The very latest waves of Flat Screen Digital Tvs hitting our shores this year are being marketed as “Smart Tvs”. What does this mean, and what benefits do they have? Let’s try and expound this understanding in a simplified manner.
First – A very quick history on Tv evolution
Smart TV
Television technology has advanced rapidly over the years, progressing from the basic “Square” 4:3 Analogue Crt Tube. The introduction and sharp rise in popularity of Dvd then saw the implementation of widescreen Tvs to suit this format. As the trend towards viewing movies in widescreen digital became the standard, similar steps had to be made for day to day Television viewing. So the integration of digital set top boxes began, and our Television networks began to broadcast our Tv programs in digital to coincide with that. As the public began to embrace the “cinema” experience, the next natural progression was larger screens, so Plasma, Lcd and later Led panels were introduced. In the years that followed, also unavoidable improvements in clarity, sound & design, the only major turn made to Tv technology was size – question called for bigger and thinner Tvs. Over the last year or so, the introduction of 3D Technology was the next “big-thing”, as well the call for more eco-friendly panels.
So we’ve seen Tv’s found from a bulky, square picture Tube with a choice of five stations to view in analogue, to large, ultra-slim, Full High Definition panels capable of displaying 3D images, and a choice of over twenty channels broadcasting many programs in widescreen digital. Add to that a very sharp decline in price, and an ever addition focus on environmentally cordial performance – we’ve categorically come a long way. So where to from here?
Introducing Smart Tvs…
The internet is now a dominant part of our daily existence. Our mobile phones have now evolved from devices used just for production phone calls into “Smart-Phones” – basically mobile phones with internet accessibility. The same technology has filtered through to our Tvs, and coined the phrase – “Smart Tvs”. Today’s new waves of Smart Tvs have a very large focus on online interactive media such as Internet Tv, media streaming, public networking and web browsing. In a Similar way to how internet browsing, web widgets and software like games or applications are integrated in today’s smartphones, the same trend towards such connectivity has now become part of today’s Tvs, creating a convergence in the middle of computers and Digital Tv. Smart Tvs allow viewers to crusade for and find movies, video clips and photos on the internet, stored on a home hard drive, through to your Tv, using your remote control.
Smart Tvs will finally turn the way we way media in our homes
This convenience will finally turn the way we way media in our homes, or more precisely, from where we way our media. One example would be not having to run down to our local video market anymore just to rent a movie. By pressing a concentrate of buttons on our Tv remote we suddenly have way to hundreds of movies ready for streaming from the ease of our lounge. Applications (or “Apps” as they are generally referred to) add yet another facet for us to explore. There are a limitless whole of apps that can be created. If you are an I-Phone user, you will already have encountered dozens upon dozens of ingenious applications that you now find hard to live without. There are apps for everything, fluctuating from live weather and news forecasts, to Tv Show catch-up episodes, the latest sports news for your favourite team as well as live scores, and of policy the whole public media forum such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. These are now right at your fingertips, transforming Tvs into a very diverse media network. The quality to Skype call is also an option, with the aid of a brand-specific Skype camera. While a small whole of these features, in some form, have been ready over the last year from some television manufacturers, in 2011 we will see the introduction of unrestricted web-browsing in some models. This opens up a limitless array of possibilities by transforming your Tv into a fully functional web browser.
Smart Tvs – Bringing the internet into your lounge room
There is a unavoidable advantage of not having to take the exertion to boot up your Pc, which is commonly located in another room, to achieve tasks such as purchasing items on eBay, checking your E-mail, or to Google something that has just taken your interest on Tv. With large high definition screens, and web pages fully optimised to suit, there is categorically a unavoidable advantage in browsing the internet from the ease of your lounge instead of through a itsybitsy laptop screen or sitting at your computer desk. Even if you have photos, music, movies or video files stored on your home computer, you can way all of these wirelessly through your Home network and stream them directly to your Tv.
So, in summary…
Smart Tvs are the next generation of Flat Screen Digital Television, merging your Tv and computer’s functionality into one.
With the quality to stream high definition movies, associate with your friends using Facebook and Twitter, stream Tv Shows, and get instant way to news, sport and weather – all from the ease of your lounge and on a large High Definition Tv screen. Some of the higher end Digital Tv models will offer built in web browsers – occasion up unrestricted web browsing directly to your Television Set. As Plasma and Led Screens have evolved to become thinner, more energy effective and providing us with stunning Full High Definition clarity. We now have a limitless array of media applications opened up to us, providing us with versatility and cross functional quality like we have never had before.
What Is Smart Tv?