What Makes a TV "Smart"?

In the U.S., the number of people with televisions increased from 0.4 % in 1948 to 55.7 % in 1954. In 1958, that number of television owners rose to 83.2%. There has been no other home technology that has spread as quickly. The first color television were introduced in 1953, though it wasn’t until the 1960s that color programming became a common occurrence. High definition televisions—or HD TV, for short—hit the market in 1998. Over the years, TVs have gotten bigger and better. We love our TV! It can be a challenge to keep up with the latest TV technology because, like most technology, it’s constantly changing. The latest innovations in television relate to what we call a “smart TV”. So, what exactly makes a TV “smart”?

A smart TV is a TV that, in addition to its standard television components, has the ability to connect to the Internet. Most smart TVs can connect to the Internet via Ethernet cable allowing you to plug it directly into your home broadband router or access the Internet wirelessly. If you connect your smart TV to the Internet wirelessly, remember the closer you are to your home router the faster your Internet speed will be.

Smart televisions have a lot in common with computers: they can have USB ports, Bluetooth capability, web cameras, and ports for flash memory cards (to show pictures from your digital camera). Many smart TVs are able to connect to other wireless devices like keyboards, mice, smartphones, tablets, and even personal computers to make data input and sharing data easy. Some smart TVs have gesture and voice controls so you don’t even need a remote control—just wave your hand, point, or speak and the TV will respond. They typically come with pre-loaded applications, as well as the option to download more.

Enhance your TV experience by using video streaming apps: watch what you want, when you want. You can watch YouTube for free, or use a relatively cheap subscription-based service like Hulu, Netflix, and/or Amazon Instant. Most major cable companies also provide their own video streaming content.

If you’re constantly checking out Facebook or Twitter on your phone or computer, why not check it from your TV? You can check your favorite site and watch your favorite show at the same time. Take advantage of those surround sound speakers and listen to your favorite music from the comfort of your couch. You can add free music apps like Pandora, Slacker Radio or listen to your own music library through iTunes.

Stay on top of the news at any time. Most major news outlets have apps that will keep you up to the minute with the latest headlines. You can also download apps that will update you on weather or traffic. It’s very easy to keep up with your favorite sports team the same way; most college and professional sports have their own smart TV apps. Shopping from your TV is possible as well with apps like eBay and Amazon.

It’s fairly easy to connect you PC to your TV and use the TV as a large computer monitor. This is typically done by a VGA input or a HDMI input socket.

If a smart television is outside of your price range right now, that’s okay; there are a number of set-top boxes that can deliver connectivity to your TV. Products like Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast are among the most popular of these set-top boxes. Also the major gaming consoles—Xbox one and PlayStation 4—offer the ability to stream music and video, as well as surf the Web. Smart Blu-ray players are another affordable alternative, as they also can stream music and video.

Smart TVs are a centralized area to get all you entertainment and information from the comfort of your couch. In future posts, we’ll compare some of the boxes that turn your regular TV into a smart TV. Do you have a smart TV? What are your favorite features? Tell us in the comments below.