Computer Shopper - UK (2020-07)

72 JULY2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE389

TOPSMARTTVAPPS BEYOND NETFLIX

FACEBOOK WATCH

Tr ying to home school? Thereare loads of

good resources on Facebook to watch,

and this app lets you watch the videos on

your big TV.Samsung SmartTVs, Apple TV,

Android TV and Amazon Fire TV products

aresupported.

YOUTUBE

Likewise, Yo uTube is full of educational,

cultural and fitness resources, aside fromall

the teenage vlogger channels, and it’s best

on abig-screen TV.YouTube is available on

most modern TVs, and you can cast from

your phone (see opposite).

DISNEY+

Star Wars,Marvel and Disney films all in

one place: brilliant for adults and kids alike.

This one’savailable for most smartTVs, bar

older models, and you can get it for Apple

TV and Amazon Fire TV devices.

CATCH-UP TV

Missed ashow or want to binge on aboxset?

Catch-up services on BBC iPlayer,ITV Hub,

All 4and My5 give you the best of free TV.

RENT FILMS

Want the latest blockbusters or premium

TV shows? Yo ucan buy and rent these

through your TVs. Apps vary by TV,but

good ones include Amazon Prime Video

and Google Play Movies &TV.

then generateone or moreframes between
them to smooth out the motion.
Theresult, particularly in films, is that
everything looksasthough it was shoton
acheap camcorder: that’swhy this mode is
also known as the soap operaeffect.This is
why we recommend disabling the setting.
To do this, you’ll need to findthe setting,
which is often hidden afew menus in.The
setting might be called motion smoothing,
although look for brand-specificnames:
TruMotion (LG), Intelligent Frame Creation
(Panasonic) or Motionflow (Sony).At the
minimum, turn the setting down to its lowest
setting, but our advice is to turn it off.

Position your TV properly
Placing your TV in the right place is crucial for
getting the best viewing experience.Theideal
situation is thatyou place your TV directly

opposite the area in which you sit in, much as

you’d view acinema screen.That’s fineif

you’ve got aperfectly rectangular room with

asingle setofseats, but for most of us, it’s

about fitting the TV in around other furniture.

Even so,thereare some handy rules to

help you.TVs arebest watched straight on, so

try to place your TV opposite your main sofa

or chairs. If it’s going in acorner,then angle

the TV so thatit’scomfortable to watch from

any of the seatsinyour home.

Height is important to get right, too.

Typically speaking, your eye line should

naturally fall about one-thirdofthe way down

the TV from the top.Going abit higher or

lower doesn’t matter,but avoid placing your

TV high up on achimney breast: you’ll have

to crane your neck to look up,and vertical

viewing angles aretypically poor,soyou’ll

ruin the picturequality,too.

Thereare rules about distance, too,based

on screen size, although these aremuch

harder to deal with, as you need to place

your TV and furniturebywalls, so you can’t

easily adjust this. Instead, follow our buying

advice (page 76) to get the correct-size TV

for your home.

ABOVE:Tu rn the coloursettings up too much (left) and you’ll get an image thatlooksreally strange,particularly when people areonscreen; dialdown the
settings (right) and you see amoremuted, realistic picture

Facebook Watch Disney+ BBCiPlayer

ABOVE:Don’t place your TV too high, otherwise

you’ll have to crane your neck to watch it

High colour Normalcolour