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New Samsung SMART TV (Read 685 times)
ianmoticon
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New Samsung SMART TV
Jan 17th, 2014 at 1:00pm
 
Hi all. I recently got a new Samsung TV for the bedroom. I was thinking of going non-smart, but I did in the end and didn't regret it.

It has BBC iPlayer, 4OD, ITV player and Demand Five. I can also stream from any PC or Mac connected to my local network. It also has Skype (and I can add a camera for proper Skype), Facebook, Twitter. There are apps for games (I downloaded Chess) and lifestyle (e.g. fitness programmes). It has built-in WiFi, Freeview HD built-in too. The picture is good. I can add a USB hard drive and it will record programmes.

It has a built-in web browser. I can get YouTube and other web pages no problem. There's even a Picture-in-Picture on the web browser, so I can browse and watch TV at the same time.

Price matched at John Lewis, and therefore with a 5 year solid guarantee. Anything goes wrong - it's repaired or replaced.

I'm thinking why would you get anything else for the bedroom? It's perfect.
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Equipment list: Dr Who's telly box, Freeview HD box with a big glowing button, TV with a screen, Blu-ray which says "See You" going into standby, glasses which make D go 3, sound all around, stuff
 
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denismartindale
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #1 - Jan 17th, 2014 at 3:23pm
 
Congratulations!

www.johnlewis.com/search/samsung-smart-tv?_requestid=33676930

What is the model number and the TV screen size, please?

Can you tell us if the web browsing displays the text font sizes clearly enough for you? Or if there's a need to use a zoom-in option, should that be provided?

I'm using the web browsing on the Fetch TV Smartboxes and the Tesco HD8320 is the HD version with the 320GB hard drive. This has a slightly different font to the Fetch TV Smartbox which means the Tesco Smartbox doesn't display as well.

Did you have an in-store TV demo to show the web browsing and how to navigate around web pages?

I appreciate the John Lewis 5 year warranty cover for the peace of mind it provides to customers, especially for these Smart TVs with extra features.

I've heard of USB recording eg pen drives or SD Memory storage cards or pre-formatted USB hard drives, but mine are basically for Freeview TV and Radio. Are you able to record from any displayed TV channel eg a Sky or VM TiVo onto USB? Or from the time you go surfing on the Internet?

Otherwise, does the Smart TV have some output cable or scart output eg to a DVD Recorder, so you get a chance to record that way? Perhaps via some wireless scart AV sender to a DVD Recorder even in another room?

Perhaps with the model number there's a chance to get the user guide PDF file, to have some extra guidance to share on the forum.
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ianmoticon
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #2 - Jan 20th, 2014 at 9:30am
 
In answer to denismartindale's questions:

The TV's part of the Samsung F series. The TV fits well in my bedroom. I didn't want to have something over-powering for the bedroom, so I got a 32 inch screen, which is perfect, not too big. Amazing quality of picture.

The web browsing seems fine in terms of font size. I'm not sure if you can zoom.

I didn't have a demo beforehand.

The record option can record Freeview TV/radio to a hard drive. You can schedule recordings through the EPG. It's built-in. All you do is add the hard drive (Any USB 2 hard drive running at 5400rpm). It cannot record to USB (according to the e-manual which is built in to the TV).

The TV has several HDMIs, 1 SCART, 2 USBs and a few other connections I think.

I resurrected an old Sony DVD player which I had in the attic (I like the idea of recycling technology rather than having to buy new!), connected it to SCART. The TV has a smart connect feature (with an infra-red extender) which allows me to control both the DVD and TV from the Samsung remote. For a screen that size, SCART and DVD (as opposed to blu-ray) for a secondary TV is absolutely fine IMHO.

One thing I forgot to mention, is there is no email app that I can find. Facebook - yes, Twitter - yes, email - no.  Smiley
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Equipment list: Dr Who's telly box, Freeview HD box with a big glowing button, TV with a screen, Blu-ray which says "See You" going into standby, glasses which make D go 3, sound all around, stuff
 
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #3 - Jan 21st, 2014 at 10:43am
 
Activated the "On TV" function today. It looks at what you view and then gives a screen of programmes which are on now, and upcoming, which it thinks you might like. Quite a faff getting it activated though. Because you need an internet connection (and I guess because of privacy being such a hot topic) this feature is not activated straight away in the (otherwise brilliant) setup routine. You have to dig into the menus to activate it. Shame because it looks really nice (I can't vouch for how useful it is yet).

