Published on 12, July, 2020
PLease treat me like I've just landed from another planet or time zone as I really don't understand and people seem to delight in confusing me more.
I'm thinking of getting a smart tv and know little about how they work, what they do and what would be suitale for me?
Are they wireless in connecting to broad band or would I have to have some sort of cable?
Would I have to have a box like my current humax box so as I could record stuff I don' want to watch imediately?
Would I have to have some sort of subscription, like sky or something to get any thing?
What is watching on catch up, is it Iplayers and the like?
This would have to be fairly easy for my soon to be 90 year old, even worse at tech than me, Mum to use, at least for her to switch on and find stuff. Please remember that I am based in the UK, so stuff that works or is available in other countries might not work or be available to me. I dont' live in the south of the UK and services are more old fashioned here than there. We have no cable connections on the island. We have BT as our broad band provider, we are limited on who does provide here and they all seem fairly equal in service quality, in other words great when they work and crap when they don't. I'm reluctant to change providers as we'd still have to pay for a BT landline and I'm not paying twice.
Thanks in advance for any help you feel able to offer.
This is my set up:
BT land line. No phone connected, a BT hub is connected, originally as part of an 18 month contract. This is the hub that all my WiFi devices connect to be it mobile phone etc instead of using mobile data.
All I wanted was unlimited broadband with no phone.
When you buy the smart TV if you are able to get Freeview in your area the channels can be auto tuned into the Tele. Furthermore you can connect the TV to the WiFi hub too. Depending on the age of the smart TV some apps will be installed like Disney etc. however some TVs won't let you install some apps.
AND some apps require subscriptions.
I've found for me personally an Amazon fire stick has been the best. The apps update, the fire stick also connects to the hub and is connected to the port on the back of the TV. Amazon is currently £8.99 per month plus the additional £30 or so to buy the stick.
Amazon allows you to install other apps like Disney, Netflix etc. however Amazon also allows you to rent and purchase TV programmes and films.
The benefits to a fire stick is if you can't get Freeview in your area you can still watch Tele. BBC iPlayer, itv, etc and Freeview can all be installed as apps.
So...
- BT broadband package (wireless or connected hub)
- Basic LED TV or smart TV
- apps, or dongle device like Amazon fire stick
Total cost for unlimited broadband plus subscriptions depending on what you want to watch between £30 per month all the way up to over £100.
I've tried to explain this in basic form but even this sounds complicated