Craig is a reporter for Pocket-lint based in Toronto. He earned a diploma in journalism from Seneca Polytechnic and holds a Media Foundations certificate from Humber College. Craig previously interned and wrote for MobileSyrup, a Canadian tech publication. He enjoys reading and writing about consumer technology, especially phones, tablets, and PCs.
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When I set up my new LG C5 TV last year, one thing that immediately impressed me was just how razor-thin and lightweight it was. It got me thinking about how far TVs have come in the past 20 years, going from huge box sets that took up a ton of space to incredibly sleek, powerful screens. New panel technologies like OLED and Mini-LED have also made picture quality more lifelike than ever, while smart features have turned TVs into streaming powerhouses.
However, as impressive as modern TVs have become, I think TV makers have missed the mark in a few key areas. Some useful features that I believe should be standard on every smart TV are still surprisingly rare or missing altogether, even in 2026.
Here are three upgrades that I think all smart TVs desperately need and, frankly, should've had years ago.
Gigabit Ethernet
10/100 Ethernet should be a thing of the past
It's mind-blowing to me how TV makers seem to have completely forgotten about Ethernet. And the problem isn't that Ethernet is missing altogether, since most smart TVs still have an Ethernet port on the back.
The issue is that TV makers continue to use an outdated standard known as 10/100 Ethernet, or "Fast Ethernet," which is limited to just 100 Mbps. Ethernet is supposed to offer a fast, reliable connection, but with that kind of speed limitation, it's anything but fast on a modern smart TV. In fact, Wi-Fi can actually deliver much faster speeds than a TV's wired Ethernet connection. That's certainly been the case with my LG C5 TV, where I can easily get more than double the download speed over its Wi-Fi 6E connection compared to Ethernet.
The solution to this Ethernet dilemma is simple, though, and it's one that TV makers have ignored for far too long: Gigabit Ethernet.
With speeds of up to 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps), Gigabit Ethernet is 10 times faster than 10/100 Ethernet. That means quicker app downloads, more stable streaming and cloud gaming, and a much better experience when streaming high-bitrate 4K files from a home server using apps like Jellyfin or Plex.
Streaming devices such as the Google TV Streamer, Apple TV 4K, and Nvidia Shield TV Pro already support Gigabit Ethernet, and it's about time all smart TVs did as well.
Full HDMI 2.1 support
Not one port, but all
Another upgrade that really should be standard on all smart TVs by now is full HDMI 2.1 support across every port. While many smart TVs now have at least one HDMI 2.1 port, most still don't support the standard across all their ports. This can be confusing for users who aren't familiar with HDMI standards and aren't sure which port to use when connecting devices like a console, 4K Blu-ray player, streaming device, or PC.
The HDMI 2.1 specification has existed since 2017, but it didn't appear on TVs until 2020, when the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S launched. It introduced several useful features, including Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and Dynamic HDR. It also supports 4K at up to 120Hz, compared with 60Hz over HDMI 2.0, making it particularly useful for smoother gaming on modern consoles and PCs.
In most cases, if your TV has an HDMI 2.1 port, that's where you'll want to connect your device to get the most out of it. But if your TV has only one or two HDMI 2.1 ports, and you have multiple devices that can take advantage of the standard, you'll run into a problem pretty quickly.
Some TVs do come with four HDMI 2.1 ports, but that's generally limited to higher-end models, particularly OLED TVs from manufacturers like LG and Samsung. HDMI 2.1 has been around for nearly a decade, and HDMI 2.2 has already been introduced, so it's high time every smart TV made full HDMI 2.1 support the standard on every HDMI port.
Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge
HDMI Ports & History
Trivia Challenge
Think you know your HDMI versions from your ARC from your eARC — put your display tech knowledge to the ultimate test!
HistoryVersionsFeaturesHardwareStandards
01 / 8
History
In what year was the first HDMI specification (version 1.0) officially released?
Correct! HDMI 1.0 was released in December 2002 and became commercially available in 2003. It was developed by a consortium of electronics manufacturers including Sony, Panasonic, and Philips as a successor to analog standards.
Not quite — HDMI 1.0 arrived in late 2002 and hit the market in 2003. It was a landmark moment for home entertainment, replacing bulky analog connections with a single digital cable capable of carrying both audio and video.
02 / 8
Standards
Which founding companies were part of the original HDMI consortium that developed the standard?
Correct! The original HDMI founders included Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba. Together they created a royalty-bearing standard that would go on to dominate home AV connectivity worldwide.
