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Newbie here - need help with TV/Computer

Discussion in 'Digital TV - United States & Canada' started by chrob61, Sep 5, 2014.

  1. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    Hi everyone, I am hoping that coming in to this forum will help me.

    Here's my situation:

    For starters, my home desktop PC (Dell inspiron from around 2003/2004) is using Windows XP, and I intend on getting a new desktop PC soon.

    I have a Samsung Smart TV in my living room. I recently had my cable company install a wifi modem to my office PC (the outdated XP desktop). I have the Samsung wireless keyboard that I use on my Smart TV in my living room.

    I ran a speed test on my internet connectivity on the Smart TV. It reads about 12 MB download speed. My cable speed is at 15 MB. I called my cable company to see if maybe I can get an upgrade to the 30 MB speed, so I am trying that. When the technician came out, he upgraded my speed. In my office, where the router is, the speed has indeed increased to about 30 MB. The problem I am experiencing however, is that my "Smart" TV in the living room is still pulling about a 12 MB reading. To me, this defeats the purpose of having this type of TV, since when I go to places like youtube, the dreading buffering is constantly pausing my videos.

    So making a long story short, if I want to watch any videos, I need to be sitting in my uncomfortable office set up.

    The bottom line is I want to have the faster speed, on my living room TV, where it's more comfortable.

    What are the recommendations of the group? Remember, I will need to get a new computer anyway since my Windows XP is on borrowed time (I am using Chrome as my browser as a stop-gap measure).

    Thanks everyone for reading my story, and any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!!
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    find out in the specs of the tv what the max download speed is supposed to be. i presume the net connection to the tv is wireless or is it wired?
     
  3. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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  4. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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  5. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    I did the speed test while I was on my web browser. I did the wide open west (my cable company) speed test. I have got a cable going in to my DVR that connects to the back of the TV. I don't think I got a wireless adapter. My wifi signal is coming from my modem in my office. Thank you for your feedback, I would really like to get my speed issue resolved.

    The cable guy from WOW indicated that even though the signal travels through a wall, there shouldn't be any degradation in signal strength.
     
  6. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    according to that link i posted, that tv does not have wifi so you must have an eternet cable coming from the modem router unit, is that correct?
     
  7. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    The link you posted was for the 50" screen, mine is 55". Perhaps the specs are the same. My modem in my office has an ethernet connection in the back. In fact, there are 4 connections on it, I am only using the one.

    To be honest, I think my TV has some form of wifi built in, but I remember having the router changed at about the same time as buying the TV. Perhaps I can do a check. Maybe disconnect my ethernet cord on my office modem and try to get online in my living room.
     
  8. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    Hello everyone- here is an update on my issue.

    When I disconnected my office modem, then tried to get online on my Samsung TV in the living room, I got a disconnection message. I think that means that I am relying on that modem for my internet access.

    So I called my internet provider, who is going to send out to me a "repeater" that plugs into the wall in my living room which will pick up the wifi signal.

    Also, when I asked him about what channel is being picked up on the wifi modem, he indicated that there are 11 different channels that searches for signal strength and he switched me over from just channel 11 to auto, which searches for all the channels. So, when this repeater device comes in the mail, I'll try that out.
     
  9. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    Here is another update.

    The wireless repeater didn't work properly, so a tech from my internet provider came out and replaced it. He got it to the 30 MB speed on both my computer and on his laptop in my living room. When I ran the test on my smart TV it only came up to around 3 MB. So he told me to contact Samsung.

    I called Samsung this morning, and found that my internet connection was "unstable" so they emailed me a link on downloading the latest firmware via USB. I updated my firmware on the TV, but still slow speed.

    After calling back to Samsung, they said that the web browser only has so much CPU for video buffering, that if I wanted to use youtube for watching videos, I am better off using the app that comes with the TV. So now I am updating the Samsung apps on my TV as I type this message. Problem on the youtube app, is that I can't use my wireless keyboard, all the commands have to be through the remote control.

    That's all for now. Thanks to all for taking time to read about my problems.
     
  10. chrob61

    chrob61 Member

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    Latest update- I purchased an Ethernet cable to connect from the back of my modem in my office to the back of my Samsung smart TV. It has a LAN connection on the back panel. So now my connection is "wired" instead of wireless.

    I got my speed up to around 30 MB but a problem occurred in my web browser while on youtube. The screen went black and I had to restore my previous connection. It seems (according to the Samsung service person) that the TV only has so much internal processing speed, that it will allow me to view youtube through my web browser for about 5-8 minutes before this "blackout" occurs.

    So I guess I've tried just about all I can. Does anyone have any suggestions at this point? Thank you.
     
  11. tongs007

    tongs007 Active member

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    get an android box or raspberry pi, make your smart tv even smarter especially with the likes of xbmc
     

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