New Source of TV While on the Road

[Healeyman]

We've Had Dish Network Sat TV in the house for over 20 years.

Years ago, I'd take a spare dish and the home receiver and go through the pains of setting that up (aiming the dish) so that we would have more than the, wherever we were, local channels.

That was such a PITA that we almost totally stopped watching TV at all.

A couple of years ago after we both got new Samsung S8+ phones, I installed the "Dish Anywhere" app. At least then I could watch some TV programs on the small phone screen.

About a year ago, I got a long HDMI cord so that I could pipe video from my laptop to the TV. That was better.

A couple of weeks ago, it struck me "See if you can pipe video from our phone to the TV". I went to Amazon and bought a $12 cable that plugs into my phone and to an HDMI cable.

The cable just got here, so I plugged my phone into the HDMI and into the Living room TV. I loaded the Dish app. and BINGO! I got a bright, clear, full screen image, and sound, on the TV.

Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE, can access our home Dish Receiver to see any Dish programming LIVE or anything that we have recorded on the receiver's DVR. The phone DOES charge while plugged into the TV.

This is sure gonna beat having to buy a Sat dish and mess with the programming and dealing with changes to the Dish account.

We go out in the RV next weekend. I can't wait.

Tim

[Healeyman]

ReneeG wrote:
Uhh, no, we cast at home all the time from our Samsung phones to our Samsung Smart TV without that adapter.

OK, great... HOW do you do it? I'll send my $12 cable back.

Tim

[ReneeG]

Healeyman wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
What about casting from your phone to the TV? If you have a smart TV you can do this and no cable needed.

According to Samsung, one needs a $36 "Miracast" adapter in order to wirelessly connect the phone to the TV.

The adapter plugs into the phone then (probably Wi-Fi) connects to the TV.

I already had the HDMI cable and only spent $12 for the generic (NOT Samsung) dongle.

[urlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-NbkMwSam4]This video is Exactly what I am doing.

Uhh, no, we cast at home all the time from our Samsung phones to our Samsung Smart TV without that adapter.

[Healeyman]

ReneeG wrote:
What about casting from your phone to the TV? If you have a smart TV you can do this and no cable needed.

According to Samsung, one needs a $36 "Miracast" adapter in order to wirelessly connect the phone to the TV.

The adapter plugs into the phone then (probably Wi-Fi) connects to the TV.

I already had the HDMI cable and only spent $12 for the generic (NOT Samsung) dongle.

This video clip is exactly what I am doing.

[RobWNY]

How are you going to watch TV when you reach your plans unlimited threshold and the speed gets throttled? Probably not an issue if you don't watch a lot of TV or you're weekend warriors but if you are a snowbird or full timer, You'll use a lot of data over the course of a month streaming TV. The average amount of data used each month watching TV or streaming a service is 180Gb. You need a minimum speed of 3 Megabits per second to stream video. At what point does your unlimited plan throttle you and is it still a minimum of 3 Megabits per second while throttled? The typicle 600 Kb throttled speed isn't going to allow streaming anything.

[2oldman]

Healeyman wrote:
Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE, can access our home Dish Receiver to see any Dish programming LIVE or anything that we have recorded on the receiver's DVR.

As long as you don't get throttled that will be great.

I actually kinda like setting up a dish. Just part of the camping chores and I'm pretty good at it.

[ReneeG]

What about casting from your phone to the TV? If you have a smart TV you can do this and no cable needed.

[Ron3rd]

Good job, thanks for the info.