Looking For Information About A Smart T V

Discussion in 'Gadgets & Tech Talk' started by Yvonne Smith, Sep 27, 2017.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We have had our tV for about four years, and lately it has been cutting in and out when Bobby is watching television. At first he thought it was the program , and it did seem to be mostly on that singing program when it would black out, and not with the western channel he watches.
    Then, he thought it might be DirectTV, so he switched over to the antenna and watched it through our local channel; but it still was blacking out and then coming back on.
    Last night he noticed that the little red light on the front flashes on and off when the TV is not working right, instead of being on steady like it is supposed to be; so he looked it up on Youtube, and said it is a bad capacitor in the television.
    I started looking at television prices on Amazon and at Walmart, just to get an idea of how much a new one might cost us, and it looks like the smart TV’s are not much more expensive than the regular TV.
    Some of them have Roku built in to the smart TV.
    We have been talking about getting an Amazon Fire TV, or at least a Firestick, but it looks like it me that if we got one of the smart TV’s, then we would not need to get the Fire TV, since it would have Roku and do the same thing.
    Can someone give us some input on this, please ? I think that someone has mentioned having a smart TV (maybe @Ken Anderson ?) but I can’t find it on a thread search.
     
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  2. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I know my youngest daughter and her husband have one and I like to tease him all the time about not saying anything in front of that TV that they wouldn't say in front of everyone...because those TV's can hear you! :eek: :p
     
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  3. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    My kids have smart TVs also but When I'm visiting my daughter, the one in my room I just watch like regular TV and don't mess around on it....just turn it on to fall asleep....so no help from me. :)
     
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  4. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Even if no one else knows the answers @Yvonne Smith I have faith in your research skills for you to find those answers and share what you have learned with all of us. :)

    I hope you are feeling better.
     
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  5. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Just read on a website, the "pros and cons of Smart TV's:

    They are connected to the internet, so whenever there is an update to the tv, they can automatically shut off.

    Because the tv is connected to the internet, any personal info you have online will be on the tv.

    Think you really need to investigate into this type of tv before getting one.

    Just put "pros and cons of smart TV's" into your Search area of you computer. You will see different websites concerning them.

    Good Luck.
     
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    Last edited: Sep 27, 2017
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  6. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    Recently had to buy a new one. Warning. .many of todays tv have sound volume lowered on purpose. Which means you may hv to buy a sound bar also. We cant afford sound bar right now..so up and down sound is an issue. Also had I known that downloading an app so we have remote control from a phone....would not hv done. Granted this is a cheap $198 at Walmart...but all we could afford at the time. The remote that came with it ...basic and pretty useless to me. Shop around ask alots if questions.
     
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  7. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Yes it can and other things she really needs to know about.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    We bought our tv in 2009 and it has volume control, but we also have a Sound Bar. Only use the Sound Bar when watching a DVD movie. Looking to buy a new Sound Bar for Christmas, because the one we have is not Blu-Tooth. Blu-Tooth makes something much easier to turn on and off. Since we don't have the Sound Bar on all the time, have to plug into tv for movies.
     
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  9. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    Granted...but the newer models are different...mfgers.call it saving energy.
     
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  10. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Actually, our new computer monitor was like that......no speakers in it, unlike the old one was that had speakers inside. We ended up buying a pair of computer speakers.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I replaced my Roku with a smart TV a few months ago, and don't regret it. I bought a fairly cheap one, - TCL, a brand I had never heard of - but it works just fine. I haven't been able to figure out how to connect a DVD player to it, although someone smarter than me probably wouldn't have any trouble. I only tried once though, when I first set it up. It said that it was connected but that doesn't seem to be the case.
     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    So we should be able to get the same things on a regular smart tv as on one of the Roku smart tv’s ? Mostly we would watch amazon, netflix and youtube, and it looked like those come with the regular smart tv.
    We found one on sale at Walmart, and will probably get that unless we find something really good on amazon.
     
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  13. Tim Burr

    Tim Burr Veteran Member
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    We bought a non-smart TV last year, got more size for the price
    and hooked up a Chromecast dongle that lets us watch Netflix, Pandora,
    YouTube, Hulu, etc.

    We have Xfinity, so Netflix and Pandora are built in apps and those are
    the ones we use the most.
     
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  14. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Maybe not. I would want to make sure that it specifies that it has Roku. The one I bought was listed as a Smart TV but it did say that it had Roku, etc.
     
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  15. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We looked at the ones that had Roku, and they wanted as much for the smaller one as for the regular smart TV, and it showed that it has the main stations we would watch. The sales man said that Roku has more channels; but his is not Roku and he gets over 600 channels.
    How many channels do you get with your Roku TV , Ken ?
     
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