"Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?
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TL/DR: Recommend to me a DVB-C receiver that can also stream Netflix, for a price of less than a full TV.
I'm looking for a good DVB-C receiver for my mom's old TV which only has an analog cable tuner built in. As featured in this post, it's a pretty old dumb TV, a Philips LC370WX1-SL04, old enough that google didn't even give me a manual / spec sheet for it other than a page from a panel reseller, but I'm assuming a lack of logo implies a lack of DVB-C tuner.
The current cable TV provider will turn off the analog signal soon, so I need an upgrade path to digital cable. Now, you could say "that thing is stone age, get her a newer TV", but I'm not a fan of replacing things just because they're old if they're still working. And while newer TVs feature things like 4K resolutions, the cable TV isn't going to be that resolution for the foreseeable future anyway. In fact, even for the digital signal, half of the channels are still in SD. In $current_year!
So the TV is still good enough for that.Now, if I'm buying some kind of set-top box anyway, it would be nice to get something modern that you also can install video streaming apps on. I'm paying for Netflix anyway, so she might as well share my account for that. And, as mentioned in the linked post, the stupid Samsung BD player that's hooked up to the TV has internet connectivity and "apps" but can't do that anyway.
Unfortunately, googling for such a thing hasn't been successful.
The price range for DVB-C receivers seems to be between €30 for low-end basic models and €100+ for receivers with storage for DVR and internet connectivity. But "internet connectivity" seems to mean anything from "a weather app" to "use the public TV channel's media library", but not actually streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
One particularly shitty page I found compared 14 receivers and in the general text mentioned that "internet connectivity for Amazon, Netflix, etc." would be advantageous, but didn't actually mention that as a feature on any of the listed receivers.
Also, I guess getting an Amazon fire TV stick separately would kind of solve the problem. But the TV only has one HDMI port and sharing that between the soon needed receiver and the existing BD player (rarely used, however) is going to be annoying enough.
Any recommendations? Does such a thing even exist, or is all hardware equally shitty in that regard?
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@topspin Roku doesn't do this for you?
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@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
The current cable TV provider will turn off the analog signal soon, so I need an upgrade path to digital cable.
Doesn't the provider offer a digital cable box?
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@loopback0 said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
The current cable TV provider will turn off the analog signal soon, so I need an upgrade path to digital cable.
Doesn't the provider offer a digital cable box?
Hey no trolling in help.
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@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
Now, you could say "that thing is stone age, get her a newer TV", but I'm not a fan of replacing things just because they're old if they're still working. And while newer TVs feature things like 4K resolutions, the cable TV isn't going to be that resolution for the foreseeable future anyway.
You don't have to go for an 80" 4k curved OLED or anything; there are affordable 1080p and even 720p sets available.
Anyway I don't know what digital cable is like in Europe, but from what I know in North America it's all encrypted and you have to get a box from the cable provider. You can get unencrypted OTA digital broadcasts, and the tuner for that is fairly common even in cheap TVs.
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@Gribnit said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
@topspin Roku doesn't do this for you?
See the paragraph about an Amazon stick. As far as I understand it, Roku does pretty well in the "streaming stick" department, but it's lacking the primary function of having a DVB-C tuner built in.
I'm looking for something that has both in one box, if possible.
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@loopback0 said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
The current cable TV provider will turn off the analog signal soon, so I need an upgrade path to digital cable.
Doesn't the provider offer a digital cable box?
They probably do, I'll have to look in more detail.
It's not exactly easy to find out because I don't even know what kind of contract she has with the provider. (She doesn't know about any contract at all and thinks the cable is "free", so I assume it's paid by the landlord as part of utilities. I just barely figured out what the cable provider is)
I had briefly checked but only saw them offering things for rent included in their "larger" TV packages including IPTV and stuff like that. And normally these things already come included when you sign a contract, no idea about contracts where you haven't needed them before. I will check again, maybe talk to some sales droid.
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@topspin I think you might need one for digital cable, as @hungrier said. Or at the very least one of those cards that uses a CI slot.
Depending on provider the box may have Netflix on it too. Unitymedia's Horizon box does, I assume the other provider(s) have something similar.
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@hungrier said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
Now, you could say "that thing is stone age, get her a newer TV", but I'm not a fan of replacing things just because they're old if they're still working. And while newer TVs feature things like 4K resolutions, the cable TV isn't going to be that resolution for the foreseeable future anyway.
