Glad you're old one resurrected itself Madame Arcati . I don't know anything about smart TVs though I'm afraid ....I had enough trouble working out the Sky remote , when we first got it  

I know the feeling, Baz.  Can't keep up with all this new technology!

I know what you mean Madame Mind you , I said the same abut the internet and mobile phones a few years ago ...now look at us  

Yes.  Don't get me wrong, I love the internet - it can be very informative and great fun, too.  Just don't see why everything has to be connected to it.  Someone told us that soon your fridge will be able to order your shopping for you!

 Madame, I know nothing about smart tv's, but your post was brilliant.

Thank you, Yogi!

The old chap has been glued to our ailing tv most of the afternoon watching the rugby but he has assured me that he is going to do some research on smart tvs later (unless results don't go as he hopes in which case he will spend the evening stomping around the place swearing a lot).

Great post Madame Arcati .

You can always plug your pc into the tv using a vga cable. A Smart  tv on the cheap, voila.

Moonie I only know cos when I cracked my lappy screen I had to hook it up to the tv screen  

I have a smart TV and rarely use the internet connection... Well i do but that's not actually through the TV itself.. It's through the Virgin Tivo box, so the smart functions aren't really needed... I do plug my PC into the TV and stream video onto the TV... again that doesn't use the smart functions though

I shall know who to come too for technical info in future then Rog

@ cracking your lappy screen. Is it fixed now?

I refer to my comment above Jen ^^^

Best not Moonie!   I'm a disaster. always breaking things 

Thank you folks.

Roger, I don't think that VGA thing will work with our current telly as the only connecting things we have are scart plugs.  It will be worth bearing your idea in mind when we (inevitably) have to drag ourselves into the 21st century, tv-wise, and get a newer model.  I like your idea because we should then be able to watch stuff that we get from i-player and transfer it from the computer to the new telly.

Jenstar, can I take it from your post that it is not necessary to be attached the internet to use the TV?

I have tried to research the subject myself but there is so much jargon to wade through

Indeed  there's a lot to take in Madame Arcati. I just go by Amazon reviews 

I wonder what 3d tv is like, and if it'll catch on?

Imagine watching tennis you'd be ducking lol

I have a samsung smart tv but mine is attached to a sky box so rarely if ever use it with the internet.

We got our first flat screen and noticed it kept going off after 4 hours - thought it was because we'd bought a cheap model.  Decided to get a new telly but same thing happened with the samsung one which was considerably more expensive.  Turns out they're automatically put into eco mode so will switch off after 4 hours if you don't change it in the settings - didn't need to buy the expensive telly 

My neighbour got one and insisted I come see what it was like. .I swear it made me feel seasick.. very clever but a minute was more than enough for me.. I hated it and had to turn away in case I threw up.. 

as for it catching on, Sky was all for cornering the market with 3D channels but the companies that were doing 3D stuff were all backing away from it as had sky too.. 

I get the feeling 3D tv's are the Windows Vista of Tv's... sounds good but in reality not so good and not worth throwing money at

Ta Olly  Noooo  - I don't like the sound of that at all. Did you have to wear special glasses with it?

I only saw 3d once, about 20 yrs ago at California Disneyland, just a short little film with Michael Jackson in it. It was fun but I don't think it was the same 3d technology they have now?

We bought a smart tv when the bedroom one needed replacing. The first day we went online 'what shall we look at' we decided it had to be porn, as you do. Put it on, it was rubbish, but worse the boy knocked to come in and we couldn't figure how to get rid of it quick enough. Our 2nd visit on the internet via the TV was to watch House of Cards and it kept stopping to buffer. Since then (over 12 months ago) we have only used the smart TV to watch, shock horror, the TV.

I have to say for my use the internet connection to the actual TV isn't used. I do however have the Tivo box that allows youtube etc (the kids use this not me) and yes everything else i send via 'a wire' to the TV screen from the pc. if it was a big price diff personally i wouldn't be that bothered as long as all the ports were there to plug this that and the other in

Nice post Madame A  

I have a smart TV and really like it. I use a lot of the functionality it offers. The connection to the Internet being particularly useful when I want to watch programmes on catch-up as they now stream in HD too.

I don't find the connections to Sadbook or Tw*tter so useful as the inputting of text is laborious. But then again I am an infrequent user of both.

For me the important thing in the TV is picture quality and size. I have a 46 incher which I find great for all the films I watch. I am in the future going to go to 55 inches when the price of 4K TV's drop (sorry, did the saleperson not mention 4K?, it's the latest picture technology, around 4 times the resolution of standard 1980p TV's).

I watched footage from Copa America and it was awesome,  truely awesome.

Thank you for the replies.

Judging by your responses, I think we may have dodged a bullet by not forking out a fortune and buying one of these on the spur of the moment.

Research has thrown up a potential security threat on the smart TV in the form of a bug that could allow the tv to be hacked and for the hacker to activate the camera and microphone - not sure whether these come as standard or as an optional extra - in order to spy on the hacked.

I don't think this practice caught on to any extent but security experts have spotted the potential and the TV manufacturer in question has created a 'patch' to resolve the issue.

More worrying for me is that I never look my best sprawled in front of the TV and would hate to think that someone was watching me watching Inspector Morse dressed in my moth-eaten old dressing gown, feet warming on an equally moth-eaten dog (me, not Inspector Morse).  I don't want to have to tart myself up every time I settle down in front of the telly.  Besides, it would take me from Coronation Street to The Epilogue in order for me to look remotely presentable for my viewer(s)

On reading your replies it would seem that the internet part of these tellies is not a necessity so, rather than a smart TV, it will be a 'thick as two short planks' TV for Arcati Towers

Blimey, E.C. it must be like sitting in the pictures with a tv that size! 

He may well have mentioned the 4K bit, but if he did I'm afraid it went right over my head.  I think he was becoming rather annoyed with me by this time because I'd remarked that the picture on one of the display models was awful, blurry and out of focus.  He seemed to sigh inwardly and explained that this was a 3D model, then offered to let me try a pair of glasses in order to view the screen when everything would become clear, apparently. (I declined his offer)

 You do get used to it.

I see your old TV has sprung back into life. 

Yes, the old girl breathed again and is hanging on in there.  There is a lurid green stripe down one side of the screen but otherwise OK