LAN ports on smart TV

[CAPP0]

Do any of the current crop of smart TVs have more than one LAN (RJ45) port, and if so what is the second one used for? I'm aware that many of them have wifi anyway but wanted to check, re a cabling query, whether it's ever necessary to provide 2 LAN cables to the rear of a TV?

[weeboot]

Wouldn't have thought so, but I seem to recall HDMI over ethernet requires two cables... Which could be the reason for doing it.

[JimbobVFR]

I've seen at least one high end set with a separate connection box have multiple Ethernet ports. The extra ports were to act as a switch for connecting other devices to the network. It's not a common feature though.

[hornmeister]

One for NAS storage and one for internet access maybe. Some TVs can output to recording device. If I recall correctly my Samsung has a Network socket on the TV and also one on the separate connections box that comes with it where all the HDMI & USB devices plug into. I would think HDMI over ethernet will need to have a matching decoder at TV end and plug into the TV HDMI socket.

In truth it's easier & more flexible to get a cheap 4 or 8 port unmanaged switch for £20 or so.

Edited by hornmeister on Wednesday 22 January 15:54

Edited by hornmeister on Wednesday 22 January 16:10

[CAPP0]

Thanks all.

[Sheepshanks]

JimbobVFR said:

I've seen at least one high end set with a separate connection box have multiple Ethernet ports. The extra ports were to act as a switch for connecting other devices to the network. It's not a common feature though.

Including a switch seems an obvious thing to do - I could use 3 connections for the TV, DVD player and YouView box (used for recording).


Without a built-in switch you wouldn't have two Ethernet ports, it doesn't work in a way that allows connections to be paralleled up.

[Autopilot]

weeboot said:

Wouldn't have thought so, but I seem to recall HDMI over ethernet requires two cables... Which could be the reason for doing it.

HDMI over ethernet does exactly what it says on the tin...HDMI lead from TV goes in to one side of small clever box and ethernet cable comes out the other......which then plugs in to the ethernet port on the other clever little box which has an HDMI poking out the other side. Basically, HDMI sits at either end, but is switched to ethernet to cover the distance.

Speaking of which, I need to start a post about ARC when using HDMI over CAT6....