Psst...Your TV is Kind of Dumb: Make it Smart

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/research/LG-smart-TV/rc8322.aspx?CMP=NLC-email_weekly-ALL-110419' target='_blank'>http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/researc...ekly-ALL-110419</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"It doesn't take a genius to appreciate the benefits of the new LG Smart TV Upgrader. With one little black box you can turn your current TV into a Web browsing, movie streaming, media sharing machine. Enjoy surfing the Internet from the comfort of your couch, check your FacebookTM and TwitterTM feeds on your flat-screen display and watch videos stored on your computer's hard drive without leaving the living room. The LG Smart TV Upgrader is all you need to make your TV a Smart TV, with all the online features of the latest models. If that's not brilliant, we don't know what is."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1303351318.usr1.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I heard about the LG SmartTV Upgrader ST600 during CES, and it looks like it's here - Best Buy in Canada is selling it for $149.99 CAD. From the looks of the specs and what it can do, it's much more sophisticated than your typical media streaming device -&nbsp;it's sort of like a Boxee Box in some ways (and about $50 cheaper to boot). It supports a wide variety of video file formats (MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, DivXHD, MKV, TS TP, M4V, WMV) though I don't see ISO files on that list, which pretty much kills it for me. However, with a Web browser and a growing selection of applications, this could be just the ticket for making that TV of yours just a bit smarter.</p>

[ptyork]

Pretty great marketing idea, IMO. This appears to be little more than a streamer. Less capable than my $99 jailbroken Apple TV running XBMC and really less of an integrated experience than what the Google TV COULD be. BUT, calling it an "upgrade" to your TV is a pretty brilliant way to make it stand out from the crowd. There are lots of LG owners out there who will doubtless jump on this, thinking that it's got some special tie in to their older model TV. I know I looked closer at it to see (I have streamers attached to two LG TV's right now). I'd actually consider it if it integrated in with the existing remote and made the transition from live to internet TV completely seamless and wife-proof. Doesn't look like it does, but it is a "smart" move, regardless.

[Jason Dunn]

Pretty great marketing idea, IMO. This appears to be little more than a streamer. Less capable than my $99 jailbroken Apple TV running XBMC and really less of an integrated experience than what the Google TV COULD be.

I think though that the person who'd want to buy this wouldn't be the same kind of person who would Jailbreak an Apple TV or own a Google TV box or Boxee Box. I think there's a market for this if LG makes it easy to use - and it looks like they have. Though without an HDMI passthrough, people will have to toggle inputs to go from TV to this box, and for some people that means they'll probably buy it and never use it again...