Smart TVs!

It’s official – they ain’t that smart! (Apologies to my English teacher) I get asked a lot for advice on this one area – is it worth getting a Smart TV – so I am going to go out on a limb and say that generally no it is not necessary. What many people are doing is buying other “Smart” appliances and connecting them to their TV. This allows them to upgrade their smart appliances (which are quite cheap) as technology advances rather than upgrade the TV.

By Smart Appliances I mean as examples – the Apple TV box which is $109 and does everything a Smart TV does plus with easy access to iTunes, or Panasonic DVR which surfs the net, connects to You tube and shares files over your network or WD Live which also does internet TV, or Yamaha amps which include internet radio and file sharing.

So, my answer is based on what is most economical. If you have a Smart TV or buy a Smart TV it has some features built in but you can also plug in later “Smarter” appliances.
The way technology is going there will be newer smarter devices coming out every month – you just have to decide when it suits you to upgrade.

Also, you do need to check what connections your TV or new TV have on the back and how many. To keep the costs down the manufacturers are deleting extra plugs and connections – some new TVs have only two inputs! So, make sure you check this before buying.

DNLA (Digital Living Network Alliance):

I have listed below some info from Wikipedia and decrypting of the acronyms for DLNA but all you really need to know is that if all your devices have this certification (it will be on the box somewhere prominent) then all your equipment will talk to each other. Yes, they have to be connected to your home network because they are in fact each being a computer and they have to use the network to share. You can run data cables to each device or you connect them wirelessly. Some have wireless transmitters and receivers built inside them and some require a wireless dongle to be plugged in to them. Some of the earliest versions only had a data cable connection but these are rare now.

The most common usage example would be – you have your TV on and you go to the network section using the TV remote – there you will find a list of all the devices in your house that are connected to the network. You pick the one you want – let’s say your PC – and then you get a list of folders appear of music, photos and videos. You choose the video folder then go through the list to a movie you have on your computer that you want to watch, you select it and then play. It then plays on your TV just like you were playing a DVD.

Distributing Blu-Ray and Mystar throughout your house:

Because Blu-Ray and Mystar are High Definition and because all new TVs are High Definition you will find that if you want to distribute this around your home you need to do it in High Definition – otherwise you do really notice the lack of picture quality. Some of the current systems are not High Definition and even those that are, including distributing by HDMI still require you to switch the TV from TV viewing to an AV input and back which is cumbersome.
The solution is to distribute the Blu-Ray and Mystar using a new High Definition Modulator.
What this device does is take 2 High Definition sources and changes them into 2 local High Definition digital channels. Your digital TV can then be tuned in to these as simple scanning in the TV channels again. You can choose what number and for example, because ch4 digital is not used for other things then it is simple to make the Blu-Ray channel 40 and Mystar channel 41.
The Modulator has an infra-red remote-control extender system built in and we simply put a sensor at any TV you want to have control.

The Blu-Ray and Mystar come up as just another Digital TV station so you don’t have to change between AV inputs and TV. Of course, you still need the Blu-Ray or Mystar remote to control each one.

This is a very clever solution and the price of a basic kit installed is around $3500 including 3 sensors.

This also has great application for pubs and clubs and you can have as many TV’s on it as you like at no extra cost.