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Buying new TV: Smart Apps vs TV Portal

B

bind00

New Member
Time finally to buy a proper telly and impressed with what's available. but I'm wondering how much I really need if I already have the HDR-FOX T2. The TV Portal does more that I need already as far as web services are concerned. The main thing I miss is 4oD. I don't see much hope for that on the portal (?) but maybe I could get it by hooking up the PC over a long HDMI from the next room. A bit clunky but I don't want to pay for things I already have.

Anyone experience both and have a comment?
 
The NowTV box is being advertised as adding smart functions to a TV for £10. I don't know how good it is.
 
You don't need to have a subscription but you do need to have an account.
My impression is that people are buying a Sky Sports Day Pass for £9.99 to get an account, and then activiting the box. The 1 day sports pass does not have to be used the day it was bought and can be kept for a rainy day, or if it's cricket to watch a non-rainy day.

Looking at the NowTV site you can sign up for a 30 day free trail of the subscription movie pass to obtain an account.

But all that is a bit irrelevent as NOW TV does not have a 4oD app, which is why the NOW TV web site does not mention 4oD.
 
Luke said:
But all that is a bit irrelevent as NOW TV does not have a 4oD app, which is why the NOW TV web site does not mention 4oD.
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Indeed. So to get 4oD on a TV you either need a Smart App or a connection to a computer? Not sure exactly how the latter would work but will figure something out. Darned annoying that Humax doesn't do this.
 
If you buy a Smart TV, you rely on the manufacturer to provide software updates to add new services as they appear - and that's unlikely to happen after a few years. I prefer to use the HDMI connection(s) and feed the TV from computers or the Hummy - that way I'm (fairly) futureproof. But then I only buy a new TV every 20 years or so.
 
Some members are using Raspberry Pi as a "set top box". Being a general purpose Linux computer there is no reason it can't access the browser-based catch-up services.
 
Thanks for all your ideas. I'll put my cash into the best screen quality rather than Smart Apps and hook up to my existing PC in another room and control it from my phone with one of the free Android mouse keyboard apps. I've never used HDMI before but it should be good for sound and vision with a longish cable. Fingers crossed...
 
You may need a good quality (Expensive ?) HDMI cable for lengths over say 5 Metres as very high frequencies (up to 165 MHz / 4.95 Gbit/s) are being carried, however expensive 1 Metre HDMI cables are not needed and are a waste of money in my opinion
 
Ezra Pound said:
You may need a good quality (Expensive ?) HDMI cable...
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I did wonder about this and so read around a little. I went for a 5m cable on Amazon that had 322 out of 390 4 or 5 star reviews. I figured it was worth a punt at £2.60 including delivery!
Luke said:
One of its press releases (dated 29th October 2013) states that the 4oD app will be available before the end of this year.
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Where have I heard that before? Mañana bañana!

I've just ordered the telly and looking forward to seeing what all the HD fuss is about. :frantic:
 
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