On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 4:25:11 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sat, 5 Jun 2021 15:13:05 -0400, Tekkie© wrote:


Hi all, U Tube has decided that my 6 yr old LG 55" tv is not a smart tv
(whatever that is) LG has confirmed this. It had a doa connection for the sound
bar when I hooked one up about 18 months later-out of warranty, so I don't LG
again. We called it Loser Grade at work...

I am looking at Samsung TV's Can anyone give me advice on what to buy? Basic or
more features? What is a "Smart TV". What do the various screen types provide
that would benefit us? Should I buy last years model? Should I get a Samsung
sound bar? Looking at the Samsung site is like the tilt o whirl.

I am disabled so unpacking and setup must be done by others so a Walmart or
similar buy would be out of the question.

Let the thoughts flow, thanks in advance.
Smart TV s have internet connectivity built in.
non Smart TV s need your laptop or a TV box to feed it internet.

Why are you replacing the 6 year old TV ?

That's a good question. Apparently something to do with Youtube needing
a smart TV, but I don't understand that.



.. perhaps your sound problems are buried in the TV's
confusing nest of Settings menu ... ?

Agree, that's a possibility. Also many of these have more than one way
to get sound out, eg HDMI, so there may be more than one way to hook it
up to a sound bar even if one output does not work.




I found that my Smart TV "operating system" was quite awkward
right-from-the-start so I used it like a normal TV with occasional
frustrating attempts to connect to the web; then over a few years
the "operating system" became slow/outdated and there was
no way to upgrade it at all. I bought a TV box off Amazon for ~ $ 60.
and it was OK but I still prefer to just connect my laptop to the
TV. Some folks buy a re-furb desktop and use it for the streaming -
and keep it connected permanently.

That sounds like a better option than replacing the TV. I never bought
a smart TV, partly for that very reason, that you have to deal with whatever
software and interface they have built in.



Physical setup is pretty easy if it's set on a table -
It'll take longer to open the shrink-wrap on the remote batteries !
:-)
.. if hanging on a wall mount - it's a bit trickier but not rocket
surgery.
I don't have a sound bar - just use the TV speakers for normal
viewing and Harmon Kardon computer speakers when streaming .
- most folks want _big_ sound though.
John T.