Smart TV or Smart Device? | Which is Smarter?

As to price....recently bought TCL Roku Smart 49" TV for $199.... not bad in my humble opinion.

$300-$500 for a TV is still a lot of money! I don’t want to pay that much for a TV!

It's amazing how the cost of Smart TV's has dropped in the past year!

Thank You very much, this was an excellent review! It's just the info I was looking for & big thx to @SnoopyBoyBlue for his post. I have one question: I hope I make sense... I don't want nor have a need for a smart tv, at this point in my life, but as you stated that might be the only option to get in the future; so, what if you have to get a smart enabled tv that comes with a streaming service already integrated in it, like chrome as I've seen, but you want to use the roku or apple or some other one, will that already integrated service interfere with a different attachable stream service device or would you still be able to use a different attachable stream service device on your already smart enabled tv? Do you have a review video on that, if not would you make one?

I’ve have smart TV’s. Dislike the interfaces on mine so choose a streaming device as my go to device. One less remote is the only advantage that I can think of with a smart TV and saving a few bucks not buying a streaming device. On the other hand my Android TV has games, I can side load 3rd party apps and Android TV is being updated regularly. No one talks about a TV remote vs cable or satellite remote vs streaming device remote. Just saying the Direct TV remote won’t operate the smart functions on the TV and the Smart TV remote won’t operate Direct TV. I still need two remotes thus a streaming device is the better choice. Smaller, dedicated and easier to use remote. Won’t be giving up a streaming device anytime soon.

I just turn an old 32 inch Samsung in to a monitor for my computer and I put a stick now it's very smart. No reason to discard a good running tv

Honestly I am not really sure about why smart tvs are still being sold in the market, a smart device easily replaces the need to buy a smart tv.

Ill go with the device you can take that anywhere with you tv you can but you wouldnt want too

I just bought a Roku. Tbh it’s much more economical to get a Roku to make your older non smart tv into a smart tv then going out and buying a smart TV.

I’ve always said that a streaming device simply turns a dumb tv into a smart tv.

Problem with streaming devices most tv you need an adapter to power them because the port on the tv is not powerful to power the device it's self.

I replace all my old tube tvs with "smart" tvs a year ago. At the time, I was only concerned about Netflix, so i settled on a cheaper smart tv. TV has been great to me but now I want Hulu and many of the "channel apps" and the app store built into it is not supported by Hulu, Adult Swim, etc. As result I ended up buying Roku sticks anyway. The Roku stick is faster than the smart tv ever was and I seem to have far less issues with it. Point I'm trying to make is, yes you will probably have to get a smart TV is replacing your TV, but you can get away with more inexpensive TVs if you use a steaming device. I have asked people in my family why they chose the TV they have, most responded with "because it supports X app". With a streaming device you don't have to worry about what the TV supports, the hardware going out of date as quickly, or the TV manufacturer no longer supporting the software. Even after just one year, the Netflix app on my TV tends to freeze or have hiccups.


If I could go back to do it all over again a year ago, I would have bought the Roku from the start, and concerned myself more with the price point of the TV, rather than the apps it supports.

Smart people or smart phone?

I have a Samsung Smart TV and did so for mirroring. A neighbor just gave me a firestick, can it be used with my tv?

What about the other way around?.... What's the point of firesrick if you have a good smart tv

What I did was to buy a very good but budget price non-smart tv, and run my pc through it. That way i get 1 Tb of hard drive and 16 Gb of ram, and can control it with my keyboard and mouse.

If you have a smart TV why do you need a TV BOX? thats extra money out of your pocket and also if your TV only it has 2 HDMI one for Directv and the other for my PC

ok. smart device vs game console. because don't Xbox and PlayStation have all the tv apps now anyway?

If u bought a smart TV w a streaming device built ín and if a problem develops with the built in device, why can't u just add a device to the HDMI port??

I have a higher end LG Smart TV, but I really don't use the "smart TV" aspect of it. I have both an Amazon Fire TV Cube as well as an Apple TV 4K plugged into it. I use those way more than the Smart TV apps simply because I don't like LG's interface. It's just clunky and I'm more comfortable with FireTV or Apple TV.

Can I use a streaming device with a smart tv?

If the apps on a smart tv become obsolete, can I just use a streaming device instead of buying a new tv?

i like both

My lg webos tv uj6200 tv’s smart function is terrible! In the comments I saw that I can plug in a smart device so it can work much better!

Maybe I'm fucking stupid but I genuinely don't know what you plug a 4k stick into.. I don't even have a 4k support anything lol so I won't benefit from ot

How long does the software lasts for a smart tv ?

And how long does the life of a streaming device lasts?

Just a thought....you can still plug in one of these devices if ur software is obsolete. So you aren’t “stuck”

Apple TV is the goat!

Well the processing power on a smart tv is usually poor. The only good smart tv’s are Tcl with Roku. And sony with android tv. And with Amazon fire tv built in. Everything else is junk.

Or do the most obvious: keep the TV and by a device when the software is obsolete

I say with any low-mid range TV these days, they skimp on the main board and the processor on a lot of them, and if you care about occasional stutters or glitches on the menu screens, your going to want to get a dedicated smart device. They are more powerful and it’s a overall smoother experience, they will often even get a better WiFi connection too. And will leave the TVs processor load to do only one task...display a great picture.

SmartTVs have gotten cheaper because of the subsidies that the streaming services pay them to be on their products. We’re talking big money here. The subsidy is then passed on to the consumer. Manufacturers will likely start unifying their products using the popular operating systems (Roku, AndroidOS, AppleOS, WebOS, Amazon Fire, etc.) much like what audio tried to do but only wound up creating unifying remotes. One obvious benefit is being able to use only one remote (say a Roku remote) for all of your HT devices.

I prefer to use a streaming device. I've got a Chromecast (3rd gen). The problem with Smart TVs is that the apps can often be clunky to use and they often crash.

I'm looking into it just now but so far I can't find to many reasons for getting a streaming device when I already have a Smart TV. The bast one i've heard so far is the devices are portable but then again so is my Laptop, phone and tablet which I seem to be able to get these apps on anyway. Could be handy if you wish to plug it into a tv in a hotel room or something.

I find it hard to get away from smart devices nowadays, you buy a new TV chances are it's a smart tv, same with a cable tv provider and Blu ray/DVD player Games consoles. I'm wondering if they'll phase out the same as Set-top boxes did when every TV became digital.

Its amazing how people still dont have a smart tv in their homes. Its like those people still have the big tube with a turning knob. 4k tv now is like so cheap. You can get a 55 inch for under $300

Thank you for your info about a fire-stick TV as an added feature for a smart TV. By the way, I bought a new Sony XBR55X800H a month ago, I am just wondering your suggestion what kind of a firestick TV should I have ? Thank you.

Now manufacturers don't make any non smart tv

TV's are becoming smarter and cheaper all the time so the gap between a TV and smart devices is shrinking.

When using a smart tv does one have to have. Pc as well

Which one uses more data?

how to install downloader on sony android tv ( I don't have a firestick )

This guy looks like a middle aged Tom Holland

A smart device for me is better because you can take it anywhere with you and hook it up to any other TV and you have your whole setup anywhere you go.

Finding a good "Dumb" Tv is not so easy these days

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BestBuy still sells plain Plasma/LED "dumb" TVs which will take a smart stick.

What do you think are the pros & cons of Smart TVs? Smart Devices? Which do you use, and why?