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A close up of the bottom of a smart TV.
Photo: Ashley Courter

What Is a Smart TV? (And Why Should You Want One?)

Nearly every TV sold today is a smart TV, which is great for people who don’t want to use cable—these TVs’ built-in media-streaming services mean an Internet connection and some streaming subscriptions are all that’s needed to access a ton of music, TV shows, movies, games, and more. And if you’re looking for the best TV, you’re looking for a smart TV, even if you don’t ever intend to use the integrated apps. The technology that makes a smart TV smart also makes the TV perform better and faster than a non-smart version, for little to no difference in price.

At first, the only Internet-connected TVs with integrated apps were high-end models, and you paid a premium to have additional processors run Netflix and other apps in the menu. That’s not the case anymore. Almost all TVs have a single processing chip inside, called a System on a Chip (SoC), that is responsible for everything the TV does, such as input switching, local dimming and image processing, as well as all of the smart TV features. Because TV manufacturers integrate SoCs in all their models, a TV without smart apps would still use the same SoC hardware as one with apps, so it saves no money to omit the smart TV features.

The only TVs you’ll find now without integrated smart TV functions are entry-level models and commercial displays. These TVs not only lack streaming services, they also use a less powerful (and cheaper) SoC, which means they don’t have the same image-processing features that a smart TV will have, which means they won’t perform as well. Simply put, if you’re thinking you could get more image quality for your money from a “dumb” TV, you can’t—even if you could find such a thing, movies and TV shows will look worse than they would on a smart TV because of the lack of processing power.

Another benefit: Smart TVs automatically download and update their firmware. Firmware is the permanent software on your TV that controls its core functions. With standards for high dynamic range and HDMI changing quickly, TVs can run into unforeseen compatibility issues with devices like Blu-ray players, A/V receivers, and streaming boxes. Firmware updates can fix these issues. They can also add updated features to improve performance. For example, LG’s 2017 OLED TVs received updates that improved color accuracy and motion quality. You can do these firmware updates manually with a USB drive, but it’s convenient that a connected TV can do it automatically for you.

The Sony X900E smart TV displaying its menu screen.
A robust smart TV platform, like on this Sony X900E, lets you access a wide variety of media over the Internet. Photo: Ashley Courter

We aren’t suggesting that smart TVs are worth buying for the integrated apps. In fact, we recommend outboard streaming-media players because they tend to receive better product support than smart TVs. Also, because you’re more likely to hang on to a TV for a while, the built-in apps and services will become outdated over the lifespan of the TV—whereas you’ll probably replace your inexpensive outboard streaming player more frequently. TVs that use the Roku OS for their smart applications, such as our picks for best LED TV, are the exception to this. Also, we’ve found that organization, navigation, and search are usually better on external streaming devices than the TV’s built-in platform. That’s because external streaming boxes devote all their processing power to streaming and not other TV functions.

You might be concerned about privacy or hacking with a smart TV, and there have been incidents that raised a red flag. Most of the coverage of the confirmed hacks has been overblown: You’re unlikely to be at risk unless somebody either has physical access to your TV or has the ability to hack into your home network. It is, however, true that companies were found collecting user data without making it clear what they were doing or even notifying users at all. However, over the past couple of years, companies have become much more transparent about the data they collect, and they generally make it clear to you when you set up a new smart TV. If you want to watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or other streaming services at home, however, there is a good chance your viewing habits are being recorded and sold by those services, no matter what device you use. The only way to be completely free of tracking is by not connecting to the Internet, and watching only physical media (on a Blu-ray player that also isn’t connected to the Internet).

Another common complaint is that all those smart features slow down the TV. While in the past smart TVs took 15 to 30 seconds to boot up before you could watch anything, most current smart TVs now turn on in just a couple of seconds. They also include quick-start modes that allow the TV to turn on even faster, as long as you don’t mind the TV resting in a more power-hungry standby mode when you aren’t using it. Some TVs running Android TV can be slower to respond to input changes (I own one; it takes five to six seconds for menus to come up); but, if you want a faster experience, you can disconnect the TV from the Internet. You won’t be able to use the built-in services, and you’ll have to do your firmware updates manually or connect it to the Internet every month or so, but you would eke out a little more speed.

So, though the apps included in smart TVs might not be the best and they can become outdated in just a couple of years, we still recommend that you not have qualms about buying a smart TV, as it will deliver better performance and improved image quality compared with TVs of the past, or current low-end TVs that don’t have built-in smart TV features.

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