Can someone explain about Roku, Fire Stick, and other streaming stuff?

Thanks for the explanation. I understand computers, so this makes sense.


I took a quick look at the Samsung options, and they have their own steaming service called "Samsung TV" with a bunch of free channels. (It looks like it's similar to Pluto TV.)


Samsung has a bunch of services that are already installed, but they are the paid services so they need a password to access them.

It also has options to install some free services like Tubi, YouTube, Hulu, etc. (I haven't installed any of them yet, but it's nice to know that they're options if I need them.)

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are they good the samsung tvs? i have 4k samsung pc curved monitor. do u have gaming version?

I haven't looked at new TVs to buy, but if I did I would want a dumb TV. I wonder if they still make them?

Maybe not "dumb," but less intrusive. Increasingly TVs have options to do this stuff, but not so much that you have to. Earlier on a lot of them just had inferior onboard software for managing streaming services.

There's always used TVs for me and there use to be a TV repair shop by me that sold used TVs and video equipment. Not surprisingly they went out of business.

I have several Samsung TVs, and they're all good TVs, but, (as far as I know), they're not gaming versions. They're all between 27" and 32" TVs. (Only the new one is a Smart TV.)

The only issue I have with them is that the sound volume seems to be a bit low, but there are Sound options in the settings that help, and there are also options to hook up external speakers. (I don't know how the volume compares to other brands, but sometimes we have to raise the volume up quite a bit to hear it. However that could also be an issue with the cable box or the TV show that we're watching.)

would u able message me what tvs to get and to talk about it cause im in the car on way home from a road trip at the moment lol

The Bravo and TCM app can only be used if you pay for them with your cable package. So If you already have them on cable you can get them on the app if you want to. I only do it cause I haven't figured out what cord or cable I need to hook up my cable box to the tv. I won't take the regular cable that is already on the box. And I am too lazy to be bothered figuring it out. Some day I will overcome my inertia or I will get rid of cable and just use wifi.

I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I haven't logged in since you posted this 6 days ago.

I'm not an expert on these TVs. This is just my opinion.

My family has been buying a lot of Samsung products over the past few years, including several TVs, and we've been very happy with them.

So I would recommend Samsung, but you could probably get more information from other people who may have tried more than one brand and could give you a comparison, or you might want to read some of the reviews on reputable sites. Some of the sites might even give you a comparison of the different features from each brand.

At the very least, you should probably go to a few stores and look at the TVs on display. You might have a different opinion based on the picture and/or sound quality, the settings, the features, even simple things like the size of the TV, the base below the screen, the placement of the buttons on the remote control, etc., could make a difference in your opinion.

My cable plan includes both Bravo and TCM. (I won't get a cable plan that doesn't include TCM.)

Just look at the "CABLE OUT" connection on the back of your cable box, and the "INPUT" on the back of your TV to figure out what cable you need to connect them.

Depending on how old they are, it should either be a coax cable or an HDMI cable. You should be able get either cable anywhere that sells A/V cables. (Walmart, Best Buy, Target, etc.)

Thanks GB

Yes. If you remember, we talked about this last year. I probably bought one of the very last dumb TVs for sale. When this one conks out (a long time from now, I hope) there will be no more dumb TVs to buy.

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I do remember that! I so don't want a smart=spy tv

If anyone or any thing was spying on me, they’d be bored to death.

I haven't looked for a few years now, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty of smart tvs that don't have cameras or an alexa-like voice recognition built into the display itself that could be passively be listening.


After that, you don't have to be use the streaming apps/etc, built into the TV.


And if you aren't concerned about firmware updates, then you could also just, you know, not connect the TV to the internet*. That would probably prevent it from, well, doing any monitoring (or having the risk of it doing anything with any type of monitoring).


*: I don't have cable, but I'm guessing currently inputs for cable aren't used as the wire for an internet connection.

I forgot to say, if you HBO through your cable provider, you probably have access to one of their streaming services (I haven't kept track of their streaming strategy, it might just all be "HBO Max", now.).


I will say, as someone who got their smart TV 10 years ago (so maybe they've gotten more reliable in that time), I found after a year or two, the Netflix app just kept crashing (and I don't think it got fixed). That's when I got a streaming device, and for a variety of reasons, I found it made a lot more sense just going through that.


Do I wish I had gotten a non-smart TV? No. The best TVs (in the non-smart TV specs) were also smart TVs. To me it's an extra feature I just don't use. Like motion smoothing.