Smart TV question

TheMaartian
My setup is as follows:
 
Cable Modem/Router (4-port wired and wireless (disabled))
              |
Cat 5e/6 cable to second floor
              |
Router (4 port wired and wireless (older, but better than the Motorola box downstairs))
 
Downstairs, I have a 60" Samsung LED SmartTV, a TiVo STB and a Denon AVR or Oppo Digital Blu-ray player hard-wired to the router. The 4th port connects to the upstairs router. Upstairs, I have a 51" Samsung 3D Plasma SmartTV, my computer and printer hard-wired to the router. The 4th port connects to the downstairs router.
 
If I need direct access to the downstairs router, I disconnect the Oppo and connect a laptop to the port.
 
This setup works great. I have a 100 MB down/10 MB up internet connection now, but this worked fine when it was 40/8.
 
One note of caution: if you have a home theater system where you have an AVR driving 'x' number of speakers AND you're trying to use the Netflix app in your SmartTV, getting the audio back channel to work can be a real b**ch. There's some complicated routing that has to happen.
 
Cable/Satellite modem -> Cable/Satellite STB (set top box) -> AVR -> SmartTV -> audio back channel to AVR
 
I've spent good money on programmable remotes, but I'm back to using 4 of them (TiVo, TV, AVR, Oppo) regularly and 1 for my CD changer occasionally. I've only lost one to my Italian Greyhuahua. He decided the first one didn't taste so hot!
 
Note that some AVRs have the same or other apps as SmartTVs. Both could have Netflix; one could have Amazon Prime; one could have Hulu. Gets complicated. The only suggestion is to use the one in the AVR if it exists in both devices. Simpler routing.

ston
My 2p: buy the dumbest TV you can find (these days, this probably means a TV with an in-built freeview decoder, UK certainly).  There is no guarantee that the TV's smarts will keep up to date with interface/protocol/DRM/yadda changes, which means that it will most likely lose its smarts before long (I would say this is most certainly the case).  Better to attach a cheap laptop/phone/TV stick/'chromebook'-style 'puter via HDMI and let the computer device provide the smarts for streaming video from the internet (whether from youtube, BBC iPlayer, ITV player etc. etc.)
 
Also, for the money, you'll get a much better TV than if you bought a 'smart' one.  I went for a 'best picture, screw the sound as I'm using a hifi 42" dumb-as-possible' TV and it cost me £169.  Bargain.  The picture is really good and it's a perfect size for my room.   I'd guess smart TV's do have an ethernet port, as otherwise there'd be no other means to connect to the services which they wont be able to communicate with before too long ;-)
 
In slightly related news, the BBC have finally seen the light and have implemented an HTML5 interface - yay!  I can watch iPlayer programs again (Adobe Flash AKA let me drive a fleet of vulnerability trucks right through your house has been removed from every device I have).  C'mon ITV Player, get with the program.  In fact, everybody get with it and with any luck Flash will be relegated to the digital dustbin forever.

craigb
James has time for TV?  
 
(I thought he was supposed to be recording tracks whenever he wasn't out in someone's yard...)

jamesg1213
This is a yard;
 

jamesg1213

Wood67

jamesg1213
This is a yard;
 

For a second I thought that was a screen grab of the shop forecourt in Farming Simulator 2015...  I found myself planning how to budget for that JCB telehandler!

 
Spookily, I Googled 'builders yard' and this was the image that came up first - it's about 10 miles away from me, and I buy stuff there on a regular basis. Windows 10 - it can see into your soul...