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What is the best dumb TV?

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Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#331

Post by bananamerica »

mtalantikite wrote: post #235
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 don't have a TV, only a few monitors.” I also highly recommend this. It’s been 18 years since I’ve lived in a house with a tv. It’s still weird to me that people design their living rooms around sitting facing a screen rather than other humans.

What’s the difference between a TV and a monitor anyway? My TV is only used for Netflix and videogames. Just like I’d do with a monitor.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#332

Post by tigershark »

noodlesUK wrote: post #300

My strong advice for my fellow HN readers is to buy a nice projector. Optoma makes several 4K models, and you can buy a screen of whatever size you want (silver ticket on amazon for instance). They’re fairly inexpensive if you just want a 1080p or even one of the lower end 4K models, and none of them have any ‘smart’ tech. No malware, no anything. The immersiveness of a 100+ inch screen beats any TV, and if you want,…

I think that projectors are not a good choice for a frequent use. The lamp has a relatively short lifespan. Their brightness in big screen sizes is abysmal, so you can’t use them in a lit room. Contrast, HDR and colour rendition is not on par with OLED as far as I remember.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#333

Post by tolbish »

ornornor wrote: post #288
conradfr wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If all you’ve read in this thread doesn’t put you off Samsung... then nothing will.

Brand loyalty is in fact a thing.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#334

Post by tornato7 »

lostlogin wrote: post #310
tornato7 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How do you adjust volume or turn it on and off?

Buttons on the monitor, or some come with a remote

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#335

Post by Godel_unicode »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #285
gruez wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1) "Some Samsung TVs already try and connect to open WiFi networks if you don't connect them yourself." This claim doesn't seem to be well sourced. It's essentially going on the word of an anonymous redditor.

See user mkhpalm’s comment

That's unrelated to open Wi-Fi networks.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#336

Post by tigershark »

chillfox wrote: post #208
_alex_ wrote: post #9

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

Far from it. The problem with smart TVs is that they provide an inferior experience to a dumb TV. They have sluggish menu systems, are slow to switch between inputs and startup times frequently measured in 10s of seconds. Compare that to dumb TVs that switch on in less than 2 seconds and respond immediately. Then there’s of course the ads and spying that you can avoid by not letting it on the network.

I never noticed any latency problem with my LG, I think that WebOs is quite nice. Though I really use it only for streaming, I can’t really speak about the normal TV.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#337

Post by zxcb1 »

kllrnohj wrote: post #276
zxcb1 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

A TV is no longer a TV when it is part of a lucrative network of sensors; this not only represents a risk for the buyer, it fundamentally alters what a product is, while reducing language to newspeak.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#338

Post by noizejoy »

bArray wrote: post #234
shitgoose wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Eh, I've had the "one button" UI on a "smart" watch where you're doing a series of single taps, multi-taps, short presses, long presses, etc. It's really not fun for several reasons: 1. It takes forever to do anything even remotely complex. 2. The most common features aren't really the easiest to access (in terms of input effort). 3. If you make even a single mistake in a long series of taps, you have to loop all the…

> a "smart" watch where you're doing a series of single taps, multi-taps, short presses, long presses, etc.

It’s almost like having to learn some version of morse code. Yikes! Even amateur radio licensing in many jurisdictions has abolished the morse code proficiency requirement to bring more individuals to the hobby.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#339

Post by tigershark »

acwan93 wrote: post #63
tshaddox wrote: post #53

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?

In my case my smart TV is getting HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support in the next few months with an update. A dumb tv probably wouldn’t need anything.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#340

Post by devnonymous »

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…

Here in Ireland and based on my time living and travelling in Germany I'd say in most of Europe, its hard to get a microwave that isn't just wattage and timer.

Here except for a few things like phones and tvs, smart electronics aren't as easily available as my home country, India.

I speculate this is perhaps related to the age of the population.

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