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Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

arstechnica.com

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Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#341

Post by AshamedCaptain »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #148
AshamedCaptain wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple tracks what you are watching on AppleTV only. So the solution they propose to TVs that track what you're watching is to switch to AppleTV where Apple will track what you're watching? And you still justify this somehow?

Names are confusing no sarcasm intended. I meant Apple tracks what you watch when watching AppleTV+ (the streaming service) on the AppleTV box. How else are there going to mark what you watched and whdfd you are in a TV series?

So you are justifying it. For the record it's not just what you watch with the streaming service, it is everything you watch through their TV program.

You still do not get it: you can find a pseudo-justification for _every_ type of tracking they do to you. But none of these are really true justifications. You can do _everything_ without any type of tracking -- even the very basic premise: it shouldn't even be true that you need an account _at all_ to use an Apple TV.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#342

Post by IshKebab »

disambiguation wrote: post #141

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that KDE revived the Plasma Bigscreen project. No idea on the ETA but assuming all goes well I can see it becoming my daily driver very quickly. https://plasma-bigscreen.org/get/

The problem with open source TV solutions like that is that they never support legal streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and so on.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#343

Post by _dan »

drnick1 wrote: post #162
_dan wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I have a couple of recent Samsung OLEDs and they're fine without an internet connection despite reports that they wouldn't be. If I press one of the annoying streaming service buttons on the remote it'll give me a setup popup which needs to be dismissed, otherwise they work fine, albeit without any built in streaming support. I'd read reports that Q-Symphony (audio from the TV speakers and soundbar simultaneousl…

This OSMC box looks interesting, but does it allow to run arbitrary programs like a plain Linux box? What I have in mind here are things such as VacuumTube (YoutubeTV front end), a Web browser to stream from various online sources, etc. I found KODI (as running on Linux) far too restrictive when it comes to streaming from the Internet, and the add ons to be terrible. (In particular the YouTube add-on requires an API…

Yeah that OSMC box is just running Debian with their stuff coming from its own package repo. You can get a root shell. I realise I could have built something myself (and have in the past) but it's absolutely worth the money to me to get everything in a tiny package and working perfectly from day one.

I wouldn't recommend Kodi for streaming, it kinda works but the experience isn't great. I use it exclusively for playing stuff from my server full of legally acquired public domain videos (ahem).

I do watch YouTube videos on it, but I use TubeArchivist (basically a fancy wrapper for yt-dlp) to pull them onto the server first, and a script to organise them into nicely-named directories.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#344

Post by IanCal »

saalweachter wrote: post #309
wiether wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! I have to have a kettle for other purpose (including heating water for other mugs than mine), and no self-heating mug is going to be as efficient as a kettle to heat water. Furthermore, I also put cold or room temperature liquids in my mug. With a self-heating one, I would be carrying the heating parts for absolutely no reason. Same goes for a TV. By keeping things separated, I can decide what I do which eac…

But like, a coffeemaker is a thing. You can make coffee with a kettle, but if you are making enough coffee often enough, it does make sense to bundle a second kettle into a dedicated coffeemaker, even if you are reducing the functionality of it by doing so.

Arguably the outcome you’d want there is to be able to add your own kettle to the coffee maker, so you can have the best value/option for you if you want it. Want a cheap thing or none? Fine. Want one with remote start and modded temp controls or whatever? Fill your boots. Got a new coffee part but like the existing kettle? Reuse it.

This applies less for some physical items, I know some people are already preparing to explain why it’d be harder to make or dangerous or something but that would miss the point. Computers are incredibly easy to swap out, we already have so many ways of doing that.

Maybe I want a fast computer. None. Maybe I want to upgrade later. Maybe in a year there’s a faster cheaper one. Maybe mine is just fine right now but I need a new screen. Why do I need to bundle the two things together? There’s a simplicity for users unboxing something but there’s not (I think) an enormous blocker to having something interchangeable here.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#345

Post by GlumWoodpecker »

fainpul wrote: post #333
itopaloglu83 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add a camera and microphone, and you have yourself a utopia that can control masses.

You mean dystopia, right?

Depends on your point of view, whether you are the one watching, or the one being watched, I guess :)

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#347

Post by aesh2Xa1 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #102
tormeh wrote: post #80

What I'd really like is a TV with DisplayPort. How is this not a thing? IIRC you cannot buy a display with DP that's larger than 45 inches, give or take - they just don't exist. I think this is really weird. Like, I'd pay an extra $100 for that port, but I'm just not allowed to have it.

I absolutely love my Aorus 48" OLED-type display (w/ DisplayPort). I tried a 48" TFT-type television (attempting use as a computer display) and the refresh rate just wasn't there, along with typical backlight splotching (but it cost a fifth as much, so...). My only caution is OLED can experience burn-in (unlike the smaller Aorus 45" using a VA-type panel), but it is otherwise a much better experience

Aorus/Gigabyte is also making their monitors into smart TVs. The next size up is a Google TV.

https://www.aorus.com/en-us/monitors/s55u

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#348

Post by omgmajk »

nottorp wrote: post #262
JKCalhoun wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV. We never use anything mode of the TV. (Then again, I have zero streaming services, so perhaps I am not who this article is for.)

What do you use for a remote for the Mac Mini?

I have a Lenovo used minipc connected to mine and I just use a Logitech K400+, it runs Linux with KDE. I will never need a smart tv, or want one, for that matter.

I get that people would rather have a remote but I personally actually don't like remotes at all. My TV is basically a screen only.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#349

Post by gloflo »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #184
microbass wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw some giant TV on LTT recently which has a DP port.

A DisplayPort Port you say?

No, they said "DP port", not "DP Port".

DisplayPort is a standard. A DisplayPort port is a port that follows the DisplayPort standard.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#350

Post by jdiff »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #184
microbass wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw some giant TV on LTT recently which has a DP port.

A DisplayPort Port you say?

As opposed to the DisplayPort cable, DisplayPort standard, or DisplayPort encoding that's sent over the wire, yes. This isn't a PIN number situation despite the stutter.
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