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What is the best dumb TV?

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541–550 of 661 posts

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#541

Some people are suggesting just don't connect your smart TV to the internet, others are suggesting it might still connect to open (unsecured) Wi-Fi networks. Is there any major brand of smart TV's that will attempt to connect to open networks, in order to download updates, ads, send back data, without your consent? I've never in my life had a Wi-Fi-enabled device that would connect to a network I didn't tell it to, a…

This reddit user said their Samsung TV connected to a nearby open WiFi AP. see https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/bpr6xs/if_you_choo...

This is exactly why I'm asking -- that story seems like it easily be made up or just plain mistaken. Maybe they've got a family member who tried to connect it to watch something without them knowing.

I've seen random anecdotes like this, but I've never seen anyone actually prove it. E.g. someone with a tech background or a journalist.

And since it would be so trivially easy to actually prove if true, and seemingly a major news story, it feels more plausible to me that it's false.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#542
That website only seems to list two TV's (with Amazon Affiliate links) and I conjecture it was written by an outsourced writer who has never owned either of the TVs.

Sceptre, from my understanding, is an LG or Samsung panel with off-brand electronics. But I could well be wrong on that point. I read a write-up on the company a year or two ago.

If you are looking for a dumb TV, in any size, with any combination of features, or "not so smart" TV that has Android and a few other features, there are two sources to consider. The first is Aliexpress. Many of the manufacturers sell their TVs directly on to eBay for a small markup. You will find dumb TVs or semi-smart TVs without all the nonsense, and lots of features, for very reasonable rates. The problem will be the warranty, quality and life cycle. Spare parts are abundant and cheap, so long as your panel is good (and you can even replace that), then most repair jobs are "swap out this board for that board." If you can absorb that risk, many people who buy at Best Buy or other big box store want cheap price and convenience and low-risk, then this is a great option. If you have seen something at a trade-show (flexible TV, 120 inch TV, transparent TV, double-sided TV), you will find an Aliexpress vendor that has that exact model for around 20% to 40% of the price of the manufacturer. They are buying the exact same panels, the exact same electronics, and putting these TVs together in a generic, non-branded plastic case. Sometimes the bezels are a little larger. Sometimes the remote is a piece of junk.

I have a 55" dumb TV on my wall that runs a Linux based OS with SSH access that can also run Android apps. I don't want regular TV on it. But I can pipe video games to it, let me watch a Youtube tutorial, have a Google Meetup for work, or a bunch of other tasks that don't require a computer, and the TV leaks no data outside of the network. Cost was around $300 several years ago.

In storage, for my wife's conference business, we have two, dual-sided 60" TVs with 20 point multi-touch that run a weird flavour of Android in a dual-screen setup. Cost per device a few years back was something like $450.

We're considering a 4K 90" wallpaper TV with 20-point touch to mount on our dining room wall to replace our aging kitchen computer. I expect to pay about $2,500 for it. The reason it is under consideration because we're also contemplating a 55" version that has the hardened glass overlay. I would expect to pay under $600 for that.

I've also contemplated replacing the digital ceiling in my wife's studio with cheap 4K screens from Aliexpress. But I am procrastinating on that as I don't want to have to re-render all the art.

If you want quality with a long warranty, service & repairs, and can afford a little more, every major manufacturer out there builds a hospitality line of their product. LG has an amazing line-up of dumb TVs or semi-smart TVs that sport all of the normal input features, often with LAN control, sometimes with higher brightness or dynamic ranges, and available at any size you desire, and without any of the network leakage you expect because hospitality businesses don't like that kind of shit. You can get a 55" 4K LG commercial display TV for around $700 brand new. For a while I had a 55" LG 4K TV with 20-point multi-touch and variable viewing angle overlay in portrait orientation at my desk. I used to project 3D scenes on to it (when I wasn't using it for work) of rainy or snowy landscapes because it would trick your brain in to thinking it was an actual window. It was as close as you could get to Portal technology for under $1,500.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#543

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.

I don't know why you're downvoted, there's already screens currently in development that have precisely this. They should hit around late 2021 or early 22. There are SOHO routers in development that have this (Q1'21), and the 5G modem isn't even for your usage, its for the manufacturer to push/pull data. There's a side-by-side fridge/freezer that has this already on the market. There's a (commercial) coffee machine for installation in to offices that has this.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#544
post #342
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s still weird to me that people design their living rooms around sitting facing a screen rather than other humans. I spent the vast majority of my time facing a screen rather than other humans.

