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What is the best dumb TV?

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61–70 of 661 posts

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#61

I got a dumb external monitor for my laptop and then learned it doesn't have the right DRM for me to watch Blu-rays on it. Literally, I can view the Blu-rays on my laptop screen, but if I drag the window to the other screen, it won't display the video.

Rip it to disk first.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#62
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Problem solved. I suspect that the 5g era will bring with it many more devices connecting unbeknownst to their owners, and that "smart" appliances will be first on the list. As that approaches, we need solutions that address this as well.

That suggests that tv manufacturers are going to pay for that extra hardware, and ongoing costs.

Imagine if you could sell to a company an accurate estimate for the number of times your brand is mentioned in a zip code in a month.

I would imagine the profits from that dwarf the hardware costs of some antennas (that the consumer pays the power for).

The profit incentive from surveillance is already there. We have to be vigilant in rejecting products that include it.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#63
post #9

I got a “smart” tv and just don’t let it on the network. Problem solved.

I let mine on the network so it will get updates, but I just don't use any of the smart features. I understand that some TVs (Samsung?) apparently track your activity and show you unsolicited ads, but as far as my LG TV doesn't track me and all the apps and smart features don't do anything unless I choose to open them.

Genuine question: what kind of updates would a dumb TV possibly need?

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#64

unfortunately the best "dumb tv" these days is obtained by getting the "smart tv" that you _wish_ was dumb, and never connecting it to the internet.

I hope you never have a visitor in your house that connects it for you.

Oh I love visiting my friends and hooking all their IOT things back up to the internet! Last time I enabled Alexa on everything. Now they can turn on their microwave from the bathroom! It's truly glorious! They really love it. They were especially thankful when they were able to check if the toilet overflowed while they were on vacation in china.

hehe just kidding.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#65
post #52

LG sells them as some of their "Business" tvs, intended e.g. for hotels. In Canada some of them are branded as "Commercial Lite". Here's an LG 65" 4k HDR dumb TV: https://www.lg.com/ca_en/business/commercial-tv/lg-65UV340H I have a similar model from a few years ago (purchased from Canada Computers fwiw), and I love it. Because I don't notice it exists. It just does its job, like a TV should.

It looks interesting, but the lack of pricing information suggests it to be unreasonably high (plus unnecessary hassle: truly "business").

What did you pay?

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#66
post #46
post #9

I got a “smart” tv and just don’t let it on the network. Problem solved.

> Problem solved. I suspect that the 5g era will bring with it many more devices connecting unbeknownst to their owners, and that "smart" appliances will be first on the list. As that approaches, we need solutions that address this as well.

Maybe they will build in free 5g but then can’t you just disable it? If they made a tv that could only work with a 5g connection that would be terribly inconvenient and a huge disadvantage.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#67
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I let mine on the network so it will get updates, but I just don't use any of the smart features. I understand that some TVs (Samsung?) apparently track your activity and show you unsolicited ads, but as far as my LG TV doesn't track me and all the apps and smart features don't do anything unless I choose to open them.

Genuine question: what kind of updates would a dumb TV possibly need?

Antivirus updates of course. Why? Because you connected it to the internet to receive updates!

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#68

I've heard of Ironcast.TV whose entire selling point is the lack of "smart" features, though I haven't ordered one and I'm not sure if they even shipped any, but on paper it looks nice and reasonably priced: https://displayy.studio/ironcast.tv/

Looks cool, but no price in sight. Doesn't bode well.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#69
post #11
post #9

I got a “smart” tv and just don’t let it on the network. Problem solved.

I read about Samsung (?) smart TVs connecting to nearby unsecured Wi-Fi networks and others containing LTE hardware with a data SIM.

The WiFi rumor is plausible because it's free for them, the LTE story is not because it would be quite expensive in multiple dimensions.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#70
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read about Samsung (?) smart TVs connecting to nearby unsecured Wi-Fi networks and others containing LTE hardware with a data SIM.

Sounds like a folk tale, unless you have a source? The second part in particular.

It may sound like a folk tale but to me at least it doesn't seem like a dumb strategy: Lots of people won't connect the TV to their home WiFi either because they're concerned about data collection or just because they don't want to spend time and effort on it. Most would consent to the TV's terms of service though, especially if a considerable amount of features are locked in case you decline. So if the TV manufacturer can sell its customers' viewership data for more than the cost of the LTE connection on average then there's a clear incentive to do it.

Apart from that I'd always assume the worst case when it comes to digital self-defense.

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