32"/40" - smart or dumb ?

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mainlydata

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Topic # 189226 21-Dec-2015 11:04

I want a TV . Half watching DVD (possibly ripped and on a NAS) and half watching YouTube . Might want to use a proxying service so I appear to be elsewhere in the World.

I went into a Noel Leemings and a comparable 32" Panasonic is $350 dumb and $800 smart. Seemed like quite an increment . Similar sort of step for 40" .

Would be interested in experience with "smart" or "dumb" plus AppleTV/Chromecast/Etc .

In case it's not already clear I don't know much about TV !

Also (while I'm here ;-) if anyone wants to offer 32"/40" recommendations that would be good too . Thanks.

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Reply # 1454392 21-Dec-2015 11:57

Others know far more about it than I do, but anyway.....

If the price difference is that big then go for a 40' dumb tv (but make sure its got a decent number of HDMI ports and connectors in general) and get a Raspberry Pi 2 (cheap, cheap, pretty easy to set up if not plug and play) or a FireTV (good, fast, more expensive, bit of effort to get to NZ). no idea about Chromecast/AppleTV.

Check out Veon TV's, cheap and cheerful, but decent value and decent warranty.

rb99

khull

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Reply # 1454393 21-Dec-2015 11:58

2 people support this post

I'd go for dumb - Smart TVs only go so far with software updates etc (unless you end up with a high end TV with external processing boxes like Samsung which can be theoretically upgradable)

There are plenty of devices out there Roku/Apple TV/Chromecast that will be infinitely better than what comes out of the box

If you want an investment consider spending extra money for
- boot up times (dumb ones tend to perform better)
- actual refresh rates

Side note, you could potentially get a 32" monitor instead

mdooher

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Reply # 1454405 21-Dec-2015 12:00

I now have both.
I don't actually use the smart features much (except Netflix) but when I am watching the non smart one and want to Netflix or skype or watch some pirated copy of Star Wars before I see the new movie out I wish both were smart.

Hope that helps

Matthew

davidcole

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Reply # 1454415 21-Dec-2015 12:13

I'd go for dumb. For that price difference - approx $450, you could almost get two smart devices to plug into it.

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timmmay

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Reply # 1454419 21-Dec-2015 12:18

Dumb with an R.Pi2. I have a Samsung smart TV that won't get updates any more, it's only 2-3 years old.

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Reply # 1454431 21-Dec-2015 12:28

Get the dumb. I have a 'smart' Sony and have never used it for anything except as a display panel. Even if you only ever watch YouTube you are better off using another device for Internet access.

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Batman

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Reply # 1454432 21-Dec-2015 12:30

A tv is never smart enough to do what you want

k1w1k1d

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Reply # 1454513 21-Dec-2015 13:06

My suggestion would be to get a TV that has the picture quality you want, and then use an external device to view the content you want.

We have a dumb 32" in the living room and a smart 55" in the lounge. Found using the smart features too slow and cumbersome, even with a Logitech K400 keyboard.
Bought an ex-lease Dell 780 as a HTPC. Much better! Streaming from Youtube etc is lots easier.

Only smart feature we still use is recording to the attached harddrive on the 55" Samsung.

Batman

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Reply # 1454538 21-Dec-2015 13:17

Umm i never touch anything that is not full hd. Hd is not full hd.

esawers

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Reply # 1454568 21-Dec-2015 14:10

I LOVE our Samsung H6400 smart features, if they still sold them I would buy that (and the remote is more than awesome).
We only use the included remote to control the TV, Netflix, TV on demand, music streaming and soundbar
Almost never need to change the input

Otherwise I would get an Apple TV (although I don't think the ATV has TV ondemand apps?)

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Reply # 1454582 21-Dec-2015 14:26

I guess some tvs are smarter than others eh

sidefx

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Reply # 1454584 21-Dec-2015 14:30

You need to factor in panel and picture quality. We never really use the smart features on our TV but bought it because it had the best picture quality (IMO) - If that large price difference is only due to the "smart" features then yeah, go for the dumb TV... but I suspect when you look into it the more expensive TV might have better picture quality too, and you're actually paying for a better panel.

At the end of the day, audition the TVs as much as possible in the store, and pick the one that looks best to you.

Killerkiwi2005

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Reply # 1454588 21-Dec-2015 14:35

Go dumb your most of the way to a Intel NUC with the price differnce, a chomecast would be only ~ $55 and add netflix/lightbox/fanpass etc

Also smart tv's have historically terrible support (they want you to buy a new tv not make your current one better)

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reven

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Reply # 1454592 21-Dec-2015 14:39

I'd pay $100 for a smart tv, but thats it. otherwise I would go dumb and buy an amazon fire tv stick for USD$40 (cheaper on special).

littleheaven

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Reply # 1454607 21-Dec-2015 15:25

Definitely go for the best picture quality dumb TV your budget will accommodate, and leave the smarts to an external device. Apps on smart TVs have a history of being poorly supported, and not always very good (the ones on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player are just awful).

The opinions on the best external device are many and varied. If you own a PS3/PS4 then you already have a powerful media streamer - just about every content provider has an app.

Personally I have a dumb 42" Sony Bravia into which I have plugged a PS3, an AppleTV 4 and a Minix Neo Z64 mini Windows PC (cost me about $220, and is almost the same size as the AppleTV). The AppleTV covers most of my viewing needs, between the apps on it and the ability to Airplay or mirror from my phone or iPad. It also works as a media streamer using the Plex app (with the server part loaded onto my big Mac upstairs). I use the PS3 for TVNZ On Demand and UK's Channel 4. The Minix comes in handy for anything that won't work on the first two things (which is not often, but handy to have).

The choices are extremely varied and all are pretty good. It really depends on how much you want to spend and which are your "deal-breaker" services.

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