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The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

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Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#161

Post by mrweasel »

ilitirit wrote: post #127

YouTube's advertising strategy is pushing me to get rid of my SmartTV, or at least find a 3rd Party solution to completely block the ads. I was completely fine with one or two 6 second ads randomly playing before a video, or during a lengthy video. Then they added 14 second ads, which was very annoying, but bearable since it's about the same length as the two short ads. But now they're advertising even if I simply op…

YouTube do have a paid option, which doesn't have ads (unless the content creator has some sponsorship deal). It is the subscription service I get the most value from. Based on a few videos from content creators, it also seems like it's a good deal for them. I think Linus Tech Tips phrased something like: It matters much more than you think. Other have shown data suggestion that Premium customers contribute as much as 20 to 30% of the revenue.

Having used a device, not my own, to view videos while not on YouTube Premium, I do have to say: You can't really watch YouTube without the subscription anymore, the experience is just awful.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#162

Post by marcinzm »

HeckFeck wrote: post #135
rovr138 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung and Huawei are doing 5G, https://www.techradar.com/news/samsungs-5g-8k-tv-promises-to... https://www.techradar.com/news/huawei-is-developing-a-5g-8k-...

Cynical, sly enthusiasm. I just can't imagine 5G bands devoted to adverts passing invisibly through my skin. It is too much like the adverts in your dreams skit from Futurama. Again, it is increasingly hard to separate satire from prophesy.

Maybe in the future the TV will play barely audible ads when it detects you're asleep.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#163

Post by kwanbix »

nesk_ wrote: post #109
xoa wrote: post #87

FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. They're often found under labeling like "commercial digital signage" or "business display" or the like, they seem to often try to avoid using "TV" (if being cynical maybe to make them harder for normal people to discover and confuse them if they do). B…

However those TVs are not easy to get and, like you said, they come with an increased price. I couldn't recommend enough to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent) and block all Internet access to your "smart" TV. I did this and everything was instantly better.

Why don't you just disconnect it from the lan/wifi?

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#164

Post by flanbiscuit »

jsnell wrote: post #123
flanbiscuit wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disney+ is going to have ads? ... just googled it: So they are _adding_ a new plan that's cheaper and ad-supported, and they are not touching the current plans. So nothing will change for my current subscription plan thankfully. > Disney+’s ad-free subscription tier, which currently costs $7.99 monthly and $79.99 annually, will remain available. and this: > What’s more, if the Disney+ profile being used is associated…

> Disney+’s ad-free subscription tier, which currently costs $7.99 monthly and $79.99 annually, will remain available But it will not remain available at that price. Instead that's what the plan with ads will cost, and the prices of the current ad-free plan will be bumped up by 30%.

oh I missed that, I'm only just finding out about this now. Can you point to where you read that?

I just found this contradiction to what I had mentioned earlier (going to edit my original message)

> Regarding kid-targeted ads on Disney+, Ferro said, “Yes, we’re going to have advertising… to kids, but it’s going to be controlled advertising with a lot of parental levers to pull. We’re not going to collect data on that.” She added that there won’t be advertising in preschool content on Disney+ at launch.

https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/disney-plus-advertisin...

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#165

Post by scarface74 »

mrweasel wrote: post #140
scarface74 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, yes the alternative is not to use a device used by 95% homes in the US. What next the old Slashdot meme - “I haven’t owned a TV in 10 years. Do people still watch TV?”

While I do see, and agree with your point, we're also at a time where it's honestly much much easier to not own a TV than say 20 years ago.

He said that he means no video content from anywhere - including streaming services.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#166

Post by dylan604 »

nesk_ wrote: post #109
xoa wrote: post #87

FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. They're often found under labeling like "commercial digital signage" or "business display" or the like, they seem to often try to avoid using "TV" (if being cynical maybe to make them harder for normal people to discover and confuse them if they do). B…

However those TVs are not easy to get and, like you said, they come with an increased price. I couldn't recommend enough to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent) and block all Internet access to your "smart" TV. I did this and everything was instantly better.

>they come with an increased price.

Do they, or do the consumer TVs come with a decreased price to make them more tempting as the manufacture knows they will make up that discount in selling the collected analytics?

There was an article back some time now that showed how one brand was making more from the data sells than from the TVs themselves.

Edit: It didn't take as long to find an example:

https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/328967-vizio-makes-2...

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#167

Post by cube00 »

scarface74 wrote: post #154
cube00 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony and nVidia are not ad companies.

In fact that are. They are selling TVs cheaply subsidized by ads.

When I first purchased my TV there were no ads on it. The ads came later when Google updated their Android launcher. So, where's my discount?

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#168

Post by 9991 »

tablespoon wrote: post #149
xoa wrote: post #87

FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. They're often found under labeling like "commercial digital signage" or "business display" or the like, they seem to often try to avoid using "TV" (if being cynical maybe to make them harder for normal people to discover and confuse them if they do). B…

> FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. Do they have tuners? I've heard many of those are missing them.

No post body was provided.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#169

Post by delecti »

thunky wrote: post #131
jokowueu wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just get any smart tv and add a android tv dongle . They don't cost much

That's what I thought we well, but TFA seems to suggest that some TVs may overlay ads on top of any video source: "Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen and matched them to an existing database of content to find out what a user was watching and when" "pop-ups would reportedly appear halfway through the show and be injected into the users' own content, such as home videos"

If the plan is to get a TV (irrespective of it including "smart" features) and then use your own external dongle, then you'd have to be crazy to connect the TV to the internet. I think that must have been an implied instruction in the comment you replied to.

I got a very nice "smart" TV, plugged in my own inputs, and entirely ignored that the TV had its own apps. It works just as well as a "dumb" panel would have.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#170

Post by sjamaan »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #136
rendall wrote: post #57

> Some may argue that there's no need to be dramatic and that there's nothing wrong in seeing an occasional ad every now and then. Oh, no, I am very dramatic about this. I will go to any lengths not to see advertising. I will entirely forgo any platform that shows me even one ad, especially when I pay them. Amazon Prime video is already pushing it with their preroll previews. The second it's something else I'm cancel…

It's the principle. This probably sounds over the top, but at some point it feels like they're saying they own you. You're paying them for one service, and they'll unilaterally decide it's not enough and they are going to make more money on you. But they don't do it via a price increase that gives you a fair opportunity to decide on the value exchange. They just start shoving this stuff on you. And worst of all, it's…

This puts into words a feeling I've had for a very long time, thank you!
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