# Smart tv anyone?



## Susanita001 (May 28, 2012)

Okay so we are thinking about treating ourselves this Christmas and the prices of a nice Samsung are pretty good. I just wondered if anyone has a smart tv and how they find it we only have a 3 mb connection but the computer streams fine with that so I presume it will be the same. 
Any opinions gratefully received!


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## kurt85 (May 7, 2013)

Susanita001 said:


> Okay so we are thinking about treating ourselves this Christmas and the prices of a nice Samsung are pretty good. I just wondered if anyone has a smart tv and how they find it we only have a 3 mb connection but the computer streams fine with that so I presume it will be the same.
> Any opinions gratefully received!


I did exactly that last xmas and im very happy with it, its a 55 inch 3d Smart samsung tv, still finding out things about it now but so so handy with it being smart. I would strongly recommend


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## Susanita001 (May 28, 2012)

kurt85 said:


> I did exactly that last xmas and im very happy with it, its a 55 inch 3d Smart samsung tv, still finding out things about it now but so so handy with it being smart. I would strongly recommend



Thanks Kurt! Looks like a winner then! How easy is it to get Netflix, bbc iplayer etc on it - does it use a search engine like Internet explorer or how does it work? - excuse my ignorance but I can't bear to go to media markt and hear the whole salesman spiel ( and I live two hours away from any real shops!)


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## kurt85 (May 7, 2013)

Susanita001 said:


> Thanks Kurt! Looks like a winner then! How easy is it to get Netflix, bbc iplayer etc on it - does it use a search engine like Internet explorer or how does it work? - excuse my ignorance but I can't bear to go to media markt and hear the whole salesman spiel ( and I live two hours away from any real shops!)




Yes it has internet explorer, so you can access normal internet, for netflix i just dowloaded the app onit it and use that directly, i also has its own samsung area where you can buy,rent films, and do a whole load of other stuff!! I use youtube on the tv all the time 

And dont worry, if i can help, i will do  ask away!!


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## Susanita001 (May 28, 2012)

So excited!!!
Do I need any special cables? Our internet is two floors up but we have wifi


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## kurt85 (May 7, 2013)

Susanita001 said:


> So excited!!!
> Do I need any special cables? Our internet is two floors up but we have wifi


I bought a hdmi cabl when i bought mine, although most people will tend to have one of these about nowadays, as the picture is alot better, but other than that you should be good to go, oh i also bought a samsung webcam which you attach to the tv so that you can use your tv for things like skype  sometimes scary seeing people you know THAT close lol

As long as your getting about 1mb, you should be able to stream no problems at all


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Picked up an LG from Carrefour last January.Very happy with it although the 3D glasses are OK also bought a small USB mouse and found it better when doing searches on various sites.I would certainly recommend getting one now as prices have come way down.Worten have some good deals as well.


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Susanita001 said:


> How easy is it to get Netflix, bbc iplayer etc on it


if you want to run the UK versions of Netflix and uk broadcaster catchup services, then you will need to run a uk vpn or smartdns service, to make it look like you are connecting from the UK and not spain.
If you connect the tv directly to the internet in spain, then uk content will be blocked...as you are in spain and not in the uk.

This is not just a smart tv thing, this is for every thing (sky boxes, Freesat boxes, pcs laptops tablets etc)

And if you buy in Spain , you may have to go into some settings on the TV to set it for UK before the UK apps are available...


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

We have a 55' Smart Samsung TV and to be honest, we never used the 'Smart' thingy, it is a bit crappy, we do have computers at each side of the sofa, so that's maybe why we don't use the Smart features. 

However, to watch UK TV, the stream is not very good and it stops all the time, and yes, we do have a VPN for years but still with the VPN it is not very good, and we do have 12 megas speed too and we used the integrated WIFI on the telly but still not very good at all.

So we reversed back to watch TV on the laptop with HDMI cable and using the VPN. At least we have no problems that way.

If you have a laptop handy, I wouldn't recommend Smart TV


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Lolito said:


> We have a 55' Smart Samsung TV and to be honest, we never used the 'Smart' thingy, it is a bit crappy, we do have computers at each side of the sofa, so that's maybe why we don't use the Smart features.
> 
> However, to watch UK TV, the stream is not very good and it stops all the time, and yes, we do have a VPN for years but still with the VPN it is not very good, and we do have 12 megas speed too and we used the integrated WIFI on the telly but still not very good at all.
> 
> ...


Did you try connecting a network cable from the router to the TV instead of using the wifi?


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

I bought a Samsung Smart TV a couple of years ago. It's 3D and I knew I would never need it. I asked at the time if there was a TV with the same quality display panel but without the Smart and 3D features, but there wasn't.

I haven't used the Smart features very much at all. It's slow and clunky, enough to make it unusable IMO. A better option is to buy a small computer and hook it up. It's much more versatile and it makes it very easy to deal with the necessary VPN and DNS settings (although the SmartDNS services have made this much easier than it used to be anyway).

I use an Apple Mac Mini but they're quite expensive. There are much cheaper options. 

