Just use a commercial signage display
I looked into this. If I am remembering correctly the price was higher. It is just easier to connect a mini PC to an hdmi port and bypass all of the built in TV functionality.
Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
51–60 of 548 posts
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I rented an apartment that had an LG. It showed a FOMO-inducing popup every week.
Might still be possible to jailbreak LG TVs. Not sure what the quality of the homebrew TV firmware situation is like though. Maybe not stable enough for family use.
I have an LG C3. The old jailbreak no longer works.
I keep avoiding the upgrade to keep the possibility open. At some point they force upgrade your firmware.
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#53How I break free from Smart TVs ("smart" for the manufacturer but very dumb for the user). Buy a cheap smart TV and run it in "store mode". Brightness and saturation will probably be maxed out but with a cheap TV, it looks more like "normal" on a more expensive model. Hint: The main difference between cheap and expensive in some cases --- the color adjustment range is limited by software on the cheaper models. Curren…
> Buy a cheap smart TV Why does it have to be cheap? What if I want a killer panel without all the bs? > Use a small "air mouse" for control An alternative is something like 'unified remote' on it, then you can even type from your phone without any pain. > A browser with VPN for streaming in some cases. There is a missing piece for me here. A magic 'send my PC browser tab to this other PC connected to the TV' button.…
Why does it have to be cheap?
It doesn't have to be --- but you may be wasting your money if you run in "store mode".
As noted above, "store mode" will usually max out the brightness, saturation and contrast while removing user control. This looks pretty "normal" with cheaper models. More expensive ones can become overbearing.
It appears to me that in some cases, the difference between cheap and more expensive is mainly the color adjustments.
In order to take advantage of economies of scale, they may use the exact same screen panel on multiple different models but limit the cheaper ones in software so it doesn't look as "bright" and "eye catching" in the store as their more expensive "killer" model.
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#54Aren't private DNS or PiHoles a good enough compromise ?
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#55Unfortunately cars are becoming like smart TVs in this respect.
It's not feasible for everyone, but between grocery delivery services, telehealth, etc - if you work remotely anyway, it may be surprisingly feasible to get rid of your car altogether and only Uber/Lyft as needed, at least until robotaxis expand into your area at a fraction of the price of traditional ride-hailing apps.
I work remotely, my gym is downstairs as well as a convenience store with some fresh (overpriced) items, a bar and an (overpriced) restaurant.
My barber and grocery store is a $9 Uber Ride each way. So I could get away with a car easily where I live now. My wife and I have been down to one car since Covid.
But when I was in the burbs if metro Atlanta where everything wasn’t so close, it would have been over $100 easy going from one side to the other or basically anywhere besides the grocery store.
My car insurance is only $176 a month for my wife and I. It doesn’t make sense not to have a car, even if you include the minor maintenance on a car that would be hardly ever driven. Even at a theoretical $400 car payment + $176 in insurance, it still easy to come out ahead.
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#56Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, from the Apple TV article linked in the article[1]: > According to its privacy policy, the company gathers usage data, such as “data about your activity on and use of” Apple offerings, including “app launches within our services…; browsing history; search history; [and] product interaction.” [...] transaction information, account information (“including email address, devices registered, account status, and age”…
Let’s see where to start? 1. Email address - you have to use an email address to have an Apple account. How are they not going to have your email? 2. Devices registered - you mean when you log into your device, they keep track of your logged in devices! 3. Transaction history - they keep track of what you bought from them! Must I continue? Every single piece of data that you named is required to do business with them…
Every series you've ever watched with the Apple TV -- of course, they keep track of what you watched with them!
(/s).
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#58How I break free from Smart TVs ("smart" for the manufacturer but very dumb for the user). Buy a cheap smart TV and run it in "store mode". Brightness and saturation will probably be maxed out but with a cheap TV, it looks more like "normal" on a more expensive model. Hint: The main difference between cheap and expensive in some cases --- the color adjustment range is limited by software on the cheaper models. Curren…
> Buy a cheap smart TV Why does it have to be cheap? What if I want a killer panel without all the bs? > Use a small "air mouse" for control An alternative is something like 'unified remote' on it, then you can even type from your phone without any pain. > A browser with VPN for streaming in some cases. There is a missing piece for me here. A magic 'send my PC browser tab to this other PC connected to the TV' button.…
> A magic 'send my PC browser tab to this other PC connected to the TV' button
You can send a tab to another device on Firefox. It doesn't come with all the browser context, but it's pretty handy.
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#59Don’t ever connect your TV to the internet?
They nag.
Some brands are better than others. I bought a Sony Bravia TV less than a year ago. The nags are infrequent (maybe every fifth time I turn it on) and unobtrusive (a toast notification pops up in the upper right corner of the screen for a few seconds; it's gone by the time the Fire Stick UI comes up).
Getting rid of ads on the streaming stick and various streaming services is an interesting challenge though...
Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, from the Apple TV article linked in the article[1]: > According to its privacy policy, the company gathers usage data, such as “data about your activity on and use of” Apple offerings, including “app launches within our services…; browsing history; search history; [and] product interaction.” [...] transaction information, account information (“including email address, devices registered, account status, and age”…
Let’s see where to start? 1. Email address - you have to use an email address to have an Apple account. How are they not going to have your email? 2. Devices registered - you mean when you log into your device, they keep track of your logged in devices! 3. Transaction history - they keep track of what you bought from them! Must I continue? Every single piece of data that you named is required to do business with them…
Browsing history? Search history? Age?
Also 'product interaction' is an euphemism to say "if you're sick, we'll sell this information for around 80€" (I think it's close to 200$ for Americans but I don't have any contact in this industry overseas). If you have a cancer and suddenly you see an increase in ads for pseudo-medicine and other scams whose only goal is to extract all the money you have left, and if lucky, your famil's money too, that's from 'product interaction'.