Smart TV advice

[CP 0 3 BHA]

We're about to be propelled into the 21st century in our village by having 100mb fibre broadband connected in the next few weeks.

The timing is good because a couple of our tellies need upgrading as well.

So my question is should I spend a bit extra and by so called Smart TVs or is it better to get good quality LED TVs and buy one of the many dongles that are on the market - and presumably turn your telly into a Smart TV? If the dongles are the recommended route, which one?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[father_and_son]

We have a Samsung smart TV and to be honest, can't see the point. As most of the family have samsung phones we can make whatever youtube vid we are watching appear on the TV, which is occasionally a mildly more interesting way of sharing than just showing someone your phone, but other than that, just do not use any of the apps available.

We used to use the KnowHow Movies app as it was a marginally cheaper way to rent a movie than from Sky box office, but frankly, not really much else worth having.

I guess if you don't have Sky, then easy access to iPlayer [and similar] is a worthwhile addition to a TV, but a Now TV box is a only £15, gives you a month of movies free (when you sign up online) and 3 months of entertainment channels free (when you buy the box).

If the upgrade to a smart TV costs more than £15, then get a Now box instead, but only if you need iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, etc etc and you can have the free stuff until it runs out.

 

[mothy]

In my opinion, if you don't have sky or virgin, a smart TV is worth the extra, as you can stream beeb iplayer, you tube, netflix etc on it - so have catch up TV & basic internet..

I could do this through my phone - but find connection quicker & more reliable direct from TV, & it means I can still use my phone..

I can't comment on Amazon, chromecast or now TV - I've been looking at chromecast for a while

 

[Bozza]

We have a Samsung smart TV and to be honest, can't see the point. As most of the family have samsung phones we can make whatever youtube vid we are watching appear on the TV, which is occasionally a mildly more interesting way of sharing than just showing someone your phone, but other than that, just do not use any of the apps available

I'm pretty sure that only works because it is a Smart TV. The phone tells the TV to open it's YouTube app and tells it what to play.

Is it possible to buy a TV that isn't "Smart" now?

 

[mothy]

Is it possible to buy a TV that isn't "Smart" now?

Yes. I bought one on Saturday. 32" samsung without was 190 & smart was 270 - I went for smart..

 

[StonehamPark]

Yes. I bought one on Saturday. 32" samsung without was 190 & smart was 270 - I went for smart..

Same here about 2 weeks ago.
Samsung as well.

I think I can plug a dongle into mine though if I wanted to.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I bought an LG smart TV a few months back.

It's got a remote like a Wii, so you use a pointer and the UI is really really nice. I use Netflix, Youtube, Spotify and even watch Albion highlights from the website (the new site works on the LG browser!).

If you have an Apple TV or something similar, don't worry too much. But it's like a lot of things - you don't realise how useful it is until you have it!

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

I bought an LG smart TV a few months back.

It's got a remote like a Wii, so you use a pointer and the UI is really really nice. I use Netflix, Youtube, Spotify and even watch Albion highlights from the website (the new site works on the LG browser!).

If you have an Apple TV or something similar, don't worry too much. But it's like a lot of things - you don't realise how useful it is until you have it!

We too got an LG smart TV a few weeks ago, of the apps we mainly use Netflix and Amazon Prime. Netflix 4k is lacking content though. We haven't bothered with the smart remote, the remote app through our phones is pretty good though. Although the kids have worked out how to share what they are watching on You Tube on their iPad's to the TV which is rather annoying.

With our old non smart TV we used to use the blu-ray player or PS4 for access to Netflix etc, so much easier just being able to switch from Sky to Netflix without having to get up and get the remote for the Blu-Ray player or switch on the PS4 (although it will make me even more lazy).

Also being able to download an .mkv of a film and stick it on a usb and put that usb straight into the TV is really good. I downloaded Inside Out for the kids at the weekend and was amazed at the quality of the playback, we always got some loss of quality when playing it back from usb on the blu-ray player but the TV suffered none at all.

My advice is if you don't have any other smart devices and need a new TV then it's a great feature to have, most TV's are smart now so you may well find you'll end up with it anyway, certainly read independent reviews of any TV you are interested in to make an informed decision. AV Forums is a great source of advice.

 

[Simster]

I have a related question as I'll be buying a Smart TV next year.

I assume most Smart TVs work where they have a main screen that works like the Apple Store or Google Play, such that when new services come on-line (Amazon Prime, NowTV, Netflix etc), you can update your firmware on your TV to include them. Is that right? And if so, which brands are best at allowing you to do that early?

