Netgear Adapter Streams HD Video from Legacy PCs
This adapter allows consumers to wirelessly push 1080p content from a USB 2.0 port on a PC to an HDMI-enabled HDTV.
Looking for a way to pump your HD content to an HDTV without dragging an HDMI cable across the carpet? Netgear may have a solution, as on Monday the company introduced its new Universal Push2TV HD Adapter, which does just that via a Wi-Fi connection. Thanks to technology provided by DisplayLink and Wisair, desktops and laptops merely need a USB 2.0 port or greater on the PC end (no HDMI port is necessary) and an HDTV with an HDMI input jack (sorry, no component support).
"Netgear has leveraged technology from DisplayLink and Wisair to deliver an innovative solution connecting any Windows-based PC wirelessly to any HD display," said Dennis Crespo, DisplayLink executive vice president of marketing and business development. "This new device allows any content from Netflix, CNN, YouTube, Twitter or any other source to stream or display on any HDMI-enabled."
Netgear's new package comprises of two components: a PC adapter that connects to a USB 2.0 port, and a receiver featuring an HDMI port, an optical audio port (S/PDIF) and a jack for stereo audio. Minimum system requirements include a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor for streaming 720p video, and a 2.4 GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor with 2 GB of RAM for streaming 1080p video.
According to the company, customers will experience "unlimited content" using the Push2TV HD adapter setup, yet it also states on the product page that Blu-ray disc content is not supported thanks to strict copyright requirements. Otherwise, customers can consume the entire "Internet world," videos and pictures in HD resolution up to 1080p, DVD movies and documents -- all on an HDTV via a wireless connection. Latency and video quality will naturally depend on the PC's overall performance.
Netgear's new adapter is now available in the United States for $129.99 USD. It's also available in Europe, but Netgear did not supply a suggested price. For more information and retail locations where the product is sold, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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alyoshka Well, this is more than 2 years old, but not from Netgear..... Push2Tv is old now....Reply -
alyoshka Didn't you see the laptop pushing the stuff to TV that big ass TV watching Avatar video on Youtube?Reply -
billybobser just add a device manager to modern tv's and a usb port.Reply
since mine can already stream content when it has an internet connection -
lathe26 To the skeptics out there: DisplayLink has had USB 2.0 video technology for years. It works great and it does 1080p just fine. I own some of thier early hardware.Reply
Of course there are limitations. Desktop apps and web browsing work fantastic. Watching moderately and heavily compressed video looks great too (ex: YouTube). Where you hit limitations are with high graphic games and with massive video (ex: unencrypted BluRay ). -
ProDigit10 you only need an 800Mhz single core computer for 720p video with WinXP, and an avc codec; though a 1,2Ghz CPU is recommended.Reply
I can run 720p mkv's and mp4's perfectly fine on my 1,66Ghz dualcore laptop, even with powersaving mode on (800Mhz per core).