Simple iPlayer to TV (SCART) device with WiFi

albertd · 30-07-2013, 19:10

I have been looking around unsuccessfully with Google to see if I can find a simple device which can give me iPlayer, 4OD etc. on my TV without having to get yet another PVR or a new TV.

I am not looking for anything particularly sophisticated as it will only be used on the odd occasion when we forget to record something on one of the PVRs.

The main things that I need are for it to connect by SCART (not bothered about HD anyway) and to be able to link to my router by WiFi.

Does anyone know of anything which fits that requirement?

pfb5 · 03-08-2013, 07:44

If you have a laptop that connects to your wifi, you can get a "vga to scart convertor" for about twenty quid that goes between laptop's vga out and tv scart in.

albertd · 03-08-2013, 07:52

Thanks for the thought, but no, I don't have a laptop, just a desktop which is too far from the TV to cable neatly.

-GONZO- · 03-08-2013, 08:19

For scart your options are very limited to the likes of PVRs and video game consoles, though for WiFi your probably just left with games consoles as an option.

pfb5 · 03-08-2013, 09:13

Assuming the desktop only has VGA, could you go:

VGA-scart cable to
VGA-Scart convertor to
Cheap off eby as old-hat Scart video sender to

TV end: video receiver into scart.

albertd · 03-08-2013, 09:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfb5

Assuming the desktop only has VGA, could you go:

VGA-scart cable to
VGA-Scart convertor to
Cheap off eby as old-hat Scart video sender to

TV end: video receiver into scart.

Thanks for that (and to the others as well), but considering the amount of use it is likely to get (see Post #1) that seems a lot of bother for little use.

I suspect from your responses that there is no "simple" solution and that we will just have to continue sitting in front of the PC screen if we want to use iPlayer etc.

Never mind, nothing lost from asking.

neil79 · 03-08-2013, 11:02

Have you considered a Roku LT ?
I have a Flatscreen TV with only scart connections and got the Roku a few weeks back and it does BBC I player over wifi.

Streaming video does obviously use a fair bit of data just in case you don't have a reasonable download allowance from your ISP.

albertd · 03-08-2013, 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by neil79

Have you considered a Roku LT ?
I have a Flatscreen TV with only scart connections and got the Roku a few weeks back and it does BBC I player over wifi.

No, I had not heard of that device. It mentions iPlayer but not the others (4OD, ITV, Ch5....) can it do them as well? How do you connect it to SCART, as it doesn't appear to support it directly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by neil79

Streaming video does obviously use a fair bit of data just in case you don't have a reasonable download allowance from your ISP.

That should not be a problem as it would not get a huge level of use and I rarely go over about 10GB of my 40GB monthly limit at present, even with occasional iPlayer use on the PC.

Nigel Goodwin · 03-08-2013, 11:43

You might try the new NOW TV adaptor from Sky, only £9.95 - and no obligation to pay them anything else.

-GONZO- · 03-08-2013, 11:49

Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart?

albertd · 03-08-2013, 12:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart?

That is exactly what I am thinking.

ovbg · 03-08-2013, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertd

No, I had not heard of that device. It mentions iPlayer but not the others (4OD, ITV, Ch5....) can it do them as well? How do you connect it to SCART, as it doesn't appear to support it directly?That should not be a problem as it would not get a huge level of use and I rarely go over about 10GB of my 40GB monthly limit at present, even with occasional iPlayer use on the PC.

The Roku LT is a great little box, but it doesn't have Scart. That said, it does have composite, and most Scart TV's tend to have a composite input as well (that is three coloured circular RCA type sockets) or at least a composite to Scart adapter may not be terribly expensive.

Demand 5 has just been added to the Roku channel list, so it now has that along with the BBC iPlayer. It doesn't yet have 4oD or ITV Player, but now that Sky are pushing their own version (which doesn't have any analogue outs), we may see the additional channels coming in the future.

You can also watch Netflix shows on the Roku box, but that does require a subscription - that said, it is not expensive and you will generally watch enough per month to make it worth while.

Nigel Goodwin · 03-08-2013, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart?

NOW has composite outputs which can connect to SCART, I presume Roku is the same - as it's just a Roku box.

albertd · 03-08-2013, 13:38

OK, I understand now about connecting Roku to SCART. I am finding this option quite a possibility. Thanks for the suggestion, I might give it a try.

ovbg · 03-08-2013, 14:57

Let us know how it works out!

neil79 · 03-08-2013, 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertd

OK, I understand now about connecting Roku to SCART. I am finding this option quite a possibility. Thanks for the suggestion, I might give it a try.

I had to buy an adapter from Maplins for a couple of quid and am really pleased with my Roku LT.

albertd · 03-08-2013, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by neil79

I had to buy an adapter from Maplins for a couple of quid and am really pleased with my Roku LT.

Thanks for that. Did you mean this one at £9.99? I cannot see any other.

neil79 · 03-08-2013, 22:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertd

Thanks for that. Did you mean this one at £9.99? I cannot see any other.

