Id like to connect my 'dumb' tv upstairs to my home network/i player and the like whats the best solution?
I looked into this recently, although ended up buying a new smart TV.
Sony Googlebox does the job reasonably well I think. Most Blu-ray players have internet capability too.
Could you buy a secondhand Playstation 3? That way you get a decent blu-ray player, a games machine, an internet browser, as well as a smart tv.
For the price of a PS3 you could get ten Now TV boxes. Install all the apps then cancel the subscription.
Not used one personally, but I remember someone talking about them on STW the other day.
What 'Cougar' said, £9.99 for a Now TV box sideload Plex onto it and you can stream content from your home network.
However no Netflix/Lovefilm available on it (competition to Sky movies)
More apps/channels are available on the full fat Roku boxes but they do cost more but they are pretty good too ,also worth looking at the WD live boxes.
If you are Apple based then this is what Apple TV (£100) will do for you. You then use your iPhone / ipad/ mac to send content like bbc iplayer / movies / music to the TV. The Apple TV can also access content directly from web inc netflix/vimeo/youtube and also anything you've bought/rented on iTunes like music and movies.
Personally I think this is a better solution (more flexible and future proof, cheaper) than a smart tv
or you have google tv which is $20 plus postage from the US.
I've been looking at it for a few weeks, but can't decide what's best. They all seem to have something fundamentally poor.
I'd probably agree that you can't go wrong with £9.99 for the sky now box and cancel whatever they try and get you to subscribe to.
I use a WD TV Live Hub which plays everything I've thrown at it. Comes without the hard drive as the WD TV Live