Vizio's CTO confirmed in 2019 that smart TV data harvesting subsidizes their prices: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18172397/airplay-2-homekit...
This is how a 70in TV at $499 is possible
In Defense of Dumb TVs
51–60 of 391 posts
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they were not user hostile it could be nice. For example if the device itself ran the streaming software, you could turn on your TV from that streaming service’s phone app.
> For example if the device itself ran the streaming software, you could turn on your TV from that streaming service’s phone app. That was what HDMI CEC was supposed to deliver... assuming that it works. Hit and miss.
But when it works... man, is it great!
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#53I’m really pleased the author called out the Apple TV as a device that lets you avoid ads. We tried to go cheap on another of our TVs and get an Amazon Fire Stick and in addition to it being not as smooth (combo of UX and speed) at the Apple TV, it had a good amount of ads all over the place. There’s lots of griping about the cost of an Apple TV 4k, but I’ll pay that extra $100 to avoid ads and not be tracked so exte…
Yep plus when you start to stretch the Fire Stick and a few other products you find a number of issues. For example I've spend probably in the region of 40 hours trying to fix issues with Firestick and Echo Studio. When they work well they are excellent value for money products. But then you get a glitch (like audio dropping because of a lack of sync) and it becomes a morass. Hours upon hours and no solution (eventua…
I never had a single issue with my roommates' Samsung smart TV (casting or otherwise) besides some buggy apps. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on "just works."
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#54Instead of a TV you can buy a 4K monitor and some audio speakers. Simple but effective.
Yeah, I used to buy TVs and use them as bigger, cheaper monitors. Now it seems like I need to do the opposite... too bad it probably costs a hefty chunk of change to get a giant monitor!
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#55I recently bought a new TV and did a little searching for dumb TVs before buying. It’s really hard to find a dumb TV. I learned that you can in fact buy a commercial TV that is dumb which seems like a good option. I ended up going with a smart enabled Samsung TV and have not enabled the TV to access wifi. It wants me to agree to terms and conditions whenever I pull up the main menu. I’ve learned to ignore it but it h…
This may be tinfoil-hat adjacent, but I have heard that the allure of advertising data is so high that TV manufacturers will program their software to connect to any open WiFi network in order to deliver their collected data. By the way, your post is basically the article, except they mention Sceptre TVs, who specialize in making dumb tv panels.
At that point it's time to open the thing up and rip out the antenna.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#56I’m really pleased the author called out the Apple TV as a device that lets you avoid ads. We tried to go cheap on another of our TVs and get an Amazon Fire Stick and in addition to it being not as smooth (combo of UX and speed) at the Apple TV, it had a good amount of ads all over the place. There’s lots of griping about the cost of an Apple TV 4k, but I’ll pay that extra $100 to avoid ads and not be tracked so exte…
Ehn, no vp9 though (last I checked)... so if you watch a lot of YT in 4K, it uses more bandwidth than say Google TV.
I don't think most people care about vp9 or codec wars. It's not something on almost anyone's minds.
h.264 and h.265 are the dominant codecs, regardless.
And Netflix found that h.265 consumed less bandwidth than vp9, not more: https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?Art...
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#57I’m really pleased the author called out the Apple TV as a device that lets you avoid ads. We tried to go cheap on another of our TVs and get an Amazon Fire Stick and in addition to it being not as smooth (combo of UX and speed) at the Apple TV, it had a good amount of ads all over the place. There’s lots of griping about the cost of an Apple TV 4k, but I’ll pay that extra $100 to avoid ads and not be tracked so exte…
Ehn, no vp9 though (last I checked)... so if you watch a lot of YT in 4K, it uses more bandwidth than say Google TV.
tvOS has supported vp9 since last year, the youtube app however has been slow getting that message...
https://9to5mac.com/2020/09/18/4k-youtube-videos-still-not-c...
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#58While I let my smart TV connect to the internet for firmware update reasons (bug fixes), I’m running my entire home network through NextDNS, and before that a PiHole. Not seeing any ads in the UI, and I note some attempted logging traffic is blocked.
Before I upgraded to LG last year I had a Samsung and it was trying to ping home constantly. It constituted 80% of outbound requests denied by the PiHole
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#59Bought a new smart TV a few months ago. The move for me was never, not even at setup, connecting my new TV to wifi and simply routing everything through the Apple TV. Seems to be working great so far at avoiding a lot of common “smart TV” problems.
Do you inspect all traffic going through ? I'll NEVER trust my TV to be "connected", I basically use all my "TV" as monitors for a raspi or chromecast.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#60This is exactly why I never connect TVs to the internet. Then they are just dumb HDMI panels.
Soon they'll be coming with their own 5G chips that phone home over cell networks - no wifi access required. Or, like the Amazon Echoes, they'll form a mesh network with your neighbors TVs and other devices and then just use your neighbor's wifi to phone home. It's coming. I'm buying Spectres and I suggest others do the same.
Lol, if this all gets too onerous, I will just stick with my plasmas and CRT displays.
I have a few of each, they are in great condition and will be collecting a few more.
OLED may prove compelling enough to get me interested, but nothing LCD will, except as computer display.
I got super lucky on the plasma. It is big, beautiful and not all that smart. Got two of them, one seeing very light use.
Those things said, chances are the display tech that performs on par with fast plasma and CRT will probably come with the worst of this "smart" code.
Fine. I am game. Lets play. I will probably win, but it will also probably be a pain in the ass too.
Maybe I will just get a third plasma...
The other thing which has happened as a result of all this is I personally do not bother with TV much. Just hate the ads. Too much, too frequent, too repetitive.
I have never been happier. All that bonus time!