Is a Roku TV worth using the built in smart features over a dedicated roku box ?

[ng4ever 39]

Asking because my nephew uses his tv smart features instead of a dedicated box. I think it is a Roku or a TCL tv forgot.

 

 

[ng4ever 39]

For Emby of course. Sorry.

[speechles 1917]

I use a 4K TCL Roku TV (50S425) to develop on. Depending on RAM available is what will be the limiting factor of the Roku TV. A series 4 (512MB) will be a little slower than a series 6 (1.5GB). But the look of the UI, the navigation speed, and the quality of the video streams and elements on the screen UI will be identical. The Roku TV has all the TV functionality through the Roku remote. You won't need to juggle two remotes as often. You just need the one.

Edited July 9, 2021 by speechles

[ng4ever 39]

1 hour ago, speechles said:

I use a 4K TCL Roku TV (50S425) to develop on. Depending on RAM available is what will be the limiting factor of the Roku TV. A series 4 (512MB) will be a little slower than a series 6 (1.5GB). But the look of the UI, the navigation speed, and the quality of the video streams and elements on the screen UI will be identical. The Roku TV has all the TV functionality through the Roku remote. You won't need to juggle two remotes as often. You just need the one.

Cool that really helps!

I just found out my nephew has a 55" Insignia Roku TV ! Guess I am in the wrong forum It is ok though that info was still really helpful even if it is a different brand tv.

Edited July 9, 2021 by ng4ever

[speechles 1917]

4 minutes ago, ng4ever said:

Cool that really helps!

I just found out my nephew has a 55" Insignia Roku TV ! Guess I am in the wrong forum It is ok though that info was still really helpful even if it is a different brand tv.

Yes. A Roku TV is an Roku TV. TCL, Insignia, Onn, LG, Panasonic, etc all make models of Roku TV. The RAM is the only difference. The CPU on the TV is usually an MSTAR variant on TCL.

Edited July 9, 2021 by speechles

[ng4ever 39]

Just now, speechles said:

Yes. A Roku TV is an Roku TV. The RAM is the only difference. The CPU on the TV is usually an MSTAR variant on TCL.

I wonder how much ram it has? Tried looking to find out could never figure it out. Oh well. On my nephew's 55" Insignia Roku TV.

[Happy2Play 8270]

5 minutes ago, ng4ever said:

I wonder how much ram it has? Tried looking to find out could never figure it out. Oh well. On my nephew's 55" Insignia Roku TV.

You would have to know the Roku model in the TV.

Hardware specifications | Roku Developer

[ng4ever 39]

Thank you!

[ng4ever 39]

What the biggest advantage of a stand alone streaming box over using what is built into a smart tv ?

[speechles 1917]

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/7492de3

That might be the TV you are mention.

 

6 minutes ago, ng4ever said:

What the biggest advantage of a stand alone streaming box over using what is built into a smart tv ?

Biggest advantage of Roku TV. There are no HDMI issues. There is no HDMI cable from the Roku to the TV. The Roku is_in the TV. It just works. There is an E-ARC HDMI output. The Roku OS makes switching inputs like switch apps. It is so easy. There is one remote for both the TV and the Roku.

The downside is you cannot update the Roku inside it. It is like the TV/VCR combo units. When one goes dead the other goes with it. If you brick the Roku (near impossible) you lost your TV. I have never had a problem with either Roku TV I own nor any Roku device I have ever had has been bricked. So you are safe with the combination.

Biggest advantage of streaming box/stick. You can use it on any TV and take it to a friends house overnight. You can travel with it and use it at a hotel/motel. It is very hard to lug a Roku TV around and look like a normal person.

Edited July 9, 2021 by speechles

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

It is my belief that "smart" TVs are dumb. The small advantage of not having an extra box is more than offset by the disadvantage of literally placing all your eggs in one box. That is if the "smart" part fails then you have to replace the entire TV and if the TV fails then you have reinstall all your Roku apps and reconfigure all the logins etc.

But if you have a stand alone box and it fails you only need to replace the box which is a lot cheaper than the whole TV or if your TV fails then you get another TV plug in the box and everything is just as it was before.

It is a good deal safer to have a TV without "smarts" and a standalone box.

There is another good reason for stand alone boxes and that is the there are apps that many find valuable that that are available for one box but not another and it is necessary to have more than one box to enjoy all the apps that are wanted/needed, at least for me. One example is that I recently dropped all stand alone streaming TV services. I received a "deal" from Spectrum so I now have TV and mobile phone from Spectrum and I am saving about $30 a month. The drawback is that there is no app for Spectrum for the Roku or the Fire TV or the Shield TV so I added an Apple TV to my streaming box mix. I do not really like the Apple TV much so I use it only for Streaming Spectrum TV.

Having multiple boxes in use makes my TV viewing much more enjoyable and adding a service is easy.

Now having said all that: Should my TV fail I just need to get a new TV and I can plug all my boxes into the new TV and I can watch TV just as before the failure.

One more thing: It seems that it many/most cases "smart" TVs are less expensive than dumb ones so my next TV may be "smart." But there is nothing that says I mush use the built in "smarts."

So, the bottom line for me is that I do not recommend "smart" TVs but I recognize that they are often cheaper but I think that using and/or depending on the built in "smarts" is a mistake in the long run.