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Smart TV - Help, please, I can't do the techie stuff!

Jenny Butterfly

Hi Everyone,

Our tele is on its last legs and I'm looking for another one but fearing that I won't be able to set it up properly.  As it stands we have to faff around plugging in cables to switch between the DVD player, Britbox and Youtube from a laptop or another cable to a recording box.  Not ideal and now the HDMI ports have become a bit loose and unreliable too. 

Can I get just one smart TV to cover it all and also hope for it to be very easy to set up?  I'm not keen on going into a store and discussing our needs as I imagine we'll feel pressured to buy, but really I'm doubting I can just choose the right product for our fairly insular lifestyle?  Also, when I look online, there are loads of product abbreviations that I don't understand. 

Anyone got any recommendations?  I'd be very grateful.  Is there a tele that does it all or am I dreaming?

Parents

  • I know there are TV that can connect to local wifi and allow you to browse what you shared on your laptop, e.g. plugged in SD card from your camera, so you can watch photos on a big screen, and that means if you record something on your TVthen you can acess it on your laptop via wifi and copy/move it, so you're no longer restrained with amount of hard drive space inside TV

    but that's it I haven't used TV for years, and I'm not familiar with abbreviations in their names

  • in reply to Mariusz

    Yes.  That's sort of what I'm after.  There's too much clarting around with cables round here and, if they keep dropping back out or faltering, it becomes hard to watch stuff - important for virtual recluses like ourselves as we so often rely on home entertainment.  And I'm thinking it's going to be a hard winter ahead so we'll be under our fleeces watching films every evening. 

    And yes, the abbreviations just confuse me.  I just want to know whether I can watch Britbox, Youtube or recordings at the touch of a button and just because the TV comes with built in Wifi, bluetooth, DLNA compatibility, Miracast and various USB and HDMI connections doesn't mean I'll actually be able to use those.     

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  • in reply to Mariusz

    Yes.  That's sort of what I'm after.  There's too much clarting around with cables round here and, if they keep dropping back out or faltering, it becomes hard to watch stuff - important for virtual recluses like ourselves as we so often rely on home entertainment.  And I'm thinking it's going to be a hard winter ahead so we'll be under our fleeces watching films every evening. 

    And yes, the abbreviations just confuse me.  I just want to know whether I can watch Britbox, Youtube or recordings at the touch of a button and just because the TV comes with built in Wifi, bluetooth, DLNA compatibility, Miracast and various USB and HDMI connections doesn't mean I'll actually be able to use those.     

Children
  • in reply to Mariusz

    I do have wifi, with some wifi boosters in a couple of other locations in the house, but I sometimes have difficulty connecting additional devices to it so this troubles me when I'm getting a new TV.  The existing one won't connect (not a smart TV) and, although I used to be able to access it via my mobile and then "cast" films to the TV, it's just stopped doing it and I can't figure out why. 

    And Britbox is just another subscription service, like Netflix but it suits us better.  My husband has an account but then has to access it on his laptop then wire the laptop to the TV to get a decently sized picture.  So when the cables keep coming out it's no good.  

    I'm basically looking for a one stop shop and hoping it'll include everything.  But set up might be problem.

    Maybe I'll just buy one that seems to tick all the boxes and report back.  I'm probably being too cautious.       

  • in reply to Jenny Butterfly

    I'm not sure what's Britbox. Is it a box from a TV connection provider? like one you get from Sky ?

    Wifi connection in TV means you can watch youtube or anything online