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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

#411
I don't own a smart TV. If I were to buy one, am I forced to connect it to my WiFi before I use it? Can't you just use one without an internet connection?

My dumb TVs have Chromecasts attached. I know I'm handing my data to Google, but I don't (yet) have to put up with injected commercials.

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

#412
post #375
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…

That NEC isn't a TV though, i.e. it has no tuner.

It would be interesting to know how many people use the tuner in their TV rather than cable, streaming, or the one in their DVR. Our TiVo use was supplanted by DIRECTV streaming in the past few years, but I don’t think I’ve used the built in tuner in about 15 years.

Is there any regulatory reason to include tuners in displays?

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

#413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my expectation of the market, based on at least the following two points: 1) Video games are sold at full price and still include ads and microtransactions 2) Cable TV was originally ad free (and marketed as such), until they realized they could include ads and make even more money. I hold the opinion that executives at many of these companies hold the view, "Why only get some of our customer's money when we…

Where does the myth that cable TV was ad free come from? Cable TV was never as free. Cable was first introduced to bring broadcast TV - with ads to places that couldn’t get reception. Then the “Superstations” like TBS and WGN came to cable. They were local broadcast channels that used satellites to broadcast nationwide to cable companies. Then came cable TV channels like CNN, ESPN, MTV etc with ads. Cable TV has alwa…

For something that's supposedly a myth, the expectation was spread broadly enough that the NY Times wrote an article about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...

Also, there were some Cable TV channels, sometimes bundled with other channels, that explicitly did not have ads (HBO, to name one), just to complicate things further.

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

#414
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily - it's what the market will bear, not the cost itself. This just means the target market will tolerate the ads, not that they are subsidizing the cost of the TV. The extra revenue could just as easily be gravy - especially because this is probably the result of some implicit collusion.

This is my expectation of the market, based on at least the following two points: 1) Video games are sold at full price and still include ads and microtransactions 2) Cable TV was originally ad free (and marketed as such), until they realized they could include ads and make even more money. I hold the opinion that executives at many of these companies hold the view, "Why only get some of our customer's money when we…

Video games are not sold at full price. 20 years ago the average game price was $50. The price point was universally increased to $60. In Europe the price point has scaled beyond that but in the USA the price has stayed $60. 20 years of inflation has not be accounted for in that price. 20 years of technology improvements leading to increased art team demands, etc.

And to top that off, the frequent mass sale events on popular game distribution channels have led to a culture of people not purchasing games UNLESS they are on sale.

I'm not a fan of the implementations they have selected to make up for that, but it's a bit disingenuous to imply that all money making on top of the $60 cost is profiteering.

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

#415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quite like my android tv on my lg display. It’s responsive with a nice solid feeling remote. I think there are ads on the screen but I’ve never given them more than a passing glance except once or twice I was recommended a good tv show. Most people outside of the HN crowd really don’t think about this stuff at all.

To my knowledge, LG TVs don't run Android TV, but webOS instead.

Sony*, sorry

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

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> tv refusing to work [...] Is that really a thing? I'd never heard of it until this. Is that something that only kicks in if it has been connected at least once?

I've seen a few of them. They usually start with nudging for the first few weeks ("hey, you should really plug me in and get an OS update!") before eventually refusing to work at all.

You’ve seen a few TVs do this? What’s an example so that I may see it for myself?

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

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does the myth that cable TV was ad free come from? Cable TV was never as free. Cable was first introduced to bring broadcast TV - with ads to places that couldn’t get reception. Then the “Superstations” like TBS and WGN came to cable. They were local broadcast channels that used satellites to broadcast nationwide to cable companies. Then came cable TV channels like CNN, ESPN, MTV etc with ads. Cable TV has alwa…

For something that's supposedly a myth, the expectation was spread broadly enough that the NY Times wrote an article about it. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv... Also, there were some Cable TV channels, sometimes bundled with other channels, that explicitly did not have ads (HBO, to name one), just to complicate things further.

I’ve seen that article before.

Cable never marketed itself as being ad free

> Although cable television was never conceived of as television without commercial interruption…

HBO has always been a premium add on to basic cable. Just like it is today and it still doesn’t have ads.

> But scores of big companies, including General Foods, American Express, Procter & Gamble and Pepsico, are already cable advertisers, along with innumerable used-car dealers and other local businesses that can afford cable's relatively low rates.

> Many cable channels have yet to begin operating, and those now running commercials, such as Ted Turner's 24-hour Cable News Network or U.S.A. Network's ''You'' program for women, carry 30-second and one-minute commercials that are a standard feature of regular television.

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

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most pirating is done via torrent. If you’re downloading content, you are also uploading it. But no it isn’t legal to download content that wasn’t authorized to be uploaded.

Incorrect. You can turn seeding off. (Although that is not a very neighbourly thing to do) Also torrents are just one source.

Even when you’re not “seeding” completed downloads, the segments you have are available to other downloads. Many clients also have the ability to downgrade an downloaders ability to get segments if you are not reciprocating.

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

#420
"smart" tv's remind me too much of 3d tv's. those were a fad for a while and the only non-3d tv's you could buy were high end retail displays. they are thankfully gone now.

I wanted a higher quality display than what a retail display could offer me, so I chose a "smart" tv that has oled with an appletv connected. as long as I never hook it up to ethernet or wifi, it acts as a "dumb" display and I can use only the appletv remote.

I really look forward to good displays being panel and sound only again.

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