5 Smart TV Gadgets On Amazon That Will Change The Way You Watch This November

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A good smart TV can drastically improve your viewing experience when watching content. While OLED and Mini-LED panels can give your favorite movie or show an appealing look, more budget-friendly or cheap TVs may fall short in some aspects. That's where accessories and gadgets for your smart TV come into the picture. Of course, an external accessory cannot improve your TV's picture quality or make the panel brighter. However, it can add to the overall experience by providing a faster and smoother interface, eliminating glare, or even taking the audio output to the next level. If you watch a lot of TV and want to up the ante, we've scoured the internet and found five smart TV gadgets that will change the way you watch content.

All the gadgets mentioned below contribute in different ways, changing the way you watch TV. While some of them add to the vibe of your room and make it more lively, others help you achieve a clutter-free setup with no exposed cables — helpful if you have a wall-mounted TV. If you have an old TV that doesn't have modern features and capabilities, we've got you covered as well. Even if you have the latest smart TV, you may have issues with navigating through its interface — in which case there's something to help you fix the problem. In essence, this is a comprehensive list that addresses several pain points experienced by lots of users.

There are two main reasons why you would want to add LED strip lights around your TV: to give the wall behind your TV a nice aesthetic, and for a phenomenon known as bias lighting. While the first point is self-explanatory, bias lighting is a way to reduce eye strain when viewing TV for long durations, especially in the dark. When watching TV at night, the contrast between a dark room and the bright screen of the TV causes eye strain. Using a source of LED backlighting, you can reduce this strain by minimizing the contrast and creating a softer and more comfortable viewing experience. While you can achieve this effect with pretty much any source of lighting, the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite is an excellent accessory that has a few tricks up its sleeve.

For instance, it can be controlled remotely via a smartphone app, so you can change the colors and brightness levels straight from your couch. However, the best feature of this Govee light is that once you stick the LED strips behind your TV, you also get a camera module mounted on top of the TV. The camera lens faces the TV screen and changes the color of the LED strip lights according to the content on the screen. This provides an excellent viewing experience customized to every single movie or show. The camera can cover an area of up to 65 inches, making it compatible even with fairly large TVs. Instead of getting a standard strip of LED lights, we would recommend splurging and getting the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for better features and longevity.

While the hardware on smart TVs has certainly gotten better over time in terms of the panels used and the technology powering them, several TVs still fall short in terms of the internal silicon running the show. As a result, several TVs tend to get slow over time or begin stuttering when pushed with high-quality 4K or HDR content. In fact, certain budget or mid-range TVs start showing these signs right out of the box due to poor optimization. Such an experience can massively put you off, especially if you're unable to enjoy your favorite content in the intended way. The ideal solution to this problem is to completely delegate the performance duties to a third-party accessory like the Apple TV 4K.

There are several benefits to using a streaming device even if you have a smart TV already. For starters, you can convert your laggy TV into a powerful one, since connecting a streaming device would mean that the TV is now using the brains of the connected gadget instead of the internal chipset. Moreover, TVs from brands like Samsung and LG still run a slightly underpowered OS compared to Google TV. Using a streaming box like the Apple TV 4K fixes this problem, since you can enjoy full-fledged tvOS that not only works smoothly but also provides access to a plethora of features and apps. Technically, you'll only be using your TV's display panel while all the processing will be handled by Apple's streaming box.

Apart from sluggish performance, a common issue that plagues most smart TVs is poorly designed remotes that make it a pain to navigate around the interface. Pressing the navigation keys on the D-pad multiple times to get to one end of the screen, or searching for the position of a certain letter on the on-screen keyboard before having to press the right key eight times to select it, not only consumes a lot of time but also causes frustration. This is only amplified when you're typing in your Wi-Fi password or logging into an app with your credentials, and you have to enter a long string of text using just the navigation keys. If you're tired of jamming your fingers on your existing remote, it's time to switch to the WeChip W1 air remote.

This remote connects to your TV via a USB receiver and changes the way you interact with your TV. For starters, it behaves like a computer mouse. So, all you have to do is point it at the TV and move your hand around to move the on-screen cursor. Once the cursor reaches the desired portion of the screen, hit the OK button to select it. This saves a considerable amount of time when browsing through apps and scrolling lists. Turn the remote and you have a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard to type in queries or passwords without struggling. For $25, this universal 2.4 GHz remote is an absolute must-have for all smart TV owners.

No matter how good a TV gets in terms of picture quality, the sound output is going to remain largely average. This is due to the simple fact that TVs are getting slimmer, so there's less space for brands to include a good set of speakers. While most people make do with built-in speakers, it takes away from the experience of enjoying movies and shows that require immersive sound. If you want to give your TV's audio a much-needed boost, you can consider pairing it with the Bose soundbar. Bose is one of the most renowned brands when it comes to speakers, and this particular soundbar proves why. It packs a punch despite being relatively small in size, which means you don't need a multi-channel speaker system or a separate subwoofer.

All you need to do is plug the Bose soundbar into your TV via an HDMI cable and enjoy high-quality sound. The soundbar also has Bluetooth functionality, so you can use it as a multipurpose speaker. Pair it with your smartphone or laptop and stream music in your living room or bedroom when you're not watching TV. Compared to standard soundbars from other brands, the Bose soundbar delivers a spatial audio experience that ensures dialogues are clear, the bass is sufficient, and there's oomph in the sound, especially when viewing action scenes. Notably, the Bose soundbar is certainly on the expensive side, especially for those with a budget TV. In that case, you can also consider the Sony S100F for $160.

Most modern audiovisual devices connect to TVs via an HDMI port. This isn't an issue at all, since newer TVs come with multiple HDMI ports, so you can plug in a bunch of gadgets like Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, soundbars, and whatnot — all at once. While this is convenient when your TV is resting on a tabletop, using multiple devices connected to your TV via individual HDMI cables can cause a mess if your TV is wall-mounted. The cable clutter can get rather ugly and ruin your room's aesthetic. If you're holding off on wall-mounting your TV due to this very issue, a reliable wireless HDMI transmitter and receiver combo is a simple fix that can completely eliminate all your HDMI cables — giving your setup a cleaner look.

Simply plug the receivers into your TV's HDMI ports and the transmitters into the devices you want to connect to your TV. That's pretty much it. No dangling cables, no weird interruptions when viewing your favorite shows. As per the brand, the transmitter and receiver can be up to 50 meters apart and can support a resolution of 1080p at 60 Hz. While this isn't the best for gaming, it's more than sufficient for streaming content on YouTube or Netflix. Of course, you can't expect the best video quality, but that's the sacrifice you're making for convenience and aesthetics. It's a good solution for those who want to use their TV as a monitor with a laptop, or if you want to use your computer with a large screen without being tethered to it all the time.

There are a few ways in which an external gadget or accessory can improve your experience when watching TV. It could bring about improvements in terms of aesthetics, functionality, or sound. We've ensured that all the gadgets mentioned above contribute significantly toward improving any of these parameters. Several of these gadgets have been personally tested by SlashGear writers and have proven to be effective, especially if you want to enhance the capabilities of your existing TV without spending on a new one. You can also consider these gadgets as a benchmark in their respective categories and use them as a reference to find similar gadgets at lower price points if you're looking for something under a specific budget.

That said, we've made sure to recommend products that are fairly priced and durable, so that they can last a long time. Moreover, all of these gadgets plug into standard ports on all TVs, such as USB-A, HDMI, etc., so you can use them regardless of which TV you have. Of course, you can pick individual items that suit your needs or order all the gadgets at once if you want to give your television a complete overhaul!