Your "Smart TV" IS a computer

Almost everything connected to a power source these days has some sort of computer in it.

You probably won't see it or be told about it, but there'll be something doing some computing / thinking when the power is applied.

This post is about Smart TVs though.

In the old days a screen was used to watch TV or view what a computer was doing.

Then along game devices with screens built in; mobile computers, phones, tablets, games and so on.

These devices blurred the boundary between what was just a dumb display and what was a computer or a device of some kind.

Fast forward to today and we have amazingly thin and large displays that can do an enormous amount of things.

Your Smart TV today really IS a computer and for some people it may well be the only computer they need in their house.

As hard as TV manufacturers try though, they can't get past the fact that computers have bugs, need updating and need operator input from time to time.

When you turn on your Smart TV you are booting up a whole bunch of software.

On the picture above you can see a bunch of icons that already do look very "computery".

There's a cog well icon for settings, a looking glass icon for searching and a bunch of app' (application / program) icons that can provide all sorts of functionality.

Some TVs overtly run the same operating system as your smart phone. The only real difference is the screen size, so why not?

You probably know or at least assumed most of this. So why am I banging on about it?

Well, when it comes to troubleshooting painful smart TVs, and that is pretty much all of them, you need to think "IT".

You need to think about rebooting it, powering it down and back on.

You need to think about exiting, restarting and re-installing app's to get around stubborn problems.

You need to get a bit "computer nerd" on its arse if you want to keep your sanity (that may well be a paradox).

Oh yeah, and as a result, if you are stumped, there's a good chance your computer person will be able to help you out.

HOWEVER, the word "Smart" tends to mean that a lot of flexibility is taken out of your hands and ours. For your own good and our chagrin, the guts of the things are shielded from us.

This means that quite often things just can't be fixed at our end or by a simple reboot or power-down. They'll require app' developer or manufacturer input (usually some form of update).

Smart TVs are great, just don't forget they are really just dumb computers.

David