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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think smart TVs are a fecking pita?!

59 replies

MoiraNotRuby · 16/12/2021 10:32

Just moved house, am renting somewhere but won't be here long term. It doesn't have a TV aerial. I have a Samsung smart tv. I thought this would be no big deal and I would watch live tv by installing free view app. In trying to do this, I discover this isn't available/possible for my tv. I can go in and out of i player for BBC (and I assume the equivalents for Channel 4, 5 and Itv) to watch live programmes. But its such a bloody faff! Considering how easy it would be for Samsung/whoever to make this possible its surprising how annoying this is. Don't even know if I'm actually making sense.

OP posts:
RichardMarxisinnocent · 16/12/2021 10:35

Can you get an indoor TV aerial? The TV in my bedroom works fine with an indoor one (though how well it works will probably depend on signal strength/distance from transmitter)

FestiveFruitloop · 16/12/2021 11:02

TVs are a PITA these days in general, imho. I'm sufficiently long in the tooth to remember when you just put it on and watched it. I miss those days.

VickyEadieofThigh · 16/12/2021 11:07

@FestiveFruitloop

TVs are a PITA these days in general, imho. I'm sufficiently long in the tooth to remember when you just put it on and watched it. I miss those days.
Gawd, YES.
MythicalBiologicalFennel · 16/12/2021 11:07

@FestiveFruitloop

TVs are a PITA these days in general, imho. I'm sufficiently long in the tooth to remember when you just put it on and watched it. I miss those days.
Totally agree. I can't believe how difficult and what a faff it is to just be able to watch something sometimes. I have a Hitachi TV and IMO it's by far the worst, most unreliable appliance I've ever had.
CounsellorTroi · 16/12/2021 11:09

Me too. It was so simple. Either there was something on or there wasn’t and if there wasn’t you read a book or something instead.

Cottonheadedninymuggins · 16/12/2021 11:22

Yeah they're annoying. Our Samsung downstairs has the britbox app on it. The two upstairs don't so you have to cast it across.

The downstairs and one of the upstairs were bought relatively close together so not as though there's a huge age difference in them.

If one of the same brand can do something smart TV app wise , another of the same brand should. Different app stores for the same brand of TV is infuriating.

Electriq · 16/12/2021 11:27

They're a godsend when you have a mother that likes to go between apps every show, she can do it all on 1 remote now! Im not constantly advising how to get this and log into that! BLISS!

HoardingSamphireSaurus · 16/12/2021 11:29

@FestiveFruitloop

TVs are a PITA these days in general, imho. I'm sufficiently long in the tooth to remember when you just put it on and watched it. I miss those days.
Yep.

Lunchtime and evening only. 1 of 3 channels. Off to bed with the dot.

The rest of the time was spent just living.

sashagabadon · 16/12/2021 11:32

Completely agree. We have to do various things to get the bloody thing to come on and it occasionally throws us out and can take forever to go out of say iplayer into Netflix. It is so annoying. I have French complain why can’t we just push the on button and watch the blooming thing.
Plus if you go to someone else’s house they have an equally stupid thing they have to do which is not the same as us Confused

CopperLily · 16/12/2021 11:33

@FestiveFruitloop

TVs are a PITA these days in general, imho. I'm sufficiently long in the tooth to remember when you just put it on and watched it. I miss those days.
It's ridiculous, isn't it? I remember when you needed to adjust the colour or brightness on the telly meant wandering over to it, turning a dial and it was done. I needed to adjust the colour on our smart TV recently and it involved going into 'settings' (took bloody ages just to find that amongst all the bells and whistles) and then trying to fathom what menu was then required, and then about another 3 menus after that. Finally found the colour adjustment, but you can't see the actual picture on the screen like you could do with the old tellies. So if the colour adjustment isn't quite right, you have to start the process again. Such a bloody faff. Christ, I'm getting old.
luverlybubberly · 16/12/2021 12:26

Yanbu

I have a 10 year old Samsung (which isn't a Smart TV) and it's great not having to worry about built in obsolescence. A TV stick or games console is a much better solution

highjump · 16/12/2021 12:48

As for when you finally work out how to navigate a channel's on-demand app and they suddenly bring out an update that changes it entirely...

