General Discussion - How to choose the best Smart TV in 2012? mable1025 - Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:09 pm Post subject: How to choose the best Smart TV in 2012?
Once decided to purchase a Smart TV, the sole question remaining is “which one?”. There are numerous brands offering a wide array of different models. From basic to advanced, small to large, cheap to expensive: for almost every individual need there is a suitable model.
1. Smart TV, set-top box or HDMI dongle?
As mentioned, the first decision to make is whether or not it is necessary to buy a whole TV. If not, there are certain alternatives which enable smart features on your normal TV as well, but we will come to that later. This decision is actually not a hard one. If your current TV is an old model (5 – 10 years) or even a CRT TV and you want to buy a new one, we would undoubtedly advise you to buy a Smart TV. Everything else would not make sense at this stage. On the other hand, if you already have, for example, an HD-ready Plasma TV but are tempted to go for an improved version, we would advise you to think twice. There are two other possibilities which can even make your current TV smart. One of them is the set-top box, which is a smart TV box you can plug in to your TV and which contains almost all the elements of a real Smart TV. The second possibility is the HDMI Stick. This little gadget looks just like a USB-stick and can simply be plugged in the HDMI port of your TV. Much like the set-top box it provides your TV with a limited amount of Smart TV features. Those two solutions are far less expensive than a complete Smart TV, they will also satisfy your needs in terms of video playback, connectivity, web-browsing and app availability.
2. Which brand?
Currently, Samsung and LG are the most innovative and most successful companies, followed by Philips, Sony and Sharp. While Google powers a lot of set-top boxes, Apple has its own device and is furthermore rumored to release a Smart TV itself.