Smart TVs?

Colleges and Universities University of Alabama
#1

<p>All, before I call the UA Technical Help Desk for my D, I thought I'd ask the CC "knowledgebase" first.</p>

<p>All went extremely smooth with Ds move in on Saturday except one technical item.</p>

<p>We had purchased her a Smart-Tv as an alternative to getting a TV + DVD, etc. so that she can watch Netflix, etc. without messing with cords and plugging in her laptop, etc.</p>

<p>So, there is a "chicken & egg" issue with the setup of the Smart-Tv (Sony Google Tv variety). All devices connecting to the UA network need to be "registered" with students user-id and password through a browser before being allowed access to the network, right? Simple enough. However, the setup "wizard" on the TV wants to connect to the network FIRST (before allowing access to a browser) so that it can download firmware and software updates, etc.</p>

<p>So, you guessed it ... cannot register ... so no network access ... so no completion of the set up wizard. Argh!</p>

<p>I called Sony's help desk and got a marginally helpful explanation about routers and proxy servers, etc. :-)</p>

<p>Anyway, my question to the group is has anyone had any experience getting a Smart-Tv or other similar device up and running on the UA network?</p>

<p>Any assistance would be appreciated. Otherwise, I'll be giving the Help Desk a call later on today.</p>

#2

<p>^^^ Just to add, I thought that there might be similar issues with other network connected devices that are more appliances / consoles, like XBOX, Playstations, etc. that all connect directly to the network as well, and would need to somehow be authenticated.</p>

#3

<p>You lost me at "smart TV". Didn't know they exist! My dad used to call it the "idiot box". LOL</p>

#4

<p>This answer may or may not be helpful, as I'm not positive on all the details. D registered her Smart TV on her laptop. You don't have to have the TV or Blu-Ray online for it to be registered. It took her a little while to find the MAC code to put in, but once she found that, it was easy to register. Also, there's no option for Smart TVs or Blu-Rays. You need to register those as a game console. Once she got the TV going, it did have to go through a firmware update which took quite a while, but once it was done, voila, they were watching Scrubs on Netflix. Oh, and she didn't try to do it via the Wi-Fi. She used an ethernet cable. Hope that helps!</p>

#5

<p>Rose808 ... that is WONDERFUL news! I was hoping that was the case. I had found a posting about how to register a game console, so I was hoping that there was no difference. I'll work on how to find the MAC Address, and then she should be all set! Thanks for the help!</p>

#6

<p>You lost me at "smart TV".</p>

<p>LOL! That was moi until a few weeks ago, when a consultant gave a presentation at my workplace re XBox Live etc. It was an eye-opener for this luddite! Ask your kids about creating avatars on XBox Live for virtual meetings / conversations. Ask about virtual skateboarding (much safer than the real thing).</p>

<p>It's a whole new world. My only fear is that it will keep kids indoors too much...and they're already indoors too much!</p>

<p>(Meanwhile, we just got our first cellphones. Maybe we'll upgrade to a smartphone sometime before DS graduates.)</p>

#7

<p>My grandmother always called it "the boob tube".</p>