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Sony Dongle or Miracast?


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I am trying to bring myself into the 21st century and access this new fangle streaming TV. After trying for about a week to connect my Bbox to my smart Sony TV, I was beginning to think that my smart TV is a bit thick, but no it was just me. The WPA button did not connect my Bbox to the TV, so I tried connecting manually, following all the online instructions, but things kept failing. Eventually I twigged that the internet security number is case sensitive, and when I keyed in the number using the caps lock, I was able to connect my box to the TV.

So far so good, the Sony TV was purchased in 2012, not sure if newer TVs are different now. I am able to bring up the Sony package pre-loaded on the TV, which includes French Netflix, but not a lot else really of interest. When I try to connect to the internet I am unable to do so. After reading the manual, it states I must plug in a Sony dongle. I have watched several videos on YouTube showing how to connect my PC to the TV, but none mentioned the use of a dongle. So my questions are: do I need a dongle or am I doing something wrong? I have found a Sony dongle on Amazon for a mere £75, yeah right. I found a supposedly compatible no name dongle on ebay from Hong Kong for £10, more like it, but not sure if it will work. If I do not go down the dongle road, what about Miracast or something comparable? If I understand things correctly, I plug the Miracast dongle into my PC, play around a bit, and then plug the dongle into the TV and then I will be able to project my PC onto the large screen TV, well that is the theory.

So you good people out their do you use a TV dongle, or Miracast dongle, or can you connect your PC to your TV without a dongle? I am thinking the Miracast option may be better, and less fiddly selecting the internet pages on the PC as normal rather than fiddling around with the TV remote.

Or have I got everything completely wrong?

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Not an expert but to get the benefit of the smart TV I understand that using the TV remote to control the tv software is necessary.

I dont understand why you need to connect your TV to the PC - my understanding is that you just connect the TV to the router and hence to the internet.

Given that the manual suggests that you use a dongle to connect by wifi to the router then I assume that there is no wifi connection actually on the TV. If there is a wifi receiver then perhaps the setting on the TV needs adjusting.Presumably somebody here may be able to say what dongle to receive the wifi on the TV is the cheapest and best.

Otherwise, is it possible to just connect a LAN/ethernet wire between the TV and router - there must be, I think, a connector for that on both the TV and router.

Hope this helps but I await expert opinion if I'm off the mark.
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I use a Google dongle and it was easy to install and easy to use. I like it!

NB in this house hold that is a very rare occurrence, as nothing ever happens like that..... always a crisis when we have to install new stuff.?
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We use a chrome cast to "cast" any optimised device (tablet, laptop, mobile phone) to our smart TV. It (the TV) is internet enabled via wifi or ethernet, but the proprietary software that came with it is too clunky compared to what you are used to on your own equipement.

If you have a chromecast video dongle, you can get Google home (eg via your phone) to cast youtube videos direct to your TV by voice alone, also works on a chrome cast audio dongle to any powered speaker via google home for radio 4 over breakfast, classsic FM for cooking etc (sorry carried away, love technology :))

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Your Sony, is about the same age as my previous Panasonic and that required a dedicated Panasonic dongle of about the same cost as you mentioned.

That TV is no longer and its replacement 2017, doesn't require any of the additional, dare I say rip off gadgets.
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Smart TVs are often only smart for a few years. After that time the apps and or operating system on the TV are often no longer supported by the TV manufacturers, the processor can be too slow for current apps or there is not enough memory to run the apps. This has happened a lot with major manufacturers (e.g LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony) and apps for iPlayer, YouTube, Netflix, etc. (this has also happened for phones/tablets e.g. the oldest iPhones/iPads).

It is unlikely many of the apps on your 2012 Sony TV will still work so it isn't worth buying the dongle.

If you have a wifi network/option on your broadband your TV has a USB port then a Google Chromecast (about £30 - not the Chromecast Audio) is possibly the best solution as it is likely to be supported for a reasonable time. The apps themselves run on your computer/phone/tablet.

The only problem I have occasionally found with Chromecast is when I am streaming a low resolution program on my computer which is scaled up to the much higher screen resolution I have and then the Chromcast has to scale it down again to a different resolution for my TV. Occasionally there are odd colour artifacts. I have usually found changing the computer screen resolution while casting solves the problem.
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My TV is getting on for 10 years, the older I get the faster time goes, so that must be about right, I hadn't given it much thought.

