Setting-Up a Smart Television

[vinuela vinny]

I am an educated amateur when it comes to television technology and in particular around IPTV boxes and wondered if one of you experts out there might be able to offer me some guidance or point me in the right direction please?

We have a house in the campo in Sevilla province, and our internet is provided by a WiMAX transmitter, with a maximum speed of 20mbps
We currently have what I term as a ‘dumb’ (not ‘smart’) fifteen-year-old 32” elderly television, with two IPTV boxes both connected to the internet by separate ethernet cables via a splitter from the TP-Link, and then both connected to the television by separate HDMI cables. All works well, but these days the picture quality leaves much to be desired, and we want to be able to use a Chromecast device for casting. We are thinking of purchasing a 55” TCL ‘smart’ television but are worried about the change-over and the possible required changes to any current settings. If we buy from our local shop they may help us with the set-up, but that may be more difficult if we buy from say the distant MediaMarkt or El Corte Inglis where televisions seem cheaper. Assuming no help is forthcoming, we have a couple of questions –

1) Having viewed several videos on YouTube, presumably when I first turn on the new ‘smart’ television, and if I change the language to English, the system will lead me through the set-up? Is the process straightforward? Are there any pitfalls?
2) Should I set-up the television location as Spain rather than the UK?
3) If the new ‘smart’ television is connected directly to the internet by an ethernet cable from the existing TP-Link power point or even by the wifi, will I still need to connect the IPTV boxes to the internet, or not?
4) Our main IPTV is provided by Infomir (we pay an annual subscription to a guy on the coast), and presumably it will be just a matter of un-plugging the HDMI cable from the old television and plugging-in the same cable to the new television?

Apologies for going-on at length, and thanks in advance for any advice

Vincent

[Wicksey]

With our LG Smart TV we set it up in English and also with a UK address. In doing this, the terrestrial UK TV channel apps automatically loaded (BBC iPlayer, ITVx etc). My TV is connected by ethernet cable to the TV which we were told is better than connecting by wifi.

The difference in our systems after that is that we have put DNS settings into the router (smartdnsproxy.com costing about 20$ a year) which hides us being in Spain and allows us to watch all the UK TV apps via the Smart TV. The DNS is quicker than using a VPN and does not slow down your internet at all. You have plenty of mps, we get about 10 on average and our TV works well. I'm sure that others on here will also give you advice. It depends on what channels you receive via your IPTV system as to whether you wish to continue with that. I bought the Smart TV in order to watch UK TV on catchup and sometimes live, and do not need any other additional channels and therefore for me, it is a cheap and easy option as I only pay for the DNS.

[El Cid]

Setting up a new TV is very easy these days. Just follow the instructions that appear on the screen when you turn it on for the first time. You will need to change the language to English. If you want all the UK TV apps like BBC iPlayer etc, it gets more difficult. You would need, as Wicksey said, a DNS service to do this. Most Smart TVs bought in Spain default to Spain as the location and may not give you any UK app options without some clever fiddling around. It just depends on the make. LG I am told is easy. Samsung needs a bit of fiddling, others, I don’t know. If you want to go down that route Google “change app country on XYZ TV”. However, if you are happy with what you have at the moment, then just plug in the IPTV boxes to an HDMI port (there should be at least 3). The TV will probably connect wirelessly, but the IPTV boxes are still going to need to be connected to the TP link as I assume they are not WiFi. I assume the new TV will be 4K/UHD and you won’t really get the full benefit of that unless you use suitable (usually subscription) apps like Prime Video, Netflix etc. who offer 4K content, which should be on the TV already. However, your 20mb connection may struggle with that. You also need to check what definition your IPTV streams are. They may well not be in HD. HD streams vs HD tend to be more expensive. If you buy the Chromecast, make sure it’s the 4K version. You should be able to cast the UK catchup channels from the Chromecast, but again you will need to use a DNS service. Remember that all the UK catchup channels now stream the live feed as well as the catchup programs.

Sid

[Wicksey]

You should be able to cast the UK catchup channels from the Chromecast, but again you will need to use a DNS service. Remember that all the UK catchup channels now stream the live feed as well as the catchup programs.

Sid

May as well use the Smart functions on the TV if you are going down that route and need to use a DNS. If only using IPTV boxes for watching TV, it seems a bit of a waste not using all the benefits of a Smart TV

As Sid said, the TVs are pretty easy to set up and you just follow onscreen instructions. I've only had experience with LG which automatically installed the UK TV apps once I'd set the address to a UK one. Sounds like other makes may be trickier. I did also have to set the time to UK time otherwise they wouldn't work. Otherwise very easy to use. We watch live TV and catchup and with 10mps never get buffering.

[Lyric]

I am about to install external cameras. I am just struggling for the best placement. The locations pick themselves, the pool area and the rear terrace are obvious as both are difficult to observe. Then there is the front gate and the rear approach via the parking. Question really is do I mount them for a full face straight on view or do I mount for an angle to get a sort of half profile view. I am leaning to the angle view.

