Smart TV..what to look for?

[prairie_girl]

If you have to do a lot of connecting and disconnecting hooking up other external things like PlayStation or Nintendo and make sure that your ports are easily reachable. My mom‘s TV is a PIA because in order to plug stuff and you basically have to take the thing off the wall to reach the ports.

The other thing are remotes. We have a Samsung TV upstairs that is beautiful has one of the clearest displays but the remote is the biggest PIA. Most have voice activation anyways nowadays when you search but this one doesn’t if you have to use the alphabet oh dear God it’s painful.

We honestly don’t use any of the smart functions on our TV since we have Apple TV. I have never searched the Internet with her TV

The second tv is so we don’t have to keep unplugging everything and then replugging it all in. It’s a pain in the butt.

 

[ronandannette]

The second tv is so we don’t have to keep unplugging everything and then replugging it all in. It’s a pain in the butt.

That would be a BIG drag. We’ve only ever had one TV in the house but it’s always been in the living room. Did you and your DH never watch anything together, or when you did, did you both just hang out on the bed? Did you never have it on during the day, just for background as you were puttering around the house?

 

[lynxstch]

This isn't near as tech-y an answer as you're getting from others but we recently got a new TV and I'll tell you what I hate about it, as a cautionary tale. Before you buy, actually use the remote yourself. Our new one has tiny buttons and it's hard to press them without hitting more than one. It also has an extremely annoying screen display with all the available apps scrolling across the bottom every time you turn it on. This "feature" has to be exited out of and although it seems like a little thing, it drives me crazy.

That sounds like our new Vizio 55" OLED. We use our cable remote, as I can't stand the little remote buttons. We have that annoying home screen with all of the apps that you have to exit out of. But we love the picture, it's crystal clear, and there is no screen lag, it responds immediately. We did find out that sometimes when they do a Smartcast update, the update gets stuck. While the tv still works, you start with a blank screen. Thankfully they have techs on hand even on the weekends, and she talked me through rebooting it so I know how next time. Hopefully it doesn't happen often as rebooting took quite awhile.

 

[prairie_girl]

That would be a BIG drag. We’ve only ever had one TV in the house but it’s always been in the living room. Did you and your DH never watch anything together, or when you did, did you both just hang out on the bed? Did you never have it on during the day, just for background as you were puttering around the house?

When we watch movies, we either hang out in my bed, or we move it to the living room. I don’t usually have it on during the day, but if I do, it’s usually on a music channel for background noise.

 

[GreatLakes]

The problem with Smart TVs are their update cycles. Most television manufacturers are loading third party software onto the TV to make them smart. If the manufacturer is going to manage the update instead of the third party the updates will be hit or miss.

Amazon brands some TVs as Fire TVs but they don't manufacture them. Amazon manages the app ecosystem and I'd trust them more than I'd trust Toshiba or some other manufacturer to keep everything updated. For the best user experience I'd just get a TV and use appliances for the "smart" functions. Roku player or stick, Apple TV, Fire Stick, etc.

No matter which way you go make sure you have a separate WiFi SSID for anything "smart" or IoT so these appliances don't share a network with your laptop or computer. It isn't worth the security risks. You can do this with multiple routers or VLANs but having your laptop and smart TV on a network where they can talk is a bad idea.

 

[sam_gordon]

having your laptop and smart TV on a network where they can talk is a bad idea.

Unless you want to mirror the screen or play a video from your computer. Sure, you can plug it in, but that's a pain.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Reported

 

[Miffy]

We have 2 smart TVs. One is a 55" Sony OLED and the picture is gorgeous. We have a Roku attached to it, so we don't use the smart tv functions. The Roku works great for our purposes. The TV has an earphone jack, which not all smart TVs do. If you want this, make sure to shop around.

The other TV is a TCL 43" smart Roku TV. I got it because I wanted a TV to use in a different room. I use it only for exercise, so I didn't go for a bigger size. The TV works fine, the picture is good (not amazing, like the Sony, but good), and it works. I have zero complaints.

OP, if you can, go to a store (Best Buy seems the likeliest choice) and stare hard at all the TVs in the size and price range you're considering. There's a stark difference in picture quality among different makes and models of TVs, something you can't tell from reading reviews or looking at pictures of TVs on the internet.