Samsung Smart TV: network services, Internet surfing, media player and IPTV - in one TV!
Hello, dear inhabitants of Habrahabr! With this article we are opening a series of publications about Samsung Smart TV - a new concept for a home entertainment center, the role of which is played by one and only TV.
Let's start, as usual, with a small historical excursion. Even in the last century, there were attempts to make the device “all-in-one” in the form of a television (then still kinescopic) with a built-in video recorder and a radio receiver. Nowadays, the range of modern audio-visual pleasures has greatly expanded, and some of them are still associated with playing some kind of ready-made content from various media, as well as broadcasting, while others rely on the use of network resources — both global and home. connecting computers, NAS drives and portable gadgets. Despite the fact that both branches ultimately perform the same infotainment function, they differ significantly in terms of usage concept. Therefore, the Internet is used to consume the Internet and other network benefits using a computer, tablet or smartphone, and uses a TV with a player connected to it to watch broadcast programs and movies. Until recently, the interpenetration of the two branches was difficult: the computer could not get closer to the specialized players and TV for ease of use and picture / sound quality, and the latter coped poorly with playing media files and could not fully be used as an Internet terminal, despite loud statements marketers about the full versatility of the products created. In recent years, fortunately, there has been progress: TVs have become overgrown with quite "usable" technologies associated with the network. The role of Samsung in this process is difficult to overestimate, although it was not the only one who conducted such research and put them into practice.
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But by the beginning of 2011, it was the Samsung people who made the knight's move: they combined all the previous developments and new technologies in one very elegant device, which is inconvenient to call a TV - the definition of a media center is more appropriate. The concept is called Smart TV. If we describe it in general terms, we are dealing with an almost all-powerful entertainment device that can, in addition to the air, cope with the variety of medical content (from single files to streaming video broadcasts), act as a terminal for accessing arbitrary Internet sites and various services. , including Facebook and Twitter, and also used as a Skype phone. Plus, this is an enviable potential for working with a local network: wherever movies, music and photos are stored, even if in the memory of a smartphone or laptop, the Samsung Smart TV will find them, catalog them and be able to play them. Of course - if the user has opened access to these files. It is important that all the listed functions are not nominal, but absolutely full - they are quite convenient to use. And the matter is not so much in well-thought-out ergonomics, as in the highest degree of integration of subsystems. Samsung Smart TV is not just televisions retrofitted with individual modules, but solid devices offering a list of closely related capabilities.
The installation of these "combines" is not much different from that in the case of a conventional flat panel TV. A few additional minutes may be required only for registering the device in a home LAN. Moreover, the older models already have a built-in Wi-Fi module, so even the Ethernet cable to the router does not have to pull. Products from the standpoint of moral and technical aging are also quite safe: such modern technologies as 3D are already fully supported by “smarts”, and the list of available applications, widgets and services is initially designed for a variety of customers. Moreover, a set of software is not sewn into memory, but can be changed and updated. To do this, Samsung launched its brand online store, with which TV is always in touch. Already, over a thousand applications are presented there (most of them are free), of which more than 70 are addressed directly to Russian users. To manage the entire arsenal of Samsung Smart TV tools, a complete console is enough. True, a set of Internet addresses and text notes have to be produced as on a traditional phone, several times pressing the desired "numeric" key. It is quite possible to put up with this, since access to most services is organized through the corresponding icons on the screen, and therefore the address bar is not used very often. Nevertheless, Samsung helped the active Internet users with the corresponding free application for smartphones based on the Android OS - this is a virtual console with a full QWERTY-keyboard. And in the late autumn a separate physical console, sharpened by typing, should also be on sale. As for its price, however, there is no clarity. It is expected that it will not exceed $ 120-130.
Structure and capabilities of Smart TV
In the basic equipment, each Samsung TV Smart Series - and there are already a lot of them in the company's catalog - offers the following set of functions:
• Analog and digital (DVB-C) broadcasting;
• Show video from external sources (the TV has analog inputs and HDMI v1.4 ports), including in 3D;
• Convert any regular video into 3D-video;
• Screening of films and IPTV programs (network broadcasts);
• Play various media files - video (including MKV HD), music, photos - from a USB drive connected to the TV, or from a remote storage, via the network;
• Internet surfing (built-in browser);
• Almost instant access to various network services, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasa or Yota Play;
• Widgets;
• Support for Skype video calls (if you have an optional webcam);
• Download additional applications through the company's online store
Communication with Samsung Smart TV begins with an analogue of the computer "desktop" - the SmartHub screen, where the icons of installed applications and widgets (weather, exchange rates, and other information automatically updated in real time) are concentrated. There, in the form of a small window, you can display the TV channel of interest - in order, being carried away by the network arsenal, not to miss the desired program. However, it is allowed to do and vice versa: to watch the broadcast or video, and in a separate window to observe the face of the interlocutor during a communication session via Skype. The interface is thought out very intelligently, so anyone who has mastered a mobile phone will be able to use this whole system. By the way, associations with the smartphone come to mind when seeing Smart TV: a simple and, at the same time, functional interface, the ability to download new programs via the Internet ... However, Samsung Smart TV created a completely separate infrastructure, because applications should be displayed on 1920x1080 screen, and the specifics of smartphones and network TVs are somewhat different, as are the possibilities. Perhaps, it would not be an exaggeration if we say that it was with the advent of Samsung Smart TV that users had at their disposal a mega-functional and very convenient entertainment center of the 21st century, and not another compromise “gadget” to the TV, which is essentially the same. With all this, the design and image quality of the new Samsung models are just as good as their exceptional capabilities.
