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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?

#971

Post by electrotype »

nofinator wrote: post #140
retrac wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> make it smart via an Apple TV I repurpose the old laptops that I seem to accumulate for this. Just about anything made in the last 10 years can handle at least 1080p video, and will have an HDMI output. I add a small wireless keyboard and use my regular desktop environment. But you can add a remote and use one of the open source media centre suites. I do wish more TVs had a monitor-like sleep mode and accepted the…

We do the same and it works well. We prefer a handheld keyboard/mouse to control it. We've tried several and the Lenovo N5902 [1] is our favorite by far. It's also useful to have the Unified Remote server [2] running on the media computer so you can control it from your phone when you need to. [1] https://www.newegg.com/p/09N-00A7-00001 [2] https://www.unifiedremote.com/

How do those compare to a Rii?

https://www.amazon.ca/Rii-Wireless-Keyboard-Compatible-Raspb...

Of course it's not a real keyboard and mouse but it works fine.

I do use an universal remote most of the time though (Harmony 700), but I use the Rii when I exit Kodi and I'm back to my HTPC's Linux environment. The Rii is then enough to open a browser and YouTube, for example.

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

#972

Post by Flameancer »

Conlectus wrote: post #860
xp84 wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually turned off HDR as soon as I got an HDR-capable TV, because it's apparently code for "eye-searingly-bright whites, including in the Apple TV interface itself." I don't understand who wants this. Maybe I'm a vampire?

For what its worth, I used to say the same thing. Now I have glasses for astigmatism.

Funny you say that. I don’t like searing whites and I also just got officially diagnosed with astigmatism. I wonder if my glasses will make a difference.

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

#973

Post by taneliv »

Jedd wrote: post #838
nickcotter wrote: post #803

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. We can live without the extra pixels. Space is the barrier though. We have a huge old cowshed that the previous owner turned into a snooker room, and we turned into a library with remote control screen. Makes watching a film more of an event. Nice playing games at “life size” scales too. We’ve been through three projectors in 15 years at ~£350 each.

> Makes watching a film more of an event. Very much this is a big part of it too, for us - we're not 'TV in the background' people. The (very) few people I know who are find the idea of a projector-only infeasible. For us it's just another feature of the arrangement.

Interesting! The preferences in this thread very closely match those of ours. Irrelevance to the number of pixels and blackness of black, making it more of an event, having big picture (ours is about 3m diagonal, can't help but sometimes brag to people that my setup is 110"). For me it matters that it's also not a colossal piece of furniture, but a small piece of equipment, tucked near the ceiling and thus usually out of the view.

It sounds like a well defined niche. I wish it was a bit less of that, so that I could upgrade to a bit less noisy, with a bit brighter picture, at a lower price point than what they seem to be going for here in Northern Europe.

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

#974

Post by Godel_unicode »

kjs3 wrote: post #944
Godel_unicode wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ISPs are giving out APs with no key needed and no captive portal? Every one that I’m aware of requires some manner of secret to login to the shared AP.

Why would you think LG/Samsung/Sony/etc don't have corp creds for every ISP AP on the planet?

That’s moving the goalpost pretty far, don’t you think?

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

#975

Post by astral303 »

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 am so excited for such a TV, here are some name ideas for you: plainum-TV, gramseye, you-control-it(still comes with a remote), BarelySmart, SmartEnuff, MindYouTech, AllPane, SimplePaneVision, Plainorama, Plainoramic Vision.

HDMI such an abomination thrust upon the world. Why do we accept a TV going blank for seconds for any reason in 2023. Lawrd help us all. Can you optimize HDMI resync in any way? That would be a major selling point. Maybe blend the output between what was shown and what is about to be shownn (apply a gentle blur filter to the last seen frame for a few moments and fade to black after 3-4 seconds.. float a gentle explainer message “HDMI sync lost….” After 3 seconds)

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

#976

Post by partdavid »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #388
Koshkin wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But who/what are you calling "idiot" and why? I would never think of calling that a plain HDTV set - it is still a technological marvel (and also would have all kinds of "smarts" built in anyway, just no apps or wifi).

Calling the version with no smarts “idiot” seems pretty clever to me.

"Idiot box" is an immediately-accessible slang term for television for me, but maybe the usage is a little old.

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

#977

Post by gnicholas »

pupdogg wrote: post #210
gnicholas wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds great! What price point are you aiming for? Will this be much more expensive than inexpensive Samsungs/Vizios that are subsidized by data collection?

I haven't done much market research in that aspect yet but we currently sell our industrial 70" display @ around $9-12k/ea depending on the configuration (ie type of metal shell aluminum/stainless/carbon-steel, ethernet support, protective polycarbonate screen in the front to prevent damage from industrial machinery). However, I expect the consumer grade to be much more cost effective considering the sizes in demand…

FWIW, I'd be looking for a 65" or larger, but to be honest those prices probably wouldn't work for me. But regardless, I'll look forward to seeing your Show HN when the time comes!

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

#978

Post by comprev »

bombcar wrote: post #635
sys_64738 wrote: post #103

I know it's offtopic but I knew our leisure viewing was in trouble way back when the first Blu Ray DVD players had fans in them which came on loudly when watching movies.

Part of the reason I got an Xbox was to get a quality Blu-ray player.

Same thing for me with the Playstation 2 - a DVD player.

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

#979

Post by dang »

kjs3 wrote: post #678
crazygringo wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is total unfounded speculation unless you have evidence for it. Do you? There's been an urban legend going around for years that smart TV's automatically connect to unsecured wifi but nobody's ever been able to demonstrate it a single time. (Probably their kid had connected it intentionally or something.) So you might be conflating that urban legend with Amazon's network of Ring devices. But that's extremely low…

[flagged]

You can't post like this here. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

I don't want to have to ban you again, so if you'd please review the rules and stick to substantive, thoughtful comments, we'd be grateful.

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

#980

Post by mtrower »

simooooo wrote: post #753
mtrower wrote: post #741

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have an 80” monitor solution?

Projector

I think this is probably a valid solution in many cases.

However, it is not a computer monitor, which is the explicit item at question here.

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