Which smart TV's are the most popular?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Which smart TV's are the most popular?

1 | 2 | 3

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#850782 8-Jul-2013 12:37

nickb800: My 2cents:

I have a recent model Samsung Smart TV, I changed its country to USA, and enjoy Plex/Hulu/Spotify/Netflix as well as watching movies/tv shows on an external hard drive plugged into the TV.

Interesting. I thought that by changing the country you would also change the TV standard. Guess the TV standard and network location on these sets are seperate..

Regards,

Old3eyes

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#850785 8-Jul-2013 12:39

i didnt even need to change my country on my samsung on my brothers samsung, netflix etc was all there.

might have been because im using unblock-us at my router....

i believe you cant run two different country apps at the same time though (have to change your country code to swap apps), so i cant use the tvnz app (i could be wrong though).

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#850813 8-Jul-2013 13:07

Correct, if your Samsung is connected to your VPN for the Hulu / Netflix type services, you won't be able to grab TVNZ unless you change country + turn off the TV's VPN connection.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#850815 8-Jul-2013 13:11

ptinson:
NonprayingMantis: Samsung just bought boxee, which does network DVR Whether they bring that functionality integrated into future smart TVs remains to be seen, but seems likely.

When you say it does network DVR do you mean you can control it from elsewhere and its recored locally, or is it recorded on a server in the cumulonimbus and streamed to you from there?

the second one.
the DVR is in the cloud, which means your content is store there and streamed when you request it. It;s really blurring the line between netflix type solutions and ahome based PVR. there are quite a few legal challenges in the states to these kind of things, what content is licencesd and for what reason and what window, i.e. SVoD rights are different that broadcast rights,but is a cloud DVR a linbear broadcast, recorded to watch later, or is it really just SvoD? you could argue it either way.

I also note that the cloud DVR Boxee offers will be discontinued from 10th July.

ptinson

677 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#850839 8-Jul-2013 13:48

NonprayingMantis:
ptinson:
NonprayingMantis: Samsung just bought boxee, which does network DVR Whether they bring that functionality integrated into future smart TVs remains to be seen, but seems likely.

When you say it does network DVR do you mean you can control it from elsewhere and its recored locally, or is it recorded on a server in the cumulonimbus and streamed to you from there?

the second one.
the DVR is in the cloud, which means your content is store there and streamed when you request it. It;s really blurring the line between netflix type solutions and ahome based PVR. there are quite a few legal challenges in the states to these kind of things, what content is licencesd and for what reason and what window, i.e. SVoD rights are different that broadcast rights,but is a cloud DVR a linbear broadcast, recorded to watch later, or is it really just SvoD? you could argue it either way.

I also note that the cloud DVR Boxee offers will be discontinued from 10th July.

Yeah i could see the argument for, as long as the recorded content was only available to that customer, and that customer had "legitimate" prior access then...

Not that different than having a PVR in the lounge, in theory:)

Shame its going to be discontinued.

meat popsicle

mattwnz

20157 posts

Uber Geek

#850843 8-Jul-2013 13:50

I would never buy a tv based on it's smart features. If it came with them, then that would be great, but smart features have a limited life, although it depends on how long you expect your tv to last you. Old CRTs easily used to last 10+years, but it seams people replace LCDs with largers screens in a shorter time period.

nickb800

2718 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#850846 8-Jul-2013 13:53

old3eyes:
nickb800: My 2cents:

I have a recent model Samsung Smart TV, I changed its country to USA, and enjoy Plex/Hulu/Spotify/Netflix as well as watching movies/tv shows on an external hard drive plugged into the TV.

Interesting. I thought that by changing the country you would also change the TV standard. Guess the TV standard and network location on these sets are seperate..

Yeah I was surprised - but it works.

Changing country is easy - just google for instructions, enter a few codes on your remote and change country via a GUI.

You can get a bit more technical by FTP'ing into the device, and then you can have a range of apps from different countries concurrently, but this comes with a risk of bricking it.

