We’ve covered just about all there is to know about televisions in the last couple of Blog posts, so we might as well keep going and explore the wonderful world of Smart TVs. I’m sure you’ve seen or heard the phrase “Smart TV” in the past, but did it ever leave you feeling, well, dumb because you didn’t know what such a TV actually is? We’re here to help!
A Smart TV is, in simple terms, a television that is able to connect to the Internet. In the early days of Smart TVs, you would run an Ethernet cable from your modem or router to the television to connect to the Internet. I hate to make the claim that ALL Smart TVs have wireless capability because I just know that someone somewhere will e-mail me saying that they just bought one that isn’t natively wireless, so let’t just say this: the vast majority of Smart TVs on the market today can link to your wireless network without an adapter or Ethernet cable. There, that should cover it. Simply enter the settings on your television and look for something along the lines of “Network Setup” or “Wireless Setup”. Find the name of your wireless network on the list (it might be listed as SSID), and enter the password when prompted. The television used in the graphic above is a Samsung Smart TV. If you’ll look closely at the picture, you’ll see a series of apps – Facebook, YouTube, Skype, Web Browser, USA Today, Twitter, Pandora, etc. These apps are just a few of the offerings from Samsung’s Smart Hub. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you’ll want to download the Netflix app to stream movies right through your television. Are you a SiriusXM customer? Get their app to listen to your favorite station on your Smart TV. You’ll need access to a computer or smartphone while linking your new Smart TV apps to your existing account. Most will ask you to enter an access code.
So, you have an older, dumb, television, that you’d like to make a little smarter. Short of rushing out to the store, what can you do? Well, if your TV has an available HDMI port on it, you’re in luck! I’ve had a lot of success with a Roku. A Roku will run you anywhere from about $35 (for the Stick) to about $80 for the Roku 3 Streaming Media Player. The Roku Streaming Stick looks like a flash drive that plugs into an HDMI port on your TV. The Streaming Media Player is a small box that requires two cords: one to a power source, and the other to an HDMI port on your TV. Amazon offers their own stick, the Amazon Fire TV Stick for around $40. There are other, lesser-known brands available by doing a quick search for “streaming media player” on amazon.com, but these two are the best known. All of these accomplish the same thing – they allow your television to download programming from the Internet.
I’m the proud owner of two Samsung Smart TV’s and have nothing bad to say about them. The picture quality is incredible, and the flexibility of being connected to the Internet really adds a lot. Well, maybe I can say just one thing: my wife is addicted to Scandal on Netflix. Watching four or five a night isn’t uncommon. She’s the definition of “binge watcher”. Luckily for me we have another TV in the bedroom!