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The falling price of a TV set

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Re: The falling price of a TV set

#181

Post by amiga-workbench »

scarface74 wrote: post #180
amiga-workbench wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like the Chromecast UX model, your TV is completely brainless, has no native user interface, no cheap and nasty remote, and any of your other devices boss it around like the dumb wireless monitor it should be.

That’s actually a horrible model for TV. TV is often social. I would hate to have to have my phone to control my TV. Not to mention when guests come over. I’ll give someone else the remote, but not my phone.

I've never had to do that, guests get access to the playback controls while on my network and are completely free to use their own phone to cast something else to my TV if they wish. What they don't get access to is my own media library.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#182

Post by timw4mail »

idunno246 wrote: post #91
uptown wrote: post #3

"The trade-offs for cheap TVs is that customers are themselves becoming the product for TV makers [...] For something to be as cheap as a great TV, people have to give something up — whether they know it or not." Just never give the TV its own direct connection to the internet. Use another device that you do trust, to feed the big screen its content.

Roku TVs are one of the higher rated smart tv platforms, so is there a difference between plugging in a roku device or just using a roku tv?

Not really. The TVs tend to have more computing power than the lowest-end Rokus too.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#183

Post by timw4mail »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #6
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #2

The one thing I never understood about this is, aren't you just free to not hookup your TV to the WiFi? I've bought SmartTVs and have just used them as "dumb" TVs and they work perfectly fine. Aren't you there capturing the benefit of this supposedly lower price without having to give up any personal data back?

But people want to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime or other stream services. Modern smart TVs have those integrated.

In the laziest, most finicky way possible. Unless you have a Fire Tv or Roku TV, most smart TV 'apps' aren't worth using.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#184

Post by zamadatix »

icebraining wrote: post #169
ratiolat wrote: post #30

I have a 43" Panasonic plasma TV, which has THX certified display panel. Paid about 800USD for it back 2013 I believe. I'd like to replace it with a LCD one, but oh boy how much do the THX certified ones cost - https://www.thx.com/product-finder/

THX is just for sound, right? Why not buy a cheaper TV and a separate certified speaker set?

They have certifications for full home theatre including video (panels & projectors) but you're paying more for the THX logo than for a guarantee you actually bought the best option for the price since hardly anybody pays for the cert.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#185

Post by timw4mail »

scarface74 wrote: post #177
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see two major problems with this business model of subsidizing TV hardware with adware/telemetry/spyware solutions: 1. The UI platforms + middleware used for these TV's are often a low budget MVP development (it's also not part of the core knowledge of manufacturers), meaning you don't need to go far to find customers complaining of unresponsive UIs and sudden crashes. 2. The lifetime of the device far exceeds the…

Most of the lower end TVs have Roku integrated. While you might not like their business model, Roku knows how to make a good set top UI on cheap hardware.

Roku is probably the least evil of the smart tvs.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#186

Post by timw4mail »

netsharc wrote: post #118

He mentioned cars. Can't wait until personalized ads show up in cars.. "visit McDonald's drivethrough in 0.5 miles, buy your favorite, the McRib(TM), and get a free drink with code xyz! Only 2 minute detour and the drivethrough currently has 2 cars in it!". And it will have user profiles and knows the driver's gender, etc, and shopping preferences. Child seat fitted since 2 months but weight sensor suggests no child…

Gas pumps all seem to have video ads now.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#187

Post by saiya-jin »

altacc wrote: post #151
saiya-jin wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do exactly the same thing (apart from desktop vs laptop). Just don't connect TV to the internet, feed it from trusty HDMI input and it will be great value with 0 annoyances. But if folks are too lazy to launch videos themselves with few clicks then 'you will be served'

On many smart TVs the content you're watching will still be monitored, as automatic content recognition is based on analysing the images being displayed, regardless of source. Blocking that requires isolation from the internet, by simply not setting up the wifi, or using a network level blocker like pi-hole if you still want to use smart features.

Yes I should have mentioned that one too, no internet connection. In my case TV simply works, there is nothing a software update can bring to improve it but plenty to annoy.

Its like an air-gapped notebook with Windows that you only run Notepad. No need to update it with unknown stuff in patches from Microsoft.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#188

Post by DoingIsLearning »

scarface74 wrote: post #177
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see two major problems with this business model of subsidizing TV hardware with adware/telemetry/spyware solutions: 1. The UI platforms + middleware used for these TV's are often a low budget MVP development (it's also not part of the core knowledge of manufacturers), meaning you don't need to go far to find customers complaining of unresponsive UIs and sudden crashes. 2. The lifetime of the device far exceeds the…

Most of the lower end TVs have Roku integrated. While you might not like their business model, Roku knows how to make a good set top UI on cheap hardware.

I don't doubt what you say is true in the US retail landscape. Although the HW will work anywhere, Roku as a service is very much a US centric business.

At least in Europe the options out of the box integrated in these 'smart' TVs are either Android or some OEM crippled flavour of a nix distro.

Also we need to distinguish between released set top boxes from a triple-play provider, and these 'inside' the TV half-baked software releases.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#189

Post by mensetmanusman »

seltzered_ wrote: post #72

If you look at a chart of TV prices over 50-80 years, this has always been a trend [1]. Institutes using this as an argument for declining poverty are missing the point that while most goods have gone down in cost over the years, services (childcare) and things of value (education) have gone up substantially [2]. [1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-the-incredib... [2]: Elizabeth Warren's classic "Twi…

I wish education was cheaper. All the college content I consumed is available for free now on the internet.

Our society needs to recognize that only a certain percentage of people ever want to go to college, and that is okay. No need to put people in debt and set them up for failure.

Re: The falling price of a TV set

#190

Post by sigjuice »

APock wrote: post #150
sigjuice wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one block the traffic?

Most routers allow some kind of traffic denial, even the home use ones. But I guess you could get a rpi and set it up as a firewall or something

I wouldn’t put it past the TV makers to aggressively evade firewalls, latch on to public WiFi or include a secret cellular modem that they bury in the finest of fine print.
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