Netgear

Last year at CES, it was all about the Ultrabook. Ultrathin and ultraportable but yet still powerful enough to be used as a capable computer, the Ultrabook was everything people wanted in a notebook. Now it seems that CES 2013 was all about the mobile all-in-one computer.

This holiday season, many people are out and about buying new Wi-Fi-enabled cameras, televisions, music players and more. Many more are buying laptops, tablets and desktop PCs, all with wired and wireless capabilities. Then these people are going home, unboxing their purchases, and waiting patiently for the wireless fairy to come down and connect everything.

No matter how smart the set, the TV will be challenged to deliver the most effective entertainment experience to you unless it is accompanied by a cadre of accoutrements—some useful, others essential.

The “universal remote” takes on an entirely new meaning as Wi-Fi-enabled touch screen devices proliferate. Thanks to all the free apps, we may no longer need to regularly use the dedicated remotes that came with our TV, Blu-ray player, receiver, home theater system, media player or DVR.

If local area networks (LANs) were like plumbing, then Ethernet cables would be the pipes and routers the valve switchers. But data bits have a huge advantage over fluids. They don't require conduits to flow through your home or office to still be useful. 

If the computer has an HDMI output and the TV an HDMI input, your first choice should be an HDMI cable for delivering picture and sound. Computers with a DVI output can be accommodated using a DVI to HDMI cable, though DVI supplies only the picture.

Using a notebook computer as a source for HD content to be viewed on a big screen TV is becoming more and more common. With easy access to downloadable HD content and notebooks having hard drives large enough to store HD content and enough muscle to process it, there’s no reason not to view the content on an HDTV.

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