Let's start, as usual, with a small historical excursion. Even in the last century, there were attempts to make the device “all-in-one” in the form of a television (then still kinescopic) with a built-in video recorder and a radio receiver. Nowadays, the range of modern audio-visual pleasures has greatly expanded, and some of them are still associated with playing some kind of ready-made content from various media, as well as broadcasting, while others rely on the use of network resources — both global and home. connecting computers, NAS drives and portable gadgets. Despite the fact that both branches ultimately perform the same infotainment function, they differ significantly in terms of usage concept. Therefore, the Internet is used to consume the Internet and other network benefits using a computer, tablet or smartphone, and uses a TV with a player connected to it to watch broadcast programs and movies. Until recently, the interpenetration of the two branches was difficult: the computer could not get closer to the specialized players and TV for ease of use and picture / sound quality, and the latter coped poorly with playing media files and could not fully be used as an Internet terminal, despite loud statements marketers about the full versatility of the products created. In recent years, fortunately, there has been progress: TVs have become overgrown with quite "usable" technologies associated with the network. The role of Samsung in this process is difficult to overestimate, although it was not the only one who conducted such research and put them into practice.
')
But by the beginning of 2011, it was the Samsung people who made the knight's move: they combined all the previous developments and new technologies in one very elegant device, which is inconvenient to call a TV - the definition of a media center is more appropriate. The concept is called Smart TV. If we describe it in general terms, we are dealing with an almost all-powerful entertainment device that can, in addition to the air, cope with the variety of medical content (from single files to streaming video broadcasts), act as a terminal for accessing arbitrary Internet sites and various services. , including Facebook and Twitter, and also used as a Skype phone. Plus, this is an enviable potential for working with a local network: wherever movies, music and photos are stored, even if in the memory of a smartphone or laptop, the Samsung Smart TV will find them, catalog them and be able to play them. Of course - if the user has opened access to these files. It is important that all the listed functions are not nominal, but absolutely full - they are quite convenient to use. And the matter is not so much in well-thought-out ergonomics, as in the highest degree of integration of subsystems. Samsung Smart TV is not just televisions retrofitted with individual modules, but solid devices offering a list of closely related capabilities.
The installation of these "combines" is not much different from that in the case of a conventional flat panel TV. A few additional minutes may be required only for registering the device in a home LAN. Moreover, the older models already have a built-in Wi-Fi module, so even the Ethernet cable to the router does not have to pull. Products from the standpoint of moral and technical aging are also quite safe: such modern technologies as 3D are already fully supported by “smarts”, and the list of available applications, widgets and services is initially designed for a variety of customers. Moreover, a set of software is not sewn into memory, but can be changed and updated. To do this, Samsung launched its brand online store, with which TV is always in touch. Already, over a thousand applications are presented there (most of them are free), of which more than 70 are addressed directly to Russian users. To manage the entire arsenal of Samsung Smart TV tools, a complete console is enough. True, a set of Internet addresses and text notes have to be produced as on a traditional phone, several times pressing the desired "numeric" key. It is quite possible to put up with this, since access to most services is organized through the corresponding icons on the screen, and therefore the address bar is not used very often. Nevertheless, Samsung helped the active Internet users with the corresponding free application for smartphones based on the Android OS - this is a virtual console with a full QWERTY-keyboard. And in the late autumn a separate physical console, sharpened by typing, should also be on sale. As for its price, however, there is no clarity. It is expected that it will not exceed $ 120-130.
Structure and capabilities of Smart TV
In the basic equipment, each Samsung TV Smart Series - and there are already a lot of them in the company's catalog - offers the following set of functions:
• Analog and digital (DVB-C) broadcasting;
• Show video from external sources (the TV has analog inputs and HDMI v1.4 ports), including in 3D;
• Convert any regular video into 3D-video;
• Screening of films and IPTV programs (network broadcasts);
• Play various media files - video (including MKV HD), music, photos - from a USB drive connected to the TV, or from a remote storage, via the network;
• Internet surfing (built-in browser);
• Almost instant access to various network services, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasa or Yota Play;
• Widgets;
• Support for Skype video calls (if you have an optional webcam);
• Download additional applications through the company's online store
Communication with Samsung Smart TV begins with an analogue of the computer "desktop" - the SmartHub screen, where the icons of installed applications and widgets (weather, exchange rates, and other information automatically updated in real time) are concentrated. There, in the form of a small window, you can display the TV channel of interest - in order, being carried away by the network arsenal, not to miss the desired program. However, it is allowed to do and vice versa: to watch the broadcast or video, and in a separate window to observe the face of the interlocutor during a communication session via Skype. The interface is thought out very intelligently, so anyone who has mastered a mobile phone will be able to use this whole system. By the way, associations with the smartphone come to mind when seeing Smart TV: a simple and, at the same time, functional interface, the ability to download new programs via the Internet ... However, Samsung Smart TV created a completely separate infrastructure, because applications should be displayed on 1920x1080 screen, and the specifics of smartphones and network TVs are somewhat different, as are the possibilities. Perhaps, it would not be an exaggeration if we say that it was with the advent of Samsung Smart TV that users had at their disposal a mega-functional and very convenient entertainment center of the 21st century, and not another compromise “gadget” to the TV, which is essentially the same. With all this, the design and image quality of the new Samsung models are just as good as their exceptional capabilities.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/126821/
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