only launched about a week ago and it has to be downloaded manually. If you go to Samsung Apps and select the "Video" category, you will find "Demand 5" there and can install it. Not sure why it's not installed automatically like BBC, ITV, YouTube etc.

Thanks, nwlondoner, for your comprehensive reply.
I'll start a new thread about the i-Pad and hooking it to a TV.
W