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Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

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Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#331

Post by q7xvh97o2pDhNrh »

lagrange77 wrote: post #308
lagrange77 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about IDIOT? Edit: Damn, there is 'IOT' in it.

PRIMITV

Nice. That is an absurdly good name.

I think it needs just a bit of fool-proofing in a couple dimensions though:

(1) Ideally, the brand would also be able to speak to the segment of people who aren't going to get the wordplay.

(2) Also, there's the age-old pronunciation question. Is it just "Primitive"? Is it "Primi - Tee - Vee"?

It's quite close to being a great brand, though. I wonder if it just needs a skillfully-placed lowercase letter, or a couple dots, or something — maybe some sort of subtle variation could solve both problems.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#332

Post by acchow »

bombcar wrote: post #285
parker_mountain wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your LG C2 is a dumb tv - if you dont connect it to the internet. You can even buy a $10 IR remote control on amazon and use that to switch inputs. Or, in my experience, all of my external devices support HDMI CEC and auto switch when i use them.

The Slamsung smart TV I have is fine, but the UI is noticeablely show as shit even with it never connected to anything (just going to settings for example) which is part and parcel of being "smart" I guess. 99% of the problem with Smart TVs is because of the absolute dog shit UI and the relatively bad HDMI CEC setups they have (at least with mine, if HDMI CEC is on, anytime the TV accidentally or intentionally gets i…

I would suggest avoiding Samsung for TVs. LG is miles ahead.

I also have a Hisense Android TV and would avoid any Android TV's.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#333

Post by Retr0id »

donohoe wrote: post #277
pupdogg wrote: post #133

I've designed and built many such TVs for the commercial/industrial vertical. I am currently working on developing such a TV for the consumer market and launching it under the name DUMBO.TV Let me know your thoughts. Reference pix of 70" industrial display using Samsung LCD panel and in-house LCD controller with physical OSD menu buttons along with IR/RS232 control capability: https://imgur.com/a/k6zrH3s

I'm all for non-smart TVs and have gone that route through not hooking up internet. That said, I think there is a middle-ground here. If its within your capacity, I'd consider allowing a USB connection. If I were able to attach a USB thumb-drive or an external hard-drive (powered though USB connection) and the TV provide a basic visual navigation system. The nearest comparison is something like the current Roku USB a…

Wouldn't it be better to have that functionality provided via a plug-in TV stick?

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#334

Post by TheBozzCL »

aj7 wrote: post #280

Why is it bad to have a TV connected to wi-fi or the internet? How is Apple TV a solution to that problem?

Several reasons:

1. Planned obsolescence at the firmware/app level. Eventually, manufacturers and app maintainers stop supporting your TV. When that happens, you need to change the whole smart TV. Dumb TV + smart box means you can upgrade separately and at your leisure.

2. Privacy concerns. Smart TVs openly monitor your usage, which includes not only how you use the TV but also what you watch on it, and sell that data for marketing purposes. Often you need to agree to the tracking to get many of the connected features - for example, my TV demands that I accept data collection to use AirPlay. Locking features behind an EULA and tracking is crappy, IMO. TBH I don't know if Apple TVs are better, but I Pihole my whole home network anyway.

3. Bad UI and UX. Many smart TVs are a PAIN to navigate. Convoluted, inconsistent menus, menus hidden inside menus hidden inside menus, slow start-up speeds or even straight up slow UI. The added complexity doesn't really justify the extra features, IMO. Purpose-built smart boxes normally do a better job. And if you don't like the current UI, selling it and buying a new one is much more convenient that selling your TV and buying a new one.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#335

Post by [deleted] »

pupdogg wrote: post #133

I've designed and built many such TVs for the commercial/industrial vertical. I am currently working on developing such a TV for the consumer market and launching it under the name DUMBO.TV Let me know your thoughts. Reference pix of 70" industrial display using Samsung LCD panel and in-house LCD controller with physical OSD menu buttons along with IR/RS232 control capability: https://imgur.com/a/k6zrH3s

[deleted]

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#336

Post by pupdogg »

dogma1138 wrote: post #297
pupdogg wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not too sure about this. I use AppleTV with our industrial display playing back HDR content without any issues. Here's a 4K video playing via AppleTV on a 16ft x 9ft indoor display at our facility: https://imgur.com/a/3O58O8T

Are you sure you are actually playing HDR content? The AppleTV will output 1080 SDR content or even below that too… Do these displays support HDCP? Are they locked at 60 or 30hz refresh rates? There is a reason why computer monitors make really poor display devices for multimedia content.

Majority of our customers use our displays for Digital Signage so I would assume we would've heard of their issues if they couldn't playback their 4k or 8k content. Some of them play this content back on videowalls, as large as 14x8 configuration, without any issues. I will double-check with our firmware designer to be sure. From what I know, I believe HDCP is supported by all versions of HDMI. Older TVs, specifically the ones without HDMI input (i.e. component, vga, rca or coax input), wouldn't be able to support this. Majority of our current controllers are compliant with HDMI2.0 spec. Someone else here asked about HDMI2.1a and I'm going to get an answer on that from our firmware designer this weekend.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#337

Post by aidenn0 »

pupdogg wrote: post #133

I've designed and built many such TVs for the commercial/industrial vertical. I am currently working on developing such a TV for the consumer market and launching it under the name DUMBO.TV Let me know your thoughts. Reference pix of 70" industrial display using Samsung LCD panel and in-house LCD controller with physical OSD menu buttons along with IR/RS232 control capability: https://imgur.com/a/k6zrH3s

If you have at least an advertised number for input latency in the minimum processing (i.e. "game") mode, that would be nice. Few panels in general advertise this, but many reviews of home TVs will do at least one measurement of it.

A decent consumer LCD panel will be ~12ms@60Hz, with OLED often being faster. If it's over 20ms or so, I struggle on some old NES games.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#338

Post by TheBozzCL »

dopeboy wrote: post #163

My parents bought a LG TV recently. The UI is just horrific. Which PM thought the real time cursor was a good idea? As much as you can, get an AppleTV and leave it on.

The worst part of the cursor is that it seems there's no way to disable it. At least I haven't found it.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#339

Post by alphabet9000 »

joshchaney wrote: post #327

Amazing that their budget recommendation is the Roku TV. I can tell you from experience if you don't connect them to Wi-Fi there is an LED that will constantly blink on the bottom front of the TV, with no way to disable in software. So unless you like your TV with an electrical tape aesthetic, I would avoid Roku TV's.

my guess for why that is there is hinged on roku's assumption that most people's brains are so fried that the concept of something being "distracting" isn't even a possibility any more

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#340

Post by hilbert42 »

dwighttk wrote: post #136
giobox wrote: post #36

Earlier 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.

living room faraday cage

As I said above, just nuke the antennas (a box cutter through the antenna leads is usually enough. If you're really paranoid, short the lead out at or near the equipment end (as near as to the feed IC as is possible).

I do this on old smartphones that I have no intention of ever using as a phone again (say for testing APS etc.). It's dead easy, a razor blade through the circuit board tracks that connect to the antenna(s) and it's all over—no phone, with or without SIM (i.e.: no emergency service) and no WiFi or Bluetooth.

Very simple really.

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