When I get a TV gizmo, the first thing I think is very RuPaul like in nature, and the headline for this Plus sale really reminded me of just that -

"YOU BETTA WERK."

So how well do these work?

Philips SWW1890/27 Wireless HD Net Connect. This Look GOOD , But it will Only Work on Tvs with HDMI Inputs.

Also the Transmitter that attaches to the Back of the Computer if Actually a HDMI Jack and NOT a USB. (You will Need to have a HDMI output on you Video card of you PC).

The Receiver (Plug into Back of HDTV) requires a USB Port in the Back of the HDTV to Power it.
There is also another Model Version here that has A/V Jacks (in the case you dont have HDMI)
Philips SWW1810/27 Wireless HD AV Connect for use with DVDs Bluray Game COnsoles etc.

where are the Rokus??? Of all the times not to put one out there.

ThunderThighs wrote:Everybody complained about too many Rokus and look what happens.

You know, I stayed up 28 of the first 32 hours of the woot! off this week. I was very specifically waiting/looking for a roku, now that I have hulu plus.

I finally went to bed about 8am on the second day of the event, and slept a whole 5 hours. Woot! offered the only Roku of the sale about 2 hours after I finally went to bed. I was ticked, more at myself for giving in to sleep.

I specifically came in here going, 'Oh, maybe they will have a Roku in there. If I am lucky, the $28 refurb'.

I am a very sad panda. If y'all *have* Rokus, seriously, it will not hurt to add them to this.

thespiansmc wrote:You know, I stayed up 28 of the first 32 hours of the woot! off this week. I was very specifically waiting/looking for a roku, now that I have hulu plus.

I finally went to bed about 8am on the second day of the event, and slept a whole 5 hours. Woot! offered the only Roku of the sale about 2 hours after I finally went to bed. I was ticked, more at myself for giving in to sleep.

I specifically came in here going, 'Oh, maybe they will have a Roku in there. If I am lucky, the $28 refurb'.

I am a very sad panda. If y'all *have* Rokus, seriously, it will not hurt to add them to this.

How much is your time worth? Hmmm... [Hourly pay] x [number of hours waiting for a Roku to appear on woot] = ?

I bought one of the Philips SWW1890/27 Wireless HD Net Connect when they were on woot before. So, a couple of things...

First, this is currently $166.49 on Amazon, so $99 on woot is an awesome deal.

Second, and more importantly, this thing works great. It has a dongle that is a little bit bigger than a USB stick -- that plugs into an HDMI port on your laptop, and then there is a short USB cable that is necessary for power that goes into a USB power on your computer and plugs into the dongle too.

Then there is a box that plugs into power near your TV and has an HDMI out that you plug a cable between it and your TV.

Once you do the above -- poof, things just work. No software is needed other than your laptop's existing video card software which already has the ability to either mirror your laptop's display to its HDMI out OR to extend your desktop onto an external display hooked up to your HDMI out. (Well, that is, this all assumes that your laptop has an HDMI out...if it doesn't, you are SOL.)

So, you can throw whatever you are watching on your laptop's screen onto your big flatscreen TV. Sweet! Or, if your laptop is powerful enough to drive a second display, you can sit there hitting F5 in your browser refreshing woot during a woot-off on your laptop's screen while you're displaying something else in your extended desktop on your big flatscreen TV.

Moreover, this thing can be hooked up to more than a laptop. At work we plugged it into HDMI out using an adapter on an iPad and plugged a USB charging cable into the Philips dongle for power -- presto, we were wirelessly transmitting our iPad's screen to a large display across the room.

Both sound and video are transmitted across the HDMI connection.

So far I haven't seen any negatives with this, and I'm debating buying a second one just because I'm sure I can come up with some other good use for it.

mdnorman wrote:How much is your time worth? Hmmm... [Hourly pay] x [number of hours waiting for a Roku to appear on woot] = ?

I work at home; I am a freelance web developer. So it was not like I just sat there chewing my nails, ignoring the plaintive cries of the cat for food, and peeing in a container while I stared at the Woot page screaming CHANGE, DAMN YOU, CHANGE.

At least not until hour 26 or so.

thespiansmc wrote:You know, I stayed up 28 of the first 32 hours of the woot! off this week. I was very specifically waiting/looking for a roku, now that I have hulu plus.

I finally went to bed about 8am on the second day of the event, and slept a whole 5 hours. Woot! offered the only Roku of the sale about 2 hours after I finally went to bed. I was ticked, more at myself for giving in to sleep.

I specifically came in here going, 'Oh, maybe they will have a Roku in there. If I am lucky, the $28 refurb'.

I am a very sad panda. If y'all *have* Rokus, seriously, it will not hurt to add them to this.

Go to www.roku.com, they have a sale on refurbished Roku 2 XD and XS units going on, 25% off.

alan0123 wrote:Philips SWW1890/27 Wireless HD Net Connect. This Look GOOD , But it will Only Work on Tvs with HDMI Inputs.

Also the Transmitter that attaches to the Back of the Computer if Actually a HDMI Jack and NOT a USB. (You will Need to have a HDMI output on you Video card of you PC).

The Receiver (Plug into Back of HDTV) requires a USB Port in the Back of the HDTV to Power it.
There is also another Model Version here that has A/V Jacks (in the case you dont have HDMI)
Philips SWW1810/27 Wireless HD AV Connect for use with DVDs Bluray Game COnsoles etc.