You don't have to go for an 80" 4k curved OLED or anything; there are affordable 1080p and even 720p sets available.
I could get one of these for myself and just give her my TV with a triple tuner. Although that’d be needlessly expensive. 🤔
Anyway I don't know what digital cable is like in Europe, but from what I know in North America it's all encrypted and you have to get a box from the cable provider. You can get unencrypted OTA digital broadcasts, and the tuner for that is fairly common even in cheap TVs.
You don’t need a smartcard for decryption, as far as I know. The DVB-C boxes for sale say they’re compatible. I know that for DVB-T only a few channels are free OTA, everything else needs a decryption module.
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@topspin said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
I'm looking for something that has both in one box, if possible.
Yeah not going to happen unless you make your own box, to my knowledge.
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@hungrier said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
Anyway I don't know what digital cable is like in Europe, but from what I know in North America it's all encrypted and you have to get a box from the cable provider.
No idea about other countries, but in the Netherlands you buy a set-top box that you put a smartcard into — you’re only required to get the latter from the cable provider. Any STB should work, though of course providers usually recommend certain models and types, usually the ones they sell themselves.
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@loopback0 said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
@topspin I think you might need one for digital cable, as @hungrier said. Or at the very least one of those cards that uses a CI slot.
Depending on provider the box may have Netflix on it too. Unitymedia's Horizon box does, I assume the other provider(s) have something similar.
It's Vodafone. I've checked their website again, which is confusing in that regard because they want to sell you the premium packages that I don't want. They offer 3 options there, a "GigaTV 4K box", "Giga TV Net box", and the CI+ module for HD channels. While the two boxes sound like they have pretty nice features, they only work if you get a corresponding contract for their "GigaTV" premium packages. You can't just buy them, and I have no interest in paying an extra €15 a month.
Their help website about switching off the analog signal says you can a receiver from them, so I talked to a sales droid on the phone and asked what receivers they offer: she also said that if I stay with the basic TV package I should just go to the electronics retailer and get a STB from there.
Which means I'm back at square one.
Those boxes are huge compared to a tiny Roku / Amazon stick, and the more expensive ones also cost more than a cheap box and a streaming stick combined. So why can't I get that in a single box?
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@topspin Well, you could build such a box using a Raspberry Pi.
Netflix:
How to watch Netflix on the Raspberry Pi - The Pi
For such an affordable device, there’s a lot that the Raspberry Pi can do. One of the simplest and most useful ways to use your...
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@Rhywden I've actually found that myself just a few minutes ago. Besides the
factor of building it (although that can't really be more difficult than sticking the two parts together), it's for DVB-T2. Haven't seen anything comparable for cable.
I would need to check the availability of a DVB-T2 signal first, but as far as I know, there's fewer free channels available than with cable (only the "öffentlich rechtliche" are free OTA, cable also gets you the private crap too).
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@topspin https://technikkram.net/2018/01/tv-server-auf-dem-rasplerry-pi-ein-tutorial-fuer-alle-fernseh-freunde
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Something something HDMI switcher? It sounds like you're making the setup more complex anyway; what's one more box?
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@Parody said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
Something something HDMI switcher? It sounds like you're making the setup more complex anyway; what's one more box?
That would probably the next best alternative, but I want to introduce as few additional boxes, switches, and remote controls as possible. Otherwise user acceptance will be very low. So I just hoped there would be a good solution I can buy out of the box. Seeing how you can cheaply build something yourself (@Rhywden's post above) the hardware for that really can't be that expensive.
Guess there's no such thing.Thanks for the answers, anyway.
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@topspin A colleague of mine uses a logitech harmony remote to cover the "I want to only have to press the on button and then everything must work" hard requirement from the SO. I don't know any details though.
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@PleegWat said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
logitech harmony remote
I love my harmony remote. Too bad the software depends on embedded IE which my install kinda broken at the moment...
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@topspin It has been more than a year but I am in a very similar situation. Did you find a DVB-C receiver with Netflix by any chance?
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@Jabağı-Kök said in "Smart" DVB-C receiver with Netflix / streaming apps?:
year but I am in a very similar situation
Sorry, I didn't find anything better than the things suggested above. Went with the option of "cheap-ass shitty DVB-C receiver and separate stick".
