Sceptre is the only brand that still makes non-smart TVs.
Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
91–100 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its because they're garbage. When a CRT from the mid 80's powers on, warms its tube up faster and switches inputs quicker than a modern TV, something is very wrong. I'm pretty sure the NAND is degrading in my 2015 Sony Bravia, its bordering on unusable with its hangs, jitters and crashes. I barely trust any manufacturer to produce consumer grade goods that actually do their job properly, the best way to get more stuf…
there are plenty of excellent (smart) tvs. it's funny to see people posting on here talk about how long it takes for their TV to power on. clearly if you're wasting free time on here optimizing seconds isn't on the agenda.
My TV is either off to save energy, or because Android has gone completely insane again and it needs rebooting.
If you do a full hard reset of my particular TV, it can't even run its own OOTB setup smoothly. Sony have got it playing some ambient chimes in the background, but the audio constantly breaks up and glitches.
Its got an 8 core processor and it can't even handle audio playback in a bit of the UI which should have had heavy QA.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
But that would require an accessible WiFi network. I'm sure someday it'll be impossible because they'll embed 5G chips and do it over cell without involving your consent, but that day isn't here yet.
I've seen rumblings that day may be very soon, too. Once devices in the home have embedded prepaid 5G out with your control, all sorts of home networking/firewall challenges are going to arise. We are entering a world in which it will cost very, very little to embed 5G into almost anything with say 1GB of prepaid eSim data for analytics collection, regardless of whether device resides on your LAN or not.
There’s only a fractional amount of people using smart TVs without WiFi. I’m very dubious it’s worth the cost to imbed GSM cards in each TV to reach the fraction that doesn’t allow the TV on WiFi.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are plenty of excellent (smart) tvs. it's funny to see people posting on here talk about how long it takes for their TV to power on. clearly if you're wasting free time on here optimizing seconds isn't on the agenda.
My TV is either off to save energy, or because Android has gone completely insane again and it needs rebooting. If you do a full hard reset of my particular TV, it can't even run its own OOTB setup smoothly. Sony have got it playing some ambient chimes in the background, but the audio constantly breaks up and glitches. Its got an 8 core processor and it can't even handle audio playback in a bit of the UI which should…
I get that. the point is that turning a TV on, even if it took 30 seconds, is basically nothing given the amount of time you spend watching it. it's not the right thing to optimize.
do you know how long it takes to turn on an iPhone? you may have a stroke if I tell you.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#95It's worth noting that TVs that run Google TV (which includes Sony Bravia) let you choose Basic TV or Google TV.
https://support.google.com/googletv/answer/10408998?hl=en#zi...
If you don't want to connect to the internet, you can select Basic TV at setup and get the equivalent of a dumb TV.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#96The approach I’ve taken is to just keep my TV off the internet (never join a WiFi network) and make it smart via an Apple TV, which I personally believe to have the strongest privacy protection of any smart TV device. Another bonus is my TV UI hasn’t changed despite changing and upgrading TV brands.
You may want to get yourself an SDR kit and check that for yourself.
They typically broadcast on 43-33 cm band, (700-900mhz), and 2.4/5 ghz.
You'd also be wrong about Apple's privacy protection.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen rumblings that day may be very soon, too. Once devices in the home have embedded prepaid 5G out with your control, all sorts of home networking/firewall challenges are going to arise. We are entering a world in which it will cost very, very little to embed 5G into almost anything with say 1GB of prepaid eSim data for analytics collection, regardless of whether device resides on your LAN or not.
There’s only a fractional amount of people using smart TVs without WiFi. I’m very dubious it’s worth the cost to imbed GSM cards in each TV to reach the fraction that doesn’t allow the TV on WiFi.
Large portion of those who currently don’t connect will faraday cage their connection to remove the ability too.
Then of course there’s a lack of 5G. I certainly don’t have any where I live. Just about have 1 bar of 4g near the window.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#98The approach I’ve taken is to just keep my TV off the internet (never join a WiFi network) and make it smart via an Apple TV, which I personally believe to have the strongest privacy protection of any smart TV device. Another bonus is my TV UI hasn’t changed despite changing and upgrading TV brands.
I just plugged a desktop into my big ole TV and then get a wireless mouse and keyboard. Run Linux on that thing and I control all of it, bonus points is that everyone knows how to use it when they come over to my house.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#99The approach I’ve taken is to just keep my TV off the internet (never join a WiFi network) and make it smart via an Apple TV, which I personally believe to have the strongest privacy protection of any smart TV device. Another bonus is my TV UI hasn’t changed despite changing and upgrading TV brands.
You may want to get yourself an SDR kit and check that for yourself. They typically broadcast on 43-33 cm band, (700-900mhz), and 2.4/5 ghz. You'd also be wrong about Apple's privacy protection.
You can't just say someone is wrong without explaining why.
Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hasn't some models (thinking Samsung) been shown to connect to any WiFi network they can? edit: Appears to be an urban legend, with not much substance to back it up!
Sure but if everyone has WPA2 encryption enabled on their network, such as is the case in my neighbourhood, then there is no network for the TV to connect to anyways.
Amazon whisper net etc from ring doorbells and other privacy violating things come to mind as possible connections.
Mostly theoretical though.