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What is the best dumb TV?

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Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#271

Post by tornato7 »

shitgoose wrote: post #222
kebman wrote: post #207

I don't have a TV, only a few monitors (it's very liberating, actually). So instead I'll talk about my microwave. Yes, unironically! :D It has two dials. OMG how do I survive with only two dials? How do I program it? Well, the answer is, unsurprisingly, that I don't program it. Instead I crank it to watever wattage I need (usually the top one), and the time I think it'll take until the food I becomes hot. Aaaand that…

I would reduce it to one dial. Two dials is too much.

I have a microwave with one dial. Best microwave around. Nobody can get confused about how to use it. There's not even a turntable so it holds more food and it's easy to clean. That's the Sharp R21LCF for ya.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#272

Post by conradfr »

ornornor wrote: post #260
m463 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no no no. this is bad advice. 1) "Some Samsung TVs already try and connect to open WiFi networks if you don't connect them yourself." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24629155 2) there is ethernet over hdmi - I would image this is another source of inadvertent connection. 3) samsung tvs require an ethernet cable to "update firmware" so HDMI works. 4) ACR - which will look at ALL the inputs. and wait for the next…

Samsung TVs are an extreme example though. They’re the most obnoxious and the most disrespectful of your privacy by implementing all these dark patterns. Not to mention their QLED bullshit, it’s just LED but it’s meant to make you think it’s OLED and pay extra. I despise Samsung and their junk.

It's sad because I have multiple (ageing) Samsung appliances (amongst them a dumb TV) and they're all great so Samsung would have naturally be a contender for my next TV.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#273

Post by b112 »

nfoz wrote: post #237
solarkraft wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Actually, mine was a bit cheaper! It's 55" 4k but no HDR. It was ~$850 CAD. At the time, LG's equivalent (spec-wise, as far as I could tell) "consumer" smart-tv was ~$1000. The model I linked here, is $1000 CAD on amazon.ca (through 3rd-party sellers), but I don't know how it compares. Again that's a few years ago so the market may have changed. And annoyingly, LG seems to have different products for Canada vs the US…

There are two reasons for the US/CAN difference.

One is sometimes english/french or english/spanish manuals. These days though, most manuals are on CD, with tiny 20 language install manuals... so that differentiation is gone.

What I find often happening, is that each large store, BestBuy/Walmart/whatever asks for, and receives, unique model numbers so you cannot price match easily.

There are still models which are generic, but those are used by smaller corps, which cannot negotiate en-masse, and therefore are unable to shrug of price-matching.

Stuff like this burns me up. "We price match!", then "Quick Bob, get on the phone to LG! We want unique models for their product line!"

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#274

Post by kllrnohj »

nitrogen wrote: post #193
jasonjayr wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ACR == Automatic Content Recognition. Basically it periodically screenshots what the panel is showing and sends it to their servers to see if it matches the programs they know about to figure out what it is you're watching.

I don't see why people aren't rioting in the streets about this, apart from the fact that there are currently bigger issues already occupying rioters. It's seriously beyond the pale.

Since I never connect my TV to the internet, why would ACR bother me? Doesn't really matter if the data isn't going anywhere.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#275

Post by tornato7 »

jjoonathan wrote: post #165
coryrc wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solder the wifi antenna to ground (so long as the remote is IR and not radio!)

My TCL starts to bootloop if it goes more than a month without connecting to the internet so it can download screensaver ads. The warranty people force me into the support gauntlet. The support gauntlet's first demand: connect it to the internet.

You should try running it through a pihole. Even better, maybe you can manage to MITM it and replace the ads with something funny.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#276

Post by kllrnohj »

zxcb1 wrote: post #239
m463 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no no no. this is bad advice. 1) "Some Samsung TVs already try and connect to open WiFi networks if you don't connect them yourself." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24629155 2) there is ethernet over hdmi - I would image this is another source of inadvertent connection. 3) samsung tvs require an ethernet cable to "update firmware" so HDMI works. 4) ACR - which will look at ALL the inputs. and wait for the next…

One needs to mentally prepare for the coming 5G era; ubiquitous tracking and data harvesting combined with artificial intelligence and social credit. Where is the opt out from this hellish corporate revolution?

5G doesn't change the economics of having cell radios nor paying for cell data.

Why would notoriously low margin products like a TV ever pay for such a lavish addition when most people voluntary connect it to wifi or ethernet anyway?

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#277

Post by tornato7 »

clouddrover wrote: post #233
davidhyde wrote: post #73

My advice is to stop seeing a “smart tv” as a feature and see it as an expensive piece of equipment subsidised by extra advertising revenue. Don’t get upset about this, just understand it for what it is. Now, what can you do about it? Easy, don’t connect it to the internet. They will tell you that it needs updates but come on, what is a security vulnerability going to to to something that’s only output is a screen an…

> Easy, don’t connect it to the internet. Maybe not so easy in the future. TVs might eventually have 5G internet connections built-in and paid for by the manufacturer. It could be worth it to them if they get enough revenue from their software platform through user tracking and advertising.

This makes me remember the guy who was pulling SIM cards out of these IoT car boots and putting them in his phone for free 4G service.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#278

Post by foepys »

kioleanu wrote: post #268

I bought a Phillips dumb TV about 2 years ago after spending way too much time searching for a TV. The caveat is that it’s in the low cost range, otherwise my alternatives were extremely limited. In the TVs manual they mention multiple times and in a fatalistic tone that I must register my purchase with them and always install the latest updates. The register form needed my full address and phone number. And that’s n…

> the door pops open itself after it finishes washing). Incidentally this feature is a premium feature

I'm not so sure about it being a premium feature. Maybe it's different where you are located but a quick search on German price comparison websites showed dishwashers as cheap as 280€ having this feature.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#279

Post by kllrnohj »

choward wrote: post #93
wvenable wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All smart TV's are dumb if you don't connect them to the Internet.

If they have wifi you have no idea if they're connecting to open networks.

Why would they even have such logic? Especially since the only open wifi points are captive portal ones?

But if there's just no open wifi points around then you can still be pretty certain of this.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#280

Post by tornato7 »

neilv wrote: post #249

If I can add an additional requirement to the question, what are good dumb-TVs/monitors that have acceptable integrated speakers (driven from HDMI) ? (To avoid "smart TVs", I got a nice Sony Bravia TV, from circa 2009, and even that has more "smart" than I'd like (e.g., linked to online services that were discontinued), but it doesn't try to get onto the Internet, it has a great 1080p picture, the remote worked easil…

Your best bet is to find a large PC monitor. There are a few 43" monitors out there with decent speakers. The predator CG7 is one I'm looking at.
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