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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

#51
post #41

Smart TVs were created for all kinds of agendas but none were actually for us the consumers. All those agendas require an OS which takes time to boot. Making it worse, some of those TVs' CPU are crap and thus every operation takes much longer than those dumb ones. Lots of vendors also start to ship new remotes that removed all the essential buttons, especially the video source button, and I have to press 5 or more ti…

I wonder how this will play into the hedonic adjustment to inflation?

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

#52
There are a lot of stories that TVs still try to connect to open Wi-Fi networks while you didn't configure any. I wonder if those stories are really true.

Because personally I never ever would configure internet on my TV. I just use HDMI as input.

But this is also because I don't have cable TV. Imho dropping cable TV is one of the best ROIs you can make.

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

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who needs firmware updates on a TV?

BBC iPlayer stopped supporting don't older TVs. I think it was a codec issue, they only now support more modern codecs? In which case a firmware update might have provided a fix. I know several older people who changed TV because of it.

But BBC iPlayer needs the internet to work.

If the premise is "do not connect it to a network to make it a dumb TV" then the apps that need the internet won't work anyway.

If the only thing is connected to is HDMI (and that device providers any apps you need)... Then surely firmware and software updates are not needed.

If course the key is to never ever give it any network or Bluetooth credentials.

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

#55
post #44
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because manufacturers will earn more than your 100$ with ads and all other Is there any evidence that this is the case?

[0] indicates they earn some 10-20$/year for vizio and 40$/month ([sic], article probably meant year) for Roku from advertising. With a lifetime of a TV at about 5 years this puts you in 100-200$ extra territory. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773073/vizio-acr-adver...

How much cost do the extra electronics impose?

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

#57
post #49
post #7

Is there a reason I’m not aware of that not connecting a smart to to a network isn’t enough? Do they auto-connect to open Wi-Fi for example?

>Do they auto-connect to open Wi-Fi for example? Yes, they do.

There is no proof of this ever happening or being a feature though.

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

#58
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

wouldn't be easier just not set internet connection in first place? I don't think TV can hack into secure WiFi network

Fair, though you might want to make some exceptions at some point. Or prevent it from randomly connecting to an unsecured wifi.

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

#60
post #19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand it either, but it's also because I don't know how modern TVs (2015+) behave when not connected. But I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung and others would already be working on a solution where the TVs use your phone as a bridge to the internet. Or neighboring IoT devices (similar to Amazon Sidewalk).

Just a built in sim card with very cheap data rates works. Apparently this viewing data is worth quite a bit of money on the data markets.

I guess it's not easily done but if people were to send blatantly messed up data back to the servers that were listening to the creepy TVs it would undermine that value and maybe the manufacturers would reconsider.
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