Apple TV vs Smart TV

One of the big plusses for me, is that Smart TVs often seem to drop support of apps very quickly (I guess they want you to buy a new TV :-) ). With Apple TV, I expect the apps to continue to work for years.

Also, from personal experience, the TV app versions are often quite sluggish in response to user actions in their menus etc. I had a Sony smart TV a few years ago, and the Prime Video app was a case in point. Very sluggish menus, but even worse, the video playback was very stuttery, and pretty unwatchable, actually. I believe this was all caused by an underpowered CPU in the TV.

You will not get this kind of problem with an Apple TV.

Another plus for me is that I use an AV Receiver, and it's much easier to get the sound into the receiver directly from the Apple TV, rather than relying on the TVs ARC (audio return channel), which I have found to be rather hit and miss.

I much prefer different functionality in separate devices.

Liz

See here for a comparison: Apple TV app vs. Apple TV box - Apple Community

you can read replied somebody else got asking more or less the same here

Is AppleTV becoming irrelevant? - Apple Community