Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

news.ycombinator.com

11–20 of 413 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#11
post #2

This has been brought up several times on here. Maybe you can use the search to find those similar questions. One of the suggestions I remember seeing is to buy a large display/monitor instead of a TV. I don't remember the specifics.

"Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29382643

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#13
I have a sony bravia one. It is currently unplugged from the network and solely connected through my playstation. Admittedly i just passed the buck to sony through another device, but i’m quite happy using the ps5 (and previously ps4) as a media centre, it has netflix and all the others, plus plex, and that connects to my pi plex server + NAS drive, through which you can put on any content you like

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#16

Jeff Geerling just did a video on a commercial tv that even has a pi in it. Maybe look into digital signage stuff or even a large computer monitor or projector.

Yup, Jeff's write-up and video on NEC's Pi-powered 55“ Display model were posted here on HN just a couple days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31674957

My comment was you can buy it via Walmart:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/NEC-MultiSync-m551-55-Diagonal-Cl...

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#17
post #5
post #4

I’ve kept my Samsung offline since I purchased it in 2019. I’ve kept my LG offline since I purchased it in 2016. As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. (I recommend LG over Samsung - Samsung TV has native undismissable ads from 2019 still)

> As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. Do these TVs start up and boot directly into the selected input for something like an Apple TV, or do you have to go to extra hoops when it starts up to switch to your desired input? I'd actually be perfectly happy with a smart TV that's disconnected if it never throws its UI in my face wh…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#18

Rtings maintains a list of ad-free TVs. This isn't the same as smart-free, but maybe that's what some people want: https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/ads-in-smart-tv (The ones with a "10" in the ad-free column.) The often-given advice of "just don't connect it to the internet" is viable only sometimes. My TV shipped with some missing features that were enabled after a software update. Perhaps plug it in, update the soft…

They're using a fairly narrow definition of ads though. Vizio is full of recommendations for a mediocre streaming service owned by Vizio.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#19
Buy a TCL panel and never connect it to the internet. They are technically marketed as Smart TVs but there is no requirement that you connect them, and there are zero prompts or limits if you don’t. I’ve been using them for years and love them, primarily for the stupidly simple remotes and UI.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#20

Jeff Geerling just did a video on a commercial tv that even has a pi in it. Maybe look into digital signage stuff or even a large computer monitor or projector.

This one: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-epPf7D8oMk

Note: Sharp paid him for this

Post reply on HN