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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

#311

Post by readbeard »

next_xibalba wrote: post #299
wussboy wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way do your arguments not also apply to cocaine?

> Billions of people like using the product and it hasn't hurt their lives. In fact, it has improved them . I don't believe Facebook or TV are equivalent to cocaine. I don't think your argument is made in good faith.

> I don't believe Facebook or TV are equivalent to cocaine.

Exactly. You were making a broad claim that it is "paternalistic and elitist" to decide what is "good for you" vs "bad for you". If it is paternalistic and elitist in some cases, but appropriate in others, then don't we need a way to figure out what side of that line various things fall on?

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

#312

Post by yehBu77 »

I solved this problem by selling my TV and learning guitar and piano during lockdown.

I feel lazy and useless if I find myself in front of a TV.

Personal laptop, headless desktop for local file backup and music server, WiFi gear, phone, and job laptop, are the extent of my tech at home.

Feels great being decoupled from the consumer garbage churn. The made up frustration not finding what you want, the contrived reviews and story; all make for pretty banal and repetitive social life around you meat based tape recorders.

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

#313

Post by Sakos »

philistine wrote: post #197
Sakos wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When has that issue stopped any of these companies?

It has; we have no proof of any TV doing that. Unless we see proof, it doesn’t happen.

Not sure if you're serious or if this is sarcasm.

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

#314

Post by next_xibalba »

JohnFen wrote: post #263
next_xibalba wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact consumers love something doesn't make it a good thing. It does make it a good thing for them. Which begs the question: why is it that you get to decide what is or isn't a good thing? Or: why shouldn't people be able to decide for themselves? The answers against the latter are, at their root, paternalistic and elitist. > they love also facebook Ah, yes. The old "facebook is as bad as cigarettes" trope. It f…

But something is seriously wrong with a society where it's impossible to avoid a thing that you consider harmful to yourself just because the larger market prefers it. It used to be that one of the strengths of our economic system was that you could find something to meet your needs even if your needs weren't the same as the majority.

I don't know that this has ever really been the case. Particularly with mature product categories. And most especially for product categories with high barriers to entry in the form of large capital requirements. It was one thing to be able to go to the local candy shop for a chocolate bar if you didn't want a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but something else if you wanted a television set.

Are you thinking of an example where that once was true but has changed? I'm open to examples but can't myself think of any that are analogous.

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

#316

Post by LinuxBender »

Somewhat off topic... Has anyone started developing alternative firmware/OS for these things much like the alternate OS for cell phones GrapheneOS for pixels and related alternatives? There are a few dumb TV's remaining but options are very limited. Is it even feasible to just replace the firmware and OS on these things? Is there a JTAG or similar interface over USB or ethernet?

[Edit] Upon thinking about this a bit more, I am going to assume someone will figure out how to replace the firmware and OS on these. Probably a better question is, what can these devices be used for beyond watching television? How much graphics processing power do they have? Do they have any advanced instructions in their chipsets or any special purpose chips?

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

#317

Post by amelius »

mrjin wrote: 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 guess my replacement for a TV would be a big monitor.

Ah, the dumb monitor. Buy them while you still can!

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

#318

Post by jauco »

HonestOp001 wrote: post #307

Quick story. I purchased a Sony tv with android OS. In the store, the OS did everything I wanted. When set the system up at home, it worked just like in the store. Then five days later, an OS update forced ads onto the front page. The entire home page was changed from what I had purchased. Fortunately, I could reset the device back to the previous OS version and not let it anywhere near a wi fi. What I purchased and…

Friendly tip: new hdmi cables include ethernet. Make sure to use old ones to connect your media player
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