Smiley
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Equipment list: Dr Who's telly box, Freeview HD box with a big glowing button, TV with a screen, Blu-ray which says "See You" going into standby, glasses which make D go 3, sound all around, stuff
 
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denismartindale
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #4 - Jan 21st, 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/live

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ftv.america

With 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...
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ianmoticon
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #5 - Jan 22nd, 2014 at 11:18am
 
denismartindale wrote on Jan 21st, 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/live

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ftv.america

With 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).  Smiley

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.
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Equipment list: Dr Who's telly box, Freeview HD box with a big glowing button, TV with a screen, Blu-ray which says "See You" going into standby, glasses which make D go 3, sound all around, stuff
 
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Jeremy
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #6 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 1:12am
 
Good Evening All,

I recently got a Samsung ES9000 Series TV and was delighted when i noticed i could get all of the apps without hassle. I DO however have an issue whereby the app on my TV seems to be an hour behind. When i go onto BBC iPlayer's webpage i am able to watch the most recent episodes available, however i have to wait for another hour before i can watch them on my Smart TV. Can anyone shed some light on this situation?
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #7 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 10:34am
 
Jeremy wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 1:12am:
Good Evening All,

I recently got a Samsung ES9000 Series TV and was delighted when i noticed i could get all of the apps without hassle. I DO however have an issue whereby the app on my TV seems to be an hour behind. When i go onto BBC iPlayer's webpage i am able to watch the most recent episodes available, however i have to wait for another hour before i can watch them on my Smart TV. Can anyone shed some light on this situation?


I would imagine this is due to the speed at which info is updated to various servers. The Samsung app server might be different to the website server.
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #8 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 10:57am
 
ianmoticon wrote on Jan 20th, 2014 at 9:30am:
In answer to denismartindale's questions:

The TV's part of the Samsung F series. The TV fits well in my bedroom. I didn't want to have something over-powering for the bedroom, so I got a 32 inch screen, which is perfect, not too big. Amazing quality of picture.

The web browsing seems fine in terms of font size. I'm not sure if you can zoom.

I didn't have a demo beforehand.

The record option can record Freeview TV/radio to a hard drive. You can schedule recordings through the EPG. It's built-in. All you do is add the hard drive (Any USB 2 hard drive running at 5400rpm). It cannot record to USB (according to the e-manual which is built in to the TV).

The TV has several HDMIs, 1 SCART, 2 USBs and a few other connections I think.

I resurrected an old Sony DVD player which I had in the attic (I like the idea of recycling technology rather than having to buy new!), connected it to SCART. The TV has a smart connect feature (with an infra-red extender) which allows me to control both the DVD and TV from the Samsung remote. For a screen that size, SCART and DVD (as opposed to blu-ray) for a secondary TV is absolutely fine IMHO.

One thing I forgot to mention, is there is no email app that I can find. Facebook - yes, Twitter - yes, email - no.  Smiley
Yes congrats on your new Tv Wink If you can record to a external USB HDD (FAT 32 Is it?) then I can't see why you couldn't record to a USB stick as well Smiley  What web browser is installed and version number? The APPs you get are from the Samsung App store and not the Google APP store but I am surprised you can't find a Email App? If it's the same series of TV I saw
on  BId Tv you can buy a 'wired' Qwerty Keyboard!!
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #9 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 1:21pm
 
Bigboyuk wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 10:57am:
Yes congrats on your new Tv Wink If you can record to a external USB HDD (FAT 32 Is it?) then I can't see why you couldn't record to a USB stick as well Smiley  What web browser is installed and version number? The APPs you get are from the Samsung App store and not the Google APP store but I am surprised you can't find a Email App? If it's the same series of TV I saw
on  BId Tv you can buy a 'wired' Qwerty Keyboard!!


LOL AFAIK having now read the e-manual you can add a bluetooth keyboard too. I will check the version of the browser etc  Wink I was surprised there was no gmail app but hey you can't have everything I guess  Smiley And don't worry I will post more when I find out more!!
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #10 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 2:44pm
 
ianmoticon wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 1:21pm:
LOL AFAIK having now read the e-manual you can add a bluetooth keyboard too. I will check the version of the browser etc  Wink I was surprised there was no gmail app but hey you can't have everything I guess  Smiley And don't worry I will post more when I find out more!!
And the Browser Type! Regarding no Email Apps that's because it's not Google Apps but Samsung APPs but am surprised there are no email Apps on this Tv!