I can't make your link work but can't remember the exact price but it was no where near £10. I purchased in the store.

pfb5 · 04-08-2013, 06:36

OP's link is indeed for a phono-to-scart adaptor from your source, at £9.99, surely must be a mistake!

You can get them for a lot less, e.g. Item 230973071322 on eBay - 99p post free.

Winston_1 · 04-08-2013, 10:22

Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL.

albertd · 04-08-2013, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winston_1

Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL.

Can someone clarify how much difference that makes these days please. I know those were analogue colour standards, but is it still significant?

ovbg · 04-08-2013, 10:40

If the current batches still only output in NTSC, it could mean you will only get a black & white picture.

If Roku are still selling NTSC composite in Europe then that is quite ridiculous to be honest.

Rossby41 · 04-08-2013, 10:43

If you also wanted ITV Player and 4OD, have you considered maybe a second hand PS3.
You can get all this and iPlayer and Demand 5 on it.
I bought my xbox 360 for this purpose, only problem with 360 is it needs gold for 4oD and Demand 5 (around £30 - £40 a year). Also it doesn't have itv player.

albertd · 04-08-2013, 11:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertd

I am not looking for anything particularly sophisticated as it will only be used on the odd occasion when we forget to record something on one of the PVRs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossby41

If you also wanted ITV Player and 4OD, have you considered maybe a second hand PS3.

I hadn't, but bearing in mind my original comment (quoted above), that seems rather an expensive option, even if it does provide ITV and 4OD. I can't see anything for much under £100 looking on Google (including eBay) which is considerably more than the Roku at about £35 from Maplin.

Anyway, I will go on thinking about it for a while and considering any other suggestions which might pop up.

albertd · 04-08-2013, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winston_1

Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL.

There seems to be some confusion about this. On the Maplin site, one reviewer says that it is NTSC, but in the spec on the Curry's site it says PAL. I cannot find a definitive statement from Roku though.

I can't imagine that they would publicise something specifically for UK use which would not work correctly here as they would probably be on rather thin legal ice.

Does anyone have definitive info about it?

30-07-2013, 19:10	#1
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Simple iPlayer to TV (SCART) device with WiFi I have been looking around unsuccessfully with Google to see if I can find a simple device which can give me iPlayer, 4OD etc. on my TV without having to get yet another PVR or a new TV. I am not looking for anything particularly sophisticated as it will only be used on the odd occasion when we forget to record something on one of the PVRs. The main things that I need are for it to connect by SCART (not bothered about HD anyway) and to be able to link to my router by WiFi. Does anyone know of anything which fits that requirement?

03-08-2013, 07:44	#2
pfb5 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southampton (Rowridge IOW) Posts: 18	If you have a laptop that connects to your wifi, you can get a "vga to scart convertor" for about twenty quid that goes between laptop's vga out and tv scart in.

03-08-2013, 07:52	#3
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Thanks for the thought, but no, I don't have a laptop, just a desktop which is too far from the TV to cable neatly.

03-08-2013, 08:19	#4
-GONZO- Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kent Posts: 8,954	For scart your options are very limited to the likes of PVRs and video game consoles, though for WiFi your probably just left with games consoles as an option.

03-08-2013, 09:13	#5
pfb5 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southampton (Rowridge IOW) Posts: 18	Assuming the desktop only has VGA, could you go: VGA-scart cable to VGA-Scart convertor to Cheap off eby as old-hat Scart video sender to TV end: video receiver into scart.

03-08-2013, 09:30	#6
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by pfb5 Assuming the desktop only has VGA, could you go: VGA-scart cable to VGA-Scart convertor to Cheap off eby as old-hat Scart video sender to TV end: video receiver into scart. Thanks for that (and to the others as well), but considering the amount of use it is likely to get (see Post #1) that seems a lot of bother for little use. I suspect from your responses that there is no "simple" solution and that we will just have to continue sitting in front of the PC screen if we want to use iPlayer etc. Never mind, nothing lost from asking.

03-08-2013, 11:02	#7
neil79 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 506	Have you considered a Roku LT ? I have a Flatscreen TV with only scart connections and got the Roku a few weeks back and it does BBC I player over wifi. Streaming video does obviously use a fair bit of data just in case you don't have a reasonable download allowance from your ISP.

03-08-2013, 11:35	#8
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by neil79 Have you considered a Roku LT ? I have a Flatscreen TV with only scart connections and got the Roku a few weeks back and it does BBC I player over wifi. No, I had not heard of that device. It mentions iPlayer but not the others (4OD, ITV, Ch5....) can it do them as well? How do you connect it to SCART, as it doesn't appear to support it directly? Quote: Originally Posted by neil79 Streaming video does obviously use a fair bit of data just in case you don't have a reasonable download allowance from your ISP. That should not be a problem as it would not get a huge level of use and I rarely go over about 10GB of my 40GB monthly limit at present, even with occasional iPlayer use on the PC.

