Want to stream Netflix movies from computer to TV

Hi,

We have an old CRT TV that we tried to set up one night to watch a Netflix instant view movie. We discovered that it wouldn't work -- and I found something online about needing a "modern TV" which I take to mean LCD. We're thinking this has something to do with Netflix, since we could see the computer desktop on our TV but the movie would not show once we pressed play. So, we are starting to look at buying a new Modern TV -- maybe something like Samsung LN46A650.

My question is -- will it be super easy to hook up to the computer and watch Netflix movies? Is it just a matter of buying the HDMI cable that I've seen mentioned in various forums? Has anybody done this with Netflix and found that it works great? or had any problems? I don't want to invest in a new TV and it just be a big PITA to do this.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!


EDIT****************************************************************

Or maybe we should just look into getting Roku?

last time i tried this on an old computer and an old tv was quite a while back, but at the time i had an ATI radeon (9200 or so), i remember you had to enable "theater mode" in the advanced video card settings.

rather than investing in a new tv, the Roku box does netflix, and so does the Xbox 360.

how bout getting a ROKU? it'a a box you hook up to the TV. I get netflix movies thru it but you need a wireless router

I was just looking at the Roku after looking through the Netflix forums! I think that might just be the ticket!

I just did a speed test --- 14413 kbps dpwnload 2764 kbps upload -- should mean our broadband is fast enough, yes? although I guess the wireless might make it slower....

your broadband is plenty fast (you're already able to stream on your pc now right?) and wireless shouldnt impact the roku too much, depending on where the wireless router is in relation to the roku.

also remember, the xbox 360 is only $100 more than the roku, and has infinitely more functions.

Quote from formulanerd : your broadband is plenty fast (you're already able to stream on your pc now right?) and wireless shouldnt impact the roku too much, depending on where the wireless router is in relation to the roku. also remember, the xbox 360 is only $100 more than the roku, and has infinitely more functions.

We're not gamers -- so we're not sure what the xbox 360 would offer us. What extra things does it have that people love?

Quote from formulanerd : last time i tried this on an old computer and an old tv was quite a while back, but at the time i had an ATI radeon (9200 or so), i remember you had to enable "theater mode" in the advanced video card settings. rather than investing in a new tv, the Roku box does netflix, and so does the Xbox 360.

I agree with the diagnoses of your video out settings are incorrect.

Quote from fabulousyellow : We're not gamers -- so we're not sure what the xbox 360 would offer us. What extra things does it have that people love?

How about Windows Media Center? Doubles as a Media Center Extender...which you can use to watch movies etc from your computer, play back movie..etc. Personally..I use it for streaming stuff off my network HDD..music and movies etc. in addition to NetFlix.

I have an HTPC that I cobbled together out of old PC parts. I'm using the s-video out connector to hook to my CRT TV. It works fine, although you may need to change your Netflix account to use the Microsoft Silverlight player instead of the older original one that you can only use in IE. I had to do so due to DRM issues w/ the old player causing the video not to be output to the TV.

A word of warning tho - I've read quite a few complaints about the quality of the Silverlight player not being as good as with the original one. Once you switch to use it, you cannot switch back. I don't know why... anyway, good luck

I watch netflix on my old (circa 1998) TV through my computer all the time. If you can see the other computer stuff on the screen but not the movie it is probably the settings for your video card.

With mine I go into the NVIDEA control panel>video and television>modify full-screen video options. It then lets me choose to only see video on the computer screen (maybe the setting yours is on?) or to see it full screen on the TV. You may have something similar with your settings if you look around a bit.

Quote from TheWoman : I watch netflix on my old (circa 1998) TV through my computer all the time. If you can see the other computer stuff on the screen but not the movie it is probably the settings for your video card. With mine I go into the NVIDEA control panel>video and television>modify full-screen video options. It then lets me choose to only see video on the computer screen (maybe the setting yours is on?) or to see it full screen on the TV. You may have something similar with your settings if you look around a bit.

