Smart TVs - clever or dumb?

[richardfinegold]

My main television os a 50" 'unintelligent' LG Plasma. I would guess that new 'intelligent' televisions lack analogue tuners. With plasmas' tendency to burn-in from static images, I find the analogue tuner very useful for generating 'snow' to clear the burnt-in images, from timre to time. There again, i suppose plasma streens in 'intelligent televisons are as rare as hens' teeth. There are, of course, 'intelligent' peripherals which can add fancy new facilities to 'unintelligent' models.

That was my set as well, until it died two months ago. It had lasted since 2005. It isn’t truly 50 inches—the bezel takes up several inches on each end. The new 55’ LG looks much bigger and cost 1/4 what the Plasma cost back then, but I do miss the ‘pop’ of the old screen

[oddoneout]

Still got my old VHS running, and a Sky box from 2003.

Never used one of those satellite box recording things. I imagine they are quite handy, but many people seem to end up with piles of shows they never get round to watching.

Not at all like stacks of unlistened - to CD box sets......

Anyway, that Telly looks jolly nice.Oddly , despite having a decent sized lounge/ living room/ whatever you call it, we would ‘t really have anywhere suitable for such a giant.
The thought of watching the Saints current defence in 72” ultra HD isn’t too appealing.

But I wouldn’t mind one all the same.

It is chunky yes, but only depthwise,and that fits into the corner just nicely for easy sofa viewing but without dominating the room - the thought of widescreen fills me with horror! I have a vhs box but it's not the one I used to use(which died in the middle of playing - fortunately nothing that mattered overmuch as I couldn't get the tape out) and I have yet to set it up - would be nice to get it going in time for Christmas as I was given several films by a colleague and it would be nice to have an alternative to what the TV companies see fit to foist on us.

[Dave2002]

That was my set as well, until it died two months ago. It had lasted since 2005. It isn’t truly 50 inches—the bezel takes up several inches on each end. The new 55’ LG looks much bigger and cost 1/4 what the Plasma cost back then, but I do miss the ‘pop’ of the old screen

Plasmas used to look a lot better than LCD (then LED) models, but used more energy. Our 42 inch Sharp LCD is rated at about 150 Watts, whereas I think a comparable Plasma would be at 250-400 Watts. The new Toshiba is under 100 Watts - according to the manfacturer - arguably about 70 Watts.

Most if not all flat screen TVs now use screens made by LG I believe. It is plausible that the "pop" when viewing a set can be due to the software - the algorithms used to display each frame and each scene. Perhaps the latest models also have a wider colour gamut than older ones, and may be capable of going brighter - though this does not necessarily make them look nicer in a home. Our new one looks decidedly cold compared to the older one, though it may be possible to tweak that.

Dynamic range (visual) is a problem for TVs just as audio dynamic range is problem for audio kit. What we are comfortable with in the home may not correspond to "reality". Some issues can be dealt with by film makers and TV production teams, and some by the set manufacturers, and the algorithms used within the set. Then there is colour rendition - another issue for TVs. The ambient lighting in the room with the TV also makes a difference to the way we perceive things. When I first heard about and saw Philips Ambilight TVs I thought they were a gimmicky joke, but now I'm not by any means sure. It is certainly the case that our eyes adapt in odd ways, and the ambient light can have an effect. In some rooms the ambient light might not be conducive to comfortable TV watching. What Philips may had done is to provide a more suitable variable ambience for each scene being shown on the screen - so perhaps there is some merit in that after all.

[Dave2002]

The smart TV we have has some odd quirks, and almost a non-existant instruction manual. It has inputs for DVB-T and for DVB-S. It also has an connection for a USB device, so can be used as a recorder.

With only one input for satellite TV I don't think it can be used to watch and record different satelite channels at the same time. However, I can't rule out the possibility that it could pick up two terrestrial channels, and rercord one, and allow the end user to watch th other; Since I've still not succeeded in getting DVB-T towork the recording option does appear to be very limited.