Samsung WiFi Link Stick
Posted by Notcot on Jun 2, 2010 in Peripherals & Accessories |
Product Description
Samsung WIS09ABGNX Wireless Dongle for Streaming Wireless DLNA and Internet@TV Widget Service. For 7020 & 8000 Series LED and new 6 Series LCD
- For 7020 & 8000 Series
- Also for new 6 Series
- Requires PC & Internet Conection
You may wonder why you need a Samsung special WiFi dongle instead of any of the other more widely available brands. The answer lies in the fact that you cannot load device drivers on to a TV, so it has to be a specially designed device that can be configured via the TV setup menus.
As soon as the device was plugged in, it detected all the nearest wireless routers easily enough, but the only way to get it to connect successfully to my home network was to enter its MAC address into the router. Apart form this, operation was reliable and unobtrusive. The dongle is fairly compact and is hardly noticable from the front, although I am surprised Samsung did not make it connect in an upright position. (The right angle adapter is only intended for use with Samsungs’ BD player).
Rating: 3 / 5
If you have a recent Samsung LCD tv (series 6), this is the thing that will take it online. It does what it says on the box, but for a wi-fi dongle this is a rip off. The only way Samsung is getting away with this is that this is the only dongle which has drivers pre-installed in your tv, so there is nothing else you can use. Yes, it will get your TV to access your DLNA content on your wifi network, yes, it is easy to set up, but you do not get full internet connectivity, the yahoo widgets give you very-very limited choice of content. If you want stuff beyond youtube, weather, news (very limited), stocks (so-so) – well, you cant. You can get flicker, but forget myspace or facebook and pretty much all else.
All in all, if you want the full functionality of your tv, you need this, but be aware, services are limited and the price is ridiculous!
Rating: 3 / 5
After buying my samsung tv i was disappointed that it was not already wireless built in and i had to make a separte purchase to ulitise the other features of my tv. i must admit it was quite simple to use, i plugged it in and pretty much found my router.
however, not the fault of the dongle, the features of samsung internet tv are quite poor, limited and most importantly SLOW! its faster to access ceefax or freeview teletext and thats says something. youtube if anyone is interested is not yet ready and the news articles which i would be most inerested are only headings and brief 4 lines.
you can use this also for streaming media from pc to your tv via dlna which is quite smooth. but u should be aware it works only for a limited range of files and u cannot forward or rewind.
i would consider strongly before purcharsing if u really need it or can wait this they SPEED up internet tv (as they state they trying to do) and make it useful
Rating: 3 / 5
The TV has a standard Ethernet port on the rear. So a simple wireless bridge (eg, F5D7330uk) can be used instead of this USB stick.
Rating: 4 / 5
A good piece of kit which does exactly what it says on the box. Connected my Samsung TV (L40B650) to my home network perfectly, and no problems with the security I have in place.
The supplied file sharing software (Samsung PC Share Manager) is a bit flakey. The interface response is very slow, and I gave up trying to share all of my media files(287GB)using the software. It worked fine when sharing 10GB though.
Once online the TV found some widgets, which now include a YouTube app. Each time it connects it’s reasonably fast (20 seconds) to boot. Which I don’t find a problem.
For £49 it’s a handy addition, not essential but I’d recommend it.
Rating: 4 / 5
If you are thinking of buying the Samsung dongle to get internet tv (BBC iPlayer, SeeSaw, 4-O.D etc), then don’t. The dongle connects to VERY BASIC services as described already and will allow you some home network connectivity provide you have the right format on your harddrive and there isn’t too much data.
Want internet TV thro’ your big TV? Use the wii- poor picture but you can at least google, hotmail, BBCiPlayer etc.
Our dongle is off back to the shop for a refund!