This is yet another proof that advertising is a cancer on society and should be kept in check by regulation otherwise it ends up taking over everything including paid products and pushes ad-free products out of the market.
In Defense of Dumb TVs
251–260 of 391 posts
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Connect it, update the firmware, disconnect it. If your original intent of having it air-gapped in the first place was for privacy and security then doing what you said would be like saying: remove condom, have intercourse, put back condom :D
My main reason is to neuter ad delivery.
The problem with this approach is that once you hook it up online for the first time, ads can be cookied and still displayed once it goes offline.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#253I fully agree about dumb TVs for personal use. Even having to wait for your TV's OS to boot up when you turn it on is a terrible UX.
However, when it comes to buying a TV for your conference room where you have a TV running 12hrs/day (when you're not a small startup with 10ppl), invest in a proper commercial TV like NEC or (my personal favorite brand) iiyama: 1) the're dumb TVs from the start, 2) you get proper warranties and support, 3) you can get larger TVs without 4K HDR (which your computer may not support anyway), 4) the color grading is more apt for your PowerPoint slides, etc and finally, 5) these panels are actually rated for that kind of use and won't break after a few weeks. From my experience building conference rooms, that investment is actually worth it
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Have you seen the size of the antenna in your cell phone?
You're never gonna find all the antennas inside a product the size of a television. Some will be part of the circuit boards.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#255I've been hunting and buying old (~2008-2012) Panasonic plasma TV's off my local craigslist alternative. They were the best in business as far as plasma screens go and the build quality is insane. Colour reproduction is very natural and deep blacks are just wow, only the OLEDs beat it but I'm not sold on the longevity of OLED screens yet. For example I bought Panasonic TH-42PZ85EA for $30, plugged in an STB for IPTV in one port, Chromecast in another and that's all the smart features I need, there's still a 3rd HDMI port in case you'd want to plug in a game console.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#256RCA makes a truly-100%-dumb 4k@60hz 43" screen that's actually quite good -- model RTU4300.
Regarding Sceptre: if you buy one to use as a monitor turn down the "sharpness" to zero or it will look hideously awful. Same with the RCA RTU4300.
Unfortunately the sharpness menu is missing from all of their 43" and above displays. On those panels you need to go into the hidden "service menu" to adjust the sharpness. The procedure is different for each model, but you can generally find the secret code by googling around:
https://www.avsforum.com/search/1117513/?q=sceptre+service+m...
You'll be amazed how much better text looks.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#257I've been hunting and buying old (~2008-2012) Panasonic plasma TV's off my local craigslist alternative. They were the best in business as far as plasma screens go and the build quality is insane. Colour reproduction is very natural and deep blacks are just wow, only the OLEDs beat it but I'm not sold on the longevity of OLED screens yet. For example I bought Panasonic TH-42PZ85EA for $30, plugged in an STB for IPTV…
Isn't plasma screen susceptible to burn-out?
What search terms do you use?
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#258Earlier 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.
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...
People should care if they want to watch YouTube in more than 720p resolution...
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#259I've been hunting and buying old (~2008-2012) Panasonic plasma TV's off my local craigslist alternative. They were the best in business as far as plasma screens go and the build quality is insane. Colour reproduction is very natural and deep blacks are just wow, only the OLEDs beat it but I'm not sold on the longevity of OLED screens yet. For example I bought Panasonic TH-42PZ85EA for $30, plugged in an STB for IPTV…
Isn't plasma screen susceptible to burn-out? What search terms do you use?
It is but much of that is overblown because of really old plasma screens - early 2000s and such. Some manufacturers dealt with it better than others. If you're buying an old plasma without burn-in after ~10 years of use with minimal attention you'll be OK. I make sure not to leave paused frame for longer than 30m periods and enable screensavers where possible. You sometimes can see contours of an image after turning off the TV if the image was still for some time but they fade away quickly and not cause any artefacts. Chromecast has a screensaver, my STB as well. Things like channel logos are not a problem even after long viewing sessions. I've had Panasonic and LG plasmas. They do draw much more power (150-300W) and in case of active cooling you can hear the fans just slightly but otherwise, to me, it's a steal at these prices for this image quality.
EDIT: I search for "panasonic plasma" and make sure it's at least 1920x1080 screen and try to buy it under $50, so far I've bought a few for family and one for the holiday cabin.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't plasma screen susceptible to burn-out? What search terms do you use?
It is but much of that is overblown because of really old plasma screens - early 2000s and such. Some manufacturers dealt with it better than others. If you're buying an old plasma without burn-in after ~10 years of use with minimal attention you'll be OK. I make sure not to leave paused frame for longer than 30m periods and enable screensavers where possible. You sometimes can see contours of an image after turning…
Thanks for the tips! I see someone selling '11gen 200Hz' plasma, where does that stand?