BT Sport App on Smart TV

[TURIN]

OK, hive mind, your assistance is required again.

My Dad's trying to use the BTSport app on his new Samsung smart TV.
Got the app loaded but when he tries to sign in, the screen keyboard has no Caps lock or shift key, which is a bit of a problem as his user ID has upper case letters.
He had a BT technician out today, he too was stumped. He even called his various mates on the job to find a solution.
The work around at the moment is to cast the BTSport from his tablet (which he can sign in on).

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Ancient Observer]

I access BT Sport via Sky, on a Panasonic. So my experience is different.
However, the thought occurs that if the issue is the Samsung keyboard, is there anyway of importing another keyboard? My Samsung phone accepts lots of keyboards.
Also, any "intermediate" box, such as BT/Virgin etc boxes might solve the issue, if he/you have them lying around.

[netstruggler]

OK, hive mind, your assistance is required again.

My Dad's trying to use the BTSport app on his new Samsung smart TV.
Got the app loaded but when he tries to sign in, the screen keyboard has no Caps lock or shift key, which is a bit of a problem as his user ID has upper case letters.
He had a BT technician out today, he too was stumped. He even called his various mates on the job to find a solution.
The work around at the moment is to cast the BTSport from his tablet (which he can sign in on).

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Presumably you've tried entering the user ID as lower case and it doesn't work (password are generally case sensitive, user Id's sometimes are not)?

If your father's user ID is not his email address then he could try using the email address associated with the account as the user id. For a while I could log into my BT account using either my user ID or my email address. I'm not sure if that's still true though. Email addresses are generally all lower case.

I assume that TV has some USB ports. You could try plugging a computer keyboard into one of those. Googling suggests it could work. You'd only need to do it once I assume. Wireless keyboard for smart TV's are also available.

[TURIN]

Thanks for the replies.

Ancient Observer

Also, any "intermediate" box, such as BT/Virgin etc boxes might solve the issue, if he/you have them lying around.

This is the root of the problem. He's had about five BT 'Youview' boxes that keep failing. We think its because he uses those internet adapter plugs to send the broadband over the house electrical circuits. Until I can get in there and route an ethernet cable half way around the house to the BT Box, I thought it would be a quick temporary fix to use the smart TV App.

Netstruggler

Yes, he's tried both, typing in the username in lower case and using the email address.

Good shout re USB keyboard. I'll tell him to give it a go. He's nearly 83 but is pretty good with computer tech normally.

[Ancient Observer]

I find no problem with Homeplugs/Powerline adapters. I have them in 3 different rooms, and they are capable of decent TV feeds to 3 x Amazon sticks, at once and used to run a Freeview box. (But not BT).
These are not the latest gadgets, but are not V1 either.

[netstruggler]

Thanks for the replies.



Good shout re USB keyboard. I'll tell him to give it a go. He's nearly 83 but is pretty good with computer tech normally.

I tried plugging a USB computer keyboard into my 4 year-old Samsung TV today and it worked perfectly. I was able to navigate the TV menus using the Arrow and Enter keys, and I could type upper and lower case text. If your Dad has a keyboard he can use then I think it will work.

[Specaircrew]

[QUOTE=TURIN;11001843]Thanks for the replies.

This is the root of the problem. He's had about five BT 'Youview' boxes that keep failing. We think its because he uses those internet adapter plugs to send the broadband over the house electrical circuits. Until I can get in there and route an ethernet cable half way around the house to the BT Box, I thought it would be a quick temporary fix to use the smart TV App.

Been using BT Youview boxes for years connected to homeplugs, the box just sees it as an ethernet cable. That said the occasional electrical spike might affect the pairing but that can be fixed by switching them both off then switching the master back on before the slave.

[Saab Dastard]

We think its because he uses those internet adapter plugs to send the broadband over the house electrical circuits.
Nonsense. The connection to the TV box is still an ethernet cable. How the data gets to the ethernet cable is neither here nor there as far as the TV box is concerned.

[TURIN]

Nonsense. The connection to the TV box is still an ethernet cable. How the data gets to the ethernet cable is neither here nor there as far as the TV box is concerned.
According to the BT chap that came round, that is the cause. Something to do with separate circuits.
I asked a question some time ago about using these plugs to extend my Internet to a shed at the bottom my garden. I was advised not to bother.

[netstruggler]

According to the BT chap that came round, that is the cause. Something to do with separate circuits.

That would explain why your father's BT Box wouldn't work properly on the extender, but I don't see how it could damage the BT Box or how replacing it would be helpful.

My guess would be that the connection between the extenders was poor and after a while they would 'unpair' themselves. Perhaps every time the BT Box was replaced the extenders were reset giving the engineer enough time to get out of the house?

Of course you may have tried resetting the extenders and rebooting the BT Box and found that didn't help - so the problem lies somewhere else. I still don't believe the extenders could permanently damage the equipment they connect to though.

[Saab Dastard]

According to the BT chap that came round, that is the cause. Something to do with separate circuits.
I asked a question some time ago about using these plugs to extend my Internet to a shed at the bottom my garden. I was advised not to bother.
Again, this is nonsense. You cannot connect powerline adapters across different phases, but you can connect them across different circuits within the same phase supply. They will work across any circuits on your side of your meter. The connection may be poor because of old wiring, but that's a different question. BT engineers aren't electricians, and are quite happy to trot out old wives' tails as received wisdom (aka bull****).

[TURIN]

Problem solved.

Dad installed three Mesh units some weeks ago. Nice wifi throughout the house and garden. Not being familiar with these little discs, I thought they were for wifi only. Turns out they have an ethernet socket on the back. Plugged the BT Box into the closest Mesh AP and Bob's yer aunties live in lover!

Re: Powerline adapters, I have no idea how good they are , but in my parents 130 year old house, rewired in the 80's, they are a bit crap for streaming TV.

For those that offered help, thanks. As for the 'nonsense' remarks, I can only go on the facts before me. BT TV fails, chap comes round, checks the internet, replaces the box, BT TV works fine for 6 months or so, same thing happens again, repeat. After the 3rd box, they stopped sending a chap round and just sent him a new box. Now, it maybe that these returned boxes are coming back out of their workshops as no fault found. I don't know.