This device won't work with Samsung 8000 series TVs. Bought this last time it came up and have wasted spook much time on it. Tech support tried to be helpful, but I know my stuff and had done everything right, had all necessary specs, and performed more diagnostics than they even knew. The transmitter and receiver connect, but no matter what, the unit showed an incompatible video format. That just wasn't the case. Plugging the computer directly into a HDMI port on the TV worked perfectly.

I wouldn't take a chance if I were you. Also, this works on IR, which means you need direct line of sight from transmitter to receiver.

Bought one of the Nyrius NY-GS3200 5.8GHz 6-Channel Wireless Audio/Video Sender Transmitter & Receiver System would return it if I could picture and sound quality like a POS. Barely can get to send 50 ft. much less 400 ft. NOT WORTH THE POWDER TO BLOW IT TO HELLO.

Bluefox311 wrote:Bought one of the Nyrius NY-GS3200 5.8GHz 6-Channel Wireless Audio/Video Sender Transmitter & Receiver System would return it if I could picture and sound quality like a POS. Barely can get to send 50 ft. much less 400 ft. NOT WORTH THE POWDER TO BLOW IT TO HELLO.

I'm contemplating getting one for my high rise condo. Video was that bad? It would be transmitting probably a good 60-70 feet away and around a corner + couple walls. Reviews on amazon are mostly positive. Have you tried the Tek?

tbgolladay wrote:Go to www.roku.com, they have a sale on refurbished Roku 2 XD and XS units going on, 25% off.

I am afraid I need more than that. I only see the new ones in their shopping area. I have no interest or need in state of the art; as I mentioned I was watching for the $29 last gen one.

alan0123 wrote:Philips SWW1890/27 Wireless HD Net Connect. This Look GOOD , But it will Only Work on Tvs with HDMI Inputs.

Also the Transmitter that attaches to the Back of the Computer if Actually a HDMI Jack and NOT a USB. (You will Need to have a HDMI output on you Video card of you PC).

The Receiver (Plug into Back of HDTV) requires a USB Port in the Back of the HDTV to Power it.
There is also another Model Version here that has A/V Jacks (in the case you dont have HDMI)
Philips SWW1810/27 Wireless HD AV Connect for use with DVDs Bluray Game COnsoles etc.

I thought I'd correct one thing about this. The receiver part that plugs into the back of your TV does NOT require a USB for power -- it has its own power cord and requires a regular 110 outlet to plug into.

mschauber wrote:This device won't work with Samsung 8000 series TVs. Bought this last time it came up and have wasted spook much time on it. Tech support tried to be helpful, but I know my stuff and had done everything right, had all necessary specs, and performed more diagnostics than they even knew. The transmitter and receiver connect, but no matter what, the unit showed an incompatible video format. That just wasn't the case. Plugging the computer directly into a HDMI port on the TV worked perfectly.

I wouldn't take a chance if I were you. Also, this works on IR, which means you need direct line of sight from transmitter to receiver.

Two things on this -- first, this does NOT work on IR and does NOT need direct line of sight from transmitter to receiver. This operates on a 5 GHz radio signal, much like a cordless phone signal. It works fine in a closed cabinet.

Second, I am using this with a Samsung UN65C8000 TV (a Samsung 8000 series), and it works fine. Now, I am using it through my A/V receiver which all of my other components route through. I have the HDMI out of the Philips receiver plugged into my A/V receiver, and then I have the HDMI out of my A/V receiver plugged into my TV. It all works great.

So coming late to the this discussion, and not up on the latest and greatest technologies to get your TV and PC and iPad to talk to one another....

do I need all these devices? What's the best cost-effective way to set up my new home with wifi, video and music sharing?

by cost-effective i mean I don't want to spend more than I have to but am willing to make a solid investment if it means I don't need to change anything for at least 5 years

I bought the Wireless HD Net Connect when it was last on Tech.Woot. I like it. It was perhaps a bit much, but it is very convenient.

The Wireless HD Net Connect really is nothing more than a wireless HDMI bridge. It won't connect your TV to the internet, it won't give you free Netflix, it doesn't strictly need a USB port except to power the transmitter. It doesn't need drivers or hardware beyond what you would need to run an HDMI cable from your computer(or game console!) to your TV. It does basically what an ordinary HDMI cable does, it just does it without wires at a range of 27 feet.(It does also come with a 3-foot HDMI cable to connect the receiver to the TV, in case you needed an extra.)

The transmitter is a bit wide. On my laptop, it blocks the USB port next to my HDMI port, which means that it actually consumes two USB ports: one that's blocked, and one to power the transmitter. The receiver automatically goes into "sleep" mode after a few minutes once you disconnect the transmitter, and it will wake itself up again when you plug it back in again. If you don't have a monitor connected to the receiver, your laptop will not detect a monitor connected, it really is just a wireless bridge.(Think with portals.)

The transmitter gets very hot during normal use. This is normal, and not really anything to worry about, but maybe keep flamable things away from it.

Though the connection is fantastic for watching video, it should be noted that if you're going to try playing games, there is a very slight, but perceptible, lag induced by the wireless transmission, so if you're playing reflex-based games, you're going to get thrown off.

Bought a second one today.