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In Defense of Dumb TVs

frame.work

201–210 of 391 posts

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#201
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that would probably work for smaller needs but haven’t seen monitors at 65” and higher range

I'm sure i sound like a luddite but why does anyone need a 65" screen.

No one needs a TV at all so that argument is pointless.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#202

I just bought the TV I wanted and never connected it to the internet, never ran the "setup". I use an AppleTV 4K which has all the streaming apps you want (Netflix, Amazon, BBC, Pluto, etc.). For local media I use an application called MrMC ($6.99) which is a Kodi port to the AppleTV that allows you to mount Samba/NFS ( https://mrmc.tv ). MrMC even supports using a SQL backend for keeping track of your media (like Ko…

>never connected it to the internet Which is all fine and dandy but if you've bought a fancy new TV with bleeding edge features for use with your next-gen console, like low-latency gaming mode, HDMI 2.1 4K/120Hz, dolby atmos, etc, it can all comes apart when you realize you need a firmware update that fixes a bug with said bleeding edge features, since a lot of consumer HW these days is rushed out the factory door wi…

Then you connect it. Update. And then disconnnect it again.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#204
Im praying my pre-android Sony 55" will live another 5 years. Wifi is disabled and i will never run sw update. Works with AppleTV now, sound via AV receiver.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#205
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes - I wish Apple would just make a TV. Call it a living room screen or a living room monitor or something. Make it OLED, dumb TV, instant on, Apple TV box plugs in. Separate box with front facing ports that connects to screen with one cable. A remote designed by someone who thought about it for ten seconds (why do modern TVs have dozens of buttons no one ever uses?). This entire market is in desperate need of someo…

The best option that I know of today (in terms of resulting usabilty and long term reliability) is using a dumb computer monitor and roll the rest yourself with a Raspi. While this option is certainly not available to all, it is the only thing that will really fit your needs. I completely gave up on finding anything decent in that market.

The best for who? This is a ridiculous take, nobody wants to roll their own TV UX except HN users looking for a weekend project.

What usability / long-term reliability perk does your own software running on a RPI have over an Apple TV plugged into a dumb TV / monitor?

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#206

I just bought the TV I wanted and never connected it to the internet, never ran the "setup". I use an AppleTV 4K which has all the streaming apps you want (Netflix, Amazon, BBC, Pluto, etc.). For local media I use an application called MrMC ($6.99) which is a Kodi port to the AppleTV that allows you to mount Samba/NFS ( https://mrmc.tv ). MrMC even supports using a SQL backend for keeping track of your media (like Ko…

>never connected it to the internet Which is all fine and dandy but if you've bought a fancy new TV with bleeding edge features for use with your next-gen console, like low-latency gaming mode, HDMI 2.1 4K/120Hz, dolby atmos, etc, it can all comes apart when you realize you need a firmware update that fixes a bug with said bleeding edge features, since a lot of consumer HW these days is rushed out the factory door wi…

well, with the "white-label" TVs mentioned in the article you don't have this problem, because they don't even have these features.

Said that, the advertised brand just looks like the usual bottom of the barrel chinese TV set. And these usually have substantially worse specs than what you get from NEC and Co. for around 25% more than the equivalent TV (viewing angles, coating and brightness come to mind in a conference room application).

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#207
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These displays exist now. "Digital Information Displays". Example search here: https://www.cdw.com/Search/computer-monitors-displays/large-... Looks like you can't check out without an account, but I'm sure you could find a shop that would sell you one. Here is a basic one: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1242029-REG/samsung_3... It looks like since I last checked the "smart" is creeping in, but these are desi…

These kinds of displays are not really calibrated to present television and cinema video content. Watching long-form visual media on these kinds of displays could be a frustrating experience - at least, these have been my prior results.

Is there any reason that this wouldn't be solved by spending an hour with a colorimeter? Do these displays not expose any calibration controls?

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#208
post #14

I 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…

Could you just do a computer monitor? They have an HDMI port so they will show anything you want. Downsides: no tuner. Not a problem if you don’t need one. No remote control. Maybe not much of a downside if you’re just watching using a streaming box. No sound. Not a problem if using a sound bar. Seems a worthy idea if you’re concerned about tracking, but I don’t see this idea around so I must be missing a downside.

I am using a 65 inch dumb Samsung pc screen together with a Nvidia shield. 3 years ago I bought the screen for 1000 bucks. Nvidia shield remote also works with the screen and stereo tuner. For my it's the perfect setup. Rooted the shield to get rid of all non essential crap. No ads. Very fast. And Plex,Kodi, Netflix, YouTube and Spotify working perfectly.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#209
post #74

While 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

In this arms race, these companies might start shipping with their own resolver.

You can work around this by either setting a fake gateway in a static IP configuration, or configuring your DHCP server to give a fake gateway to requests coming from the TV's MAC address.

By "fake gateway" I mean a non-existing IP on your LAN: that way, no outgoing request from the offending MAC address will ever get out to the public Internet.

Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs

#210
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, Apple could charge 2-3x, because the prices have gotten so cheap. People would absolutely pay $1000-1200 for a 55" Apple TV with nice software, and maybe a nice brushed aluminum frame that looks nice on the wall. (For comparison, the cheapest 55" I could quickly find from a major retail is around $300, with a "name brand" starting around $400).

Why would it be 2 or 3 times more? Apple phones are between 10 and 15 times the price of the cheapest Android alternatives (iPhone 12 $999 from Apple, Samsung Galaxy A01 $55 from Amazon). Apple could, and probably would, sell a $4000 television.

2x to 3x at a comparable model on Hardware level.
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