Not quite. The founding seven companies were Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba. Notably, Apple was not an early backer, and Samsung joined later as a major adopter rather than a founding member.
03 / 8
Versions
Which HDMI version first introduced support for 4K video at 60 frames per second?
Correct! HDMI 2.0, released in 2013, boosted bandwidth to 18 Gbps and introduced 4K resolution at 60Hz. It was a crucial upgrade for the emerging 4K TV market and also added support for 32 audio channels.
Not quite — it was HDMI 2.0, released in 2013, that first enabled 4K at 60fps. HDMI 1.4 could handle 4K but only at a sluggish 30fps, which was fine for still images but not smooth enough for video or gaming.
04 / 8
Features
What does the 'ARC' in HDMI ARC stand for?
Correct! ARC stands for Audio Return Channel, introduced in HDMI 1.4. It allows a TV to send audio back down the HDMI cable to a soundbar or AV receiver, eliminating the need for a separate optical audio cable.
Not quite — ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. Introduced with HDMI 1.4, it was a clever addition that lets your TV send audio upstream to an external speaker system using the same cable already carrying video to the TV.
05 / 8
Hardware
What is the maximum bandwidth supported by the HDMI 2.1 specification?
Correct! HDMI 2.1 supports up to 48 Gbps of bandwidth, a massive leap from HDMI 2.0's 18 Gbps. This allows it to handle 8K at 60fps, 4K at 120fps, and features like Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) for gaming.
Not quite — HDMI 2.1 delivers a whopping 48 Gbps of bandwidth. That's nearly triple the 18 Gbps of HDMI 2.0 and enables next-generation features like 8K resolution, 4K/120Hz gaming, and Dynamic HDR all over a single cable.
06 / 8
History
HDMI was designed as a digital successor to which widely used analog video interface?
Correct! HDMI was conceived as a successor to component video, the analog standard that dominated home theater setups in the late 1990s and early 2000s. HDMI combined audio and video into one cable, something component video could never do.
Not quite — HDMI was designed to replace component video (YPbPr), the three-cable analog system common in home theaters. While DVI is a digital cousin of HDMI and shares much of its underlying technology, component video was the primary analog standard HDMI aimed to supersede.
07 / 8
Versions
Which HDMI version was the first to support Ethernet data sharing over the HDMI cable?
Correct! HDMI 1.4, released in 2009, introduced the HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC), which allows a 100 Mbps network connection to be shared between devices over the same HDMI cable. It was a forward-thinking feature, though rarely implemented by manufacturers.
Not quite — HDMI 1.4 was the first version to include the HDMI Ethernet Channel when it launched in 2009. In theory it lets devices share a broadband connection without extra cables, though in practice very few products ever took advantage of this feature.
08 / 8
Features
What key improvement does eARC offer over the original ARC in HDMI 2.1?
Correct! Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) introduced in HDMI 2.1 supports high-bandwidth, lossless audio formats including Dolby TrueHD, DTS:X, and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos. Original ARC was limited to compressed formats like Dolby Digital 5.1.
Not quite — the big leap with eARC is its support for uncompressed, lossless audio and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Standard ARC could only pass compressed audio, meaning audiophiles with high-end soundbars were missing out until eARC arrived with HDMI 2.1.
Challenge Complete
Your Score
/ 8
Thanks for playing!
USB Type-C
It's time for all smart TVs to include a USB-C port
Whether you're plugging in a USB stick to watch shows and movies you've saved locally, connecting a Gigabit Ethernet adapter, or simply using a USB port to power a streaming stick such as the Roku Streaming Stick Plus or the Fire TV Stick 4K, USB ports have their uses on smart TVs.
The problem is that most smart TVs still include only USB Type-A ports, even as USB Type-C has become increasingly common on devices like phones, tablets, external hard drives, SSDs, headphones, and laptops. With USB-C becoming the norm on so many gadgets, I'd really love to see more TV makers include a USB-C port on their sets, too. To be clear, I'm not saying USB Type-A should go away altogether. It's still incredibly useful, but adding USB-C as an additional option is a long-overdue upgrade.
USB-C has several advantages, including its reversible design, so you don't have to fiddle around to plug it in the right way, as you often do with USB Type-A. Plus, depending on the USB standard being used, it can also support much faster data transfer speeds and higher power delivery.
Some TVs already include a USB-C port, such as the Roku Pro Series and Samsung S95H, but these models are still few and far between. Given how USB-C has become the go-to standard across so many devices, I think it's time TV makers started including at least one USB-C port on every smart TV.