I think I want a “smart” TV (but not something a lot smarter than me). Flat screen (which is probably a given now). 32" or bigger. Don’t they all allow you to stream movies from Amazon Prime or Netflix or Hulu or HBO Now? What does Apple TV give me? How do I make sure I can get good sound (or add on speakers for good sound)? Just searched on Best Buy and found this but then tons of negative reviews: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-32-class-led-n5300-series-1080p-smart-hdtv/6202106.p?skuId=6202106&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=1028&ds_rl=1260573&ds_rl=1266837&ref=212&loc=1&ds_rl=1266837&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6qfHptmY3wIVB0GGCh3HdgdEEAYYASABEgK85fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
To answer your question, it got so complicated when people were not satisfied with cable and wanted a television to be a computer monitor.
Thanks TomSrofBoston – asked and answered 
@Classof2015 The apps in the smart TVs may satisfy your needs, but they are generally not updated as much or as long as dedicated streaming devices such as an Apple TV, a Roku, etc. I think the navigation on those devices is easier than the smart TVs too. YouTube is another popular one that your TV may have, but the streaming devices will definitely have available. Channel apps, Movies Anywhere, Vudu, ESPN are all ones you can use. Streaming services that replace cable like YouTube TV, Sling, Directv Now, Hulu Live, and Playstation Vue are more likely to be on a streaming device, although a lot of TVs will probably have Sling at least.
As TVs have gotten thinner, there is less room for speakers, so you may like the sound better from a soundbar. They hook up easily to a TV and can provide more understandable dialogue and better overall sound.
You’ll also want to look for a TV with at least 2 HDMI ports, preferably 1 or 2 more.
It’s as complicated as you want to make it. My husband micromanages TV purchases, so much so that it takes years to make a purchase decision.
I just walk into wherever I feel like buying a TV…usually where there is a sale. And I point to a TV…and say “I want that one.”
So far, whatever I’ve chosen has met HIS tv viewing needs…and we do not have cable. So we use a Roku stick, stream from computer, Netflix, Amazon, etc.
Just about all the TVs at the big box stores do all those things.
We don’t have Apple TV.
I bought one about a year ago. It was mind boggling.
Smart tv’s have apps for Netflix, Hulu, etc, built-in. You could also just add an Amazon Fire tv stick for $25 which would probably have a better and faster interface anyway.
For external audio, typically people add a “soundbar” which is essentially a speaker with its own built-in electronics and amplifier so you can just plug it directly into your cable tv box or your tv’s audio out. Just search “soundbar reviews” on google and you’ll see a bazillion in all sorts of price ranges. If you’re looking at a 32” tv, I’m guessing it’s a very small room so you probably won’t need a soundbar unless you’re normally concerned about audio fidelity.
The part that needs research is to figure out in advance how you’re going to connect the soundbar and make sure the inputs/outputs are compatible. For example, if connecting to the tv make sure the tv’s audio-out matches the soundbar’s audio-in. Most typically you’ll see optical for the digital signal and/or rca for the analog. There’s other considerations like dolby processing and such, but probably best not to worry about that given you’re already overwhelmed.
Yes, it’s complicated. We wanted state of the art so bought top of the line (but only a 50” because we didn’t want anything bigger.) I love having all the apps right on the TV so no need for Apple TV. I can also add any streaming app besides the ones that come on the set. I can also cast streams from my IPad to my TV.
We already had a sound system with speakers in the walls so no need for a sound bar.
We bought a Sony (from Best Buy’s Magnolia division) as had terrible luck with our Samsung Plasm so swore I’d never buy one again.
With installation and another special cable it cost us about $1400.
You can go cheap but I wouldn’t advise it. JMO.
I also love that any problem I have I just call SONY and they can remotely fix it (like apple can do on my IPad, for example.)
We are fortunate ennogh to live in the Chicago area and have ABT a local amazing electronics/appliances megastor tThey give excellent advice, have good prices and a store so large it has its own home movie theater and display hundreds of Tvs at all price points. We have bought every tv and every appliance in our house there. And they explain everything.
Get a flat TV you like. Get a Roku stick. Forget about fancy built in apps. They are usually not good. We have a pricy LG, and the built in Sling app does not have a good buffering capacity, so the image constantly freezes. Ditto Amazon Prime. Roku stick added - we now watch Sling without any issues.
