{"id":375862,"date":"2026-04-12T12:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375862\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:06:12","slug":"4-smart-tv-upgrades-you-can-buy-for-less-than-150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375862\/","title":{"rendered":"4 smart TV upgrades you can buy for less than $150"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something tech journalists like myself are guilty of is focusing too much on the big-ticket items. There’s a certain amount of sense to it, since expensive products are the most exciting for readers, and a few of you may legitimately want help making an informed shoping decision. I know I do. I’ll spend days, weeks, or even months mulling over everything from a soundbar<\/a> to an iPhone<\/a> or PEV<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Frequently, though, cheaper purchases can have an outsized impact, including in the home theater space. What you’re really doing is filling small gaps in the experience, either reducing friction or adding elements you hadn’t previously thought of. I should say that this list isn’t meant to be comprehensive — it’s just meant to foster some ideas to begin with.<\/p>\n

Smart backlighting for your TV<\/p>\n

More impact than you might think<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

I’m a huge fan of smart home<\/a> tech, particularly smart lighting. I appreciate the automation aspect, but equally if not more important to me is the ability to radically change the mood of a space. Warm tones can cheer me up in the dead of winter; blues and purples are perfect right before going to bed. Blood red is great for Halloween. <\/p>\n

Most basic TV backlighting systems are based around two components: an RGB lightstrip you stick behind your TV, and a camera perched above or below. These work in tandem to create an “aura” that syncs with images in real-time, regardless of whether you’re watching a movie or playing a game. This might sound like a trivial upgrade, but the tech feels like it’s extending your screen to your entire living room, which does wonders to improve immersion.<\/p>\n

This might sound like a trivial upgrade, but the tech feels like it’s extending your screen to your entire living room.<\/p>\n

You’ll probably want to stick with one of those basic packages if you want to stay under $150. The gold standard for backlighting is Philips Hue, but the company’s 8K HDMI Sync Box is $350 before you’ve even bought any lights. As for affordable brands, I’d recommend sticking to Govee or Nanoleaf — most everything else you see is going to be a knockoff of those two.<\/p>\n

Don’t skimp too much on price. Advanced options may produce more accurate colors, integrate with more smart home platforms, and\/or respond faster to onscreen motion.<\/p>\n

A smart speaker or smart display<\/p>\n

Choose wisely though<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Smart TVs have come a long way. The first one I bought, way back in 2011, ran a handful of proprietary apps that were slow and ultimately abandoned. I was overjoyed when I got a Chromecast as a gift. Today, TVs run smooth, standardized platforms, and often, they have voice control functions built into their remotes and internal speakers.<\/p>\n

You might think that would make a separate speaker redundant, but not so. The problem with a TV’s integrated voice tech is that you either have to be in close proximity or grab your remote, and that’s not necessarily more convenient than sitting down and hitting buttons. With a speaker in the right place, you can open an app or turn things on and off while being nowhere near your TV or couch.<\/p>\n

The first trick is matching compatible platforms. This is simple if you’ve got a Google- or Amazon-based TV, but otherwise you’ll want to verify which voice command platforms your TV can link with. Some TVs will only support two or three options out of Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Google Gemini. Perhaps the worst offender is Samsung, which only supports Alexa when it comes to speakers, as of this writing.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve settled that issue, it’s time to decide between an audio-only speaker or a display (if your voice platform has displays). You’ll probably get more bang for your buck out of a pure speaker, but a display can show you the time, weather forecasts, and more. You can even call up direct video, which may be handy if, say, you’re in the kitchen but want to keep watching YouTube while you make dinner.<\/p>\n

An HDMI switch<\/p>\n

Not to be confused with a splitter<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

One of my longest-running gripes with TV makers has been their stinginess with ports. I’m not just talking about quantity, although that can certainly be a factor with cheaper models. My bigger problem is HDMI compatibility — too often, only one or two ports will get the best HDMI version, while the rest are stuck at something older. That’s a serious issue when features like VRR<\/a>, eARC<\/a>, and dynamic HDR<\/a> are dependent on using HDMI 2.1 or later, and some of us have multiple devices that can exploit them. <\/p>\n

A switch gets around this by turning one HDMI input into two or more. It’s best to buy a switch with its own remote, however. While some switches can automatically select a device based on what’s active, that may not help you if multiple devices are running simultaneously, and no one wants to get off the couch every time they want to toggle what’s onscreen.<\/p>\n

Most important here is buying a switch that matches or exceeds the specs of what you’re connecting it to. If you use a 2.0 switch with a 2.1 port, you’ll be limited to 2.0 features, actually kneecapping what your TV and devices are capable of. This goes for cables<\/a> as well — not all of them are created equal. In fact if you still have any 2.0 cables laying around, it’s time to think about replacing them when you can to prevent future conflicts. <\/p>\n

One smaller point is that you should avoid confusing switches with splitters. Splitters take content from a single device and push it to multiple screens, instead of the other way around.<\/p>\n

An Ethernet cable<\/p>\n

Goodbye to network woes<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Most people tend to stick with Wi-Fi when they’re setting up a TV or media streamer, and that’s a perfectly valid approach in most circumstances. Wi-Fi 6 and 7<\/a> are fast enough for 4K video, and going wireless will, naturally, allow you to keep one more cable out of your viewing space. <\/p>\n

What people forget is that Wi-Fi can occasionally be fickle. It’s vulnerable not just to network congestion, but to interference, whether from solid obstacles, or signals on the same band. Its maximum speed is always in flux. If interference is strong enough, a connection will drop out completely.<\/p>\n

You’ll want at least Cat 5e, which supports speeds up to 1Gbps.<\/p>\n

An Ethernet cable makes your TV’s connection all but bulletproof, eliminating interference and guaranteeing consistent speeds (within your home, anyway). Be sure to pick the right cable type, though. You’ll want at least Cat 5e, which supports speeds up to 1Gbps. Cat 6 is better, since it leaves headroom for connections up to 10Gbps. That’s going to matter once both TV makers and ISPs start supporting multigig bandwidth on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

The major obstacle with Ethernet is cable management. Not everyone has a router\/modem within easy range of their TV, so you may have to secure cables along your walls, or even inside them if you’re committed enough. If everything is within the same room, you’ll still want to prevent any tripping, or entanglement with other wires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something tech journalists like myself are guilty of is focusing too much on the big-ticket items. There’s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-375862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}