You Tube/Smart TV Frustration

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by runnermom

You can connect Ipads & Iphones to TV's with the apple digital AV adapter and a HDMI cable. Lame, I know.

So is this a cable with the HDMI on one end and the lightning connector on the other? Or is it some special apple device?

[runnermom]

It's this thing http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD...tal-av-adapter. It has a lightning adapter on one end with a HDMI port on the other.
I have the apple adapter- I tried a non-apple adapter and it wouldn't work for me. That is the lame part!

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by runnermom

It's this thing http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD...tal-av-adapter. It has a lightning adapter on one end with a HDMI port on the other.
I have the apple adapter- I tried a non-apple adapter and it wouldn't work for me. That is the lame part!

The reviews on the apple site say that the adaptor is a piece of junk. It's a no-buy for me. I will look into options for using my Android phone or Kindle Fire.

[Pratima]

A couple of things that have helped me--powerline adaptors and mirroring. Our Sony Blu-Ray players can "mirror" devices such as our phones. Check if your TV will do that--you could then play whatever from your iPad and it will display on the TV.

A powerline adapter uses your house's electrical wiring to extend your network. They're really simple to set up and result in a better signal than wifi. We have a big house, and the modem is in the worst place possible (upstairs in my office in a corner of the house). The downstairs main TV has a powerline and generally works quite well.

[ellaenchanted]

The youtube app does this a lot and I don't know why they don't fix it. For youtube, I connect my laptop directly to the TV via HDMI cable. All my other apps work fine; I watch hours of Netflix and Amazon Prime without a hitch.

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by Pratima

A couple of things that have helped me--powerline adaptors and mirroring. Our Sony Blu-Ray players can "mirror" devices such as our phones. Check if your TV will do that--you could then play whatever from your iPad and it will display on the TV.

A powerline adapter uses your house's electrical wiring to extend your network. They're really simple to set up and result in a better signal than wifi. We have a big house, and the modem is in the worst place possible (upstairs in my office in a corner of the house). The downstairs main TV has a powerline and generally works quite well.

My computer guy set up another wifi network so I could play youtube in my basement. I played a video down there with no trouble over the weekend. I have been getting the freezing and "loading" message in the guest room which is kind of far away from my modem. Although I thought he had set up a repeater a few years ago so I could read my ipad in my bedroom which is even further away from the modem.
I thought I tried mirroring on the guest room TV and it gave me a message that it did not recognize my ipad. Maybe that is because I did not use an HDMI cable. I am so confused!

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by horsemom2

Maybe a Chromecast will solve your problem.
I copied and pasted this for you:
While many smart TV platforms come with these services installed, Chromecast takes the pain of navigating warren-like menus out of the smart TV experience. You search for what you want to watch on your phone or tablet, find it, hit the TV icon and it’s casted to the big screen.

Barb S

I was thinking about this too. Thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it.

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by ellaenchanted

The youtube app does this a lot and I don't know why they don't fix it. For youtube, I connect my laptop directly to the TV via HDMI cable. All my other apps work fine; I watch hours of Netflix and Amazon Prime without a hitch.

I was also thinking of doing this. I have a laptop that I don't use much even though using it for videos was one reason why I purchased it. I would have to get a HDMI cable with a usb at the other end to plug into my laptop, right?

I specifically purchased a smart tv so I wouldn't have to connect another device or use a Chromecast or Roku. Same thing for the BluRay player downstairs. Although the youtube on the BluRay player seems to be working OK now or at least it did over the weekend.
However I still cannot select a specific video that I have saved on my playlists. I have to scroll through the ones in the order I saved them. It is easier than before but not seamless IMO.

Thanks for the help everyone!