I see a lot of coverage for "Smart TVs". These TV's have built in support for streaming media from Youtube, Pandora, Netflix and Hulu Plus. Although I do pay for Pandora and Netflix, I do realize that those companies might not last forever. What happens to your TV if Netflix goes out of business? What happens if a new service comes out that is better than Pandora? If you are lucky, you can update your TV's software. If you are not, then you have to buy a new TV.
In the programming world, this is called "tight coupling". In system administration, we sometimes call it "direct integration". In programming, this is considered bad, while in the sysadmin world, it depends on who you talk to. There should be an abstraction layer between your content provider and your content player. Imagine if you had to buy a new TV if you switch from Comcat and Verizon. There is a protocol between the TV and the provider. That protocol has changed over time, but the current one is HDMI.
If you want "Smart" features on your TV, I highly recommend buying a device that will provide those features to you. If you want to upgrade your TV, you can do that. If a new service comes out that isn't supported on your device, you can buy a different one that does support it. If the device dies, you can buy a new one. If the TV dies, you can buy a new one.
As for which device to get, that depends. The Apple TV and Google TV are the new comers that are promising, but not fully developed. The Roku is getting really cheap and supports many services. It is not worth spending the extra money to get a "Smart" TV when you can buy a device that turns a "Dumb" TV into a "Smart" TV for less than the price premium.
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