Any way to watch tv on Smart Tv without a cable box?

[christinescoms]

We subscribe to Verizon FIOS for Cable and Internet. We have three Verizon boxes for the rooms with a tv. I just bought each of my kids a Samsung Smart TV for their bedrooms but they are upstairs and have no cable wire going to their rooms. The way this house is built (split

level), there is no way to get a cable wire to their rooms without opening up a major wall. Shouldn’t I be able to watch FIOS Cable on these TVs somehow? We can watch it on all of our phones and iPads using the FIOS app. I thought there would be a way to get that app on the new

Samsung TV but I cannot figure it out. I have no interest in paying for any additional services such as Netflix. We watch very little tv and have no interest in any of their series. i have Amazon Prime but they can’t watch shows like Sponge Bob for free. The only thing I can think

of is getting our iPads to mirror to the tv. Any ideas?

 

[christinescoms]

We subscribe to Verizon FIOS for Cable and Internet. We have three Verizon boxes for the rooms with a tv. I just bought each of my kids a Samsung Smart TV for their bedrooms but they are upstairs and have no cable wire going to their rooms. The way this house is built (split

level), there is no way to get a cable wire to their rooms without opening up a major wall. Shouldn’t I be able to watch FIOS Cable on these TVs somehow? We can watch it on all of our phones and iPads using the FIOS app. I thought there would be a way to get that app on the new

Samsung TV but I cannot figure it out. I have no interest in paying for any additional services such as Netflix. We watch very little tv and have no interest in any of their series Does A Smart TV Need A Cable Box. i have Amazon Prime but they can’t watch shows like Sponge Bob for free. The only thing I can think

of is getting our iPads to mirror to the tv. Any ideas?

thanks in advance for any help

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

'Smart' TV's are anything but - just get a Firestick for each TV, which will make it smarter than any TV out there.

I've never heard of FIOS?, presumably it's an American thing?, but is there a Firestick app for it?.

 

[shortbus=]

there is no way to get a cable wire to their rooms without opening up a major wall.

i don't know about Verizon, but with Spectrum you just get a box from them for each TV. Then the TV signals come through on WIFI. When I say box it only uses WIFI and the TV, no cables other from the box to the TV, a HDMI cable. And I have a new Samsung TV also.

 

[crutschow]

If it's a new Smart TV then it should have WiFi internet connectivity, so you should be able to connect to your internet WiFi with that (I assume the FIOS modem has WiFi as that's how you connect to the phones and the IPad?)
If the TV doesn't have WiFi built in, then get a WiFi to HDMI interface, such as the Amazon Firestick, as Nigel suggested.

I've never heard of FIOS?

FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) uses a fiber optic cable instead of a coax cable for the internet connection into the house.
.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

If it's a new Smart TV then it should have WiFi internet connectivity, so you should be able to connect to your internet WiFi with that (I assume the FIOS modem has WiFi as that's how you connect to the phones and the IPad?)
If the TV doesn't have WiFi built in, then get a WiFi to HDMI interface, such as the Amazon Firestick, as Nigel suggested.

FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) uses a fiber optic cable instead of a coax cable for the internet connection into the house.
.

It's called FTTP over here (Fibre To The Property) for telephone type connection, or just Cable if it's a cable connection (now done mostly with Fibre rather than Coax - supposedly?).

 

[shortbus=]

If it's a new Smart TV then it should have WiFi internet connectivity,

My 3 month old Samsung can connect to WIFI, but only to watch streaming "channe;s", or what ever they're called. For regular cable channels I must have the cable company box and connect with a HDMI cable.

 

[crutschow]

For regular cable channels I must have the cable company box and connect with a HDMI cable.

The TS stated he used a FiOS app on his phones and IPad to watch those channels.
Possibly there is an app he could also download to the TV to do the same thing.

Worst-case, he could use a wireless HDMI extender to go from the cable box output to the TV HDMI input.

 

[Pommie]

Is it an Apple/Android thing? The T.V.s are almost certainly Android and it might just be a different named app. Can you install apps on your T.V.s?

Mike.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

All of your questions are answered here. Unfortunately, you'll need a device other than an iPad.

Fios TV Home App | Verizon TV Support

Verizon Fios programming and features overview & frequently asked questions helps you understand more about the services available to you. Learn more here.

www.verizon.com

 

[crutschow]

All of your questions are answered here. Unfortunately, you'll need a device other than an iPad.

