When they first surfaced in the market, Smart TVs were the in-thing that a large chunk of the tech savvy population worldwide craved for. It seemed the next step in the evolution of the television was finally here.
Many even went as far as speculating that the conventional, old generation televisions (dumb tv?) will soon turn into a distant memory. After all, who could resist the temptation of a television that comes blessed with integrated internet and Web 2.0 features, right?
Well, turns out, all those assessments were mere hype shrouded by a thick layer of impracticality – both in terms of cost and functionality. To put in the Darwinian context, the Smart TV was simply not fit enough to wipe the conventional television out of existence. Let’s examine why:
The concept of Smart TV was great – in theory
Let’s begin with the question: What makes a TV smart? Well, it’s simple! Take any standard HDTV and add a new feature to it that allows the user connect to the Internet without requiring a PC or laptop. Voila! That’s the ‘secret ingredient’ for a Smart TV.
From an utterly optimistic, theoretical point of view, the underlying concept behind the technology in the Smart TV was rather impressive. By buying one, you would have an integrated setup that could play the dual role of a conventional television and a connected device. That eventually meant that amongst many other benefits, you could also watch videos from Internet-powered sources such as YouTube and Netflix. This way, you wouldn’t require spending money for a separate box which in turn, could save you some considerable amount of money alongside the annoyance resulting from clutter of messy cables and additional devices.
But then,
What evil force makes these awesome advantages worthless in practice?
Contrary to all theoretical analysis, Smart TVs are simply not that great a device in practice. Those who have used one, knows well that the 
crappy software that power them have a lot to do with that impracticality.
Just to make it clear, the Smart TVs from reputed brands like Samsung, LG, Sony, etc. also suffer from that same problem. Not only are the software often inadequate to the extent of causing annoyance to the user, but the interfaces are also pretty baffling and confusing.
To make the most of the so-called ‘smart’ features, a user will have to spend an unusually long time pressing the buttons in the remote (in some cases, also the onscreen buttons on the tv).
Not convinced? Well, then here’s a report by the NPD that suggests how Internet Connected TVs Are Used To Watch TV, And That’s About All.
Also, despite boasting a bunch of new-generation features, the menus in most Smart TVs are usually not much ‘smarter’ than those in the “Dumb TVs”.
The key issue with all Smart TVs, however, is the fact that the software (including the operating system) that power them cannot be easily upgraded. This practically means that new video services rolled out recently may not even run in your Smart TV bought a year-and-a-half back.
Most of us would usually want to buy a Smart TV for a hefty price only if we are not going to have to replace it in at least the next 5-7 years. But in the absence of regular software updates from the manufacturers, your TV will soon turn more and more obsolete with every passing year – with the emergence of every new technology.
To put it more bluntly, your brand spanking new Smart TV that you planned to have so much fun with will continue on its path of becoming dumber and dumber with every passing month and year.
Have you ever used a Smart TV yourself before? Are you planning to get yourself one? Do share your experiences with us using the comment box below?
My Samsung does not become Dummer by the year because it has an evolution kit you can fix to it every year if you want (iit’s like fixing a mother board to the back of it ) so you are wrong