Smart TV makers want you to use their interfaces and apps. They wouldn't have loaded the screens with all of this software if they didn't want people to use it. That doesn't mean the experience you'll get through LG's webOS or Samsung's Tizen OS are particularly good, but it does mean they're the default.
The alternative is the small number of devices with streaming apps you can plug into an HDMI port. Set-top boxes like the Apple TV 4K, Google TV Streamer, or the variety of consoles that can run Netflix like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. As accessories for your TV, these streaming boxes are limited in their ability to actually control your screen, which means you'll often have to juggle remotes and controllers to adjust the volume, brightness, or change inputs. Universal remotes attempt to solve this by being able to control everything, but what if there was a simpler answer? As it turns out, even my Apple TV 4K's simple Siri Remote, can, with the right tweaks, make the most annoying parts of my Samsung smart TV a bit more bearable — you just need to know what to change.
HDMI-CEC can't fix every problem
My Samsung 55-inch Q80T TV has served me well as my main source of entertainment for at least six years. But even with a totally serviceable 4K QLED screen and four HDMI ports, it's revealed its fair share of shortcomings, and almost all of them have to do with its…