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Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#151
post #39

I don't buy TVs anymore, I buy monitors. There's no reason to own a television with a shitty computer built-in, when I can just buy a screen and plug it into my actually good computer. Right now I have a 27" ThinkVision display and a pair of studio monitors, with both laptop and Switch connected to it. Media comes over the computer (who even buys cable in 2021 anyway?), audio patches into the display over USB-C/HDMI…

good luck finding 65" - 85" monitor

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#152
post #62

Why don't people like their Smart TVs? I've had a 4k smart TV for years and love it. Being able to stream without needing my phone is great. It seems ironic that people are complaining about smart TV ads while the [2] link in the OP has an absolutely MASSIVE video ad that takes up 2/3s of the screen. And it's not like you're not being tracked when you stream from a Roku stick / Chromecast. Edit: I have a 4k Samsung t…

Many/most of the built-in interfaces of smart TVs are slow, buggy, and ad/tracker-ridden and have a limited upgrade path, if any. Since there are effectively no dumb TVs on the market anymore, I bought a fancy Sony TV with AndroidTV built-in, hoping that'd it'd be decent enough to use out of the box. Nope. Slow, laggy, and some of the big name streaming apps from the app store just plain don't work. Also when the TV…

> Many/most of the built-in interfaces of smart TVs are slow, buggy, and ad/tracker-ridden and have a limited upgrade path, if any.

And many of the cheap dumb TVs have shitty audio and often break or burn in after short enough periods of time.

If you buy a cheap smart TV I don't expect it to be a great experience, just like I don't expect a cheap dumb TV to provide a good experience.

With smart or dumb TVs, you get what you pay for like anything else. I've had a mid-range Samsung for years without issue.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#153
post #32

4K monitors. You need a soundbar though or some kind of audio setup + remote. Also no built-in tuner or such but I assume you get a set top box from your service provider or use a streaming device (Apple TV, Fire stick etc.) 4K OLED https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#r=384002160&P=7 4K IPS https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#r=384002160&P=2 4K VA https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#r=384002160&P…

Why does (consumer) monitor tech always seem to lag TV tech by a few years? It looks like the situation is still that in the 4k OLED space there are a few ~$4000+ monitors and dozens of ~$1000 TVs. Per the pcpartpicker link, maybe the Gigabyte FO48U will change that, but it's still out of stock. Besides, I feel like this has happened before with HDR and 4k and IPS. First it shows up in TVs, a year later it is cheap i…

Maybe in the high-end only?

Speaking of low to mid end tvs, the ones I saw on display in local shops, they were just overpriced junk..

Even though it's smaller, I installed my 7? year old 24" benq fhd e-ips monitor as a tv for my parents. $120 + $20 for the cheapest 2.1 sound (I think 2x10W + sub), cranked the bass much higher than advised, put the speakers behind the monitor and the sub on the floor + ISP tv box with remote. Speakers and monitor are always on, they got their own power saving stuff. My parents are ecstatic, guests are asking where they got the TV from... apparently it looks better that the ones you could buy for $500+...

Last time I checked, I remember finding somewhere most tvs don't actually operate at the advertised resolution, they got all kinds of "prettifying" algos. Not going to trust them ever.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#154
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. I'm using an OLED TV as a monitor on my main PC, and it kicks the pants off any monitor I've ever used before, including the 2021 MBP monitor I'm typing this on right now.

Any worries of “burn in”? I read the risk of using one as a monitor is that with a computer there is often static images like your task bar. Those can burn into the screen permanently where as if it is just tv the image often changes. Shows like news often have a bar at the bottom and was warned those too can cause burn in. Curious what your experience has been? Thanks

Yes, OLED care is a concern, and I take the usual precautions: no fixed menubars, no tiling WM, rotating desktop wallpapers, and reduced brightness (which isn't a compromise -- anything above 80% makes light-mode content uncomfortable, and auto HDR raises the limit for actual HDR content).

Even if I were not taking these steps and generally abusing the monitor, I wouldn't expect to see burn-in yet, so I can't really speak to how the situation will develop.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#155

Seems like this would be a good use case for a "TV Honeypot" that would intercept phone-homes, recognize the model, imitate whatever jank rpc is needed to keep the unit happy, and dump all telemetry to /dev/null.

Imagine if it could replace the ads with pictures of your family, news, inspirational quotes…

Imagine if (when ?) the AI chip in each TV in the near future could smartmix© ads with pictures of your family, news, inspirational quotes...

