Anyway, there we were at Best Buy and saw that the Blu-ray was on sale. The sales associate was such a nice fellow and he told us how this Sony Blu-ray would stream Netflix movies wirelessly to the player. No kidding? We wouldn't have to wait at the mailbox for the movies to come? Nope, it would just stream in. How amazing is that?
Last night we opened the box and started the set-up. Art carefully read all the directions. I checked on Netflix to see how we were supposed to tie the two systems together. We needed to get the Blu-ray to connect to our wireless router which is connected to our computer which is connected to our Internet modem.
We tried and tried for over an hour getting the Connection FAILURE message, and finally gave up and went to bed contemplating our options. Option #1: Return the Blu-ray to Best Buy and forget it. Option #2: Return the player and wait for our son-in-law to arrive in December. He was our computer doctor on the mainland. Option #3: Take a hammer to the Blu-ray and scream.
I called my brother, Dennis this morning. I'm glad he was awake, and told him our problem. He came over, checked the Internet for instructions, did a computer hocus pocus and incredibly, magically, fantastically got it to work! How the heck did he do this?
"It wasn't bad," he said. "Think like a computer. You just have to get the Blu-ray player to hand-shake with the router so that they can recognize one another. Then you get the code for Netflix so that they can all work together....""Stop!" I said. "You're making my head hurt!"
Then he tells me, "I like to just watch Netflix movies instantly on my computer because the rest of the family don't appreciate the movies I like to watch sometimes."
"What?!?" I was incredulous. "You can watch Netflix instantly on your computer?"
"Didn't you know?" he laughed. "No... You're not telling me you didn't know? Everybody knows that."
Sigh... Nope, not everybody.
So now everything is connected and humming! We can watch some movies instantly on TV or on the computer anywhere in the house and we don't have to wait for movies to come in the mail. (Granted there aren't a whole lot of great instant streaming movies available.)I'm still in awe of the technology today... if you can just manage to find a relative who has that gift to commmunicate with computers. I'm counting my blessings.
And to be perfectly honest, Dennis was actually Option #1!
25 friendly comments:
Kay: That is why I'm so glad my husband is a techie.
All you need to do is get the cheapest Netflix account and you can stream a huge selection of films right to your computer. My husband is so clever that he can hook the computer up to a projector and we can see these films in home movie size format. Pretty slick!
Nope, I had no idea either. But then we don't subscribe to Netflix. I've thought about it but we don't watch many movies, and we do have Comcast On Demand, with movies when we want them on our TV, if we can find any we actually want to watch.
Hattie: Huge? I just looked at the Istant Streaming list and there weren't a whole lot I liked. Is there a special button for their whole selection?
Hmmmm, I was wondering, does Dennis have any intention of visiting Friday Harbor in the near future? I could offer him a very nice guest room and I wouldn't be offended if both the cable and the DVD player were hooked up when he left .... (Yes, they are in the guest room. We don't watch much TV -- although I would likely watch more if I didn't have to unplug everything to switch back and forth.)
I live with a techie too and it certainly helps. I sometimes watch programmes on my laptop if Barry wants to watch something different - that's if we watch anything at all.
Kay, that is wonderful that your brother was able to help you! I can do some computer fixes (very small ones) but I always have to call my son-in-law, Ken to help us out. You should give your brother a big hug and a kiss :)!
Have you ever tried watching the movies on hulu.com and they are free.
It is amazing isn't it. Comes in very handy for me at the office when I have to sit and just be there all day with absolutely NOTHING to do.
I KNEW Dennis was option #1 all along! My option number one is my nephew, who also knows how to make these internet things "shake hands."
Isn't it great Kay? And to think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg. It is mind boggling.
An English Girl Rambles
But if there is just a limited selection, what would be the point?
David orders 3 movies at a time. He tries to watch 3 per week. I don't think he would want to switch to something that would limit his viewing pleasure.
Fun post. I rarely watch a movie, but I do recognize the value of a techie/geek/nerd when dealing with new technology. Getting electronics to "talk" with each other can be very frustrating. Glad you have Dennis nearby. Happy viewing.
Gigi: The Instant Streaming is not a separate option. You get to do it along with the mailed movies for the same cost. I'm only doing the one movie at a time, not three so it's the cheaper option.
Kay, you are right I just spoke to David about your post. He said he can do it with our Wii player, but not our Bluray player.
He does not want to use the Wii, because the movie would not be Bluray. So he prefers to get the disks to play in our Bluray player.
Yeah, it sounds complicated...
Kay: Just look for the movies you want, and it will say whether you can stream them. It's surprising what's free.
We streamed "North Face,* and Netflix suggested about 30 adventure movies as well that we could download, including "Not Without My Daughter" and "Die Hard."
As soon as I read your sentence say called Dennis, I knew your problem was solved. It is nice to have some one that is technically savvy, my granddaughter is the same way. Glad you are up and running, enjoy your movies.
Dennis is ALWAYS my go to techie guy! It's amazing how much his brain can obsorb when I get so lost! (of course, that's cause I don't speak techie) What cracks me up is that when he first started fooling around with computers a long time ago, he could tear the thing apart, fix whatever needed fixing and put it back together...then he looked at me and said "How do you turn it on?". That was my one shining moment in the computer world. I was so proud!
Lucky you !I usually call up my brother whenever i have a problem-we try to fix it over the phone.He gives me directions and i follow.
This technology is news to me,i have not heard of this before.Enjoy the fruits of this wonderful technology and keep sharing your experiences.
Kay, I'm so thrilled for you and Art! Yes, technology is exciting, once you get it to work! I think it's evolving to make things easier for the non-techies, but there's a lot more that needs to be done.
I'm impressed, I've got all the cords to hook my laptop to the tv but haven't tried it yet to stream movies-what will they think of next. Great bro-I have a technie son but he lives 250 miles away...
Oh dear, I am afraid I would probably have chosen the option to return the Blu-ray player! Anything with a plug confuses me! I do like to watch Netflix movies on my laptop while my husband watches his boring old shows...
It is wonderful to have a friendly computer person who is computer friendly,too. For me, it is always baby steps...baby steps!!
Kay you can also do this with a Wii, e have been doing Netflix like this for awhile and it's fab. We actually watch alot of TV shows this way, just go to the Netflix sight and search TV shows instead of movies and I have a recommendation for you - a BBC show called Doc Martin, I think you'd love it!
Brit Gal: Thanks, Sarah! I shall look into Doc Martin. I watched The Holiday tonight and really enjoyed it. Kate Winslet sounded so much like Emma Thompson. I just love the British accent.
Hi Kay, this is another Kay here, in Alberta, Canada. I'm too far away from my home town in BC for my brothers to be much help, but one of them has a son who can do computer things over the phone. When I thought I had a problem last week, I tried to call him and he was away. Good thing the problem turned out to be a minor mistake I had made myself, and later fixed by myself. But I re-memorized my nephew's phone number just in case.
So...Brit Gal Sarah said something about watching movies with a Wii. Entirely too confusing for an old person. I think I'll have a nap. Maybe next week I'll ask my husband if his (mostly unused) Wii could be used for watching movies.
I still don't understand, though, with all these techies around, why no one has invented a robot that looks like Sean Connery but cooks, cleans, shops, gardens, does laundry, makes beds, drives, fixes the cars, rotates the tires, shovels snow, does home repairs and renovations, and fixes home appliances. We could still call our favorite techies for computer problems. ;~)
K
Western Canada
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