Smart TVs

[Buce]

 

My daughter has asked for a 'smart' tv for her room Xmas. I've had a brief look online and there is a bewildering range of makes and prices. What should I be looking at in terms of features? Is there any good reason to pay more than the £160/170 that I've seen advertised for some?

[kingcarr21]

Got one for my 12 year old daughter for her birthday. She watches Youtube & Netflix on it and that's about it. Cost £170

 

Basically aslong as it has Youtube & Netflix you cant go wrong

[Lovejoy]

I haven't brought a new tv for about 4 years but I'm pretty sure just about everything is HD/Smart now, so as long as you're happy with the brand, no reason to pay top dollar .

[Bellend Sebastian]

I don't know who's got what at the minute, but historically not every manufacturer has the rights to have all the apps.

 

It's about 4 years ago since I bought mine, but Samsung had everything you'd want at that point, whereas not all the others did - they were the only one at the time that gave access to all the main terrestrial providers' apps. May not be the same now, but worth checking - it's a pain in the arse to find you've got everything except All 4, when you're a big Naked Attraction fan, for example

[RoboFox]

 

15 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I don't know who's got what at the minute, but historically not every manufacturer has the rights to have all the apps.

This.

 

They can also lose licenses to stream service providers and customers won't be made aware. The apps will just stop working or disappear. 

 

Buying an Amazon Fire TV stick basically turns any TV with a HDMI into a Smart TV. They have all the usual apps, plus some. Then KODI, ShowBox etc. if you want. 

[yorkie1999]

Samsung or LG. Some "smart tv's" are not as smart as the manufacturers make out as they only allow a few apps that are not mainstream. If you can get a tv with netflix, spotify and  amazon prime apps on it, as well as having wifi and bluetooth, it should be fine. 

[Collymore]

Be cautious buying the cheapest. 

 

I have a blaupunkt smart TV which was the cheapest on the market at the time and it's the worst thing ever. The software and hardware that runs the smart features is just terrible, so bad in fact I don't dare using the features on it as I'd lose half of my evening waiting for stuff to load. 

If I want a cheap laugh I sometimes load up the Internet browser on it - I swear whoever created it must have done so in jest as it's the worst app you could imagine. 

 

Pictures quality is good on it so that's all that matters to me.

[lifted*fox]

what screen size you looking for Buce?

[Buce]

8 minutes ago, lifted*fox said:

what screen size you looking for Buce?

 

It will be situated on a wall maybe 10 feet away from where she viewing it, Daz; what would you suggest as appropriate for that?

[lifted*fox]

Just now, Buce said:

It will be situated on a wall maybe 10 feet away from where she viewing it, Daz; what would you suggest as appropriate for that?

 

ooh, it depends on the room size and how much space you have but with small bezel sizes these days I'd always look for something no smaller than 32". 

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/samsung-t32e390sx-smart-32-led-tv-10137096-pdt.html

 

this currently has £100 off and has good reviews. I'm a Samsung fan - they have good colours and deep blacks. 

 

seems like a good deal to me and has catch-up / smart-hub built in. 

[FoxesDeb]

I was going to recommend Samsung also, and I was going to suggest Richer Sounds, but the deal Daz has posted will be pretty hard to beat I would think. 

 

[Blue ROI]

LG are highly recommended for Smart TV'S due to Web OS. Meant to be the most user friendly Smart TV system around.

 

Alternatively you could buy a non-smart TV and hook it up to a Chromecast if you have decent wi-fi.

Edited 4 December 2018 by Blue ROI

[Kopic]

Only advice I can give is don't rush the decision and read reviews. I recently jumped on a great deal for Sharp 40 inch tv (plus 20% work discount), wish i'd waited. To be honest it's not too bad, full smart capabilities, it's just quite slow and the web browser if atrocious, all of which were in reviews etc.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Point of note, and similar to what @Blue ROI said, any tv connected to a modern games console can do what smart tvs do, just via the console.

[Suzie the Fox]

My son asked for a TV for his birthday/xmas pressie and i managed to get a 43in, 4k Toshiba smart TV from AO.com on Black Friday. I thought it was a decent price at £280 (it had been reduced by a decent amount too) 

[Unabomber]

Can you record shows on smart TVs or do you need an external device for that? 

[Bellend Sebastian]

18 minutes ago, Unabomber said:

Can you record shows on smart TVs or do you need an external device for that? 

My Samsung can supposedly record to a USB stick. Never tried it though

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 hours ago, Suzie the Fox said:

My son asked for a TV for his birthday/xmas pressie and i managed to get a 43in, 4k Toshiba smart TV from AO.com on Black Friday. I thought it was a decent price at £280 (it had been reduced by a decent amount too) 

Then he spent hours playing with the box, pretending it was a fire engine, then a spaceship. Today it's a racing car.

 

 

 

 

In other news, kid today, eh?

[Suzie the Fox]

1 minute ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Then he spent hours playing with the box, pretending it was a fire engine, then a spaceship. Today it's a racing car.

 

 

 

 

In other news, kid today, eh?

He is 22  

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

My Samsung can supposedly record to a USB stick. Never tried it though

Even some tv's that are not smart TVs can do that.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 minute ago, Suzie the Fox said:

He is 22  

 

I assumed that was YOUR age!

[Buce]

Just now, Suzie the Fox said:

He is 22  

 

Don’t you think he’s a bit old to be pretending a box is a fire engine?

[Izzy]

Just now, Trav Le Bleu said:

 

I assumed that was YOUR age!

You big smoothy Trav 

[Suzie the Fox]

Just now, Trav Le Bleu said:

 

I assumed that was YOUR age!

I wish It was 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 minutes ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

You big smoothy Trav 

So I do the schmoozing and you get the rep point?