Alternatives to Cable Remote When Doing You Tube Searches

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

It is very frustrating to use the cable remote control from my cable system when I switch my TV to play song videos from You Tube: typing an artist name or a song title in a search can be frustratingly difficult at times.

Is there some other way to search and type the letters on the TV that does not require use of the Cable Remote to "type"?

TIA, Luis

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Comments (10)

dadoes
5 years ago
Maybe, if your unit has a USB jack to connect a keyboard (wired, maybe wireless would also engage) ... but the result probably won't be fully usable.

My DVD player streams Netflix and YouTube. It has a USB jack on front. I normally have a flash drive there for playing .mp3s. I tried a USB keyboard to check if it'd work for entering searches. Does, to a point, but differently on the two streaming interfaces.

Netflix, can type letters directly, Enter triggers the search, arrow key moves among graphics of the search hits, but does not select one (must use the remote for that).

YouTube, pretty much no. Can navigate the letter selection grid with the arrow keys and select with Enter but can't type letters directly.

YMMV.
Elmer J Fudd
5 years ago
When a device doesn't come with a keyboard, that's a hint that its intended use shouldn't require one. YouTube is a website which like all others offering content for internet visitor access is intended to be used on a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet. I'd stick with one of those. If it's important to you to see content from Youtube on a TV, make the connection and user choices using a laptop and connect the TV as its monitor.
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acraftylady
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
If you have a smart phone or tablet you can do this. I am on android. I open the youtube app on my phone and search for the video I want. Then in the upper right click the little signal thing and it should give you a choice where to send and pick your TV. If you have more than one TV of same brand name in the house connected to the internet you may have to test to see which is what when sending. This saves from using the TV to browse. Should be the same if you are using an apple phone or tablet. You need to do this from the youtube app though as it won't work from a mobile browser. Mary

Connect your devices to watch YouTube on TV - Android - YouTube Help (google.com)
mtvhike
5 years ago
I do what Elmer recommends.
acraftylady
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Elmer you need to get with it. I watch all my youtue content via a 50 inch TV as do a lot of my friends. Youtube is not confined to a small phone screen or tablet. Why do you insist people should not move forward with technology. It's so very simply to search on a mobile device and fling to a TV wireess. This is not new has I have done this with youtube quite a few years now. Mary
dadoes
5 years ago
My aforementioned DVD player has a full interface to YouTube, other than no keyboard as such. I log-in to my YouTube account, it gives access to my Watch Later list, subscribed channels, etc.
acraftylady
5 years ago
- The problem is if you want to watch something you don't have saved in your youtube account then you need to type on the TV. That's why searching in the app on your phone and flinging it to the TV makes it easier. Works for me anyway. Mary
Elmer J Fudd
5 years ago
"Elmer you need to get with it."

You need to get a dose of humility. You were the person who said "you and your friends" liked using and had no problem with MS Internet Explorer that I'd said I thought was a dog. Then, at about the same time, MS announced that it was broken, not fixable, and they were coming out with a completely new replacement, named Edge, based on a completely different platform and internal engine. Your sharing of your own practice wasn't useful.

Not all TVs can receive casting signals. You didn't bother to ask what this person has and as a result what "you do" is hardly instructive. I have two different TVs, one that's only 18 months old can be casted to because I have a Chromecast dongle plugged in, the other can't. Does what you and your friends do help me without my dongle?
Richard (Vero Beach, Florida)
5 years ago
My living room PC uses a 65" Samsung as it's display. So I can sit back and use my wireless mouse/keyboard to browse, search and watch Youtube videos, shop, whatever, all from the comfort of my recliner. That's what works for me.

I detest live TV due to all the commercials so I rarely use my TV as a TV. I figure the way I do it turns my "Smart?" TV in a really smart TV.

I never use the YouTube TV app so I don't know but I doubt you can even block ads, or can you?
dadoes
5 years ago
My living room TV is an 18yo plasma that doesn't have a tuner (or an HDMI jack). It has component, composite, and PC/VGA. I have a VGA cable on it so I could connect a computer and watch YouTube (or Netflix or any streaming service that can feed through a computer) but I never do that.

My previous DVD player had Netflix, Pandora, Blockbuster (which was eliminated by one of the firmware updates), and something else I don't recall. I used it often for Netflix but had to replace it last year because Netflix changed their network protocols and the firmware on it was no longer supported for updates. Component outputs have pretty much been eliminated from DVD players in favor of HDMI so I had to get a converter box. I am NOT going to dump the plasma (for which I paid $7,000) until it goes kablooey, never any trouble with it thus far and the picture still is fine.

Of course, an embedded YouTube app on a DVD player or smart TV can't take an adblocker that's coded for PC browsers so ads come through on YouTube via the new player but I don't find that to be a problem in the instances that I use it for such. The YouTube app on it pics up my search history and recommendations based on such from the activity on the PC.

The Netflix app on the new DVD player is much nicer than what was on the old one. Only thing I don't like is that it skips the credits unless one selects a "Watch Credits" flag, and it allows only 5 seconds to do that.

I don't subscribe to a cable or satellite TV service. I have an older Roku on a CRT TV in my bedroom but rarely use it.

Alternatives to Cable Remote When Doing You Tube Searches

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dadoes

Elmer J Fudd

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