AFAIK you need to both change the country AND the internet (either DNS or VPN) to get Netflix/Hulu working

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#850854 8-Jul-2013 13:58

sure if you wont actually use them or your not buying a tv for the smart features (i bought a tv yesterday specifically to get plex/netflix built into the tv, I had a perfectly good 50" plasma but that didnt have the smart features (youtube != smart)).

however a lot of people are beginning to change how they watch tv, esp geeks. more and more stuff is streaming, more and more people are using netflix, quickflix etc.

if you're looking at 2 tvs, one costs say $200 more but has some really good smart features, i'd spend the extra $200.

i also wouldnt buy anything but samsung ATM, it has the best OS IMO and best range of apps.

once google tv finally gets here, any tv with google tv should do.

also it does simplify things, you no longer have to turn on a second device, use a second remote, change to the correct input etc to watch on demand stuff or your network media.

samsung works really really well with other samsung devices, e.g. i have a samsung galaxy s3, i can screen share my phone to my tv so i can view my phone on my tv (great if you want to show people some photos or videos you've recorded), apple has done this for years, but nice that others have started and you dont need a external device to do it (samsung do sell a external device to support this as well, but same pricey for what it is).

i wouldnt buy a tv soley based on smart features though, the screen also has to be good (i really like samsung screens).

Kezzainc

97 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#853401 10-Jul-2013 15:42

Ive had a few smart TVs now. LAN based tasks like DLNA I would go buy the TV that supports it well. WAN based like surfing the net, Abobe flash etc get a PC or an Android box. They do a much better job as everyone is into different things and will get the software upgrades that will come. If your into VPN / SSH Tunnels to get the best content for your smart tv .... Dont buy a smart tv.

Winner. Android box for $60 / $80 pair with a true 100hz panel. But funny world it is, most good TVs have smarts in them anyway so one has no choice anyway but to get smarts...and 3D.

wasabi2k

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#853404 10-Jul-2013 15:49

out of interest - I can't find any way to change my 2013 Panasonic Plasma's country.

It is going out via VPN using the same DNS as my roku - still getting NZ Viera Connect Store.

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#854137 11-Jul-2013 23:08

The plex on the samsung keeps not playing lots of media I "am sent over" - many top gear episodes from last season, some of this seasons mythbusters just spin the white loading thing, and then go back to the episode list and mark it watched after 20-30 seconds. The same mkv file on a USB drive will play fine on the TV itself.

Plex on the TV also disables that stupid dimming backlight that has plagued every samsung LCD I have used, so is my prefered way to watch tv. Motion plus still works beautifully in plex however.

Richard rich.ms

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#854509 12-Jul-2013 18:31

Convert your 'sent over' Top Gear and MythBusters files first and you'll be fine, surely?

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#854513 12-Jul-2013 18:43

richms: The plex on the samsung keeps not playing lots of media I "am sent over" - many top gear episodes from last season, some of this seasons mythbusters just spin the white loading thing, and then go back to the episode list and mark it watched after 20-30 seconds. The same mkv file on a USB drive will play fine on the TV itself.

I have issues with whatever top gear is encoded in too. I have to put it on a USB stick before it will play or I get "invalid file" on my LG

ashnizzle

196 posts

Master Geek

#855539 14-Jul-2013 22:24

i have a panasonic gt series. loving every bit of it.

steve98

1395 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#855783 15-Jul-2013 12:36

blakamin:
richms: The plex on the samsung keeps not playing lots of media I "am sent over" - many top gear episodes from last season, some of this seasons mythbusters just spin the white loading thing, and then go back to the episode list and mark it watched after 20-30 seconds. The same mkv file on a USB drive will play fine on the TV itself.

I have issues with whatever top gear is encoded in too. I have to put it on a USB stick before it will play or I get "invalid file" on my LG

Why not use DLNA instead with a server that can transcode on-the-fly to whatever format the client accepts?

Plex is okay, but once the novelty of seeing the cover art and synopsis has worn off it is not much more than a DLNA client that takes way too much time and effort to get right.

1 | 2 | 3