Get smart TV?
First-world problems: I’m thinking seriously about finally replacing my two-decade-old CRT television set with a smart TV. Ever since I gave up cable, I’ve only used my TV to watch DVDs, while watching streaming shows on my computer monitor. My understanding is that smart TVs usually have web browsers as well as built-in streaming services, so it would be good to be able to watch a larger screen from my couch. But there are a number of issues to sort out first.
The issue that outweighs all others, literally, is that the 25-inch CRT is too heavy for me to lift, which is a large part of why I haven’t replaced it already. I’d been hoping I could find a store whose delivery people would take the TV away, but apparently nobody does that anymore. Though when I asked, I was told there are junk hauling services I could call. That might be the best option, since they could get rid of some other old stuff cluttering my closets.
The other main issue is that my equally old A/V receiver, which my speakers come out of, does not have HDMI ports. It mainly uses RCA coaxial inputs for video/audio, which might work if I could find an HDMI-to-RCA adapter. But it also has inputs for digital optical audio cables, which seem to be compatible with smart TV outputs. I think that would work, but the receiver’s instruction book recommends using coax instead of optical, without saying why. Maybe it’s because optical was a newer technology then? It’s probably more reliable now.
If digital optical or HDMI-to-RCA didn’t work, I guess my other options would be to rely on the TV’s inbuilt speakers (though apparently those tend to be pretty poor), or to buy a separate speaker bar just for the TV. That would add significantly to the cost, but considerably less so than buying a new receiver.
Size-wise, the largest screen I could fit in the available space would be 40 inches, but it looks like that would only work with a center stand rather than the wide-set legs that appear to be the default. If I couldn’t find one with a center stand, I’d have to pay extra to buy one — which might be worth it for stability alone, since it sounds like the default legs on smart TVs tend to be flimsy. A 32-inch set would fit my space better, and would still be about 1/3 larger than my current screen, but I think 40 would be preferable. Apparently sets between those sizes are rare.
One thing I’m still unsure of is whether a smart TV would let me watch regular network TV. I gather that some smart TVs let you install apps for viewing network shows, or something. I could buy an inexpensive digital antenna to watch local stations, but I recall that they always superimpose distracting logos, ads, and text crawls over the picture, as well as having a ton of commercials.
Of course, one of the very first things I’d have to figure out is how to disable motion smoothing, so that film would still look like film. Apparently it’s turned on by default and different models have different terms for it. I’m also a little worried about aspect ratio, since I remember that some widescreen TVs I’ve seen in years past were set to stretch out 4:3 programs to widescreen ratio by default, distorting the image, and I don’t want that. But that seems to be less of an issue with newer TVs. At least, when I watch 4:3 shows online, they’re always in the right ratio with blank space on the sides, so hopefully watching streaming smart TV would be the same.
Naturally I’m open to advice or suggestions about any of these matters, particularly from Cincinnati residents who could recommend a good store or a good junk hauler.
