Browsers in Modern Televisions - Streaming Restrictions

Channel Hopper

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
I'm not sure which section is appropriate.

I have a customer who has bought a JVC television for their bedroom, which I was asked to fit a wallmount. It is working well, wirelessly to the router downstairs and receiving Freeview from a communal aerial. They are in a conservation area so no dish allowed.

They have asked about watching a couple of news channels beyond the UK ones, which they can get on their laptop direct from the broadcaster website (Euronews, DW, France 24 and a few others). The 'internet' browser within the television however doesn't give access, additionally it has a horrible mouse action through the remote and a woeful search facility, worse than Bing even.

I am assuming it is a limitation of the browser fitted by JVC (potentially Freeview has also killed any access by the licensing) but is there a workaround, perhaps an app that can be installed as a third party or do I have to tell them they can only have both devices running with a cable in between ?

Thanks in advance.
 
I would have thought that a separate dedicated streaming box, or a sat Rx with streaming capability, would be the "easy answer" to the problem.
 
Does Youtube work? Those channels mentioned all have livestreams on there.
 
Perhaps, but it is more boxes in the bedroom, more remote controls and she is in her late 70's. Even so she does like surfing and has found a number of streams that she watches, I only picked three I'd seen when there.

I'd prefer to keep it simple, don't want her strangling herself with cables one night either.

Anyone here with the inside info on JVC browsers ?
 
Does the TV allow access to the streaming channels on Freeview? That won't be any extra equipment and has a fair amount of channels. For anything more bespoke I can't imagine there's a simple solution. I'd maybe suggest a streaming stick like a Firestick or Chromecast but it's more hassle.
 
Yes, I did see iPlayer was supported, and so the ITV/Five must be among them. It's the foreign news she is interested in, particularly from countries where she has family.

It is a pity I can't install a dish as 19 and 13 East would give her almost everything she wants - I put the listings and some videos on a stick before I found she was in a conservation area, silly me.

All her apartment windows face north and west, I have looked at alternatives.
 
Can she access channel 264 and 271 on Freeview? Those have foreign news channels including France 24 and DW.
 
The JVC HDTV I have has a built in Roku device, when I first scanned the TV for local TV stations, it came back with over 1100 free TV stations from around the internet, and all 8 of the locals, did that TV have the built in Roku??
 
astra19 said:
Can she access channel 264 and 271 on Freeview? Those have foreign news channels including France 24 and DW.
Click to expand...
Are they in the native language ?

Euronews ?

Other foreign news channels ?
 
As far as I remember France 24 is in French, DW is English as is Euronews.
 
France 24 is in English too
 
I’ve just checked channels 264 and 271 on my LG Smart TV which is connected to my network.

264 (VisionTV) doesn’t display anything for me, the TV just shows a message saying “Invalid Service”. VisionTV’s website shows that DW is an option, but it’s the English language version judging by the stream on there.
271 (Channelbox) does work, and shows a grid where France 24 is an option, when you select it it shows a couple of pre-roll adverts in English, and then the French-language version of France 24 in fairly good HD (which surprised me!). EuroNews in English and Russian are also options on this channel, as well as a few African news channels.

Edit - I’ve found that my TV won’t work with channel 264 because they only use the older MHEG5 interactive format for the app that allows you to select the channel to stream, rather than the newer HbbTV system which 271 does. Newer LG TVs no longer support MHEG5. Most of these interactive services now support both formats to serve the most people possible, but not Vision TV by the look of it.
 
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Their television is LT-24C690A, bought about ten months ago in the January sales. Preliminary search suggests its a current model but up to three years in production.

JVC LT-24C690 24" Smart HD Ready LED TV: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Shop JVC LT-24C690 24" Smart HD Ready LED TV. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk

Claim in the blurb is - Full internet browser

I have just scanned in the terrestrial with the SF8008 combo, whilst the channel names are in the list, screen is blank on those two.
(I have yesterday's Open ATV 7.0 release in the box, network is wireless and active)
 
Hmm, other online services with the Octagon are also non-existent (Yaaas/Ketchup/Sonlife). I will need a plugin if one exists.

(Will try a hard wire to the router later tonight, just in case)
 
Channel Hopper said:
Their television is LT-24C690A, bought about ten months ago in the January sales. Preliminary search suggests its a current model but up to three years in production.

JVC LT-24C690 24" Smart HD Ready LED TV: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Shop JVC LT-24C690 24" Smart HD Ready LED TV. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk

Claim in the blurb is - Full internet browser

I have just scanned in the terrestrial with the SF8008 combo, whilst the channel names are in the list, screen is blank on those two.
(I have yesterday's Open ATV 7.0 release in the box, network is wireless and active)
Click to expand...

The Octagon should work with the HbbTV ones but not MHEG5, the same as my LG TV, so in theory 271 should work. MHEG5 is largely a UK specific thing on DTT, so only Freeview-stamped equipment tends to support it.

You may need the HbbTV Enigma add-on, but as far as I know that comes pre-installed in OpenATV. You might have to press either the red or blue button when you switch to the channel to activate the app before it shows though.
 
so that TV has youtube app - as @ozumo mentioned which you didnt respond to - they have live streams via youtube.
 
manikm909 said:
so that TV has youtube app - as @ozumo mentioned which you didnt respond to - they have live streams via youtube.
Click to expand...
Which , if it worked would be a two stage affair to get the broadcast.

You forget this is a pensioner who wishes to see the news from abroad before retiring for the night.
 
I guess you could have a Raspberry Pi (or similar) connected using HDMI CEC which once booted automatically started playing a Youtube live stream in full screen mode, pressing a button on the TV remote could then select the next live stream from a predetermined list. Would require coding and the streams URLs to remain unchanged over time.
 
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