On 23 Jul 2015, The Natural Philosopher grunted:

On 23/07/15 11:31, John Rumm wrote:

Yup, basically a smart tv is one with a computer built in, nothing to
stop you replicating the effect with separate boxes. Note also that
some Blueray players include smart TV style capabilities.

This can be cheaper and better than adpating the TV depending on how
good the box is...

Speaking as somebody who has a smart TV (with separate amplifier) in one
room, and a standard TV with my son's Playstation attached (which in effect
converts the TV to 'smart') in the other, I would say there's a big
fundamental advantage to having a separate box.

On TV 1, I can select between the inputs 'Virginmedia' or DVD... if I want
the smart TV capability (which includes streaming pre-recorded video, music
or photos from a network-attached drive), I have to switch the TV into a
different mode (call it 'network' mode). That takes several seconds each
time to go back and forth, and you have to exit and kill whatever you were
doing on the network when you want to go back to any of the 'conventional'
inputs.

On TV 2, however, the inputs are in effect 'Virginmedia', 'DVD', or
'Network', and the TV just acts as a monitor, which is much more intuitive
to the user. It also means you can flip in and out of 'network' mode
instantly, and the 'network' input remains active. So I can pause a
streamed program while briefly flipping over to VirginMedia to check
something, or conversely have a live internet browser running in background
while watching TV.

I can't see a single advantage of TV 1, and I'd never get a model with
built-in 'smart' again (if it will be possible to avoid!)

--
David