Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What is the best dumb TV?

pointerclicker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

561–570 of 661 posts

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#561

Post by qes »

dan-robertson wrote: post #424
Nextgrid wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of ironic to be using a device made to display advertising to combat advertising itself.

Digital signage isn’t really about advertising. It might be used to eg show departures at an airport/bus station, or show schedules for different rooms at a conference or fair/exhibition/show. Other common uses are to show a few slides on a loop, eg in a reception area of a school showing the school’s achievements.

The uses you mention are common, but digital signage for advertising is big in retail. It's almost always trying to drive you to purchases.

Some network operators run 3rd party advertising to offset costs of running their network.

Also, if you see a sign at person level in a public space there's a high likelihood it's collecting demographics information on (age, gender, ethnicity - via video image processing) on everyone passing by while also trying to identity the mobile device in your pocket to geotag your advertising identity.

I work in a company that provides general interest "filler" type content for networks to display - news, weather, sports e.g.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#562

Post by compsciphd »

"Does a great dumb TV exist in 2020?"

no. None of the TVs with the best picture quality are dumb. It's a shame, but its the truth.

so it really depends what you want, but if getting the best bang for the buck picture quality (highest nits, highest contrast, best color accuracy in SDR and HDR), you are going to be limited to smart TVs. If all you care about is 1080p in SDR, you can get a dumb TV that is competitive, but once in the 4k/HDR world they just don't exist. you're limited to samsung, lg, sony, panasonic at the top end, and even good bang for buck manufacturers like tcl, hisense and vizio are all just shipping smart features on their highest PQ TVs.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#563

Post by Nextgrid »

michaelmior wrote: post #560
Nextgrid wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As in no online features & ads. They claim the app is open-source and I'm sure it only uses Bluetooth instead of WIFI thus no internet access at all. In any case, IR remotes are supported and the app is optional.

I'm curious what makes you sure that it only uses Bluetooth. I didn't see anything about this on the page.

That's how I would implement it, since Bluetooth is a lot simpler than Wi-Fi (no need to build a UI to manage networks, IP addresses, having a TCP/IP stack, etc) and in this case they don't need the online connection that WI-Fi would provide.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#564

Post by bscphil »

jeffbee wrote: post #186

The displays in the article are TVs for people who hate their eyeballs. If you are looking for a quality picture there's really no substitute for LG OLED. They are smart TVs but the features are unobtrusive and work well. If you want extremely good picture quality and also insist on "dumb" the best you can get is a second-hand Pioneer or Panasonic plasma display. I don't think any of these ever had "smart" anything,…

You're absolutely correct. Some people in this thread are recommending commercial TVs, which involves paying near-OLED prices for a TV that's probably not much better than the Sceptre (and might actually be worse, if my experience in hotels is any indication). Do the LGs have ads and tracking, or are they completely "unobtrusive" smart TVs?

> the best you can get is a second-hand Pioneer or Panasonic plasma display

Indeed, this is what I did. It's 1080p of course but at the size of most plasmas and average sitting distance, 1080p is all you need. (More worried about the lack of HDR.)

The main issue I've had is that the "backlight" (not really a backlight) seems to be significantly brighter for two "bars" on the left and right of the screen about 2-3 inches wide, giving films a odd "banding" look. Also, the black levels are much higher than I originally expected. I've read that Panasonic sets artificially raise the black level over time to prolong the expected life of the TV and that there's a way take the TV apart and reset this internal clock, but I haven't tried that and it seems risky. (I recall plasma sets being advertised as having "infinite contrast", but having seen some OLED TVs in person, I can 100% confirm there's a difference.)

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#565

Post by bscphil »

crazygringo wrote: post #541
canucker2016 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reddit user said their Samsung TV connected to a nearby open WiFi AP. see https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/bpr6xs/if_you_choo...

This is exactly why I'm asking -- that story seems like it easily be made up or just plain mistaken. Maybe they've got a family member who tried to connect it to watch something without them knowing. I've seen random anecdotes like this, but I've never seen anyone actually prove it. E.g. someone with a tech background or a journalist. And since it would be so trivially easy to actually prove if true, and seemingly a…

Yeah this could easily be someone with a kid who was annoyed that some app on the TV didn't work and so clicked on the first available network that worked, or the issue reporter could have clicked on that network by mistake, etc.

On the other hand, I've seen this story about 100 times online at this point and it's absolutely cost Samsung a ton of sales. How hard would it be for them to put out a firm denial that they do this?

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#567

Post by crazygringo »

bscphil wrote: post #565
crazygringo wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why I'm asking -- that story seems like it easily be made up or just plain mistaken. Maybe they've got a family member who tried to connect it to watch something without them knowing. I've seen random anecdotes like this, but I've never seen anyone actually prove it. E.g. someone with a tech background or a journalist. And since it would be so trivially easy to actually prove if true, and seemingly a…

Yeah this could easily be someone with a kid who was annoyed that some app on the TV didn't work and so clicked on the first available network that worked, or the issue reporter could have clicked on that network by mistake, etc. On the other hand, I've seen this story about 100 times online at this point and it's absolutely cost Samsung a ton of sales. How hard would it be for them to put out a firm denial that they…

It's a good question. But as a general rule, companies don't really bother responding to unfounded rumors until they get to the point where there's an article published about it in the New York Times, or it shows up in the first page of search results.

And I doubt there's really been any measurable effect on sales. The proportion of people who care are miniscule, and they'd likely not be buying Samsung even if they put out a statement.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#568

Post by 867-5309 »

jon-wood wrote: post #490
867-5309 wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how is it possible to bypass? if it is the only thing available then it is impossible to use an alternative

Piholes just replace DNS results, so a device using hard coded DNS servers allows it to bypass that. This leads to people redirecting all port 53 traffic to the Pihole, which leads to devices/apps doing DNS over HTTPS, at which point it’s game over unless you can get your self-signed cert onto the device.

but surely these devices are set up to use DHCP and receive home users' DNS servers? giving them static IPs would not work. I suppose it depends on a) if these devices are somehow set up to receive just an IP address over DHCP and use their own hardcoded DNS servers and b) whether the home DHCP server / router would honour this and not enforce its own DNS servers along with the IP address

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#569

Post by acwan93 »

tigershark wrote: post #339
acwan93 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question: what kind of updates would a dumb TV possibly need?

In my case my smart TV is getting HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support in the next few months with an update. A dumb tv probably wouldn’t need anything.

True, that makes sense. I guess my personal preference would be to keep my TV as just a display and hook up an Apple TV/Chromecast/etc. to it for those features.

Re: What is the best dumb TV?

#570

Post by acwan93 »

tshaddox wrote: post #145
acwan93 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question: what kind of updates would a dumb TV possibly need?

They are mostly app updates and security issues that only relate to networking and the smart features. But there are occasional updates to support new media features, new color management options, power management changes, etc. My LG OLED has received updates to support TrueHD audio, add new color settings like Technicolor modes, UI functions like the ability to apply your customized picture settings to all inputs, a…

Makes sense to me. I just find it hard to believe that TV manufacturers will release software updates for older TVs, but then again I haven’t gone shopping for a TV in nearly a decade.
Post reply on HN