Cable and cablelike services

High-end services such as Comcast Xfinity, DirecTV, Dish Network, and Verizon FiOS TV are still the gold standard for premium TV and live TV. They typically connect to your TV via a specially designed set-top box from your cable, satellite, or telephone company. You can use them to access whatever video-on-demand libraries your network offers; the boxes also have built-in digital video recorder features to help you make sure you don’t miss anything.

But the boxes don’t yet have the smart TV chops of the setups described previously, and only a few providers are actively trying to develop the Internet-content aspect of their offerings.

AT&T has no Web vid­eo in its “triple-play” (Internet, telephone, and TV) U-verse service, and very little non-video Web content—just a couple of “interactive” Web apps (weather, sports) and photo sharing via Flickr.

Verizon is a little better. Its FiOS TV “widgets” are a simple way to get Facebook, YouTube, local traffic, and weather on your TV. The Verizon Media Manager app lets you watch FiOS videos on a computer and view locally stored media on the TV.

Dish Network may be the most progressive of all. Three of the company’s DVRs are compatible with Google TV’s search features through the Logitech Revue set-top box, which Dish Network resells to its subscribers at a reduced rate.

Cost: Services are pricey—and can vary from $50 a month to $150 a month, depending on your plan and whether you’re still getting a new-subscriber promotional rate. With the exception of Dish Network’s Google TV offering, the limited Web content the various services offer won’t cost you extra.

Advantages: Cable services are the go-to source for premium and live TV. You may not need (or even want) all 250 channels you’re paying for, but they’re likely to look very good, especially the high-definition and, increasingly, the 3D channels. And you don’t have to deal with troubleshooting equipment or updating buggy software—everything (usually) works, and technicians are available to help with serious problems.

Disadvantages: Don’t expect any deeply integrated Internet features in your cable TV service anytime soon—no Web browser or fancy remote with a keyboard for quickly searching for Web content. Also, services can get fairly expensive: $70 per month might not seem so bad at first, but that’s $840 each year (not counting taxes or installation fees)—enough to buy a budget 42-inch TV, a Roku, and a Netflix subscription.

Advanced tips: While the cablelike services don’t offer much Web content, most are focusing on the “TV everywhere” concept. That is, they’re moving to make their material viewable on a finite number of stationary and mobile screens. All of the major TV providers offer Android and iOS mobile apps that let you browse TV listings and schedule DVR recordings, and some have apps that let you stream video (generally both live TV and DVR recordings) to your tablet or smartphone.

If you get landline phone service from your TV provider, you might also have a few neat features that connect the two, such as voicemail management or caller ID through your TV.

Future-proof? The great advantage of the triple-play services is that the TV programming usually rides into the home on the same pipe as the Internet service (and the phone service). This setup creates a huge potential for integrating Internet features (such as apps, chat, music, and video) into the curated cable content. At present, however, TV providers haven’t gone a long way toward realizing that potential.

Your smart TV program guide

If you’re new to the world of Internet TV, all this talk of “VOD” and “Hulu” and “Vudu” might sound like a whole bunch of, well, voodoo. Here’s a quick guide to the major streaming services you should look for in your next set-top box or connected TV—or should have bookmarked in your Web browser.

Hulu Plus: Since its launch in 2008, Hulu has made waves by offering a (legal!) way to get episodes of current television series free on the Web. To access Hulu from a set-top box or connected TV, you’ll need a subscription to Hulu’s premium service, Hulu Plus ($8 per month, one-week free trial). Your Hulu Plus subscription also gets you access to a catalog of movies (including a Criterion Collection set) and over 29,000 episodes of older TV archives, though you’ll still have to watch the occasional ad.

Netflix: It’s not just a DVD rent-by-mail service. In fact, its Instant Watch streaming service (which provides both television and movies online) is now the primary source of Internet traffic in North America, and if you’re tired of DVDs, you can opt for the streaming-only subscription plan for $8 a month. But only a portion of its catalog is available on Instant Watch.

Online video rental: Besides subscription services like Hulu Plus and Netflix, you’ll want access to at least one video-rental service—Amazon Instant Video, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, the iTunes Store, Vudu, and so on. Each service has a slightly different selection, but the basic idea is the same: Rent a movie by download for up to $4 for a new release, or purchase a desired download for around $15.

VOD: Video on demand—services that lets you play the video or program you want when you want.

YouTube: The Web’s largest video-sharing site, YouTube is widely available on most set-top boxes and connected TVs for free. But YouTube navigation and search can be particularly laborious unless your remote is Internet-ready (keyboard, motion features, touchpad, and so forth). Also, some older YouTube client apps have problems playing high-definition videos, and in that case you might end up with a horribly pixelated, low-res video on your HDTV if you’re not careful.

Sports: You may be able to stream the game you missed via an on-demand streaming app that keeps box scores, highlights, and sometimes the entire game. Pick your favorite mobile device, install the app, and you can catch sports whenever and wherever you want. (Note that blackout rules apply so you may not be able to watch your local team.)

Other media apps: Plenty of the streaming media ser­vices you likely already use on your computer have apps available for your connected TV or set-top box—Napster, Pandora, and Slacker Radio for music, Flickr and Picasa for photos, and social media apps such as Facebook.

A glossary of smart TV terms

If you wonder what HDCP or a dozen other terms mean, here’s a quick guide.

BitTorrent: A popular file-sharing protocol that people often use to distribute copyrighted video. The BitTorrent protocol itself isn’t illegal, but using it to download TV shows and movies that were released under the usual copyright protections generally is.

Component video: A common set of analog ports (red, green, and blue) for high-def video. Technically, a component-video connection can deliver video up to 1080p resolution (“Full HD”).

Composite video: The ubiquitous red-white-yellow ports are for composite video. However, because composite video (an analog format) cannot deliver high-def video, avoid using composite-video ports whenever possible.

DisplayPort: A newer display connector employed primarily for connecting laptop and desktop computers to computer displays. But with the right adapter—Mini DisplayPort to HDMI, for example—you can also use it to connect a computer to an HDTV.

DLNA: Digital Living Network Alliance. DLNA is a standard that enables your HDTV, computer, and other gadgets to talk to one another and share media over a network. For example, an Xbox 360 hooked up to your HDTV can stream video located on your desktop computer in your home office.

DVI: The current standard for most desktop displays. Some TVs have a DVI port, which can be useful. The DVI video signal is identical to the HDMI signal, so if your computer supports only DVI video-out, a cheap adapter can connect your computer’s DVI port to your HDTV’s HDMI port.

HDCP: High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection—a form of digital video copy-protection technology developed by Intel. If you use DVI, HDMI, or another digital video format to deliver video on your TV, you can play back HDCP-encrypted video at full resolution without a problem. If you use an analog signal (VGA, composite, component), you may have to watch your video at a lower resolution.

HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface is currently the preferred standard for connecting devices to a TV—Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, game consoles, digital cameras and camcorders, and more. An HDMI cable carries both audio and video from a device to a TV, so it takes up less space.

Media center: Any application that makes it easier to navigate the music, photos, podcasts, and videos in your local media library. Most media-center apps are designed to make home theater computers more user-friendly so that you can navigate your various media using a remote control rather than a keyboard and mouse. The apps can also run on other devices, including set-top boxes and game consoles.

MHL: Mobile High-Definition Link—a new connection standard that allows smartphones to connect to HDTVs. If widely adopted, MHL can let your smartphone charge while it is connected to your HDTV—and you can watch videos streaming or downloading from the phone.

Video on demand: Video services that let you choose what you want to watch from a video library; you pay a small fee for downloads or streams.