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It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

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Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#21

Post by tinus_hn »

rbanffy wrote: post #3
supersync wrote: post #2

I’m dead serious I’d pay an $80 to $100 premium for a dumb TV I’d even consider replacing a couple Smart TVs are just terrible

The other day I was reading the HDMI spec. I realised, in almost full horror, it’s stupidly streaming pixels instead of image deltas. When every TV has memory enough for several full frame images, this is just crazy.

Sounds clever but it’s pointless because you have to guarantee that you have enough bandwidth for the worst case, in your scheme when every pixel is changing every frame, anyway.

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#22

Post by contravariant »

lordnacho wrote: post #11

What's frightening is that I can see on my PiHole the huge spike of requests that happens when one of my TVs comes on. Just the standard graph in the front page is enough to see exactly when the kids have turned it on. Most of the requests are rejected though, maybe someone can say whether that is enough to protect me from corporate surveillance.

Blocking the MAC address from making connections outright seems like a more sensible way to prevent surveillance.

Assuming of course you are using it as a truly 'dumb' TV and not as a client for Netflix etc.

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#23

Post by atVelocet »

Just search for the professional line of monitors every major brand sells. Those are made for ads, conventions, etc and most of the time lack any smart features but have the same displays as their „smart“ counterparts.

Only downside: You pay more (>$/€1000) to have less.

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#24

Post by bonzini »

supersync wrote: post #2

I’m dead serious I’d pay an $80 to $100 premium for a dumb TV I’d even consider replacing a couple Smart TVs are just terrible

Buy digital signage/conference room screens.

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/products/shop/digital-displays....

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#25

Post by windowsworkstoo »

supersync wrote: post #2

I’m dead serious I’d pay an $80 to $100 premium for a dumb TV I’d even consider replacing a couple Smart TVs are just terrible

Don’t know your exact specs or the premium you pay over consumer level but I buy/install commercial display panels and when I need a new TV or such, I just grab one of them. No extra stuff, fast input switching etc etc

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#26

Post by Bancakes »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #6

Every TV is "stupid" when it's not connected to the internet, and none of them can transmit your data when disconnected.

My provider gives me a EON set-top-box which is just a smartphone with a ethernet and HDMI port. It's always connected as it's internet-based TV. This is the sad state of reality.

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#27

Post by sam_lowry_ »

atVelocet wrote: post #23

Just search for the professional line of monitors every major brand sells. Those are made for ads, conventions, etc and most of the time lack any smart features but have the same displays as their „smart“ counterparts. Only downside: You pay more (>$/€1000) to have less.

The search term is "digital signage".

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#28

Post by qwertox »

lordnacho wrote: post #11

What's frightening is that I can see on my PiHole the huge spike of requests that happens when one of my TVs comes on. Just the standard graph in the front page is enough to see exactly when the kids have turned it on. Most of the requests are rejected though, maybe someone can say whether that is enough to protect me from corporate surveillance.

It may be enough for that TV, but many devices have a custom-set DNS address and ignore the one given through DHCP, unless you set up a firewall where you block that address, then they fall back to using the one provided via DHCP. That's how Chromecast and Amazon devices are doing it.

Re: It’s Still Stupidly, Difficult to Buy a ‘Dumb’ TV

#29

Post by Markoff »

Aren't those called nowadays "computer displays"? But I guess it can be problem with larger size, 43-55 are way more expensive than TVs, like 3-4X more than same size smart TV with same resolution.

I mean if you worry about spying just don't connect smart TV to internet, but yeah, the interface will be usualyl slower than dumb TV.

If you are frustrated by outdated software nothing stops you from plugging whatever Android stick into HDMI port, that's what I did with my dumb "smart" TCL with extremely locked Android without app store, without side loading (no it's not possible unless you wanna disassemble the TV and hardwire it) and with Youtube regularly crashing.

But why would you want TV without speaker, that's what makes TV a TV, if you dont want even speaker then it can be hardly called a TV, that's like calling phone something which can't even make call.

Btw. there are always projectors, where it should be better situation and you are also not limited by size.

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