A friend of mine's father is an architect. He designed his living room spesifically for having guests. So instead of the living room being in front of a telly, there are two big sofas facing each other accross a lounge table. Behind the seating arrangement is a Bang & Olufsen stereo with a turntable and a shelf containing records. But that's not all. To top it off, the ceiling skews down towards elongated windows pla…

Yeah my living room is a couch and a lot of seating around a large coffee table I built, with my turntable and records integrated in that arrangement. Then right off to the side are floor to ceiling bookshelves for our (growing) library that I built.

But it’s not like we have a lot space in our tiny brooklyn apartment, we just set it up for hosting and talking with people. It’s great when there isn’t a pandemic happening.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#545

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.

LED projectors have a very long lifespan, require less cooling and consume little energy. They are less bright though than models with traditional lamps. Up to the point that, with the tiny projector we have, it only works when the sun has gone down. And indeed we switch off the lights when we turn on the projector.

All this means you can’t use the device as a kind of audiovisual wallpaper while you go about doing other stuff, and for those who need that scenario a projector is probably not a good alternative. We switch it on to watch something specific from start to finish. I don’t mind this particular limitation, I feel like I pay more attention and enjoy watching things more in this way.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“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.

Watching live sports on 75inch TV is an amazing experience. Especially if it is broadcast in 4k

For sure, that’s important to some people, but I’ll just walk over to a local bar if there really is a game I want to catch (like the World Cup).

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#547

I love the idea of smart TVs, but every single implementation I've seen in the last few years has been utter garbage. Everything they do is one step forward and like 3-30 steps back. For example, I recently bought a low-end Samsung TV running Tizen, which meant I could return my set-top-box (ISP has a Tizen app), get rid of my barely-functioning miracast stick, bluetooth transmitter (native features) and media PC (ap…

I'm pretty happy with my cheapo TCL tv with Roku built in. I think offloading the interface, at least to some degree, to Roku was a good choice. It's not the prettiest nor the most flexible, but it gets the job done better than all previous solutions I've had.

Yes, it has the permanent buttons for Netflix, Sling, and I think two others I can't recall off the top of my head. I don't really care.

I haven't tried it in a while, but the companion phone app that you can use as a remote was so flaky I quit using it all together. The remote works fine for everything except typing.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#548
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still remember the near-instant channel switching from the 90s, when analog signals and CRTs where the norm. You could change channels on a dime. Now with complex video and audio codecs, video post-processing and shoddily coded software there's been a very severe downgrade in that department. I don't have a TV at home but every time I'm in a hotel or my parent's place I notice how laggy it is when I'm just browsing…

That video is already laggy compared to what I remember as a kid. If you were watching OTA analog the channel change was near instant. Even on our cable box it was near instant.

Yeah, I think that video appears to still have some digital delay. Perhaps something related to the satellite receiver decoding in that example.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#549
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But alot of people want Netflix etc streamed. also alot of people dont know how to manage firewalls, pihole etc. This idea of stuffing tracking and ads into everything “smart” is such an insult to the individual.

Anyone should be able to setup and use Apple TV. (If you trust Apple, that is). If not, you could use a Raspi? I had non-techie (but still young) friends who came up with and implemented this idea by themselves.

Apple TV is expensive though for people without a bunch of cash. Pay $400 for a 4K TV that has Netflix built in and then spend $200 for Apple TV too?

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Found the millennial? The knob design is the much older one as it's purely analog. Modern microwave knobs are not properly analog. They are so infuriating - an analog control fiddling with a discrete setting. As you turn the knob, it will occasionally (with no haptic feedback) tick over to the next discrete value.

but much better than the old analog knob. For less than a minute you couldnt even turn it (usually jumped back to the bell or was anything from 20s to 1min)

Sorry this is a bit nitpicky but since this is HN ... is it strictly correct to call this knob “analogue”? The old fashioned ones were clockwork and the newer ones are some kind of digital rotary controller ... I guess if we’re describing the experience rather than the mechanism maybe just good old “knob” suffice!
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