We now live in a world where it is normal to have a “Smart TV”. This is essentially a TV with a built in computer connected to the Internet. These have been with us for approximately 5 to 7 years. However, how smart are our TVs?
You would think, that having a smart TV that is connected to the internet will mean it would stay up to date and have the latest softwares whenever updated. Unfortunately, for many TV sets that isn’t the case. When we first purchased our TV, Sony KDL46NX720, it had everything you wanted in the TV at the time but now I am left with a TV which simply isn’t smart anymore. Why? Because it just can’t keep up.
Firstly, when browsing through the “smart section” of our TV, it just gets slower and slower over the years of having the TV. It looks like sony have tried to keep it up to date however, in doing so, I don’t think their hardware can keep up.
Secondly, smart TVs have a lot of third party services (or apps) to make them “smart”. These includes the likes of watching Netflix, browsing the internet, watching YouTube. Unfortunately, the YouTube service has been axed from our TV with little explanation. It’s likely that YouTube videos are getting too processor intensive for our TV.
I believe when it comes to Smart TVs, it should only be smart at what a TV was initially designed to do. I don’t think a user should browse the internet using the TV since there is no quick way of interfacing with the TV. It should primarily be used for watching videos (whether it be off YouTube or DLNA). Other cool features include being able to interface with your TV using different devices (such as beamly on your mobile phone).
Thankfully, our TV has 4 HDMI ports and I am able to hook up either a Google Chromecast or a Raspberry Pi with XMBC which is able to make any TV with a HDMI port a Smart TV.
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