Questions on setting up entertainment center with HDMI

My current television is a few years old. Has HDMI, but was not a smart TV (no internet functionality). I have an old sony receiver so right now my setup is

Xbox (hardwired to internet), PS3 (wireless to internet) and cable box all go HDMI into the receiver which goes HDMI into the TV. As mentioned, TV has no internet connectivity. This setup has been working well for several years for me.

However, Santa is bringing me a new Bravia smart TV for Christmas. So I started looking at some of the options for hooking it up. I noticed that the HDMI 1.4 passes through audio, video, 3D and Ethernet (up to 100mb).

I currently only have 1 internet feed in the living room, going to the xbox. The smart TV can do wireless, but if I plan to do streaming, would wired be a better bet? If I hooked up the internet to the TV and then ran HDMI to all the devices, would the HDMI really pass through the Ethernet connection? Would my TV, XBOX and PS3 all act as if they had a wired connection if it was hooked up properly?

Basically, should I stick with my current configuration with just a different TV in the mix and have that TV connect wireless to the internet, or would a new configuration suit me better?

I don't think the 360 or PS3 have ethernet via HDMI.

In all honesty, since you already have the consoles, I wouldn't worry about the built-in TV stuff. The 360 and PS3's netflix interface will probably be much better than the TV's.

cube wrote:

In all honesty, since you already have the consoles, I wouldn't worry about the built-in TV stuff. The 360 and PS3's netflix interface will probably be much better than the TV's.

As a Bravia Owner I can confirm that this is true.
EDIT: It does come in handy when the PS3 requires its bi-monthly three hour long update cycle before letting you log into anything.

I will throw in my agreement as well. No real need to use the smart TV functionality if you have various set top devices now that have all that. Also, if you were to stream through TV, you need to make sure your receiver supports audio return from the TV, otherwise you'd have to run a separate audio cable from TV back into the receiver to get audio since audio will run from the TV vs. your cable/dish, xbox, etc.

I can't speak for the comparison of features (but that seems to be answered anyway) but will say that wired if you can swing it will beat wireless. Drop the money on a 5 or 8 port switch (may as well get gigibit and I say 8 just because sometimes these networked connected devices seem to find friends) and some cables and you'll be fine.