OT: Smart TVs

[Caecilius]

My old sony CRT-based TV has finally died, so I need to move into the

21st century and get a flat screen TV. It seems that "smart TVs" are the thing now: a TV with an integrated set-top-box that gives Internet access, etc. etc.

But I'm not convinced I want this: I'd rather get a TV that's just a display and have seperate set-top boxes. It seems these smart TVs are all running proprietary software with app stores and stuff. I expect a TV to last ten years or so, and can imagine the smart bit of these smart TVs becoming outdated far sooner than that.

Is it still possible and sensible to get a "dumb" TV with modern features like 1080p, HDMI inputs etc. and hook it up to my DVD player, virgin media box etc? If I want Internet and stuff, I'd rather just get another set-top box rather than having it integrated into the TV.

Am I being sensible, or am I a luddite from the 20th century?

[Scion]

Caecilius put finger to keyboard:

Sensible. But Smart TVs have inputs as well - possibly more of 'em than a built-down-to-a-cost dumb TV.

[Mike Barnes]

I suspect that a dumb TV would be no cheaper than a smart TV. You can always ignore the TV's smart stuff and hook it up to your own boxes.

I think it's sensible when selecting a TV to concentrate on the essentials - picture quality being the most obvious - because everything else can be bypassed.

[Theo Markettos]

Yep, the 'smarts' are just an Android phone or similar shoved in the back of the TV, so there isn't much of an extra cost to add it (ie smart TVs need not cost much more than dumb ones). You should be mostly able to ignore it

- the main annoyance will be how you select the HDMI port out of the 17 available - is it a simple button press, or do you need to navigate the 'smart' menus to do it?

Theo

[Tim Watts]

The best way with no doubt whatsoever...

The "Smart" bits will go obsolete while the TV should give you over 10 years of service, maybe more, if you buy a decent one (Samsung IME).

is £449 for a 40". It's "smart" but the price seems par for the course. Get this and not use the "smart" bits...

If you are looking for soemthing smaller, 27" and less, a computer monitor with lots of HDMIs could be a reasonable bet. There's a small range of crossover products that are mostly a monitor (HDMI, VGA, DVI inputs, 1080p) but have a tuner shoved in too.

According to DABS there is one non smart Samsung in 42":

For the set-top box I recommend a Roku 3. Lovely box, very small, does Netflix, iPlayer, Youtube and many others. However, if you "hack" your Netflix feed using a DNS re-router (eg unblock-us) to get the bigger US catalogue it can be a faff to workaround the Roku's attempt to make this difficult.

[Tim Watts]

Oh - found you a 42" monitor: Sony FWD-42B2

£1300 though (why I don't know).

[Caecilius]

I think whether the "smart" bit can be bypassed will be a key point for me. If it doesn't get in the way, then it's probably fine to have a smart TV and just ignore the "smart" part.

But if it needs to contact online servers to work, or the menu system gets in the way, then I'll avoid it.

[Caecilius]

That's exactly my thoughts. And I'll take a look at the Samsung range.

That looks like a good choice. It gets good reviews, and is a reasonable price from amazon.

That's the kind of add-on I'll get if I want real smart TV. Then I can afford to change the "smart" bit a couple of times during the TVs life.

[Malcolm G]

I have yet to meet a smart TV that requires an internet connection to just be a TV.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Given the set will have a processor these days, it's not actually much in the way of extra stuff to make it a 'smart' TV. Good luck at finding one with no processor.

Keep an eye on CPC - they often have bargains of out of date TVs.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Economy of scale? May also have a display with fewer dead pixels.

[harryagain]

Watch out for power consumption. These big TVs use lots. The plasma types use most. It is my biggest electricity consumer.

You will be astounded at the difference in picture quality. I have a Panasonic you can just plug your computer video lead into the back of it and use it as a giant monitor.

[Lobster]

On 10 Jun 2014, Caecilius grunted:

I think you're being sensible. We have two standalone TVs here, one of which is a 'smart' one and is hooked up to t'internet, and my local network, so we can use it directly to watch downloaded material saved on my NAS drive, or streamed directly from the internet (Netflix, Amazon etc).

The other TV is stupid (aka not 'smart'), but we can use it to the access the same content via a small external (ie 'set-top', but not!) box. This way is far better IME, as you effectively use the TV as a monitor, and just flip between the inputs at will, like changing channels. With the 'smart' TV, say you're watching a film on Netflix, and want to momentarily flip over to terrestrial or cable TV; then you have to quit the film, exit the Netflix application, and only then do you have access to the TV inputs to switch to the terrestrial. Then, to go back to the movie you have to load up Netflix again, find the film etc etc.... I'm almost tempted to buy a separate set-top box for the smart TV!!

[Vir Campestris]

No. Or at least, I couldn't find one, except the sort designed for airports to run 24/7 and with a rather high price.

You're being sensible. And I say that as someone involved in designing this technology!

Andy

[polygonum]

Just looked at two 60" TVs - plasma 158 W, LED 101 W. Hardly a staggeringly high consumption.

Why would I want to plug my computer video lead into your Panasonic?

[Brian Gaff]

Sounds logical to me. Panasonic perhaps? Brian

[DerbyBorn]

Plasma TVs sound so macho - but most TVs are LCD. Many people thing flat TVs are plasma.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No they don't. Most people dont think at all.

[PeterC]

Last year I bought a 50" Panasonic 'LED'. It gives a very good picture at

37W. The rated power is for 'eye-blaster' mode, not a good set-up.

It is "smart" but isn't linked to the interweb, so not much risk there.

[Adrian]

Slight change of tack...

Has anybody got any experience of using SmartTVs - STBs or built-in - over a slow internet connection? We get about 1.5mbps, sometimes slower. My gut feel is that it's going to be unusable, but...