[El Cid]

We have 4 cameras and they are set up to give the widest field of view. Just make sure they only cover the area inside your boundary otherwise they could be illegal.

Sid

[costakid]

Hikvision are excellent. \mibe have X8 zoom and night time is the same as daytime with infrared

[Enrique]

Hi,

Change of Topic heading............. Bug or expected behaviour.......

I use TP-Link Tapo C200 Cameras with recording and some Raspberry pi systems streaming live.

[vinuela vinny]

Hi All

Weird change of heading for the topic?

Anyway, back to the original heading

Thanks to those who kindly offered their advice - Wicksey and El Cid. We really are very grateful

Thought that fellow lurkers and the experts might like to know our progress. Yesterday we bought a TCL 50C655 television monitor from MediaMarkt in Alacala, Sevilla, and very carefully transported it home. Setting-up was easier and more straightforward than we had feared, but we struggled to connect to the internet at first, due we think to using a 'non-powered' ethernet splitter, which we replaced with a 'powered' version, and it miraculously connected. The IPTV and Zapi boxes worked perfectly, and so I had a relaxed afternoon watching the snooker and evening watching the football. Google suggested downloading the apps already on our other android devices, and we did, including TeeVeeing (the old TV Mucho) which gives us another option for basic channels should the IPTV system have a wobbly, so everyone is happy. A few more bits to do today, including the Wii, but that shouldn't be a problem......

The final decision for us was based around picture quality, the price - we paid €479, the TCL and MediaMarkt guarantees, the ability to directly download apps, the number of inward connections - three hdmis and two usbs, the screensize for the dimesions of our room, the reviews of TCL, and the ability to link to our Google account, which we use at home in the UK

We are hoping that our research was not flawed - fingers crossed

Hope that this is helpful

Vincent

[El Cid]

Glad to hear it all worked out OK. Choosing the right TV can be a nightmare! There are now so many different screen technologies to choose from and the price range for a given screen size can vary by almost 10:1. The TCL you have is QLED screen is a good middle of the road option at a sensible price with a good, bright picture.

Enjoy your viewing.

Sid

[markwilding]

it's good to get feedback on member's experiences with UK TV, especially with the evolution that has taken place over the last few years. I remember giving instructions on how get around the GEO blocking of the IPlayer. Compared to how it can be done now, it was a nightmare.

There are a few members who enjoy messing around with ways to get around the restrictions and as a result will try out gadgets and not really worry if they work well or not because It's fun to play around with them. I have gone through so many and have a box full of cables and players, which are now redundant.

The one that has proven to be a good option is the FireStick due to its flexibility and what it can do, I think I have every version they have brought out.
Recently, I have been looking at IPTV players and have come to realise that it's not necessary to have extra boxes to receive IPTV. I have taken out a subscription with one of the many companies out there to see what works and it has been relatively easy to set up on both the Fire stick and the TV.

The main problem i have with the Smart TV is that over time the apps are not supported and some stop working, which is the case i have on mine with ITV. Another issue was that IPlayer UHD is not supported on my 5 year old Samsung smart TV, which is rather annoying. However, the Firestick gets around this problem due to regular new versions and if i wait for the regular deals, don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

it should be pointed out though, that although the IPTV app players are not illegal, many of the services are and it is risky to pay for a plan for 1 year even though 1 year plans tend to be heavily discounted. We have heard that member's have suddenly seen their service cut off due it it being shut down by the authorities.

Having said that, there are some legal ones. Pluto TV is one which has loads of channels and an EPG. The problem for me is that I find this kind of TV viewing clunky and inflexible. I much prefer being able to watch programmes as and when I'm able using catch up but I know some members still prefer to watch live TV so it might be a good free alternative to the traditional channels from the BBC and ITV etc.

[Wicksey]

The main problem i have with the Smart TV is that over time the apps are not supported and some stop working, which is the case i have on mine with ITV. Another issue was that IPlayer UHD is not supported on my 5 year old Samsung smart TV, which is rather annoying. However, the Firestick gets around this problem due to regular new versions and if i wait for the regular deals, don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

CH5 stopped working properly on my LG TV a while back which is why I bought the Firestick which is quicker to use than the TV apps. It seems that the Smart TVs are soon outdated unfortunately and I'm not prepared to keep buying new ones. I was looking up Freely TV which is supposed to be going live sometime this summer and sounds an ideal way to watch TV via the TV for free. However, the article I read said that it may not be available to download on existing Smart TVs nor the Firestick, which for me is pretty useless. Do people watch a lot of TV on their phones and iPads I wonder? Personally, I like a large screen to watch, not straining my eyes watching stuff on a small screen. I guess I could cast it to my TV but what a palava.

Glad to hear you've managed OK with your new TV Viñuela Vinny.