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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #11 - Jan 28th, 2014 at 2:48pm
 
Bigboyuk wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 2:44pm:
And the Browser Type! Regarding no Email Apps that's because it's not Google Apps but Samsung APPs but am surprised there are no email Apps on this Tv!






LOL and the browser type  Wink

Yes you can See the Samsung Apps here. Not a great selection, but I wasn't expecting that much when I got the TV. In fact I didn't really look into it and thought the only apps you could get were pre-installed.  Wink The apps that are available work well.

On the subject of email AFAIK every Facebook account comes with an email address you can use, so I guess you could probably use email that way. But considering anyone who is anyone these days uses gmail it's a shame Samsung didn't build this in. regards
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #12 - Feb 15th, 2014 at 5:46am
 
Bigboyuk wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 10:57am:
Yes congrats on your new Tv Wink If you can record to a external USB HDD (FAT 32 Is it?) then I can't see why you couldn't record to a USB stick as well Smiley  What web browser is installed and version number? The APPs you get are from the Samsung App store and not the Google APP store but I am surprised you can't find a Email App? If it's the same series of TV I saw
on  BId Tv you can buy a 'wired' Qwerty Keyboard!!

Well I guess if I stuck a hard drive on, I'd want to make it a terabyte, simply so that I know this is a facility that will then be future proof for the next 5 years and beyond, and I won't need to spend any more money on it. I also got a Price Match (resulting in £50 off), free delivery and free 5 year all parts/labour guarantee on the TV. This makes so much sense for electrical products like this.

The browser does not give me much info. Just Samsung, followed by a serial number in the "About" part of the browser. It has Flash and seems to do as much as any other browser. The blurb says it will not perform internet banking. I have not (and would not) test this on a TV browser anyway.

Take a look at the browser here
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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #13 - Feb 15th, 2014 at 11:54am
 
Well it seems to me that there are still bits missing from these Smart Tv Web Browsers And yet Samsung are making Bold claims surf like you would on a Pc  with a full web browser and yet it can't handle internet banking or software downloads?? Can it handle PDF documents? Even the ole I-Player
could do internet banking! So it looks like the browsers on these 'Smart' Tv's can't be updated to newer.better versions for the price that these Tv's cost it's not ideal Smiley












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Re: New Samsung SMART TV
Reply #14 - Feb 15th, 2014 at 2:16pm
 
Bigboyuk wrote on Feb 15th, 2014 at 11:54am:
Well it seems to me that there are still bits missing from these Smart Tv Web Browsers And yet Samsung are making Bold claims surf like you would on a Pc  with a full web browser and yet it can't handle internet banking or software downloads?? Can it handle PDF documents? Even the ole I-Player
could do internet banking! So it looks like the browsers on these 'Smart' Tv's can't be updated to newer.better versions for the price that these Tv's cost it's not ideal Smiley


LOL  Grin It's good to see you back BBUK. Do you have your Digisender yet?  Huh  Questioning

It's a TV, so I wouldn't expect it to handle downloads. It does handle software downloads from Samsung's app store, because you can install apps. And they are juuuuuust fine!  Smiley

The browser itself looks very professional. It has dealt with video and everything else. So I can believe Samsung's promise that it's a full blown browser.

And you can use your iPhone/iPad as a keyboard for it with a free download, so problem solved there  Smiley

I actually think it might handle internet banking, because the browser is so good. However, I wouldn't use it for such a purpose. It's too fiddly, and you don't want to be putting in £1000 when you actually meant to put in £10.

ROFLcopter  Cheesy

Samsung seem to be really on top of things when it comes to TV technology. They're one of the few to offer On Demand apps for everything available, i.e. BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand 5. Sony don't, and I don't believe any other manufacturer has secured deals with all major companies.

As a Smart TV, it is absolutely excellent. Fast to start, a great 'On TV' facility which recommends programmes for you to watch as soon as you start up, great vibrant HD colour and great sound (for a TV) with enhancements for speech and virtual surround.

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Equipment list: Dr Who's telly box, Freeview HD box with a big glowing button, TV with a screen, Blu-ray which says "See You" going into standby, glasses which make D go 3, sound all around, stuff
 
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