Samsung Smart TV

implausible

I'm looking at a Euronics brochure here and it has a 40" full HD LED Samsung for €1099. I haven't a notion of buying it, but one thing caught my eye - it specifies "watch RTE Player and TV3 Catch Up" as well as Facebook, Twitter and Skype. Does this mean there is a specific widget for TV3 and RTE Player? I didn't think such a thing existed. I know that British spec tvs have BBC iplayer widgets, but it's the first time I've seen this.

Is this an idiotic observation or is the spec being 'creative' and you'd have to stream it over a wireless (or wired) connection?

Sponge Bob

Probably does have a widget, they all use flash /flv/mp4 variants in the end so it would have a special flash player. Good idea and all, Samsung upscaling is good and that widget got to do lots of upscaling as standard

Whether they can keep it up to date with security is another question of course.

Neworder79

It's a fantastic looking TV, really stands out in-store with the ultra thin silver frame and stand. Yes it has TV3 and RTE player apps, stream over WIFI I presume.

Also has a web browser and Samsung Bada app store. You can view Facebook or Twitter feeds next to TV show and media hub features like Apple TV. It looks like a great package though expensive, and I'm not so convinced on the smart TV part yet, early days for these apps and I'm sure the will be buggy/gimmicky to use.

Sony have a smart TV based on Google TV platform which hasn't had good reviews. LG also have a smart TV platform. Yahoo also coming out with a new app platform for several TVs, and Apple rumored to be working on a TV set.

implausible

Ok, cool. I wonder could this be a common thing across all "smart" tvs in the near future. I get v annoyed looking at the tvs in the Irish Argos catalogue with the BBC iplayer logos on them - v misleading for technophobes. It'd be very handy to have Irish catch up widgets.

ardmacha

I am not convinced of the Smart TV concept. Would it not make better sense to get a €600 TV and plug a €300 computer (whatever called) into it? Then in a couple of years another computer could replace it as new stuff will come along, but the screen might do for a decade.

Neworder79

Thats what the €99 HDMI Apple TV box does, though in Ireland it doesn't support some of the US services like Netflicks and sports channels. Air sharing is cool though allowing one click on your phone or iPad to transfer playback of music/video to the TV. Also some cool games now using the service so your phone or iPad become the controller and display the game visuals on the TV. I'd expect them to add the app store in the next release with iOS5. www.apple.com/appletv/

Another option is setting up your own NAS/media server and connecting to the TV, though the UI on many of those boxes is crap and set-up beyond the average user.

implausible

Am in the market for a new tv - only a 26" or smaller though, for the kitchen. Having everything in the one tv set is very appealing though. At the moment I have an oldish Inspiron and use it with a VGA cable (no hdmi) to watch the iplayer, RTE player or films and programmes from a hard drive on a 4 year old Bravia. However, with a wee man in the house, all this cabling is a pain in the ass and impossible to use when he's awake.

Failing the widgets option then, are there any smaller tvs with either built in media player software (to play directly from a usb hard drive) or the option to wirelessly stream any content from a pc?

Dman001

OP I don't think there are RTE/TV3 Player widgets. I think you have to play them throught he built in Web Browser.

implausible

Dman001 wrote: »

OP I don't think there are RTE/TV3 Player widgets. I think you have to play them throught he built in Web Browser.

See, that's what I thought, but no-one seems to know for sure.

Dman001

I'm 99% sure I read on some brochure that the TV only supports them through the Web Browser. I can't imagine Samsung going to the effort of approaching both RTE and TV3 for permission to make the Widgets for the TV, and I definitely can't imagine either RTE or TV3 making a Widget for the TV.

dog-man-star

I can confirm that as of July 2011 there are NO Irish TV apps on the Samsung Smart TV. You can access RTE etc... through the web browser but its extremely sluggish and almost impossible to use with the clunky remote. Users in the UK can view BBC Iplayer through an app, so hopefully an RTE one might be on the way.

They also advertise it coming with a touch screen remote, I bought it from Power City who in a newspaper advert promised a remote that "allows you to continue watching the TV even when they leave the room." however Irish consumers don't get this, we only get a really old school clunky remote, that makes using many of the features a chore.

Finally, ads for the TV online advertise it as coming with 2 pairs of 3D glasses but Irish customers (who pay more that American customers) only get 1 pair of glasses.

It is a nice TV, let down by the bad remote and poor choice of apps for Irish users.

legendsiralex

Myself and my fiance are thinking of asking for one of these as a wedding present as my brother has asked me would I like just €1000 in cash or is there anything he could buy us that we'd like.

We are intruiged by the posibility of getting one of these as his present - but we are so technically dumbos that I'm not exactly sure if we'd appreciate it. We are TV lovers though and watch a lot of the box.

Can anyone give a decent review of the TV and what exactly are the positives about it. I'm still a little unsure whether it is gimicky or whether this is a product you couldn't live without once you have it! There's just some simple questions I'd like answered..

How does it change the experience of generally watching TV?

How often would you use aps?

What is the web browser like?

What is the 3D function like?

Do you get free movies?

Thanks......

crkmel

As an owner of a smart TV, where I bought it thinking I could stream live TV, I stongly urge you not to buy one.

It does not work, you cannot stream live TV, the broad band infrastructure in Ireland does not support this concept.

There are lot of useless apps released by Samsung, none of them allow you stream any channels of interest. RTE works every now and then, sky go does not work

You are better off buying a traditional flat screen TV and a PC and stream from the PC…… it is over priced, piss poor support and does not work!!!!!

dodzy

crkmel wrote: »

As an owner of a smart TV, where I bought it thinking I could stream live TV, I stongly urge you not to buy one.

It does not work, you cannot stream live TV, the broad band infrastructure in Ireland does not support this concept.

There are lot of useless apps released by Samsung, none of them allow you stream any channels of interest. RTE works every now and then, sky go does not work

You are better off buying a traditional flat screen TV and a PC and stream from the PC…… it is over priced, piss poor support and does not work!!!!!

I strongly urge you to do your homework before parting with your cash in the future. It is relatively easy to establish in advance if features are/are not available on a particular TV.

crkmel

Great idea!

The Ayatolla

does this tv have a freeSat tuner ??

The lips

The Samsung smart tv now has an RTE player app_but no TV3 player app. RTE player streams very well as do blu-ray movies wirelessly from my PC.

JonathonS

http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/2012/0607/rte-player-on-smart-tv.html

Quote - "London and Dublin- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and RTÉ Digital today announced that Samsung will be the first TV brand to offer the RTÉ Player App, Ireland's leading catch up TV service*, on the big screen as part of its Smart TV offering."