31–40 of 661 posts
I’ve had good luck with sceptre brand TVs. They are no frills and cheap. Plug in a $30 roku and hook it up to some decent speakers and you are good to go. I’ve had two of them going on 8 years strong now. Loads of connectivity to. From vga to dvi to component/composite, 1/8” audio in/out, spdif, hdmi, etc, etc. On the other hand the power supply in my (former) LG plasma tv died after 1.5 years. I DIY replaced that wi…
I agree with the sentiment but you’re only hurting yourself by choosing a worse TV at a given price point compared to just never connecting your TV to the internet. If you want a competitive display market where the best options are still dumb then look at getting a projector. The price and quality are comparable and I really like being able to “put away” the TV by just rolling up the screen.
It's been a few years now, but when I bought my current TV (Samsung), one of the first things that popped up when I turned it on was several EULAs. I skimmed over them, and went "lol no", and pressed decline. This effectively lobotomized the TV. None of its "smart" features are enabled.
You're probably better off the buy the screen you like and pair it with a low cost NUC to sidestep the privacy invasion of the "smart" part of that TV.
"better off" implies that this is a better recommendation than the article. However, it seems exactly the same.
You're probably better off the buy the screen you like and pair it with a low cost NUC to sidestep the privacy invasion of the "smart" part of that TV.
"better off" implies that this is a better recommendation than the article. However, it seems exactly the same.
For example if I was in the market my choice would be one of the high end LG TVs. They all have a smart component but I would bypass that and still get the gorgeous screen.
unfortunately the best "dumb tv" these days is obtained by getting the "smart tv" that you _wish_ was dumb, and never connecting it to the internet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't seen an open wireless network for years around my residence. Is open Wifi still a thing?
It can very well connect to those semi-public WiFi's that require payment or require to be a customer of that ISP (and every router from that ISP automatically broadcasts such a network in addition to the private one). This isn't something I've seen in the wild yet (beyond anecdotal evidence which I suspect is due to a misconfiguration), however it is a very valid concern especially considering most ISPs are in bed w…
The best dumb TV is a monitor with an HTPC attached to it. Also, you can find "LVDS converter boards" which are sold for repurposing LCD panels out of laptops and such, but they can also be used to dumb down TVs. You can buy a large smart TV just for the panel (which is the majority of its price anyway) and replace its motherboard with a dumb converter board.
> You can buy a large smart TV just for the panel (which is the majority of its price anyway) and replace its motherboard with a dumb converter board. This seems way harder than the alternative: just not connecting it to the internet.
I have one where a bunch of non internet features won’t work without internet.
The best dumb TV is a monitor with an HTPC attached to it. Also, you can find "LVDS converter boards" which are sold for repurposing LCD panels out of laptops and such, but they can also be used to dumb down TVs. You can buy a large smart TV just for the panel (which is the majority of its price anyway) and replace its motherboard with a dumb converter board.
Can you find a monitor as large as a good TV for a reasonable price?