It’s the final countdown to the holidays and you’re still scouring for gifts to finish your holiday shopping —but not to worry! We’ve all been there and managed to pull it together, and so will you. Thanks to online shopping and rush delivery, not to mention stores open a little longer in many cases, your options are never truly exhausted. If, however, it’s gift ideas you’re exhausted on, then you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re on a tight budget or ready to spend big, I have some great home media tech gift ideas, fit for any budget.
There is no question that SMART TV’s are still one of the most popular big budget items on a shopping list. With features like LED backlighting and 1080 pixels of Full HD resolution, curved screens for maximum viewing angles, ultra-narrow frames, and thinner side profiles, most of the new medium to high-end SMART TV’s make the perfect upgrade to any room.
To start with, a Smart TV is any TV that will have computer-like technology built-it giving you more than just regular cable TV channels. For instance, many SMART TV’s give the ability to browse Internet, allowing access a range of online services including video on demand services like Netflix, social networking like Facebook and Twitter and instant messaging like Skype . Some TVs will even feature a full web browser giving you the same viewing access to most websites as if you are on your computer.
For the most part. Because these TV’s can connect to the Internet and allow you to browse social networking or websites, you will want to treat it as if you are on a computer keeping in mind all the potential security vulnerabilities that could ensue. For instance, malware and virus’s are still a consideration along with all the security and identity potential pitfalls that come having a device send and receive data from the Internet. So to be safe, I’d avoid doing anything sensitive on a smart TV such as online banking or shopping with a credit card.
Probably the best feature of a Smart TV is the ability to access Video on Demand services. This could range from free services like YouTube or subscription based services like Netflix or Crackle that give access to an online library of movies and TV shows to stream whenever you want. Prices will vary depending on the size, features, and brand and so you can expect to pay anywhere from 200-2000 dollars. With that in mind, you might find the best deals on SMART TV’s just after Christmas, during the Boxing Day sales. To learn a little more about SMART TV’s before you rush out to buy one check out: http://tiny.cc/allaboutsmarttv to find out more.
If you like what you’ve heard so far but don’t want to dish out the cash out on a new SMART TV, don’t worry, there are a range of cheaper alternatives that give you access to most, if not all of the features of a fully fledged Smart TV. And so, if you just have a standard digital TV with HDMI inputs then these set top boxes or adapters such as the Apple TV, the ROKU, and the Google Chromecast is all you need to upgrade your old TV to a SMART TV.If you have already invested into the Apple ecosystem, the Apple TV (costing $109) is a wise choice to extend your existing TV abilities. Giving you the ability to stream content like Netflix, YouTube, NHL, MLB and UFC TV, the Apple TV will also let you stream your iTunes library both songs and rented or purchased movies from a computer in your house to your TV. So, gone are the days of having to rent and watch a movie from your PC. Another neat feature of this device is it’s ability to use a technology called ‘AirPlay’. Airplay allows you to wirelessly send you’re screen (either what is showing or playing on your iphone, iPad, or mac computer) to the Apple TV and therefore onto your TV.
With that in mind, the Google Chromecast, is a smaller and cheaper streaming media solution for android and Google users having similar features to the Apple TV, but is less than half the price coming in at 40. Finally the ROKU streaming media box comes with a nice remote that has a headphone jack giving you the option to plug in a set of headphones to the remote and watch TV without interrupting anyone else. To learn more about these set top streaming media devices, just head over to http://tiny.cc/streamingmedia to learn more.
