Replace Samsung TV with smart tv?

[tschambo]

We just bought a new 2017 30' twin flying cloud in April and are living in it full time. We were unaware that we can pick up local channels over the air and already ordered the King tailgater for Dish. After 1 1/2 months of Dish we are disappointed. So packed up the Satellite and opted for an unlimited data plan instead. Internet signal at RV park is too weak. So I have the Dishnet hopper still connected to the Samsung tv that came with the coach and bought a Netgear Dish Network Wifi Adapter kit. Then I run the internet through my iPhone hotspot. This works but is such a pain. I have to Reenter my password every time I want to watch Netflix. Sometimes it just drops and the Dishnet hopper reboots. I'm thinking my Tv is not smart enough or should I disconnect the hopper completely but then where do I plug in the Netgear? I can't plug anything into th tv because it is mounted on the wall. No arm. Next question. If I want to replace the tv how do I get it off the wall? I'm sure with unlimited data plans more readily available there have to be others with this problem. I really got the unlimited plan mainly for our phones and iPads since internet a the RV park is painfully slow. Since we have it I would like to run Netflix and Amazon Prime which is not available at all on the Samsung.so new smart tv, roku, Apple TV or what? Any suggestions?

[lsbrodsky]

I put a ROKU TV in and am happy with it. There is a thread about the install, but it was a simple job. Almost anything is more capable than the Samsung AS installed.
Larry

[uncle_bob]

Hi

First off "unlimited" plans are anything but unlimited. They have a data cap and when you run over, you get throttled. The speed you go down to is useless for video. Even with the unlimited stuff, if congestion hits, down goes the speed. Full video takes a *lot* of data. Watch a couple of nice movies and you have used your "unlimited" data plan for the month.

A BluRay will feed you 18GB per hour. Unlimited may mean 10GB per device. At BluRay quality you get a half hour. YouTube video runs about 3 GB per hour. Your per device cap is good for a bit over 3 hours at that rate. Yes, compression does matter. You probably can double the "time limit" without it looking to awful. At 5 or 10 to one, you *will* notice the effects.

So simple answer, no it's not really the TV that is the problem. It's the data "pipe" into the TV. To upgrade the "smarts" you are better off getting a Roku or FireTV than to replace the TV. None of the small screen TV's get the same level of same super level of smarts as their big brothers.

Bob

[Mollysdad]

No matter how "smart" the TV is, it's only as good as the wi-fi connection.
Dumb TVs can have Roku, Sling TV, Apple TV, and a myriad of devices added, all intended to provide TV without the cable.
And then there's always the antenna (gasp!) which can grab many channels of free TV from low power DTV stations. They require a city big enough to have stations.
There's no perfect system.........I like books.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

.........I like books.

Hi

A bin full of BluRays rotated each trip works pretty well as a book supplement if you have kids who just *must* have video.

Bob

[NorCal Matt]

Your TV is fed from near your BluRay player. You can plug something else in to it by plugging it into the hdmi cable there. We put in an HDMI splitter so we can watch the Apple TV or BluRay from either TV. I'm not sure how your systems work, but I'm assuming they are hdmi. We have yet to receive a signal from the round style antenna when we are camping, so it's nice to have options.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Chugging around on the east coast, we have been able to get at least one off the air channel each place we have set up. I'll admit that I find that a bit amazing. Past checking the news / weather at breakfast, we didn't really do much TV watching any of those times. The antenna is just the stock "flying saucer" that AS puts on the trailer.

Bob

[Tomhenritze]

I do something similar to norcalmatt. In my 2017 27 international, the hdmi switch is underneath the box holding the DVD player. It is a simple 1x2 switch meaning DVD in, both tvs out. I replaced it with a 4x2 hdmi switch. So I can stream dish, appletv, DVD, other to each tv independently.

[dmbecke]

How are you streaming tv with the slow camp ground internet connections?

[Hikia]

I have been going back and forth with this question on how to watch my TV in the evenings without internet, cable, hoppers or DVD's. I have found that if I log into Netflix at home or while I'm in wifi I can download all the TV Shows, Movies or Discovery Channel I want onto my memory stick from my laptop then plug my stick into my TV and watch my selected movies etc without wifi, cable or cords.

I can't capture my favorite Lester Holt Nightly News but I can fall asleep to my favorite BBC National Parks episode.

[cazual6]

Simple answer is to get one of the suggested items or more if you want:

1. Amazon FireStick (recommended)
2. AppleTV
3. Roku

Anyone of those three will turn any TV into a TV with apps or "SmartTV".

The other part to your question will be dependent on WiFi signal strength AND speed.

There is a whole thread just for that.

[Jwestman]

We've got the 2012 Flying Cloud which was built in 2011. The coax in and out is in the wall under the dinette. There is no coax in up with the blu ray splitter. Anyone figure out a way to get coax up into that cabinet in order to use a splitter for the satellite system?

[tschambo]

Yes we were surprised how many local channels we can pick up with this antenna. The old fashioned crank up antenna on our truck camper doesn't pick up anything.
I like books too and that's fine in the summer but in the fall and winter on the Pacific north coast books are just not enough to get through all the rain.

[tschambo]

Yes I installed a splitter too to add the receiver for Dish. Got Dosj to work but now Blursy won't work. Just have to play around with it I guess. Pushing buttons is what I'm good at ��

[tschambo]

Blursy equals blue ray, dang.

[tschambo]

That might be a solution. I have good wifi at work and have my laptop download. Just need to figure out how to make the memory stick work with the tv. I think I just need to completely disconnect the dish receiver. It seems to interfere.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Consider: From any source I'm aware of, pulling 10 hours of video off the internet will take 10 hours. They only feed it to you just so fast. Coming up with week's worth of TV watching will take quite a while. It's essentially the same issue you run into in a lot of video work, it takes longer to do stuff than you might think.

Bob