Do you know what you can do with your tv?

I always have friends and family saying to me that a friend told them that they can do this or that with their TV or DVD or Tbox, and I think "Yeah" that's easy.
There is so much you can do with your devices and gadgets these days in the way of linking them up or watching different types of media on them.
I hear people say " I want to get a smart TV", so I ask them what is it they actually want to do with the smart TV, sometimes all they want to do is catch up on missed TV shows or watch You Tube!.

Basically the TVs we have these days are a massive computer monitor with a built in TV tuner, and they come with a multitude of connections on the back, we all have a DVD player or some sort of box hooked up, whether it be a Foxtell box, a Tbox, or a set top box. A lot of people aren't aware, but most of the devices these days come with a network connection (RJ45, your normal network lead) and also usually have a USB plug, a HDMI plug and sometimes even a card reader slot. Did you know you can use the USB input on your devices to plug in your USB drive and look at photos or watch movies that are on the drive, and the same for card readers. Some TVs you can even put a USB drive in and record TV programs to it. Ocassionally the USB slot may only be to perform Software updates, but this not very common.

Another great option is that if your DVD player has a network input, you are normally able to access the Internet and places like You Tube and watch them on your TV. If your DVD is plugged into your home router, it becomes part of your home network and you can access computers on that network and watch clips and movies that are on them!. All that is involved is to enable home network sharing on your computers,  that allows the DVD to see the movies or clips on the other devices.

Something else that is very easy to do, is to connect a laptop to your TV, most laptops have a HDMI out put and most TVs and a HDMI input, so just connect the two and suddenly your big screen tv is now your big screen computer, I have an old laptop under my DVD I set it so it wont go to sleep with the lid shut, and have a wireless keyboard and mouse that sits under my coffee table!. To easy!
Your DVD and/or box will have an HDMI output as well, it all depends how many devices you are connecting as to which leads you use for which.

HDMI port

HDMI Cables

Don't be fooled or conned into buying big dollar HDMI cables, its not like the old days where dearer cables were better quality than cheap ones. Have a good search around online and only pay somewhere around the $10 mark for a cable instead of the $30-$40 that some people tell you that you need. Of course it the cable is a really long one, the price will be dearer.

 Windows 7 has a great function of seeking out other windows7 devices on the network and sharing between them, you will find it under "Homegroup" in the control panel or just type Homegroup into the run box. This makes sharing things from any computer to your laptop that is connected to your TV very easy.

Of course there are a lot of products out there specifically designed for sharing and transmitting media over your network, Or getting Internet to your TV, but before you rush out and spend your hard earned money, have a good look at the connections on the back of your device and explore your options. If you are not sure don't be afraid to ask, or like I always say, just type into google exactly what you are thinking, and see what it comes up with.