301–310 of 661 posts
But keep in mind that the audio of most monitors is just bad.
At a reasonable price Loewe make the best TVs that have the ‘good’ parts of smart, and none of the intrusive and privacy-invading parts. The interface is minimal, the sound and picture are amazing, and the units themselves look beautiful[1] Bang&Olufsen do all the above, at an unreasonable price[2] [1] https://www.loewe.tv/int [2] https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/televisions
B&O use LG panels. That's a big premium for privacy and a nice finish.
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.
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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.
Haha. I love how despite being so simple, it still has instructions below the one knob explaining how to use it: With the door closed, turn the timer to the desired time. Oven will begin operating immediately. To shut oven off manually, return timer to 0. It's almost as if they have to help people unlearn the crap they're used to with button microwaves wondering "Where's the start button?" and "Where's the cancel but…
Many comments suggest never connecting smart TVs to the Internet, and others rightly point out that the TV could seek out open APs. What about deploying some hardware to basically launch a deauth attack on the TV whenever it tries to connect to anything? Wi-PWN[0] looks like a fairly good starting place for this since it can be flashed on an ESP8266. It’d probably need some tweaks for this use-case though. [0] https:…
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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.
I get that they can build a profile of me based on what kind of content I’m watching, but it doesn’t seem different from what Netflix or YouTube is doing anyway. Probably they’re going to use the data to show attribution for engagements on ads for media. Good for them I guess. It‘s not in my top 1000 reasons to riot personally.
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.
Even if you're not getting a dumb one, I think LG has the best "smart" TVs around. Just don't give them access to the internet and they'll do the job of displaying anything you give them via a HDMI port. Integrates nicely with home automation with an API too. Oh, and they don't have ads in the menus like Samsung does.
I got a “smart” tv and just don’t let it on the network. Problem solved.
There are other virtues of a dumb TV. Simplicity is probably the best reason for wanting one. If you're getting a dumb TV because it stays off your network, but then get ipTV dongles and boxes for it, then you effectively have a smart TV on the network. I have one and like it a lot. The remote control is beautifully simple. There is no complicated menu structure; it took all of five minutes to go through all the scre…
Have you ended up with two remotes?
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.