[superhuzza]

>home cinema is pretty much purely an enthusiast thing these days (the casual user won't plug anything into their smart TV)

Except a gaming console, a laptop, a roku, apple TV...

Every single person I know has some external media source plugged into their TV, even my tech illiterate mother.

[arghwhat]

You’d be surprised by the number of users who are satisfied with the built-in media experience.

I’d say it’s most likely a large majority. Google TV is common, but people with an Android-powered TV are not the main target for those until the TV gets old and out of date. Apple users on Samsung TV’s might also get far with the built in AirPlay support.

Heck, even within enthusiasts there is a strong push to use the built-in media features as it often handles content better (avoiding mode changes, better frame pacing). Even I only use an external box after being forced due to issues when relying on eARC.

Very few people plug in their laptop to a TV, and laptops are not normally HDMI. Some laptops have a dedicated port with a built-in converter, but all modern laptops are USB-C which only exposes DisplayPort.

[treis]

I'm in this crowd. The TV apps work well enough and it's one less remote. The only thing I use the attached Chromecast for is to (rarely) mirror my phone screen.