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#156
post #26

One thing people haven't mentioned is that there are some non-smart televisions available that are marketed as extra large gaming monitors. For example, there's the Alienware 55" OLED Gaming Monitor and the ASUS ROG Swift PG65UQ that's 65".

That's interesting, but it doesn't look like you have many choices at the 55" size unless you're willing to pay double what I paid 4 years ago for my Sony.

That's exactly the reason why non smart TVs don't sell.

The smart one's are subsidized by their ads and spyware; so you'll always pay a massive premium to get a dumb one.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#157
post #141

I seem to recall hearing that certain Google TV’s could be set to dumb mode? Ah, here it is: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/the-best-feature-of-... > The new Google TV is a fine smart TV interface, but when it gets integrated into some TV sets later this year, its best feature might be that you can turn it off. A report from 9to5Google details an upcoming "Basic TV" mode that will be built into Google TV, wh…

I wouldn't expect that to stop tracking or inserting ads. Those are the key features for Google products

How would they do these things if you never give the device wifi access?

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get OTA tuners for incredibly cheap. Like $30 for a basic one. These come with the bonus of allowing you to plug in a USB HDD and record live TV. For a little more you can get a HDHomeRun or Tablo and have a network connected tuner so you can stream live TV to tablets or phones and streaming boxes like the FireTV. Powered bookshelf speakers are also an alternative to soundbars. I personally use a monitor as a…

I would assume most setups leveraging a monitor as the display would also be going through an AVR and that should take care of this kind of thing?

Sound bars and powered speakers are also an option and don't require an AVR but also typically don't offer HDMI/AV pass-through at least on the cheaper side. Going the AVR route adds even more cost and more space as a decent sound bar or powered speaker set costs less then even a low-end AVR. I went the monitor route as I just don't have room for both a desktop PC setup and a TV. I do have an HDMI switch with audio extractor but that also picks up on the Fire TV stick and auto switches to it. TBH it's just a design flaw with the Fire TV and I really wish Amazon would fix it but I bet it saves them 7 cents or something to do it this way.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#159
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does (consumer) monitor tech always seem to lag TV tech by a few years? It looks like the situation is still that in the 4k OLED space there are a few ~$4000+ monitors and dozens of ~$1000 TVs. Per the pcpartpicker link, maybe the Gigabyte FO48U will change that, but it's still out of stock. Besides, I feel like this has happened before with HDR and 4k and IPS. First it shows up in TVs, a year later it is cheap i…

Maybe in the high-end only? Speaking of low to mid end tvs, the ones I saw on display in local shops, they were just overpriced junk.. Even though it's smaller, I installed my 7? year old 24" benq fhd e-ips monitor as a tv for my parents. $120 + $20 for the cheapest 2.1 sound (I think 2x10W + sub), cranked the bass much higher than advised, put the speakers behind the monitor and the sub on the floor + ISP tv box wit…

The panels have the advertised resolution, but yes, for "smart" TVs you always have to figure out how to turn off the gross sharpening/compression filters that they use to win the Great Best Buy Screensaver Battle. It can be done, though, and certainly if the manufacturer wanted to omit them in a monitor offering it could.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#160

Why don't people like their Smart TVs? I've had a 4k smart TV for years and love it. Being able to stream without needing my phone is great. It seems ironic that people are complaining about smart TV ads while the [2] link in the OP has an absolutely MASSIVE video ad that takes up 2/3s of the screen. And it's not like you're not being tracked when you stream from a Roku stick / Chromecast. Edit: I have a 4k Samsung t…

Ideally your right, but major stream platforms aren’t available on many smart TVs. Apps aren’t updated. The TV is slow, like really slow. Press the Netflix button on my two year old Philips TV and prepare to wait. Other than being slow, the apps are just worse. The AppleTV is the minimum I accept, and non of the TV make are able to produce anything that comes close. We hate Smart TVs because the manufactures make shi…

> Ideally your right, but major stream platforms aren’t available on many smart TVs. The TV is slow, like really slow. Press the Netflix button on my two year old Philips TV and prepare to wait. Other than being slow, the apps are just worse.

Besides ads and tracking, there seems to be a trend: People on here are buying shitty TVs and complaining that they're shitty.

If you buy a cheap TV, you can't expect it to be good. Dumb or smart.

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