TurnUpTurnip · 16/12/2021 12:50

I think they are great, where I am you can only watch tv with an outside Ariel normal inside ones don’t work so smart TVs have solved that problem!

nannybeach · 16/12/2021 12:51

I'm 71,had the smart TV a couple of years,but just changed BB providers,new sky remote arrived,I was in tears. Every day for a week DH had to reset everything. Still haven't got the hang of everything on it.

funnelfanjo · 16/12/2021 13:51

I love technology and yet the whole smart TV thing drives me bananas. My particular bugbear is when our Freeview box software last got updated and it's more steps/button presses to get to our recordings, and the box is slower. It seems that manufacturers and app designers have totally forgotten KISS and that they should be looking to make their UI robust, easy to use and accessible. Not everyone is a 25-year old in good health and eyesight, with an interest in tech, and in possession of a quick brain and a fast internet connection.

I have similar frustrations with work, and using different meeting apps for different clients, and having to take a few minutes before each meeting to check that my laptop is talking to the camera, headphones and the internet connection before starting the meeting. In the old days I'd have just picked up a phone and dialled a number.

Thomasina79 · 16/12/2021 13:56

we have a relatively old Sony smart tv, but cannot seem to get I player any more nor itv or more 4. I watch films on my I pad, but would like to watch on the telly. I am thinking of getting an amazon fire stick but how do I know if it will work on my telly?

Munchyseeds · 16/12/2021 14:23

Seems to me u spend a lot of money on a smart tv that fairly quickly becomes dumb....

TeaAndStrumpets · 16/12/2021 14:30

Our Sony is about 6 or 7 years old. It was fine until they dropped some of the inbuilt apps. We used to be able to get Amazon Prime but not now. Access has to be through our BT Youview box, and is so slooow.

LakieLady · 16/12/2021 14:48

I'm so glad it's not just me! I thought I struggled with my tv because I'm old and can't adapt to new things.

Every now and then, it reverts to its start up screen when you turn it on and I have to faff about in the settings to get it back to "normal".

When I bought it, I had no end of trouble setting it up and the guy on the helpline was no fucking help at all. He was as confused as I was. In the end, I sussed it out almost by accident while we were still on the phone, despite him having access to loads of stuff from the manufacturer about the bloody thing.

I'm never buying another JVC anything again.

My previous "smart" tv was simple to set up, but it died after five years (as did its predecessor). The tv before that lasted over 20 years.

They are just shit imo.

ponkydonkey · 16/12/2021 14:58

I like my smart tv
It has built in freesat so I just plugged the sky cable straight into the back of it 😀
You can talk to mine and it just switched over or finds what you want to watch
Ariels are crap where we live and you get hardly any channels

RobertaFirmino · 16/12/2021 15:06

Mine's a pain in the arse too. I remember the days where if there was a problem, you just took that little orange plastic stick out of its holder and gave the dial a twizzle.

pointythings · 16/12/2021 15:14

Mine's coming up 7 years old and it's fine - we have an old Sky box that we use as a freeview box and we stream 95% of what we watch. DD2 and I watched a live theatre performance on it during the second lockdown and that worked seamlessly too.

But I am pretty techy.

TuftyMarmoset · 16/12/2021 15:20

TV aerials are too much hassle. We don’t have one so we just quit watching tv and only have Netflix now.
Actually to be more accurate we do have the aerial but there doesn’t seem to be a way of connecting the aerial and the tv. I went to John Lewis and curry’s, they had no idea, so we gave up. We can use an HDMI cable to watch Netflix from the laptop on the tv without it being connected to anything.

gogohm · 16/12/2021 15:36

@FestiveFruitloop

Smart TVs are plug and play too but you need an arial which op doesn't have

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 16/12/2021 15:49

So many people need help to operate their own TV now, which wasn't the case ten years ago. It's a pity that the people least able to operate smart TVs are often the people who can't read or play games or craft or bake to entertain themselves due to health or cognition issues.