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Also being able to download an .mkv of a film and stick it on a usb and put that usb straight into the TV is really good. I downloaded Inside Out for the kids at the weekend and was amazed at the quality of the playback, we always got some loss of quality when playing it back from usb on the blu-ray player but the TV suffered none at all.
.

A tip here. Download Plex on your computer. It creates a media server which your smart tv can see. When you go into the LG Smart Share (I think?) app, you can see your computer there and stream any content to it over wifi. Even better!

 

[Meade's Ball]

Is it possible to buy a TV that isn't "Smart" now?

My tv is so smart that it listens to and records the girlfriend and I's conversations, or so she tells me after the Samsung invasion of privacy scare reported earlier in the year. Sometimes, when I just want silence, which, alright, is quite a lot of the time, I do remind her that we're not "alone", and turn the telly off and on when a little microphone appears and flashes at the bottom of the screen, eyeballing her to glance over and have her fears brought back to the surface. I tend to think, though, that if it was anyone's permanent job with the Samsung Stasi to listen back over some of the chats her and I have on a daily basis, they would likely fling themselves off of the fourth floor of anywhere to have our bland witterings deleted from their memory bank.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I have a related question as I'll be buying a Smart TV next year.

I assume most Smart TVs work where they have a main screen that works like the Apple Store or Google Play, such that when new services come on-line (Amazon Prime, NowTV, Netflix etc), you can update your firmware on your TV to include them. Is that right? And if so, which brands are best at allowing you to do that early?

This.

And....I'm buying a smart tv for my elderly parents but they want a fairly small 32 inch set to replace their old CRT. I wanted to buy the Panasonic smart tv which includes freeplay which is a great feature integrating the EPG and on demand programmes. Unfortunately, this set is only hd ready and therefore not full hd. Does anyone know of a similar set with full hd and that catchup feature?

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

A tip here. Download Plex on your computer. It creates a media server which your smart tv can see. When you go into the LG Smart Share (I think?) app, you can see your computer there and stream any content to it over wifi. Even better!

I do have Plex on my Macbook Pro so might give that a go. I've got a NAS setup for storage too which Plex can see, this may well make me even lazier.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I do have Plex on my Macbook Pro so might give that a go. I've got a NAS setup for storage too which Plex can see, this may well make me even lazier.

Nice. It just shows right up for me. It's a bit weird the way it tries to order folders when you browse from the tv, but you'll figure it out.

 

[The Birdman]

Hi do smart TVs have UBS slots if so we're as we need to plug a presentation into it tonight.

 

[dazzer6666]

I bought an LG smart TV a few months back.

It's got a remote like a Wii, so you use a pointer and the UI is really really nice. I use Netflix, Youtube, Spotify and even watch Albion highlights from the website (the new site works on the LG browser!).

If you have an Apple TV or something similar, don't worry too much. But it's like a lot of things - you don't realise how useful it is until you have it!

This for me. Have also watched streams of Albion games via the net on it. Could I manage without it ? Of course, but it's nice to have.

 

[dazzer6666]

Hi do smart TVs have UBS slots if so we're as we need to plug a presentation into it tonight.

My not particularly expensive LG one has 3......

 

[symyjym]

My tv is so smart that it listens to and records the girlfriend and I's conversations, or so she tells me after the Samsung invasion of privacy scare reported earlier in the year. Sometimes, when I just want silence, which, alright, is quite a lot of the time, I do remind her that we're not "alone", and turn the telly off and on when a little microphone appears and flashes at the bottom of the screen, eyeballing her to glance over and have her fears brought back to the surface. I tend to think, though, that if it was anyone's permanent job with the Samsung Stasi to listen back over some of the chats her and I have on a daily basis, they would likely fling themselves off of the fourth floor of anywhere to have our bland witterings deleted from their memory bank.

Users can prevent their personal conversations from being recorded or transmitted by turning off the voice command feature and disconnecting the TV from the Internet.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...d-be-aware-of-this-very-scary-privacy-policy/

 

[The Birdman]

Hi do smart TVs have UBS slots if so we're as we need to plug a presentation into it tonight.

Whoops USB slots even !!

 

[grawhite]

Smart TVs are the only way to go these days but if you decided against it, just get yourself and android box, apple box or amazon fire stick/box. Even with a Smart TV they are better than SKY or Virgin in a lot of ways.