I don't use a TV anymore, as I use my pc to watch movies and series.
But for my mother, on the futures I'm thinking buying a cheap big computer screen and plug a chrome cast or something similar.
In Defense of Dumb TVs
271–280 of 391 posts
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#272I bought a Sony smart TV about a year ago. I don't get ads per say, but there is a prominent area in the main menu where Sony wants to shill their services and that can't be turned off. Also, TV has to be restarted every week or two (it's android). On the other hand, I love that I can easily cast screen from my laptop or photos from phone using built in chromecast. Smart TVs are a mixed bag.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A remote designed by someone who thought about it for ten seconds I love that a sibling comment to yours calls out the remote as dealbreaker terrible, but I agree with the sentiment that I would love a remote that was really well-designed.
You can go too far in the other direction too, however. Apple TV remote infamously has no mute functionality. And if you do an internet search on how to mute the Apple TV using the remote (because of course there’s a way, right? No one would design a TV remote that has volume control without mute) you get either one of two answers: - it’s impossible/difficult to do with current tech (not true) - the classic Apple for…
I remember a universal remote that I had on the 90s to control my small bedroom CRT TV. it has only 7 buttons, and had mute button.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#274I 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…
Some people upgrade to a new TV as often as every two/three years. You just need to find them on gumtree just before christmas. Thats how I got my big dumb LG.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#275Earlier 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…
They can't. They already used up the name 'Apple TV' for another of their products (which oddly enough doesn't actually seem to be a TV at all).
Apple TV Pro Max
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Are the graphics on a Raspi really that good?
A Raspi 4 can run two 4k HDMI streams at once. What do you mean?
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Are the graphics on a Raspi really that good?
The Raspberry Pi 4 can drive 4k displays and easily run Kodi[0].
[0]: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/build-the-ultimate-4k-home-...
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
For that situation, wouldn't you use voice control? I can say "OK Google mute" in less time than it takes to reach for a remote.
Sure. Assuming your voice assistant works first time. Otherwise the dialog would go a little more like this: Me OK Google mute Me> OK...Google....mute Me> OKGOOGLE mute G> Sorry, I don't understand Me> mute... Me> MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE Me> OKGOOGLE MUTE G> What would you like to mute? Me> The TV Me> Mute the fucking TV Google Me> OKGOOGLE MUTE THE FUCKING TV G> Sorry, I don't understand Me> Fuck it. I should have…
I got into a very similar conversation with Chase's robo call the other day. Went like this:
C: bla bla bla, if you want to speak to a representative say "representative".
Me: representative
C: sorry i couldn't understand, please chose an option or say representative to speak with one
Me: re-pre-sen-ta-tive
C: (same answer as before)
Me: REPRESENTATIVE
C: (same answer as before)
Me: GO FUCK YOURSELF
C: Ok, I'll call a representative
I want to believe that their system either sensed the tension in my voice or saw the expletive and decided to call for adult supervision.
I'm not an native English speaker so I have an accent (which isn't too heavy, but still). Using any form of speech recognition is an instant fuck-show.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#279Earlier 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…
> I wish Apple would just make a TV. But that would be a TV which you can't use to watch adult content. And Netflix and HBO would be 30% more expensive.
And yet I can do all of that on my iPad without extra cost.
Re: In Defense of Dumb TVs
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have been using an Apple TV and a Chromecast for a long time. I've never seen an ad on the Chromecast - it simply plays a stream as instructed by an app on the phone. Is it different with the Fire Stick?
The Chromecast does some gross shit. You see it in Pihole if you force it to route its dns through the Pihole. It has some black magic whereby it ignores local dns setting as far as I can tell. I blocked port 53 at firewall and sent it back to a Pihole. Good times.
At the rate things are going you're likely going to want to just blackhole all of the public DNS-over-https providers[0] to ensure that it's not switching to DoH to get around your rules.
[0]: https://gist.github.com/roycewilliams/dd13c8f4a3371a57f8dd82...