Actually, I think the complications started when the Ma Bell phone was no longer attached to the wall by a cord.
Hate our Roku TV. It constantly needs to be reset, takes forever to load, etc…
Our big smart Samsung has had some screen issues but the “smart” part of it works well.
I miss our old Sony. It lasted nearly 20 years ; )
We got a Samsung smart TV at one point because the similar model that we wanted (same TV but not smart) was out of stock. We were not happy at all with the “smart” part of the TV.
It shows our Netflix shows fine which is the main thing that we wanted. However, it takes a while to start up every time we turn on the TV which gets annoying after a while. It also doesn’t have as wide a selection as the Apple TV box that we have on our other TVs. We eventually just got another Apple TV box, and use the so-called “smart” TV only to watch whatever is on Apple TV.
One thing we like about the Apple TV is that our Apple laptops can sort of take it over. This means that anything that we can get on our laptops can be put on the TV. Sometimes this means a music concert. At one point it meant the Olympics. Several of us would look at different options for the Olympics, and whichever of us had found the most interesting event had our laptop display on the TV.
I agree with @youcee about getting at least 2 HDMI ports. One of our TVs uses one for the Apple TV and one for the DVD player. I also agree that a soundbar improves the sound. I find this most useful for shows with English / UK accents but also use it for concerts.
@maya54 , we LOVE ABT! Shopped there for 40 years for all electronics, appliances, et al before we moved away, at all three stores as they upgraded. They’ll match any advertised price from other stores. And since we’re such good customers, we get deals when we call to order. We bought our new smart tv 2-3 years ago and had it shipped. Last year I bought my iPad from them; started out on live chat and sent them the link to a very good deal from elsewhere. Then the rep called me to complete the matching deal. I miss their fresh baked cookies…
I do watch Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu through the tv. It’s a Samsung and some of their models dropped YouTube, but I can pull up my channel through their internet interface and watch my own stuff. It is a bit of a pain for that but the tv watching part is fine.
If only every store had ABTs customer service. We too have shopped there since their first small store. My mom bought a little tv. Six weeks later it stopped working. Even though she had taken the tv home herself ( not delivered) when she called to tell them about the issue they apologized and delivered a new tv to her the next day!,
I recently purchased a “smart TV” taking advantage of the Black Friday sale. After doing some research, I decided on 55" LG OLED C8 4K which is consider the Best TV in 2018 by many reviewers. The built in speaker is pretty good out of the TV, but since I already had my home theater surround sound system, I just had to purchase a separate optical cable to hook up the new TV to my old Yamaha receiver. Thought about upgrading to a new and smarter receiver with “ARC,” but since I plan on getting rid of the TV channel service and replace it with streaming services with full 4K viewing, I decided not to upgrade the receiver. For those who don’t want to build a home theater system, just getting a sound bar should enhance one’s enjoyment plenty enough. I thought about ordering the cable box for 4K viewing from Comcast, but decided that paying $10 monthly additional fee wasn’t worth it.
Upon customizing all the viewing and listening options to my preference, I’m really liking this TV. An interesting finding is that, using the TV’s “Screen Share” with my 13" Dell laptop, the laptop’s Internet content is whole lot better projected on the larger TV screen, particularly the color and the contrast. THAT was a pleasant surprise.
@TiggerDad I’m with you, nothing beats the OLED. ARC is nice when it works, but we had some issues trying to use it and went with a digital optical connection which is old school, but rock solid. Actually, it may have been CEC (where HDMI devices control one another) and ARC trying to play nice together. We simplified things a lot by getting rid of a receiver and the associated speakers/subwoofer and now just have a nice Sonos sound bar that cleans up our setup and sounds plenty good for us with TV, movies, and music.
My “I want that one” TV also has a soundbar…and that really does work well. The TV itself (an LG) also has decent speakers so we don’t use the soundbar all the time.
@thumper1 We have the LG TV set so that sound only goes to the sound bar, the internal speakers aren’t used. The sound bar just comes on automatically, we don’t have to turn it on or anything. Can yours work that way?
@youcee yes…it can automatically come on…the sound bar. But we don’t have it set up to do so.