denismartindale wrote on Jan 21
st, 2014 at 9:09pm:
It's a typical learning curve with technology being so competitive these days.
Another factor is energy costs which means if the energy rating is low then it's less money on the electric bill, plus if a medium screen there will be extra savings.
Some may use different spectacles for TV viewing ie the focus for a different length allowing better detail, yet the screen settings may need a different setting for text views eg lower brilliance or higher contrast, perhaps less colour and maybe the resetting of the sharpness.
We learnt from the Netgem iPlayer that web tv set top boxes were better at dark background web pages and larger graphics to permit the displays to work with smaller TV screens.
You mentioned other connectors beyond the HDMI and scart options. Perhaps these will help if trying the red, green and blue video cables working with the yellow red and white sound cables as an alternative to scart or S-Video/SVHS.
Once online, you may be able to download apps such as gmail. The filmon Android app was mentioned in that filmon.tv discussion.
http://www.filmon.com/channel/livehttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ftv.americaWith new TV items, it helps to contact the Tech Helpline to ask about any known issues they would advise you of or any latest upgrade.
I'm not sure if your EPG recordings also allow you to modify the extra start and end times as well.
With Fetch TV smartboxes and the Tesco version, I get the recording onto the hard drive, play it back and start a manual recording once the title info has updated itself. I then select the end time and stop the recording there. I export that version, check it plays on the external hard drive then delete the Smartbox copies.
I'm also not sure if you can download the VM Anywhere app for your TV based on your VM subscription. The VM TiVo often displays info in the top section about its recommendations and Customer updates, otherwise check the other section eg Help and Customer News and Messages...
Some interesting points here denismartindale.
There's no gmail app available - I've looked. That's a bit of a disappointment, but then again, I didn't intend to be checking email from bed (and anyway, I'm not sure if there are any compatible keyboards).
Energy costs - it has a very effective ecosaver option. The screen is dimmed in a dark room to conserve energy. It works really well. I thought it looked a little too dark to begin with, but I've got used to it. You can disable it, but it seems a shame to do so.
EPG - I haven't attached a hard disk to the TV yet so don't know about the record options. It would be handy to know if it did allow extra times, or whether it recorded from an active EPG (as many Freeview recorders do). I didn't expect it to have this feature in the first place and am tempted to buy a USB hard drive (They are really cheap and on sale now in many places) to try it out.
In answer to one of your previous questions, the web browser does have a zoom, and it works really well with great quality text and graphics.
With regards app downloads - it's my understanding that you have to go to the special Samsung Store (which is an app on the TV) to download apps. I don't think you can go to another site. I haven't tried this. There are a lot of movie apps there. But I'm not looking for a pay service and have no real desire to do a free trial. I have tried the on demand apps (BBC, ITV, Ch4, Ch5) and they are fast to start (The TV has a dual core processor) and responsive (Rewind, fast forward, pause, start all work well).
App updates - All app updates are done via the Samsung store app. This includes the e-manual as well for the TV.
Connectors - Yes it does have the composite connectors too. I was thinking of relocating my Wii to there (which I've bought these leads for).
So far, the experience with the TV has been very good indeed.