11 things you didn't know your smart TV could do
11 things you didn't know your smart TV could do
Nosotros've gone from the telly to smart TVs, and then why does it feel similar more of the same, but with Wi-Fi?
Today'southward TV entertainment world is broader and deeper than it has e'er been before. Completely gratuitous streaming services give you hours and hours of shows and movies, with linear and on-need programming. Paid streaming services offer huge libraries that range from quondam favorites to the latest Emmy and University Award winning originals. And every major channel or media company is jumping on the streaming bandwagon, putting vast back catalogs of content onto their own branded services. The amount of TV that you can watch on your smart Television receiver is pretty phenomenal.
Simply what if you want to practice more with your Goggle box? The best TVs have all of the capability of the internet and the processing power needed for interaction and apps, so why does it feel similar the idiot box is just as stupid as ever?
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Well, the good news is that smart TVs are actually a great deal smarter than most people assume. And while shows and movies are the obvious use case for the middle of home amusement, it's not all your smart TV tin do.
Only like your smartphone or laptop, your smart Television can do a whole lot. Going beyond entertainment, smart TVs have functionality that extends to education, productivity, home automation, fettle, mental wellness, and much more than.
Don't believe me? We've put together a sampling of some of the smartest things you tin can do with a smart TV. It'south not a comprehensive listing, and it'due south definitely not exhaustive, with new capabilities coming to TVs all the fourth dimension. But information technology gives you a adept idea of how much more your smart Boob tube tin can really do.
A annotation most Television brands and smart TV software
The Television world is a competitive ane, with the all-time TV brands jockeying to find a place in your dwelling house. Smart features offer a huge opportunity for one smart TV to stand up out in an aisle of nearly identical looking 4K TVs, so manufacturers have done a lot to drive the smarter side of smart TVs, adding new capabilities, expanding app selections and providing exclusive features. Some Goggle box makers take developed proprietary smart Boob tube platforms (similar LG's webOS, or Samsung's Tizen) while others turn to big names like Roku, Google and Amazon.
Just they aren't all exactly alike, and one app may be available on some TVs but not on another. Exclusive features may exist unique to i TV make, simply the broader functionality tin can also be plant on other sets (though it may take an extra step or two).
That's all to say that near of the capabilities below tin can be institute on most of the best smart TVs out there, whether it's one of the best Samsung TVs, the best Roku TVs, or one of the latest sets with Google TV. And if an app we've highlighted isn't available on your Television's app store, don't surrender hope! You can probably find an equivalent service, or use mutual functions like screen casting from your phone or tablet to put new apps and services on the large screen.
Replace your smart speaker
The majority of smart TVs offer some kind of voice control for searching content and decision-making bones Tv set functions, merely quite a few of them go above and beyond, offer Amazon Alexa and Google Banana on the Tv set.
That means that y'all can use your smart Boob tube'due south voice input for all sorts of things – most let you lot speak into the remote, but a few accept room-listening microphones for hands-costless voice input. With a simple "Hey, Google" or "Alexa!" you lot tin search for news headlines, cheque stock values, become questions answered and even get a bedtime story told to your child.
Check out some of the best Alexa skills and best Google Domicile commands to get a look at what those voice assistants tin really do.
Control your smart home devices
Nosotros've already discussed how yous can use Alexa and Google Assistant from your TV, and by linking your smart Television set to your Alexa or Google Assistant accounts, y'all tin control a whole firm total of smart domicile gadgets right from your Goggle box.
Just what does that mean? What sort of devices can yous control and what's improved past adding your smart Tv to the mix? For starters, pretty much anything found on our lists of the all-time smart dwelling house devices or best cheap smart home devices can be controlled from your TV.
That means you can control the lighting in your house with a command. You tin can cheque the photographic camera feed from your video doorbell or home security camera, turn power on or off on a smart plug, unlock the front door with a smart lock, and even open and close the garage door. With so many smart appliances in our homes, y'all can as well find plenty of refrigerators, ovens and dishwashers with smart features that tin can all be tied into your TV, making it the center of an array of smart dwelling devices.
You lot can even make your movie watching ameliorate with a few clever smart home additions. Dim the lights with a few of the best smart light bulbs or smart light switches. Spill some popcorn or fries while watching a movie? Call in a robot vacuum to clean it up. And if you don't want to interrupt your Netflix binge to brand dinner, you tin fifty-fifty order food right from your smart TV through Uber Eats or Doordash.
Stream music, podcasts and audiobooks
There are enough of ways to listen to music these days, but one you might have forgotten is your smart Television set. If y'all want music without music videos, there are plenty of options for streaming music in high quality, and often for free. And music isn't the only thing you can heed to. Podcasts and audiobooks are another neat apply of those TV speakers or soundbar, letting you listen to your favorite podcasters on the best speakers in the house.
Bachelor for every major smart Tv set platform (LG, Samsung, Android, Roku and Fire TV), Pandora provides personalized music streaming, with both free and ad-gratis premium business relationship options.
Spotify offers even more than control, letting y'all pick and choose from a massive 70 million song catalog of music, browsing by artists, albums, songs and playlists. You tin also heed to podcasts, as Spotify has grown to become a leading source of podcasts, every bit well. Spotify is available for LG, Samsung, Google TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TVs.
