UKC

The old TV has finally given up the ghost. MS GM has, after research choosen a smart TV.
These look like normal LCD/plasma units, but can id told connect to you tube and netflix etc.

The samsung one http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue40es5500-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-40-inch-w... we're looking at requires a dongle, allow im not really sure what it does, and is it a requirement? does anyone have any experience of smart TV's?

In reply to goldmember:

I've got a Samsung smart TV and to be honest I don#t use the functions that often. What with Sky+ and the Xbox connected to it, I find that I don't really need the exra bells and whistles that came with it! I thought the browser was pretty clunky and not particularly user friendly either.

In reply to goldmember:

If you do go for the Samsung, don't pay the 80 notes for the keyboard. Just pick up a cheapie from Argos.

In reply to goldmember:

I have a smart Sony TV. Good for Lovefilm but the software hasn't kept up with the times so it doesn't have many of the more recent streamed services, and is very picky about streamed media from PCs on the LAN. I reckon you'd be better off getting a dumb TV and a PlayStation or similar.

In reply to Darren09:


What kind of keyboard does it have to be, bluetooth??

In reply to Toby S:

I moved into my house a year and a half ago and I have the Samsung Smart TV in the bedroom next to a CAT5 network point in the wall I put in. I have had all the tools sitting next to it for the full year and a half as a reminder to wire the socket up and I still haven't done it.. :s

I have my Sky box, Network connected AppleTV and PS3 connected to the same TV so the Smart functions I have found are pretty much pointless anyway.

In reply to goldmember:
The dongle will be a wi-fi dongle. Although, that telly also has an RJ45 (Ethernet) socket, so you could run a cable from it to your router - a long cable would be cheaper than a dongle, and you should get better speed.

In reply to goldmember: got an LG month or so ago. Its good. Don't watch much t.v but can stream films and watch i player and you tube. I use my phone to control it. No dangle required either.

In reply to Tony Naylor:
Although, that telly also has an RJ45 (Ethernet) socket, so you could run a cable from it to your router - a long cable would be cheaper than a dongle, and you should get better speed.

Or use a powerline adaptor in your plug sockets to remove the need for long cables round the house

In reply to goldmember:

It may also be worth considering the non Smart versio and getting a Smart DVD/Blu-ray to connect to it http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-BD-E5500-Blu-ray-Player-Smart/dp/B007L3Z086...

In reply to goldmember:

You could buy a Raspberry Pi, get it running XBMC and hook that up to your TV.

I've got one hooked up to my TV with a wireless dongle. This little puppy plays all my movies, TV series and music on the telly from my network storage device. With a bit of tinkering I could quite happily get internet access and everything is controlled through my phone or tablet.

Smart TV £450

or

Raspberry Pi + wireless dongle £40ish

In reply to Milesy: thanks for replies! So if I want to use iplayer or stream from the internet i'll need the dongle thingy or wire it up. What is apple tv like ? easy use? how much per month?

In reply to Kipper:

Wow. You’ve just saved me about £300.
Just got unlimited broadband and Netflix. Am looking for a way of connecting my HD TV (4 yr old and never used the HD bit yet) to the internet as I am already fed up with watching on my laptop. My solution WAS to buy a reconditioned PC with pcie slots and get a Blu Ray drive and decent graphics card for it.
This ticks all the boxes and at a fraction of the price.
Thanks.
And in return, for those of you wishing to watch American TV channels, check out proxmate[dot]dave[dot]cx/ (Works best with Chrome, apparently).

In reply to DreadyCraig:

Crafty. Like it.

In reply to Dr

 929/5524

Argos prod no of the one I got.

In reply to Mark Edwards:

I, foolishly, only thought about this having bought a new Smart TV at Christmas