Like me, not 'smart', and not big either, well compared to the monster screens I see, at the likes of Currys.

The Google dongle links to Chromecast, and it's good.
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Thanks for all your replies, I think I am a little clearer, but not really sure.

My Sony Bravia TV has a model number of KDL-55HX75x, which I assumed was a smart TV, but not really sure now. I logged on to the Sony esupport website and tapped in my model number, it states on there that a LAN adapter is required. It also states that YouTube is not supported anymore on my TV, as Pomme suggested some apps are no longer available in his/her post. The weird thing was about 3 years ago my wife missed an episode of Gardeners World, so I connected my then neuf box from SFR (spit, spit) and either found the episode that she wanted on YouTube or the BBC iplayer when it was still legal to access in France, I really cannot remember how I found the episode.

I have decided to go down the route of casting, hope that is the right word, and project from my PC, as basically this seems my only option. I keyed in on Amazon, Google Chromecast dongle, but couldn't really find the specific dongle, lots of various ones to chose from but nothing specifically saying Google Chromecast. I found a Google Chromecast cable but not the specific dongle.

Once again many thanks for the trouble you have all taken in answering my query.

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Your Sony is like our Samsung almost-top-of-the-range TV of 2011 which is considered to be a smart TV but came, as yours did, without the all-important internal ability to connect to the internet without a dongle - which would have cost an additional arm and a leg plus 1/2 a mortgage.

We have a chrome-cast dongle - courtesy of our son - which works fine .. and it is brilliant being able to cast YouTube films from my tablet onto the TV screen at merest tap on my Hudl screen when I want to ?.

Must admit this is not frequently as I watch TV with discernment.
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I had a look through my boxes of things not thrown away [;-)] At the time I think the chrome-cast had only just launched and I bought a Roku dongle at Maplin on promo. I found the Roku and it provides free to air channels and some other features.

https://www.roku.com/en-gb/

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You will not be able to buy the Chromecast from Amazon, they don't sell proper "Google" products. Google don't sell Amazon Echo either! Try a local grande surface or FNAC. Its not really worth buying a rip off look alike as the proper thing is not that expensive. It plugs into the HDMI port on your TV and needs a USB port to power it (or an external USB power supply if your TV does not have one). As has been said above, don't get the audio one.
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Whichever one you have nearest to you :

https://www.darty.com/nav/recherche/chromecast.html

- the middle one at 39€

https://www.boulanger.com/c/carte-tv/brand~google#tr=chrome%20cast_redirection

There is an ultra version at 79€ but, having read the reviews, I would stick with the basic one.

If you can find someone to bring you one out from the UK then : Curry's at £30

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/google-tv-and-home-entertainment/digital-and-smart-tv/smart-tv/304_3635_31362_81158_xx/xx-criteria.html?s=chromecast

or John Lewis - same price :

https://www.johnlewis.com/search?search-term=Chromecast

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Thank you all for posting the various links trying to sort out my dongle problem, much appreciated. This is going to sound a silly question, but will the Google and Roku dongles enable me to connect to the Internet and surf as I do on my PC, as well as providing streaming sites?

Sue we have a Darty close to us, so if I decide on the Chromecast I will be able to pop in and buy it. Must say I am not a fan of Google and do not use their browser or search engine, due to their tracking policy, I use DuckDuckGo for my search engine as they supposedly do not track you. Théière can't seem to track down a Roku in France at anything like a reasonable price, Amazon UK have one for £29 but for Prime customers only, must say that is getting very annoying with Amazon now, as obviously living in France you cannot have a UK Prime account.

Well I have learnt a lot about up until about a week ago I knew nothing about. It looks as though I will probably have to go for the Chromecast or a no name alternative, but as Lehaut pointed out there is not much between the price, so best to stick to a named product.

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As far as I am aware, the Chromecast is not an operating system (like Linux, Windows etc), its just a link between your TV and a casting device (your android phone, tablet etc). If you are using the internet on your phone/tablet and "cast" to your TV (via the wifi system in your house, Chromecast will not work without wifi) you will see on your TV what you are doing on your phone/tablet.

If you want a separate system to connect to your TV so, in effect, it becomes a computer screen you need either a mini pc system or a type of Kodi box.

If you have a laptop and can use your TV as a screen for it, a bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected to your laptop would allow you to use your TV in the manner you describe.
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