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What is the best dumb TV?

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Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#441

Post by lloeki »

vestrigi wrote: post #431
canofbars wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like Australia's system better. You pay a very minor tax yearly regardless of tv ownership and it funds a few government run TV channels and radio stations as well as a news site. Despite the current governments best efforts, the ABC is still the only worthwhile news site in the country.

Same in Germany but the tax is a fixed price of EUR 17.50 each month per household and no escape from it except for very few special cases (e.g. university students receiving financial support from the state). Personally I agree with a mandatory monthly cost but it is way too high, should be in proportion to household income and the people in the upper ranks of the broadcasting companies shouldn't earn absurdly high…

It’s 138eu here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence#France

The issue for me is mostly that I refuse to pay for the bucketloads of despicably low quality content they put out. A shame, because there’s Arte (TV) and FIP (radio) which have quality stuff, but they only get a fraction of it.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#442

Post by Moru »

mongol wrote: post #372
lloeki wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France the difference is that you pay a broadcast tax every year for owning a TV. Even if the tuner is unplugged. Even if the TV is covered with dust in a basement. Even if you rip the tuner apart and use it as a screen only (this specific case has been lawyered to death right up to the last court of Cassation). Because computers and smartphones, the law has since been extended to also include the case where you o…

Sweden used to have it like this. You had to pay a license for owning a TV receiver. But then the public broadcaster also started offering streaming over the internet. Then they declared "also a computer is a TV receiver" and required everyone with a computer to pay TV license. If you refused, you were taken to court. The court agreed with the broadcaster. Only in the highest court was it thrown out. Had it not, ther…

There is still a tax on computers (or rather storage) in Sweden. We pay an extra fee for private copying set on the number of megabytes you can store on harddrives, CD's, DVD's or flash drives. But at least that means it's legal for you to copy your friends DVD's and music collection, no matter what the license says in the box.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#445

Post by natch »

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…

My microwave has one round dial that turns. That’s it. And zero buttons.

It’s fantastic. Turn the dial, and it starts. The farther around you turn it, the more time you get. The scale is clearly marked around the dial with large readable numbers and gives progressively more coarse as you turn through about 340 degrees or so (less than 360).

To abort and turn it off early, just turn the knob back to the zero. Otherwise it turns itself off at the chosen time.

There’s a digital readout that tells the time remaining. Simplest interface ever and none of those nasty washable flat panel buttons, or any others as I said.

It’s a Sharp brand “Medium Duty Commercial 1000 watt” model. Pretty pricey ($269) but very worth it. At the time, I found it on Amazon but I don’t see it on there now. Model R21LCFS. I see it does come up on duck duck go at some other suppliers like https://www.usaequipmentdirect.com/sharp-commercial-medium-d... (not a typo that the link ends in a dash apparently).

One caveat: it does not have any rotating mechanism inside. This has never been a problem except I do sometimes manually rotate food during a long session. But this is super easy because you don’t have to bend down or punch buttons.

ObTV: don’t have one either. Best TV choice imho.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#446

Post by heresie-dabord »

ziftface wrote: post #197
mkhpalm wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 65 inch samsung tv that kept popping up on my network. I put it on an isolated wifi network once to get the firmware updates. After I did that I turned it back off. But it keeps trying to come back for just a moment every couple of days. I had to ban its mac address since there was no way to get it to stop in the settings or after factory resets.

It's crazy how user hostile TV manufacturers have become.

Profiteering using the personal information of consumers.

It is maddening how incompatible with Democracy the commercial surveillance system has become.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#447

Post by mongol »

Moru wrote: post #442
mongol wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweden used to have it like this. You had to pay a license for owning a TV receiver. But then the public broadcaster also started offering streaming over the internet. Then they declared "also a computer is a TV receiver" and required everyone with a computer to pay TV license. If you refused, you were taken to court. The court agreed with the broadcaster. Only in the highest court was it thrown out. Had it not, ther…

There is still a tax on computers (or rather storage) in Sweden. We pay an extra fee for private copying set on the number of megabytes you can store on harddrives, CD's, DVD's or flash drives. But at least that means it's legal for you to copy your friends DVD's and music collection, no matter what the license says in the box.

Yes, not on computers, but on storage as you say. And it is a one time tax on top of the price, not a recurring yearly tax as the license fee would have been.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#448

Post by chasd00 »

mkhpalm wrote: post #191
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…

I have a 65 inch samsung tv that kept popping up on my network. I put it on an isolated wifi network once to get the firmware updates. After I did that I turned it back off. But it keeps trying to come back for just a moment every couple of days. I had to ban its mac address since there was no way to get it to stop in the settings or after factory resets.

that's pretty funny, it's like fighting a rogue employee in a corporate network.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#449

Post by ant6n »

solarkraft wrote: post #77
clairity wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks for responding based on the article rather than the title. the 2 recommendations from the article: * Sceptre 65" 4K UHD LED TV * Sceptre 50" 4K UHD Ultra Slim LED TV

Currently $379.99 (usually $429.99) and $239.99 (usually $299.99 at Walmart. Impressive! Electronics are quite a bit cheaper in the USA than in Germany. If quality is similar the panel won't be that great (but not terrible), the UI that is there will be very unimpressive and three's no proof on the web the model actually exists. I hope it's better.

I can't even find this Sceptre Model in Germany

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#450

Post by deergomoo »

stiray wrote: post #381

I have bought Samsung QLED Q90T due to one reason only and that was picture quality. I though that i will have it banned on router and that is it. What a mistake, they forced me with nag screens to connect it to internet and drive trough bunch "I dont allow my data to be...". Anyway, wifi cant be completely disabled without calling their support and I bet they are using wifi direct. I have it blocked now on router (w…

> Also you cant enter into factory menu without remote control with number buttons that is NOT shipped with TV.

That’s a very recent thing. I have a Q80R (last year’s model and one step down), and it came with two remotes: the app-centric Bluetooth one, and a “regular” one with numbers etc.

That’s lame!

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