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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?

#951

Post by chaostheory »

nicbou wrote: post #829
chaostheory wrote: post #823

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know why this isn’t the answer. I’m sure there will be some people who will bring up, “but it will connect to an open wifi network” argument; but that isn’t common in many places and it still will probably force you to agree to terms and conditions which the TV won’t be able to do. Also what many people have missed is that the promise of data collection revenue is what has made TVs unbelievably cheap. It’s cr…

I don't want something actively hostile in my house. I don't want to set up countermeasures to protect myself from something that I own.

That’s my point. You don’t have to setup any countermeasures if you don’t connect them to the internet. It’s a very simple solution. You’re over complicating it

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

#952

Post by joshchaney »

andrewia wrote: post #367
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.

It depends on the TV manufacturer, since Roku is just a software layer. My TCL P607 has no such LED.

The one I referred to is a TCL 55S405. It seems the only solution is to never connect it to the internet, or factory reset it and never connect. Once connected if you remove the network details, it will blink indefinitely (at least for many TCL models).

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

#953

Post by mtrower »

minikomi wrote: post #648
hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live self deprecating humour but it negatively affects me at work, I imagine dumb.tv or idiot.tv may have similar problems. But maybe also you go viral because of it, who knows.

On that ground, how about justa.box. Justa box, and nothing else.

Rolls nicely off the tongue, too.

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

#954

Post by diffeomorphism »

hexo wrote: post #935
diffeomorphism wrote: post #782

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sound, remote, additional "optimization" like adaptive contrast, (non-accurate, vivid) colors etc., more outputs like optical audio,....

away with those "optimizations" :)

Agreed. These usually come up when people use the LG oled TVs with pcs and get annoyingly reminded that they are not actual monitors. In particular it can be very difficult to turn these "optimizations" off.

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

#955

Post by zamnos »

pupdogg wrote: post #886
elkos wrote: post #732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That circular display is amazing

Thank you! What you see in there is a WebGL creative put together using ThreeJS running at 60FPS on a RaspberryPi with a custom/frameless Chromium build. This was back in 2017, and I can only imagine what someone can accomplish nowadays!

Ever look into Touchdesigner or Resolume to drive it?

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

#956

Post by zamnos »

sn0wf1re wrote: post #943
cweagans wrote: post #919

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I explicitly do not want a tuner in a TV. I would much rather feed that through my existing system and have the TV be as dumb as possible -- I literally just want a display. Down-facing connections are a must . I also don't want anything except a power button -- no channel, volume, menu, etc. I don't want crappy TV speakers and I'd really rather not have an OSD. I would love a display where I could fire u…

Eh, menu for basic colour calibration would be nice, doesn't need CEC for that though. I do agree with throwing out the speakers, many people have at least a sound bar and those that don't are unlikely to want this product (That market wants all in ones). I also agree with the tuner, there would be no DVR, signal filtering, etc on the TV but those may be desirable and would therefore require an external tuner anyways…

Interesting! Personally i don't want it if it doesn't have CEC. I want to be able to control it via something I'm SSH'd into.

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

#957

Post by zamnos »

narrowtux wrote: post #832
midasuni wrote: post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will introduce a lot of delay - they make synchronous cuts by frame buffering every input.

Then I'm afraid it's not possible. The reason the input switch takes so long is because of the HDID negotiation. A video mixer acts as the source and sink for the output and the inputs respectively, where a HDMI switch will just physically disconnect and connect the output port to a different input port, meaning the HDID negotiation has to be re-done every time.

It still seems the right hardware, upstream or downstream depending on which direction you're viewing things from, could keep the connection alive with the HDID pre-negotiated. Like, assume the hardware doesn't change between switching. If you're the TV's firmware and have the CPU power to, why renegotiate when switching inputs. Solve for the default case and have it standing by and running hot. it's not like the panel is going to change in the interim.

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

#958

Post by mtrower »

klausa wrote: post #488

The thing missing from this discussion is always that modern TV's _need_ powerful SoCs to look good. They have not been a "just take a signal from this input and display it" kinda devices for a long time, and _definitely_ after HDR became a thing. Your TV does _tons_ of processing to display SDR content (24fps pulldown if the panel isn't 120hz, motion/judder compensation, "sport mode" and a bajillion of other things,…

> TV does _tons_ of processing to display SDR content (24fps pulldown

I keep hearing this. How did we do it in 2005? Because I was definitely watching HD SDR content on large displays in 2005, and we didn’t have the monster SoCs back then that we do today.

In fact it wasn’t until modern “smart” displays started coming out maybe 10 years ago, Cable switched over to HD content, etc, that I started noticing major issues with jutter, lag, etc.

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

#959

Post by zamnos »

jstanley wrote: post #825
pabs3 wrote: post #788

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you likely to use Linux on your device? Would be great if we could run standard distros on your TVs.

Are you sure you're looking for a not-smart TV?

These things are complicated enough to justify an operating system, it might as well be an operating system we're all familiar with. Linux scales down to a basic firmware as well as up to a desktop operating system. FreeRTOS is also an option though.

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

#960

Post by mtrower »

aetherspawn wrote: post #652

You could just buy an LG TV (which isn’t user hostile and doesn’t show Ads) and not connect it to the internet. I don’t understand the whole point of this. Are you wanting to go back to the days of being unable to watch Netflix without a computer and a HDMI cable, and not being able to play music or look at photos using just your TV? People who request these kinds of products are just making noise and tyre kicking, w…

> and not being able to play music or look at photos using just your TV?

I… I don’t do these things with a TV?

Basically, you’re saying that TVs were useless 20 years ago? Why they hell did every household have one?

I literally just want something where I can hook up a few consoles and a stereo system, maybe an HTPC if I feel like it. It should have good, responsive controls, be solid and dependable, and large enough that I can comfortably view content and read subtitles from my couch.

That’s it. That’s all I want.

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