In Defense of Dumb TVs • Hacker News Board

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#61

Post by alacombe » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:04 AM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #23

lrvick wrote: post #4

This 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.

> Soon they'll be coming with their own 5G chips that phone home over cell networks - no wifi access required

This is something I never understood about the IOT bullcrap, even if something can connect to a mobile network, they'd still need the expense of a data subscription which render the whole thing pretty moot. It's not as if 5G providers were operating their network for free.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#62

Post by tonyfader » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:04 AM UTC

fine, you'll have dumb tvs (but smart phones and homes), but your kids won't.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#63

Post by mixmastamyk » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:05 AM UTC

smitty1e wrote: post #20

joney_baloney wrote: post #17

Saw this just after reading this post. Not a bad development. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/the-best-feature-of-...

Uh-huh. Until Google decides to alter the bargain in accordance with paragraph 3.5.34.3.67.2 of the User Agreement.

Pray that I don’t alter it further.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#64

Post by yftsui » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:11 AM UTC

I upgraded my TV to a Sony X950 because I cannot find a decent dumb TV, got really annoyed with the super buggy Google Android TV thing.

The cold start time is absurdly high, the basic feature of a TV - built in OTA TV player has a bug that the channel display stays on forever, the Airplay frequently play video with no sound. The only fix is find the 3 level deep restart menu item, because power on / off doesn’t matter. I would be more than happy to pay more for a normal Sony TV, with a “not using Google Android TV” label.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#65

Post by bobbylarrybobby » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:11 AM UTC

yaml-ops-guy wrote: post #57

deadmutex wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Somehow, google has made it so that the best way to watch YouTube on an Apple TV is to open YouTube.com in a browser on another apple device and airplay to the Apple TV.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#66

Post by throw0101a » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:12 AM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #53

secfirstmd wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

Great except for the fact that smart TVs connected to the Internet have all sorts of privacy concerns:

* https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/01/fbi-smart-tv-security/

Samsung actually released a TV app to tell you what it's doing:

* https://fortune.com/2020/01/18/samsung-smart-tv-data-privacy...

Which is nice, in a way, but it'd be better if they just didn't.

I'd be much more trusting of Apple TV being connected to the Internet than with a smart TV.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#67

Post by darksaints » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:13 AM UTC

I don't really see any criticisms inherent to the idea of a smart TV, although some might like them to be simpler for simplicity's sake. But I would imagine most people would love their smart TVs if they were not just one more convoluted layer of ads to generate continuous revenue and spy on you to harvest data.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#68

Post by milofeynman » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:14 AM UTC

vidanay wrote: post #35

Has nobody rooted the firmware for "smart" TV's?

This comes up every time an article like this is posted on HN and the answer is basically no.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#69

Post by Spivak » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:15 AM UTC

darksaints wrote: post #67

I don't really see any criticisms inherent to the idea of a smart TV, although some might like them to be simpler for simplicity's sake. But I would imagine most people would love their smart TVs if they were not just one more convoluted layer of ads to generate continuous revenue and spy on you to harvest data.

I just wish you could buy TVs with either Apple TV or Chromecast built in like we have for Android Auto or CarPlay.

(some, usually lower end, TVs do have chromecasts but they’re not super common)

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#70

Post by phreack » Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 3:16 AM UTC

darksaints wrote: post #67

I don't really see any criticisms inherent to the idea of a smart TV, although some might like them to be simpler for simplicity's sake. But I would imagine most people would love their smart TVs if they were not just one more convoluted layer of ads to generate continuous revenue and spy on you to harvest data.

It's inherent inasmuch as that if companies are able to profit by using 'smartness', they will do it, absolutely. I've yet to see one company large enough to sell TVs with a proven track record of not selling data for ads if able.