Watching the TV on the Gaming Console?

[erimir]

I already told y'alls, the Wii can play YouTube.

It also worked on the Wii before there was a special version of the site. The special version, I assume, was just to make it more streamlined and easier to use given that you have a pointer and no keyboard/scroll wheel/etc. not to get it to work in the first place. I don't know the specifics, but it can't play Hulu. So I don't know what that all means, but there you go.

Also, I thought the beastliness of Flash had to do with how it runs, not with how much space it takes on the HD (in which case, having separate little apps doesn't matter, if they all run more efficiently than Flash).

[Ensign Steve]

Curiouser and curiouser.

[ChuckF]

Yeah I don't know what is going on with Adobe and Flash beyond the basics of the Apple/Adobe standoff. Looks like a Flash v. HTML 5 standards war brewing and everybody else is waiting for more information before taking sides. I wonder if it will end quickly and unexpectedly like Blu-ray/HD-DVD after Warner Bros. dropped HD-DVD. The narrative seems to be that the iPad was the beginning of HTML 5 ascendancy and Flash decline, but I haven't really seen that happening in any decisive way. Then again I don't use any consoles or phones for content delivery so wtf do I know about what is going on beyond my laptop.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

Hey! Can I get an XBOX 360 and hack a linux partition onto it?

Yes! But my stupid roommate won't even let me do that to his X-Box, which is like so old anyway!

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by erimir

Also, I thought the beastliness of Flash had to do with how it runs, not with how much space it takes on the HD (in which case, having separate little apps doesn't matter, if they all run more efficiently than Flash).

You mean my iPod Touch still doesn't support multi-tasking?

[LadyShea]

I already told y'alls, the Wii can play YouTube.

And I told them alls that I have watched YouTubes via Wii

They doesn't listen

[ChuckF]

I just had an idea, has anybody tried to watch YouTube videos on a Wii?

[Ensign Steve]

I would but I'm still trying to figure out how to integrate my netflix membership.

[LadyShea]

First, check your computer for an output designed to work with either an external monitor or TV. If you've got one, you may be able to buy a cable and adapter that will plug your computer directly into your television. Doing so is a bit like putting together a puzzle; you want to find pieces that connect to each other. This can be a little tricky, especially with all the different possible connections on the market. So if you're not tech savvy, you may want to get a little help from someone who is or check out this video from Howcast called "How To Connect Your Laptop To Your Television".

You might also want to look at "media streaming" boxes. Like the cable box you'll be ditching, these connect to your TV and allow you to watch programming you wouldn't otherwise be able to see. The big difference? You can watch free and paid internet content. Depending on the box, you'll be able to stream video from Netflix, Amazon, MLB.tv, Hulu, and YouTube, audio from internet radio stations, Pandora, and Last.fm, and watch movies or look at photos that have been stored your home PC. Think of media streaming boxes as mini-computers for your TV.

The Roku Digital Video Player is $80 ($100 for the HD version), but you can get $20 off if you're a new Netflix subscriber. It'll stream dozens of "channels" from the web right to your TV for less than the price of one month of cable or satellite. Plus, it's an open platform so developers are adding new channels all the time.

The Boxee Box by D-Link wont be available for purchase until later this year, but you can install their free software on your home computer right now. It'll turn your Mac or PC into a full fledged media player, with an interface specifically designed to look great on TV. It's much easier to navigate with a remote and provides easy access to your personal collection of movies and music, as well as every video website under the Sun.

you-dont-have-to-pay-for-cable-tv: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

Kind of fortuitous timing, if it weren't for this thread I wouldn't have read that article

[Ensign Steve]

Oh! Update! I found and installed the Internet Channel powered by Opera on our Wii (thanks, Mr. LS!) and I was able to navigate to hulu.com but the page took so damn long to load (likely due to unrelated wireless issues in my home) that I gave up. I haven't tried youtube yet.

[Crumb]

I got the same response from Hulu on my Wii.

[SharonDee]

There's some software you can download that will allow YouTube and Hulu content to be viewed on the Wii. Of course it's not free; are you mad? Apparently there's some little doo-fingy that can't be gotten around without this nifty software.

It came with a trial period but I canceled after two weeks. The broadcast quality of Netflix--or a strong-arm hook-up of my PC to my TV--was so much better than this software that I couldn't justify the $14.95 (?) a month.

If you still want to try these people out, let me know and I'll find out who they were when I get home. And shit.

[Crumb]

[Ensign Steve]

Yeah, looks like my best bet is going to be to just install some cheapo PC and make my own media box. All this time I just thought that gaming consoles were just really good PCs that also play games. Like, seriously, how does the X-box not have IE installed? I'm still in denial about that.

[Crumb]

Security?

[erimir]

Originally Posted by erimir

Hulu is not available on any of the systems, or even the iPad, as far as I know.

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

I was able to navigate to hulu.com but the page took so damn long to load (likely due to unrelated wireless issues in my home) that I gave up.

[Ensign Steve]

I get what you are saying but I still won't believe you until I try it myself especially since 99% of my issue is I want to watch hulu on the big tv. The other 1% is why I wouldn't be happy with a hulu app or channel even if it did exist.

[ChuckF]

at least you got your netflix working

[erimir]

I wouldn't be surprised if part of the issue was that the TV networks behind Hulu would like to keep the barriers to using Hulu for all of your TV watching a little bit higher - watching on your computer, for people who haven't set things up nicely, is still not as nice as watching it when it comes on the network. And I'm sure they'd prefer you watch it on the regular broadcast.

Then again DVRs just fast forward through the commercials anyway.

[Ensign Steve]

Yeah, that's the thing because also I would be willing to put a lot more work into some kind of dedicated device for this if I didn't already have a satellite and DVR and all that crap. Like if this was my sole TV-watching rig, I'd totally supe it up with like a TV card and DVR software and all that shit. Hell at that point I might even be willing to pay for x-box live or hulu plus or netflix or whatever. But I totally already have satellite and all those dedicated devices and I just want this for watching the two or three videos that come on channels that I don't get or whatever.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

supe it up

Oh, I understand why that means that now.

[Ensign Steve]

We set it up so we can easily hook up the laptop to it when we need it. The cables will live there permanently, and we will make a decent spot for it on the component rack if/when we ever get one.




I know, totally boring, but at least this thread saved us spending any money on some shit that I thought would work totally different than it actually does. Thanks for the help, y'all.

[Adam]

How does it handle streaming from your Netflix account?

[Ensign Steve]

[LadyShea]

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