Fios TV Home App | Verizon TV Support

Verizon Fios programming and features overview & frequently asked questions helps you understand more about the services available to you. Learn more here.

www.verizon.com

So that says an Amazon Fire TV stick will work with the app.
Those can presently be had for about U$25-35 depending upon the features.

I use a couple of those and they work well.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

You can also try using the browser on your Samsung tv to connect to FIOS and watch in the browser. Not ideal but, as the OP said, they don't watch much tv so it may be workable.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Is it an Apple/Android thing? The T.V.s are almost certainly Android and it might just be a different named app. Can you install apps on your T.V.s?

Mike.

Only some TV's are Android, there are numerous other TV operating systems - so more 'might be' than 'almost certainly'. There's also the issue that Android TV's really need specific apps written for them, and not just normal phone ones - there are ways to get round that, but it usually doesn't work very well (such as the picture on it's side, and no way of turning it).

 

[christinescoms]

If it's a new Smart TV then it should have WiFi internet connectivity, so you should be able to connect to your internet WiFi with that (I assume the FIOS modem has WiFi as that's how you connect to the phones and the IPad?)
If the TV doesn't have WiFi built in, then get a WiFi to HDMI interface, such as the Amazon Firestick, as Nigel suggested.

FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) uses a fiber optic cable instead of a coax cable for the internet connection into the house.
.
Only some TV's are Android, there are numerous other TV operating systems - so more 'might be' than 'almost certainly'. There's also the issue that Android TV's really need specific apps written for them, and not just normal phone ones - there are ways to get round that Rent a house in Metn, but it usually doesn't work very well (such as the picture on it's side, and no way of turning it).

thank you so much for your suggestion

 

[eTech]

We subscribe to Verizon FIOS for Cable and Internet. We have three Verizon boxes for the rooms with a tv. I just bought each of my kids a Samsung Smart TV for their bedrooms but they are upstairs and have no cable wire going to their rooms. The way this house is built (split

level), there is no way to get a cable wire to their rooms without opening up a major wall. Shouldn’t I be able to watch FIOS Cable on these TVs somehow? We can watch it on all of our phones and iPads using the FIOS app. I thought there would be a way to get that app on the new

Samsung TV but I cannot figure it out. I have no interest in paying for any additional services such as Netflix. We watch very little tv and have no interest in any of their series. i have Amazon Prime but they can’t watch shows like Sponge Bob for free. The only thing I can think

of is getting our iPads to mirror to the tv. Any ideas?

I have FIOS.

If your tv is network capable, You can subscribe to any number of internet
Streaming services, like DirectTV Stream, etc. Most smart tv’s have apps that you can load to view a TV service. Or you can use a web browser.

 

[Reloadron]

My older TV is not a smart TV and since it still works great we just added an Amazon Firestick for about $35 USD and now it's a smart TV. The upstairs bedroom TV is a smart TV and I just use Amazon Prime over the internet wireless connection. Last but not least where we are in the greater Cleveland, Ohio suburbs we get about 30 over the sir TV stations so if the cable is out we can go over the air or I can use one of our smart phones as a hot spot so the smart TVs have an outside world internet connection. Using Spectrum for both phone and cable.

Anyway if you have home WiFi any smart TV should be able to connect. Not sure what you will get but using home WiFi should get you something.

Ron

 

[DerStrom8]

I have YoutubeTV at my house. There is an app you can download onto just about any SmartTV.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I have YoutubeTV at my house. There is an app you can download onto just about any SmartTV.

Not really true - YouTube closed many of their services (as did the BBC, and numerous other service providers), immediately killing off huge numbers of older 'smart' TV's.

If in doubt, get Firestick, it's smarter than any so-called 'smart' TV - and likely to be supported for far longer.

 

[crutschow]

Not really true - YouTube closed many of their services

Why would they do that?
Is that also true for YouTube TV which is a different service?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Why would they do that?

Not enough people using the services presumably?, and cutting back to save money.

People seem to think there's just one 'YouTube' (or BBC iPlayer etc.), but you get completely different versions on different devices. I always thought iPlayer for example had around 150 versions, but according to reports it was more than double that - I presume YouTube was probably similar?.

As I understand it YouTube, iPlayer etc. created numerous different services specifically targetting smart TV's, and offered these to the TV manufacturers - presumably they were specifically designed to run on low spec hardware?, as a TV has far less power and memory than a PC.

Is that also true for YouTube TV which is a different service?

I've no idea, I've never used it, nor known anyone who has - but presumably if there are too few users of a particular service then they would close that service to save money, just as they did for the normal YouTube services.