01-10-2013 04:58 PM - edited 01-10-2013 05:45 PM
"Network- enabled" TVs fall into two very broad categories:
Basic internet-enabled TVs are limited to displaying video content from online video streaming services. To provide a familiar user interface, these TVs provide an "app" to access each of several online video streaming services, and each "app" is designed to access a specific video streaming service. Most of these TVs also allow media streaming from content stored on a computer on your home network.
On the other hand, the most advanced "smart TVs" are similar in function to "smart phones" and some tablets. These TVs go beyond providing access to web-based media, or streaming from content stored on your home computer. Smart TVs have the built in computing power that allows you to do many of the same things you can do with a smart phone or tablet such as web browsing, use of web-based services like Skype, and interactive access to social media sites. While access to these functions may also be provided with the familiar "app" style of user interface, the "apps" on a smart TV can be - just as they are on smartphones and tablets - fairly sophisticated software applications by themselves.