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Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#431

Post by jjoonathan »

wongarsu wrote: post #260
jjoonathan wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scale and ads are plausible explanations for why monitors are behind in tech, but they're still behind in tech.

I don't quite see how "TVs are cheaper because they earn money beyond the sale and have more economies in scale" translates to "monitors are behind in tech"? They have similar tech, but at different price points.

Everyone shops at a price point, and the existence of a $6000 professional monitor just isn't at all relevant for most people. Consumer monitors are years behind consumer TVs in tech.

EDIT: Actually, I did specify that I was talking about consumer TVs. You didn't read my post, and then you decided to nitpick anyway. Bravo.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#432

Post by catwoe »

cronix wrote: post #173

All TV's are dumb tv's if you only use them as an external display/monitor and don't connect them to the net. I have a dedicated computer for a media center and just use HDMI1 input on the TV. Never enter menus. Never update the OS. Never agree to anything. Never let the TV "phone home." Never set up wifi. Never connect a CAT5 to it. Set the input using the remote and forget it. Treat it as a dumb monitor. Computer i…

How can you access "Press the Red button" content on a dumb TV though? Is there a software client that can access the content over http?

edit: I believe it's called HbbTV

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#433

Post by rtkwe »

andrewjf wrote: post #312
drexlspivey wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn’t going to work for long, your neighbor’s Alexa is now automatically sharing his internet with you, it’s just a matter of your TV manufacturer striking a deal with amazon for access to their mesh network.

Thanks, I really hate this. But seriously, what can we do here? How to I inform people like my parents of this kind of thing without being an alarmist? Should I even care?

The damages are largely theoretical at this point. Most of the time the compromised devices just join a botnet and don't directly steal much from the owners because they don't have access to much. For the privacy concerns it's also largely theoretical at the moment because to our knowledge (at least mine) the government hasn't used SmertTVs to do spying (yet).

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#435

Post by jjoonathan »

cgriswald wrote: post #326
jjoonathan wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> from $10.44 to $19.89. Yeah, I thought $3000 sounded silly, and my only mistake was that I thought it was one order of magnitude silly when in fact it was two orders of magnitude silly.

No, that's completely wrong. That number is specifically for their SmartCast subscriber service. It's not clear what the rate is, but they subsequently talk about Roku making $40/mo; so it's possible that's the monthly rate. Assuming it is monthly, a television lasts for five years, and that is their only other source of revenue from the televisions, that's ~$1200. The telling part of the article: > ...[Vizio's] Plat…

If those are actually monthly figures you might be right, but I'm still not convinced that they are. $40/mo sounds implausibly high to me. Even if Roku, in a non-monopolized space, managed to swing a hefty 30% cut, that would mean an average of $120 spent on streaming services per month.

Are sports channels really expensive? Is that what I'm missing?

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#436

Post by laGrenouille »

duderific wrote: post #426
garmaine wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

XBMC/Kodi, or AppleTV if you want a managed ecosystem.

AppleTV is not analogous to a Roku stick however, unless I'm misunderstanding. It is an app that already requires a connection to Wifi from the TV; Roku stick is what provides this connection. Additionally, AppleTV does not support Netflix or Disney+ among others. [1] [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple-tv-channels-services/

The app is different. You can certainly use Netflix on a recent Apple TV [1].

[1] https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23887

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#437

Post by sgerenser »

duderific wrote: post #426
garmaine wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

XBMC/Kodi, or AppleTV if you want a managed ecosystem.

AppleTV is not analogous to a Roku stick however, unless I'm misunderstanding. It is an app that already requires a connection to Wifi from the TV; Roku stick is what provides this connection. Additionally, AppleTV does not support Netflix or Disney+ among others. [1] [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple-tv-channels-services/

AppleTV is a device like a Roku box or stick. AppleTV is also an app on iOS devices, roku boxes, etc. AppleTV the device has Netflix and Disney+ available, among many other apps.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#438

Post by sueders101 »

duderific wrote: post #426
garmaine wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

XBMC/Kodi, or AppleTV if you want a managed ecosystem.

AppleTV is not analogous to a Roku stick however, unless I'm misunderstanding. It is an app that already requires a connection to Wifi from the TV; Roku stick is what provides this connection. Additionally, AppleTV does not support Netflix or Disney+ among others. [1] [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple-tv-channels-services/

Confusingly Apple actually has a few ‘Apple TV’ product. There’s the app that you’re describing then there’s the physical device, as well as the subscription service.

The physical device is the Roku competitor, and supports Netflix/Disney+ etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV_(disambiguation)

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#439

Post by joney_baloney »

duderific wrote: post #426
garmaine wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

XBMC/Kodi, or AppleTV if you want a managed ecosystem.

AppleTV is not analogous to a Roku stick however, unless I'm misunderstanding. It is an app that already requires a connection to Wifi from the TV; Roku stick is what provides this connection. Additionally, AppleTV does not support Netflix or Disney+ among others. [1] [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple-tv-channels-services/

Pedantic Post Alert, but there's a few different products called "Apple TV". There's the hardware box called Apple TV that comes with a remote and plugs into the HDMI on your TV. That IS an alternative to Roku.

Then there's the Apple TV app, which runs on the Apple TV box. This can integrate with some other streaming services and show you their content in the app. Not Netflix or HBO (or some others) though.

And finally (that's all?) there's the Apple TV+ service that's 4.99 a month and lets you watch shows that Apple produces in the Apple TV app on the Apple TV box (or your iPhone, iPad, etc.)

It's all named very well and clear.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any 4K “dumb” televisions?

#440

Post by dtgriscom »

gh0std3v wrote: post #374
Volundr wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's sadly not really true. I have an LG that I (thought) I was using this way until one day in the middle of watching some TV I get a prompt about a OnePlus phone trying to control my TV, do I want to accept? Needless to say and didn't, but I was baffled by what happened. Turns out that the stupid TV is controllable via an app over bluetooth, and there is no way to turn bluetooth off. I'm just stuck with my TV con…

For anyone with LG TVs, iirc there’s a project called OpenLGTV which is working to reverse engineer LG software. Maybe it could help disable some of these “smart” features?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29338658
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