USB WiFi Dongle
 

I am trying to help my son in law connect his new LG 47" LCD to his router. It will connect using a Cat5 cable, but for some reason, his wife does not want a 25 foot cable running from his router, down the hallway, to the bedroom.

In my reading up on the subject, it appears that an answer may be a USB WiFi dongle, plugged into the USB port on the back of his TV.

Am I going in the right direction, and if so, any suggestions for a particular brand? Also, could I assume it is pretty much PnP?

What is the model number of the TV?

It almost definitely will not be PnP - the WiFi adapter will require some sort of driver to run, it is possible that the TV supports certain devices but it definitely just will not support "any" device that gets plugged into it. USB adapters are very different to Ethernet in this respect - using Ethernet you can plug into any router and it will just work, but not with a USB adapter.

One option may be one of the Ethernet to WiFi bridges, like many people use to connect XBoxes and similar. These would provide a relatively neat solution and require no specific support on the TV, just plugs into the Ethernet port.

If you have the model of the TV though I can do some further investigation.

Thanks for the help. I will get the model# this evening and post.

Ed

Don't bother getting a usb wifi adapter. The usb ports are designed to read flash drive, with no way to load drivers (nor any way to enter your wep key even if it did). Get a wifi ethernet bridge as star_world suggested. They are very handy if you are like me and keep legacy hardware that lack usb ports :p

the tv has an ethernet port? You can get a wireless bridge, which plugs into the ethernet port. The Airport Express will work in that mode also, once you configure it.

-David

Yep, you need a wireless bridge. My my first thought was also an airport express: http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

It'll certainly work, I've done similar things myself with one, but it will need to be configure to join the wireless network first. One benefit is that it has wider use: you can, for example, plug many types of printers into it or connect it to a hifi/speakers in order to have wireless printing and audio from computers on the wireless network. Or it's just a more useful device to have left over when you later wind up not needing to connect the TV.

Sorry for the delay. Then model # is:

LGE47LH55

I am on the road. Will get back to this thread tonight. Thanks for all the help.

Ed

Thanks. I will definitely look at the "Airport Express". The TV definitely does have an ethernet port. I was surprised to see it.

Why do you need connection to the router? This would normally be required for Netflix or similar functions, but AFAIK this is not part of this model.

Netflix support appears to be exactly what it is for - this is the most detailed description I can find, information seems to be a bit scarce: http://www.youreviewelectronics.com/...47lh55-review/