03-08-2013, 11:43	#9
Nigel Goodwin Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Derbyshire Posts: 41,789	You might try the new NOW TV adaptor from Sky, only £9.95 - and no obligation to pay them anything else.

03-08-2013, 11:49	#10
-GONZO- Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kent Posts: 8,954	Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart?

03-08-2013, 12:14	#11
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by -GONZO- Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart? That is exactly what I am thinking.

03-08-2013, 12:26	#12
ovbg Forum Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 1,348	Quote: Originally Posted by albertd No, I had not heard of that device. It mentions iPlayer but not the others (4OD, ITV, Ch5....) can it do them as well? How do you connect it to SCART, as it doesn't appear to support it directly?That should not be a problem as it would not get a huge level of use and I rarely go over about 10GB of my 40GB monthly limit at present, even with occasional iPlayer use on the PC. The Roku LT is a great little box, but it doesn't have Scart. That said, it does have composite, and most Scart TV's tend to have a composite input as well (that is three coloured circular RCA type sockets) or at least a composite to Scart adapter may not be terribly expensive. Demand 5 has just been added to the Roku channel list, so it now has that along with the BBC iPlayer. It doesn't yet have 4oD or ITV Player, but now that Sky are pushing their own version (which doesn't have any analogue outs), we may see the additional channels coming in the future. You can also watch Netflix shows on the Roku box, but that does require a subscription - that said, it is not expensive and you will generally watch enough per month to make it worth while.

03-08-2013, 13:10	#13
Nigel Goodwin Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Derbyshire Posts: 41,789	Quote: Originally Posted by -GONZO- Are Roku and NowTV even able to be connected via scart? NOW has composite outputs which can connect to SCART, I presume Roku is the same - as it's just a Roku box.

03-08-2013, 13:38	#14
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	OK, I understand now about connecting Roku to SCART. I am finding this option quite a possibility. Thanks for the suggestion, I might give it a try.

03-08-2013, 14:57	#15
ovbg Forum Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 1,348	Let us know how it works out!

03-08-2013, 17:35	#16
neil79 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 506	Quote: Originally Posted by albertd OK, I understand now about connecting Roku to SCART. I am finding this option quite a possibility. Thanks for the suggestion, I might give it a try. I had to buy an adapter from Maplins for a couple of quid and am really pleased with my Roku LT.

03-08-2013, 18:58	#17
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by neil79 I had to buy an adapter from Maplins for a couple of quid and am really pleased with my Roku LT. Thanks for that. Did you mean this one at £9.99? I cannot see any other.

03-08-2013, 22:36	#18
neil79 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 506	Quote: Originally Posted by albertd Thanks for that. Did you mean this one at £9.99? I cannot see any other. I can't make your link work but can't remember the exact price but it was no where near £10. I purchased in the store.

04-08-2013, 06:36	#19
pfb5 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southampton (Rowridge IOW) Posts: 18	OP's link is indeed for a phono-to-scart adaptor from your source, at £9.99, surely must be a mistake! You can get them for a lot less, e.g. Item 230973071322 on eBay - 99p post free.

04-08-2013, 10:22	#20
Winston_1 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 5,008	Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL.

DS Forums

Simple iPlayer to TV (SCART) device with WiFi

04-08-2013, 10:38	#21
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by Winston_1 Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL. Can someone clarify how much difference that makes these days please. I know those were analogue colour standards, but is it still significant?

04-08-2013, 10:40	#22
ovbg Forum Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 1,348	If the current batches still only output in NTSC, it could mean you will only get a black & white picture. If Roku are still selling NTSC composite in Europe then that is quite ridiculous to be honest.

04-08-2013, 10:43	#23
Rossby41 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 844	If you also wanted ITV Player and 4OD, have you considered maybe a second hand PS3. You can get all this and iPlayer and Demand 5 on it. I bought my xbox 360 for this purpose, only problem with 360 is it needs gold for 4oD and Demand 5 (around £30 - £40 a year). Also it doesn't have itv player.

04-08-2013, 11:27	#24
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by albertd I am not looking for anything particularly sophisticated as it will only be used on the odd occasion when we forget to record something on one of the PVRs Quote: Originally Posted by Rossby41 If you also wanted ITV Player and 4OD, have you considered maybe a second hand PS3. I hadn't, but bearing in mind my original comment (quoted above), that seems rather an expensive option, even if it does provide ITV and 4OD. I can't see anything for much under £100 looking on Google (including eBay) which is considerably more than the Roku at about £35 from Maplin. Anyway, I will go on thinking about it for a while and considering any other suggestions which might pop up.

04-08-2013, 12:32	#25
albertd Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 9,307	Quote: Originally Posted by Winston_1 Just bear in mind that Roku boxes output NTSC composite not PAL. There seems to be some confusion about this. On the Maplin site, one reviewer says that it is NTSC, but in the spec on the Curry's site it says PAL. I cannot find a definitive statement from Roku though. I can't imagine that they would publicise something specifically for UK use which would not work correctly here as they would probably be on rather thin legal ice. Does anyone have definitive info about it?