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

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

#231

Post by pmontra »

IgorPartola wrote: post #60
bananamerica wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL most car in my country doesn't make any sense :P

Like it or not, it is true. As reliability and performance of automatics gets better and the gas mileage is now also on par and the cost to produce an automatic is reduced by economies of scale, manual transmissions are going by way of horse and buggies. It’s not everywhere but it will be. Also consider that EVs have different requirements for their transmissions than ICE vehicles and there are no EVs with manual tra…

I think manual is safer on mountain roads (automatic is scary there) and possibly for 4WD. I drove an EV only in city roads (a car sharing company) and it had great acceleration and it was silent at traffic lights. No gears, of course.

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

#232

Post by mathgeek »

ffggvv wrote: post #227
MR4D wrote: post #205

You want to buy a “monitor”, not a TV. For instance there is this from LG [0] or this from Dell [1]. Just do a search for “large 4K monitor” and you’ll find more. [0] - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-43-ultrafine-4k-uhd-monitor-... [1] - https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-55-4k-conference-r...

monitors dont have tv channels or hook ups for a lot of peoples cable boxes usually dont have the best (if ant) speakers or a remote either

As far as cable boxes go, what are they using for connections these days? I haven’t seen one in ages as everyone in my social circles (as a child of the early 80s) dropped cable years ago.

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

#233

Post by fswd »

bradknowles wrote: post #98
GekkePrutser wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just don't ever give it the wifi password This works for now but Amazon is already working on a way to share messages from devices through echo dots etc in the area. Even your neighbors'. It's intended precisely for this purpose :( To capture days from those trying to stay under the radar. It's called sidewalk.

They're going to get more aggressive about putting LTE/5G SIMs into the devices, maybe as eSIMs. That will make it a lot harder to disable their remote monitoring functions.

Already happening. I bought a new excavator, and it has hidden GPS/LTE modem in it. The only way I knew is that the dealer told me to disconnect the battery when parking it, or it'll eventually drain due to the modem. Of course, they only told me after I bought it. It's the new norm. I guess if I miss a payment they'll remotely shut it off?

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

#234

Post by cheriot »

mcculley wrote: post #212
MR4D wrote: post #205

You want to buy a “monitor”, not a TV. For instance there is this from LG [0] or this from Dell [1]. Just do a search for “large 4K monitor” and you’ll find more. [0] - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-43-ultrafine-4k-uhd-monitor-... [1] - https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-55-4k-conference-r...

Is there a proper term or category for a monitor meant for high end installations that has no branding on it (e.g., as one would put into a display at a museum)? I refuse to buy something with a logo on the front of it.

Thin bevel TVs don't have space for the logo. For example https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-oled65c1pub-oled-4k-tv

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

#235

Post by atomicfiredoll »

wmf wrote: post #18
LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

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.

Vizio has also apparently decided to ramp up it's ad growth [0] and Jump Ad [1] platform as well. It makes me real glad that I didn't drop the money on a P Series Quantum due to technical issues people experienced. I've stopped considering them completely since.

It's important to remember these reviews can become outdated with firmware, too. Even old TVs can suddenly start "benefiting viewers, content providers and advertisers" with "features" like ads playing as screensavers, and phoning the content of your screen back to Big Brother.

Here's a related Reddit thread from the Jump Ad announcement [2].

[0] - https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/vizio-tv-buyers-are-...

[1] - https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...

[2] - https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/tv303i/vizio_tvs_a...

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

#236

Post by paulcole »

GWBullshit wrote: post #175

You and I suspect half the country. During the 90s I remember there was this big fuss when Gateway 2000 was introducing the first "smart/PC" TV to the market. Steve Jobs went on record as saying something along the lines of "Not only will it not work out, it shouldn't, because TV is the place where people head to at the end of the day to shut their brains off, not figure out even more ways to interact with tech." It…

> making sure ALL TVs insist on spending over a half hour pushing buttons before people can sit down to watch something and relax

Is there any TV that’s even within an order of magnitude of this HN-tech-bro-I-own-my-device nightmare fantasy?

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

#237

Post by jimmaswell »

mathgeek wrote: post #232
ffggvv wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

monitors dont have tv channels or hook ups for a lot of peoples cable boxes usually dont have the best (if ant) speakers or a remote either

As far as cable boxes go, what are they using for connections these days? I haven’t seen one in ages as everyone in my social circles (as a child of the early 80s) dropped cable years ago.

just HDMI generally

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

#239

Post by opencl »

account-5 wrote: post #216
undersuit wrote: post #93

What about getting a smart TV that respects you, because you paid a premium. I have a Sharp/NEC c651q. The Raspberry Pi 3 Compute Module in it lets me watch media on the internet(newer models will accept the RPi4 CM). It has no integration with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc.

This sounds right up my street. My crappy smart TV is the worse. I went searching and this warning stood out: > Legal Disclaimer To California Residents >WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including Styrene and Formaldehyde (gas), which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, and Lead, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.…

I have never seen a TV that doesn't have the prop 65 warning and would be shocked if any exist.

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

#240

Post by tunap »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #40
LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

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…

It's not the same at all, smart tvs can still send tracking data home about what you're viewing etc. I would not want either.

Ditto. And what's to stop someone from making a relay/chip/switch to turn the speakers into microphones when the TV is off-not-off, save Big Co LLC the microphone costs and get a big fat promotion? If it's possible, someone will do it. Remember when Goog "forgot" to mention the Nest microphone?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/googles-nest-alarm-system-has-a...

EDIT: Even better, Visio's lapse. This shit used to be illegal, and now it's supposed to be not super creepy, too? No thanks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/business/vizio-television...

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