Even if unable to use a computer, I would be looking into something like the Apple TV box (easily hackable so that you can access all sorts), or some other Internet TV box that you can kid into thinking it's in the UK (if that's the country you want to access the services of).

Anything but the SmartTV features in fact. Having to use them would drive me nuts.


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## kurt85 (May 7, 2013)

Chopera said:


> Did you try connecting a network cable from the router to the TV instead of using the wifi?




Or setting up a home network on your smart tv


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

Yes, but still didn't work very well, image will stops for ages, so we gave up in the end. We are getting a SAT dish now so hopefully we won't have to use HDMI cables and the likes.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Horlics said:


> I bought a Samsung Smart TV a couple of years ago. It's 3D and I knew I would never need it. I asked at the time if there was a TV with the same quality display panel but without the Smart and 3D features, but there wasn't.
> 
> I haven't used the Smart features very much at all. It's slow and clunky, enough to make it unusable IMO. A better option is to buy a small computer and hook it up. It's much more versatile and it makes it very easy to deal with the necessary VPN and DNS settings (although the SmartDNS services have made this much easier than it used to be anyway).
> 
> ...


There are now things like Google chromecast that can be used to do the job. If you want to go geek then I believe a Rasberry Pi can be used as well.


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

Pi's are good, pretty easy to set up, and very cheap. I think they're a pretty good option and a couple of friends use them with no hassles.



Chopera said:


> There are now things like Google chromecast that can be used to do the job. If you want to go geek then I believe a Rasberry Pi can be used as well.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lolito said:


> We have a 55' Smart Samsung TV and to be honest, we never used the 'Smart' thingy, it is a bit crappy, we do have computers at each side of the sofa, so that's maybe why we don't use the Smart features.
> 
> However, to watch UK TV, the stream is not very good and it stops all the time, and yes, we do have a VPN for years but still with the VPN it is not very good, and we do have 12 megas speed too and we used the integrated WIFI on the telly but still not very good at all.
> 
> ...


we have the same TV by the sound of it, & do exactly the same

more often than not though, we download to watch later at our leisure, either via a laptop & HDMI cable or on a memory stick into to USB port in the back of the TV


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

If you have a wireless router then in theory you should be able to stream anything you have downloaded through the TV without worrying about cables or a USB. 
That is what I do now although I use a playstation 3 but the Bravia does the same thing.


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

Get a roku 3 box for 80 odd quid, it makes any TV "smart" and is a lot quicker.


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## GallineraGirl (Aug 13, 2011)

Horlics said:


> I bought a Samsung Smart TV a couple of years ago. It's 3D and I knew I would never need it. I asked at the time if there was a TV with the same quality display panel but without the Smart and 3D features, but there wasn't. I haven't used the Smart features very much at all. It's slow and clunky, enough to make it unusable IMO. A better option is to buy a small computer and hook it up. It's much more versatile and it makes it very easy to deal with the necessary VPN and DNS settings (although the SmartDNS services have made this much easier than it used to be anyway). I use an Apple Mac Mini but they're quite expensive. There are much cheaper options. Even if unable to use a computer, I would be looking into something like the Apple TV box (easily hackable so that you can access all sorts), or some other Internet TV box that you can kid into thinking it's in the UK (if that's the country you want to access the services of). Anything but the SmartTV features in fact. Having to use them would drive me nuts.


Any hints as to how to hack an Apple TV box? We use this at the moment just to AirPlay TV (iPlayer Global app mainly) from our iPads. It works faultlessly even with our slow internet speed.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Lolito said:


> We have a 55' Smart Samsung TV and to be honest, we never used the 'Smart' thingy, it is a bit crappy, we do have computers at each side of the sofa, so that's maybe why we don't use the Smart features.
> 
> However, to watch UK TV, the stream is not very good and it stops all the time, and yes, we do have a VPN for years but still with the VPN it is not very good, and we do have 12 megas speed too and we used the integrated WIFI on the telly but still not very good at all.
> 
> ...


I agree, we rarely use the smart features, we tend to use iPads and laptops and 'cast' to the television as they are easier to use than the clunky tv user interface. It's a personal choice and I'm sure many people love it but I wish we had bought a bigger better telly and not bothered with smart.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

One of my cats decided to wee on my 55' Samsung SMART TV a couple of months ago, now the telly does not work properly, there are line across the screen both vertically and horizontally, and they are here to stay. 

We are going to buy another one, but will probably buy one without the Smart thing, or wifi thingy, as we would never use it, so rather spend more money on a better telly (anti cats wee!) !


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## bRod (Dec 15, 2014)

Correct me if I am wrong, but it's only Samsung Smart that have the ITV Player..

Don't forget to surf to TVCatchup with your browser....better than filmon anytime.

bRod


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

The last time I hacked an Apple TV it was the 2nd gen model. I used software called "Seas0nPass".

You should check the model and make sure that there isn't a better option these days.



GallineraGirl said:


> Any hints as to how to hack an Apple TV box? We use this at the moment just to AirPlay TV (iPlayer Global app mainly) from our iPads. It works faultlessly even with our slow internet speed.


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