How to turn an old TV into a Smart TV

Can you combine television and the internet? Owners of Smart TVs would unanimously say you can. However, Smart TV owners aren’t the only ones who can get access to Smart TV functionality. How do you turn a normal TV into a smart TV? That’s the question we’ll be answering in this article.

The best way to make a ‘dumb’ TV smart is to connect an IPTV set-top box. Set-top boxes basically, turn your old TV into a PC, enabling you to watch on-demand videos, surf the internet, play games, listen to your favorite podcasts, etc.

How to use a set-top box

First, you need to hook it up to a display of some kind. You can connect it to a TV with an HDMI cable, for instance. All modern TVs and set-top boxes have an HDMI port, and the cable is usually included when you buy a set-top box. If your TV is too old to have an HDMI port, you can use the set-top box’s 3.5 mm composite output. With a set-top box connected, even an old CRT TV makes for as good a content viewing experience as any modern mid-range TV. Owners of more modern ‘regular’ TVs, on the other hand, would be better off buying an Android TV device though.

What can an Android TV set-top box do?

Let’s look at Android TV functionality using the example of Infomir’s MAG425A. After you connect the set-top box to your TV, you can watch all kinds of content from a variety of sources:

  • Web (IPTV/OTT services)
  • NAS
  • Removable media

Not only that but, you will be able to use voice control on your TV to adjust volume, find content, and browse the internet. All information on the screen, as well as actions taken,  can also be converted to speech with TalkBack.

What specs your Android TV device should have?

A good Android TV set-top box needs to have 4K and HDR capabilities, as well as Auto Frame Rate support. Six-channel audio is a must nowadays, too. MAG425A checks all the boxes here. MAG425A owners get access to around 5,000 games and applications with the Google Play Store and can cast audio and video from smartphones to the TV screen with built-in Chromecast.

Reliability

Can you connect a non-smart TV to the Internet? Of course, you can—all you need is a smart set-top box! The MAG425A is much more reliable in this respect than its competitors because it has two options for connecting to the internet: an Ethernet port and a Wi-Fi module. Another guarantee of the device’s quality stems from regular updates that are fully compliant with Google’s policies.

You could spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy Smart TV or you could save money by going for an Android TV set-top box. In the latter case, you get all the Smart TV functionality at a much more attractive price.

About 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.