I have a nice (not new) flat screen TV with 2x HDMI, 3x SCART and various other inputs.
SCART has gone the way of the dinosaur, so that rules those inputs out.

I have a Sky+ box plugged into one of the HDMI inputs and a BluRay player plugged into t’other.
HTF do I get Netflix on the TV?
The BluRay player is connected to the network but being a Panasonic, it will only allow me to connect to the limited services going through VieraCast, and Netflix isn’t one of them

No XBox/PSwhatever and no intention of buying one, but we do have a laptop with HDMI output. Is it simply a case of plugging the laptop into one of the two HDMI inputs on the TV and also into the network?

Can you get HDMI switching boxes? e.g a box with 2 HDMI inputs and one output and a switch to select which input to use?

Fairly cheap way is a Google Chromecast
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Google-Chromecast-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00DR0PDNE

But they’re still in their infancy & take up an hdmi input. Though, not much hassle to swap over with blu-ray player as needed I guess. Check which services would be available over here first though.

Yes you can get switching boxes. Make sure you get one with at least two inputs, one output and not one input and two outputs.

Can you get HDMI switching boxes

If I can find it, I’ve got one I’ll send you.

thanks papamountain, I think I’ve seen what I need for HDMI switched inputs.

Now I need a 5+ channel Ethernet router. House is Cat5 cabled for three computers – all filled – plus the BluRay player.

Next dumbass IT question (dumbass because I’m a programmer for a living but I know jack-sh** about the hardware side of IT)…

I have a 4 channel ethernet/wireless router plugged into my Cable modem… can I plug another hub into one of the inputs to effectively split it? same way as you’re not supposed to plug a four-gang mains extension into a four-gang mains extension to create 7 mains sockets…

Example: ethernet sockets 1-3 are permanently wired via Cat5 cables to other parts of the house; socket 4 is is connected to the bluray player.

Could I connect another 4 way hub into socket 4 to give me, effectively, 7 sockets? Granted that when one of the sockets on the “new” hub is in use, the others would not be in use?

Dez you’re a star but not necessary, thanks anyways 🙂 they’re not expensive

We have a hdmi switch hidden in the wall. All our cables were installed when the false chimney was made. No easy way of running in new cables.
The Virgin media box connects to input 2 on the switch box and the PS3 into port 1. When the PS3 is powered up it over rides the Virgin box. No need for a switch as it does its self. The box was about £7 of eBay and is the size of a match box. No power supply needed. Ace bit of kit that was a temp fix 3 years ago.

can I plug another hub into one of the inputs to effectively split it?

I think you need an Ethernet switch rather than another router (AIUI the router sorts the routing/firewall side, and the switch effectively gives it more ports to route to)

Told you it was a stupid question…

the router is wireless and right next to the TV.

What you need is a switch, not a hub. The difference is subtle but important.

Other than that, yes, you should just be able to plug a switch into a spare port on the existing router, though you may need a crossover cable to do so. With everything ‘straight through’ you’d be connecting transmit to transmit and receive to receive, a bit like if you were to hold a telephone handset upside-down. Modern switches should auto-negotiate a crossover in software (and will if both ports are gigabit Ethernet as it’s part of the spec) but if you get something particularly arcane then who knows.

we do have a laptop with HDMI output

Note that not all laptop HDMI ports also carry sound. You might need to run a separate cable for audio. Test it before you spend money on splitters.

I have this issue on mine. Fortunately my amp is clever enough to allow me to bind a HDMI video and analogue audio connectors together as one logical “AV” source; whether your TV can do that, I don’t know.

Any use to you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CL61A5A/

Sorted. Cougar, I went down the streaming device route, thanks for putting the idea in my head

Hmmm.

I understand every word in all the above posts, but I have absolutely no idea what they mean.

I’m going to have such fun when we get a new telly….

I ended up going to PC World (I know, I know, but there’s simply no alternative round here 🙁 ) and I bought a Roku LT streaming device. And a three-way HDMI switch and two HDMI cables. £80 down but at least when there’s nowt on TV I can do iPlayer or Netflix.

1) HDMI cable out from the Sky+ box goes into HDMI input #1 on the telly
2) HDMI Cable out from the HDMI switch goes into HDMI input #2 on the telly.
3) HDMI Cable out from the BluRay player goes into HDMI input #1 on the HDMI switch
4) HDMI cable out from the Roku device goes into HDMI input #2 on the HDMI switch. Input #3 is free, for the time being

Roku box connects wirelessly to the wifi router (and therefore to t’internet) and allows me to watch Netflx, NowTV, BBC iPlayer and several other channels that I didn’t have before. on my telly. instead of on a computer in another room in a not very comfortable chair, or on the laptop (with its own speaker limitations)

I thought I was going to be able to do all of this with the laptop but the laptop doesn’t send sound through its HDMI output.
WTF is the point watching HD telly when the sound is coming from tinny little laptop speakers a foot apart?