You tin even listen to audiobooks on your smart TV. Amazon Fire TVs have an exclusive app for the Amazon-owned Aural (which tops the list of the best audiobook apps), but other smart TVs can also play audiobooks by casting from your phone to the Television set through Chromecast, Airplay, and other sharing methods.
Make video calls
If you've got a USB webcam and a smart Goggle box, chances are good that you can video chat with people right on your TV, without having to fuss with a laptop. Smart TVs have started adding back up for some of the best video conversation apps, with simple calling and controls that let you skip the keyboard and mouse.
Google TVs from Sony and TCL offering built-in Google Duo support, while Amazon'southward new Fire Idiot box Omni models volition also have Zoom support. With unproblematic video-kickoff interfaces and controls adapted to TV remote controls and voice commands, these video calling services make it like shooting fish in a barrel to make it touch with family unit and friends right from your couch, and get a petty face-to-face up time in, even when nobody lives nearby.
Check the weather
With a vocalisation assistant similar Alexa or Google Banana, you can just ask what the weather is like and become a quick update that includes current temperature and conditions conditions.
But there's some other pick for smart TV users, who want to check the electric current weather condition and a short term forecast, but may not want to spend their fourth dimension watching the Weather condition Channel. Apps like AccuWeather (one of the best atmospheric condition apps) provide localized conditions information, consummate with a x-day forecast, in an attractive format that looks great on the larger screen. AccuWeather is available for LG, Samsung and Android/Google TVs.
Fitness classes
Your TV doesn't take to make yous a couch potato. Every smart TV platform has a selection of fitness related apps that offer streamed classes and fitness communication.
Only searching for "fitness" in your Tv's app shop will pull up enough of workout options, but the specifics volition vary considerably depending upon your brand of smart Telly. Some, like LG, have their own apps, like LG Fettle, while other popular apps will exist available on some TVs only non others.
A few popular favorites include Daily Burn (available on Roku and Amazon Burn TVs), Peloton (Google/Android TV, Roku, Amazon Burn down) and Beachbody On Demand (Roku and Burn Idiot box).
Samsung's virtually recent TVs accept this even further, with Samsung Health tying an array of fitness activities and apps to your Samsung smartphone, smartwatch, and other devices. There'southward even the pick to connect a webcam for AI-driven fitness classes that can critique your technique and automatically suspension if y'all have to go out the room. Samsung also has a number of exclusive fettle smart Television set apps included every bit role of Samsung Health.
Meditation
Your smart Television set tin can assist continue your mind fit as well, with a number of apps and streaming services offer guided meditation. Granted, meditation can exist enjoyed without any TVs or devices, but for those who need a piddling help – and the popularity of these apps advise that's a lot of folks – it's nice to have the choice to have your smart Tv calm things downward a flake.
Samsung TVs include the popular Calm app, and in that location are options to be constitute past searching for "meditation" in whatsoever smart TV app shop. Many of the best relaxation apps have TV apps, so be sure to cheque if your favorite can be found in your TV app store.
Just y'all might not demand a new app. Netflix, in collaboration with popular meditation app Headspace, has a trio of interactive titles focused on meditation, relaxation, and sleep, respectively. Each includes several short episodes that share science-backed data and walks you through exercises that are great for beginners and long-time users alike.
Cook up a meal
Your smart TV can help out in the kitchen, besides. While cooking shows take been a staple of TV programming for as long as TVs have been in people'due south homes, smart TVs offering a lot of useful features for any amateur chef.
Using a TV'due south built-in vocalization assistant, you tin can ask for nutritional information or fifty-fifty get recipe recommendations, consummate with step-by-footstep instructions. You can besides discover substitute ingredients, add ingredients to your grocery list, set reminders to use things earlier they expire, and fix timers so that y'all don't overcook anything. You tin fifty-fifty control smart kitchen appliances, letting you lot offset preheating the oven before you become off the burrow.
In that location are besides many food-related apps just waiting to observe a home on your TV. 1 of the most widely offered is iFood.idiot box (Available on LG, Samsung, Roku and Amazon Fire TV), which offers both cooking shows to sit back and watch and a itemize of more than 40,000 recipe videos to follow.
Other big names in cooking take dedicated TV apps, like Bon Appétit (Android, Roku and Fire TV), Food Network Kitchen (Android, Roku and Fire Television set) and Kitchen Stories (Android and Fire Tv.)
Get some work washed
With so many of us working from home, it's no stretch to look longingly at your smart Goggle box as a big screen alternative to the tiny display on a laptop. And there are several options for doing just that!
Samsung has a special "PC on TV" manner that wirelessly casts your PC to the TV, for use as a second monitor. All the same, Samsung's wireless display feature requires installing and setting up an app on your PC or Mac. Samsung even offers a version of Microsoft 365 that's optimized for working on the TV.
TVs with congenital in Chromecast, such as Sony and TCL Google Television set models, Hisense Android TV and Vizio SmartCast TVs, volition all let yous bandage wirelessly to your Television receiver using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
AirPlay back up is also available on many smart TVs, and with it, you can mirror your iPhone or Mac on the Boob tube screen.
But even without an app for casting or mirroring your laptop on the bigger screen, you lot always have the option of connecting to a TV over HDMI, and using your TV as a larger monitor for productive piece of work. Only proceed in mind that not all laptops have a full HDMI port these days – you may need to find an adapter. They're bachelor for mini- and micro-HDMI, USB-C, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort connections.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/features/11-things-you-didnt-know-your-smart-tv-could-do
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