First of all, what is a smart TV? You may find this definition useful.

Put another way, smart TV is another term for internet TV. This is TV that can connect directly to the internet, either by using an Ethernet cable to connect it to the router or by wi-fi for a wireless connection. It is now very common to find smart TVs with wi-fi already included, or else they are set up for it (the term to look for is ‘wi-fi ready), which means you just need to buy a dongle to access the internet (they cost about £50, so you have to factor that in if you buy a TV without built-in Wi-fi.)

According to recent advice such as that provided on The Gadget Show, there are five main points to consider. The first is the above point about wifi access. If your internet router and your TV are close together, then a cable connection is fine using Ethernet, but if your TV is in a different room then you should probably look at a wireless connection. And in this case built in wifi is best (preferably with Ethernet as it’s faster) so you don’t have to bother about getting a dongle either.

The next thing is what you want smart TV for. If you want a lot of apps and games on it you may be interested in the Samsung, for example, which has an app store, or Phillips which should be bringing out a platform soon.

An app store is also an important consideration if you think you will want to use more services and have more functionality in future. Though in this case, you may find that something like an Xbox will also serve your needs quite well.

Remote controls on smart TVs are getting very complicated and buyers are advised to look at how these work when choosing a new TV, especially if you want to do things like stay in touch with social media while using your TV. LG, Toshiba and Samsung are all worth looking at in this respect, especially LG which has also introduced voice and motion control.

Screen size and type are also important – you’re likely to be spending a lot of time in front of it, after all – so look carefully at the options available.

Once you have decided what are the main features you want in your smart TV, it’s a good idea to spend some time looking at reviews and consumer comments on some of the leading brands. Which? Magazine is a good place to start research of this kind as they are experts in testing consumer products. When testing a smart TV, for instance, the Which? Experts look at how well the setup works, how easy it is to customise and to use apps. They test each device for ease of internet navigation, how well links work and how easy it is to input text. They also watch video etc on the TV to make sure that streaming works smoothly and is of high quality.

Four brands that Which? Rated particularly highly in 2012 were the LG, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung smart TVs. As a general overview, the LG is good especially if you like a large and easily accessed app store , but they feel the TV overall needs to be made a bit more user friendly. The Panasonic sets up well and the keyboard is easier to use than a remote, though they didn’t like the way the apps were presented so much. The Samsung was praised for its large variety of apps and generally easy to use functions; the Sony is good for video content but less so for apps.

You can read the full reviews here.