Smart TV's

kennysarmy

kennysarmy

Yeah but can your army do this?
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Looking at upgrading my normal TV to something "smart"

I saw in Curry's yesterday that the Samsung models don't have "Freeview Play" but instead something called "TV Plus"

Does anyone know the difference between these two descriptions?
 
Some info about TV Plus here:

https://news.samsung.com/global/uhd-and-hdr-content-with-samsung-tv-plus-now-available-in-europe

Information about Freeview Play here:

http://www.techradar.com/news/television/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-freeview-play-1284481

It would seem that TV Plus allows access to 4K material as well as acting as a guide and access to catch up services.

Beware that not all TV's are equal with regard to their smart capabilities. Sony and some other manufacturers use Android to provide smart services; which some people find clunky in use. Samsung (I believe) use their own proprietary system which I'm told is pretty good. LG use Web OS which I have found to be fast and very easy to use.

If you are only buying a new TV for its smart capabilities; remember you can can buy add on devices that will make your dumb TV smart i.e. Amazon Fire TV, Roku etc.
 
Sony's Android isnt that bad. It can be slow to respond on occasion but overall it's okay.

Built in Chromecast is nice, standard player opens every MKV I've thrown at it from USB etc. Use the YouTube, Vimeo, RedBull TV (via GooglePlay download) Android apps and they are very good.

My only bug bear is that on some models the dual Satellite tuner does not give EPG details as they do not have the official "FreeSat" setup (unless stated in the specs). If you have an external DVR/Satbox or use FreeView (via aerial) this is not a problem.
 
No complaints with my recently bought Samsung 4K UHD Smart TV, easy enough to navigate although I haven't really used the Smart bit much
 
I have a Samsung 49" about 10 months old and it is pretty good but you can see where the compromises are.
The smart playback of movie files from my NAS is great quality but the remote is awfull as you are using tiny buttons on the bottom of the thing.
also the search is poor, sometimes we bail from a film an hour in and to restart you have to search for 10 mins etc.
 
My Samsung can't be faulted either.
 
Yeah, I'd buy a dumb telly and a Fire Stick and/or Chromecast over a Smart TV. In fact I often plug my Fire stick into the Sony smart telly because the Amazon interface is way better on it.

When something new comes along you can add it for £30 or so.
 
I have a 4K 49" Sony TV with an HD Amazon Fire TV box plugged in. I watch on demand programmes such as Netflix and Prime only. So no live TV or EPGs. The navigation of the Sony TV is very similar to the Amazon and Netflix experience. Easy and quick. But they all like to show off shows they are featuring, which sometimes is confusing.
I use the Netflix app on the TV. Which has 4K content. My daughter is on YouTube a lot.
The Amazon Android app in the TV is not as good as the external Amazon Fire TV box experience.

I added a sound system. Sound bar. Surround speakers and a bass woofer. This makes a huge difference! If you are going for a great picture, go for great sound to go with it. The bass sound is the most important bit not to be missed.
 
Last edited:
ianp5a said:
I added a sound system. Sound bar. Surround speakers and a bass woofer. This makes a huge difference! If you are going for a great picture, go for great sound to go with it. The bass sound is the most important bit not to be missed.
Click to expand...
I agree totally - it makes way more difference than many think, and changes the whole 'experience'. A semi decent soundbase can be had for around £100 and doesn't add much to the black box count..
 
stevewestern said:
I agree totally - it makes way more difference than many think, and changes the whole 'experience'. A semi decent soundbase can be had for around £100 and doesn't add much to the black box count..
Click to expand...
I like to demo this clip on the Youtube player of the TV. It makes people laugh when things round the house start to vibrate. As it goes through all the different frequencies.
 
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