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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?

#281

Post by deltarholamda »

austinshea wrote: post #66

Sceptre is fantastic for this. e.g. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-55-Class-4K-UHD-LED-TV-HD... Zero smart features, and all modern capabilities. It's also a TV, as opposed to a computer monitor, so it has the expected TV speakers and ports.

It's been many years, so this is old data, but I purchased a half dozen or so Sceptre flat panel monitors for an office. Every one of them stopped working after about two years. I don't remember for sure, but they may have been LCDs with fluorescent backlights, so the fluorescents could have simply failed.

I've always had a poor opinion of Sceptre from this, but again, it could just be an out of date prejudice.

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

#282

Post by bogwog »

beagle3 wrote: post #256
jzymbaluk wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would the TV phone home if it's not connected to the internet?

Amazon had (perhaps still has) whispernet - a global coverage of cellular networks. It was used to download books to your kindle, essentially anywhere in the world, without having to have a local plan or WiFi. It was 2G iirc, enough for book download. Uploading a perceptive hash of what you are watching - e.g. a frame every few seconds - also fits on 2G speeds.

Also maybe I'm mistaken, but don't most modern cars have a built in modem for sending telemetry to the manufacturer as well?

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

#283

Post by krustymeathead »

gopalv wrote: post #278
isoprophlex wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No of course not. The moment you - possibly accidentally - grant the fucker an internet connection over BT, it starts to rat on you. However briefly. Aything with an IR remote does not betrays it's users like that (through the remote)

> grant the fucker an internet connection over BT, it starts to rat on you Or it does that by itself, with a mesh network that your neighbours have setup by accident with their Alexa or Ring - Amazon Sidewalk is an amazing end-run around your own firewall rules.

I wonder when home security setups will start including a Faraday cage, at least for certain rooms or areas.

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

#284

Post by aendruk »

FearlessNebula wrote: post #232
Benjammer wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen stories of smart TVs doing active scans for any unsecured wifi network in range, then connecting and phoning home without ever informing the user or showing anything in the menus. Is that a real thing?

Not only this, but how long until they start including a cheap modem and paying for their own cellular connectivity?

See also Amazon Sidewalk.

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

#285

Post by cyberge99 »

8note wrote: post #107
jjoonathan wrote: post #78

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…

Monitors are built for being an arm's length away. TVs are built for being several yards away. The pixel density changes accordingly

And so does the ability to use IR or some other remote control mechanism.

A “dumb tv” would just be a monitor with a remote to control power and volume.

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

#287

Post by jeffbee »

10000truths wrote: post #240
rubidium wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"doing active scans for any unsecured wifi network in range"

This doesn’t seem like a practical thing for manufacturers to implement. How common are such networks in actuality? Literally the only time I ever encountered unsecured Wi-Fi networks in the past several years were guest networks, and all of those were gated by a capture portal that would have blocked any sort of attempt at telemetry or ad serving.

I doubt any TV does this but if I needed to implement it I would just do it the same way that I use wifi in hotels that have captive portals without paying for it: tunnel IP over DNS.

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

#288

Post by koheripbal »

iramiller wrote: post #18

They are not without their drawbacks but you can get an excellent picture quality 4K home theater projector that has none of the ‘smart’ tv features.

+1 for projectors.

Some will laugh at getting 4K resolution and then projecting it on a regular white wall, but honestly, you'll get used to it as you project a much larger image than you'd otherwise get with an lcd. Also, there are special paints you can get - or a retractable screen if you feel the need after testing out the projector.

Note: if it is a room with windows make sure to have decent curtains. It's not as FC v bright as a LCD screen.

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

#289

Post by ab_testing »

Volundr wrote: post #252
cronix wrote: post #173

All TV's are dumb tv's if you only use them as an external display/monitor and don't connect them to the net. I have a dedicated computer for a media center and just use HDMI1 input on the TV. Never enter menus. Never update the OS. Never agree to anything. Never let the TV "phone home." Never set up wifi. Never connect a CAT5 to it. Set the input using the remote and forget it. Treat it as a dumb monitor. Computer i…

That's sadly not really true. I have an LG that I (thought) I was using this way until one day in the middle of watching some TV I get a prompt about a OnePlus phone trying to control my TV, do I want to accept? Needless to say and didn't, but I was baffled by what happened. Turns out that the stupid TV is controllable via an app over bluetooth, and there is no way to turn bluetooth off. I'm just stuck with my TV con…

Well, that was mostly a neighbor who accidentally clicked on your TV's bluetooth broadcast signal. But still if you leave it at that and not let your TV connect via bluetooth, it still remains a dumb TV
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