Thanks for the tip TheWoman However, I saw my desktop and everything on the TV. The video settings were correct - it's just, when I went to kick off an instant-play movie, the Netflix site and player would load up, but instead of a movie there would be a dark purple box. The movie would be playing on the computer screen though. Some Googling led me to believe that this was due to DRM restrictions preventing the video from being transferred via the s-video cable, since that is one way people can bypass copy protection and make an analog recording of it. However, in order for it to functionally block the video, the device that it's connected to would need to be recent enough to understand the DRM protocols and know not to display the output. One workaround that was suggested was to uninstall the ATI video driver, since that's where the DRM protection is being enforced/generated. I tried that, but I couldn't figure out how to get the video to output to the TV using the drivers that XP provided for my ATI card.

In the end, using the Silverlight player fixed my issue. But at what cost (quality, reliability, etc) remains to be seen.

Edit: As I'm researching, I'm finding out that Netflix is eventually going to be moving ALL accounts to the Silverlight player. If you're a new account or you renewed your membership after a cancellation, you're automatically opted-in to use the Silverlight player instead of the Windows Media Player activex one. So, the issues w/ the player that I'm reading should be resolved soon if they aren't already. One major drawback that I'm seeing is that Netflix sort of implemented this behind the scenes and out of the blue, and a lot of software developers that interact with Netflix (PlayOn, SageTV, etc) were either unaware or not yet ready for the change, and so they had to scramble to update their software... leaving a lot of people in the dark. Anyway, I'm not yet sure where any of this stands as of today.

I suppose the bottom line here is don't make the switch to the Silverlight player if you don't have to - at least not until you're forced to, unless you already have been There's NO way to reverse the change.

X360 requires a GL subscription to use Netflix. I did it once, works fine. Some new dvd recorders can also do it, free.

I only have 1.5mbs, but used several connections to download stuff & at the same time I could still play Netflix. A little fuzzy, but it works, so you don't need a lot of speed.

No captions on films other than foreign ones (subs).

You need to do one of two things. Either setup the tv as the second monitor (a separate desktop, not simply reproducing exactly what you see on your regular monitor), and send the netflix app to that display. Or set the tv as the primary display. Your video card won't allow you to watch netflix on multiple monitors, it will only show on the monitor that is the primary monitor.

Quote from fabulousyellow : Hi, We have an old CRT TV that we tried to set up one night to watch a Netflix instant view movie. We discovered that it wouldn't work -- and I found something online about needing a "modern TV" which I take to mean LCD. We're thinking this has something to do with Netflix, since we could see the computer desktop on our TV but the movie would not show once we pressed play. So, we are starting to look at buying a new Modern TV -- maybe something like Samsung LN46A650. My question is -- will it be super easy to hook up to the computer and watch Netflix movies? Is it just a matter of buying the HDMI cable that I've seen mentioned in various forums? Has anybody done this with Netflix and found that it works great? or had any problems? I don't want to invest in a new TV and it just be a big PITA to do this. Thanks in advance for your suggestions! EDIT**************************************************************** Or maybe we should just look into getting Roku?

To get netflix on the tv, you need a way to get video OUT of the computer, and INTO the tv.
There's different kinds of video OUT. You already have the out of computer and into monitor with your video cable, it's either blue plug vga or white plug dvi.
If you want to show video on a tv, then you either have to have one of the different tv OUT type plugs on your computer, or, one of the kinds of video IN plugs on your tv.
My tv has the blue vga, the white dvi, it also has the little hdmi, and it has a couple older kinds, composite and component. They are all different sizes and shapes of plugs. My tv is a pretty new fancy LCD 47" that has a lot of plugs as you can imagine.
My laptop has the blue vga and it also has the older svga video out plugs. My Tv has the vga, but, it doesn't have the svga.
My computer here has both blue vga and white dvi plugs, so I can use either, and the white dvi is digital, so it will have a better picture.
You can convert many types of video plugs with adapters. They have DVI to VGA and DVI to hdmi and others.
So, the trick is, you need to be able to get a computer with plugs the tv can use, a tv with plugs the computer can use, or, adapters.
Getting sound to work with the video is USUALLY a little easier.
HDMI cables can do both video and sound. Then there's digital sound which looks like an old rca phono jack, then there's non-digital stereo sound which looks like the same cable, but, there's 2 of them.
HDMI is the good stuff these days. DVI and digital sound are the same quality basically, but, they are less convenient because they are still 2 seperate cables.
If you go out and buy a new computer, you'll want white plug dvi or hdmi. If you get a tv or home theatre type device, you'll want hdmi if available and within budget.