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Smart TVs are essentially ordinary flatscreen TVs with a tablet-grade processor bolted on providing the ‘smart’ tech. In terms of VOD streaming, you can turn any HDMI-ready TV (and almost any HDMI-ready monitor) into a smart one with a $49 Google Chromecast dongle.

We’ve looked at Chromecast previously we’ve even shown you how to hack it but combined with almost any Android and late-model iOS devices, Chromecast can turn your TV into a wireless streamer able to play Netflix and other VOD streaming services. Chromecast contains all the hardware required to stream, decode and output those VOD streams a single-core Marvell SoC CPU with 802.11n Wi-Fi and an HDMI output for What you’ll need:Android device with Android 4.0.3/ICS or later,or Apple iOS 7.0 or newer device Google Chromecast dongle Home broadband with Wi-Fi Total cost: about $50 Time to complete: 30 minutes Make a Netflix smart TV with mobile remote Use your Android or iOS device and make your own smart TV. Darren Yates explains how it works. up to 1080p (full HD) content but the key is the Chromecast app.

The app only requires an Android device with Gingerbread/2.3 to become a Chromecast remote control. But minimum OS requirements for VOD streaming apps vary  for example, you’ll need at least ICS/4.0.3 to use the Android apps from Netflix and ABC iView (at time of writing, the only local free-to-air broadcaster with Chromecast support), while streaming Stan requires Jelly Bean/4.2. For iOS devices, you need at least iOS 7.0 across the board.

But Stan is the man with the plan at time of writing sign up for a 30-day free trial and you could have a Chromecast dongle delivered for $39 from Dick Smith online, $10 off the normal price. 

What’s clever about the Chromecast system is its reliance on only Wi-Fi for control it means you don’t need recent additions such as Miracast or MHL in your device. You don’t even need Bluetooth. As long as you have working Wi-Fi, the minimum OS requirements and your preferred Chromecast-ready VOD app, you should be good to go. The key to Chromecast is that it is its own ecosystem, with specific Chromecast versions of VOD apps. For example, when you select a movie to watch via Chromecast on the Netflix app, you’re actually telling the dongle to load the Netflix Chromecast app, which then tracks down your video and plays it. Your mobile device then uses the Wi-Fi connection over your home network to control Chromecast playback, volume and time-position.

If you’d rather watch your own movie library instead, you can stream your content straight to your device using any number of apps, but we’d probably lean towards Plex as the most polished grab the free Plex server for your PC and purchase the Plex app from Google Play or the App Store. But Android users also can’t go far wrong using just ES File Explorer and MX Player, free from Google Play  ES File Explorer will see any shared folders available on your network and we still haven’t found a file format MX Player can’t play.