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Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

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Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#711

Post by notatoad »

kodt wrote: post #588
notatoad wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what would you be doing that i couldn't get by just buying a display from one of the big name's "digital signage" lineups? like, for instance, any of these: https://www.cdw.com/search/computer-monitors-displays/large-...

Mostly saving money. Digital Signage is what you want if you want a "dumb" display, but they don't have TV tuner (which may or may not be an issue) and also are rated for 24/7 use and thus much more expensive than consumer level TV's at the same size. They usually have minimal image processing and very low input lag as well. If you don't mind dropping the money then go for it, but I think most people will want to go…

digital signage is HDR is a good point, i haven't had a chance to use any of those newer TV features so i'm not sure what i'm missing there. but that's the sort of thing i'd wait a few years for to see if they stick around, or if they're just a fad to sell more TVs like 3D was.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#712

Post by desro »

lesuorac wrote: post #659
singron wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to be careful. My Samsung smart tv throws up a splash screen whenever any HDMI input is plugged in or wakes up, which can only be dismissed by using the remote. Sometimes it even shows a few frames of the HDMI input before switching to the splash screen. Infuriating!

This kills me about the Apple TV. It didn't used to display an ad for Apple's channels but now it does and it requires the remote to dismiss... Previously you could just blindly airplay something but now you have to airplay + dismiss the ad with the remote.

This has never happened to me in 8+ years over dozens of Apple TV's in both home and office settings.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#713

Post by bertjk »

bradgessler wrote: post #704
rolenthedeep wrote: post #376

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

I bought a TV recently and "didn't connect it to the WiFi", but guess what it does? If can't connect to the internet for a certain period of time, it desperately wants to display a "Internet Connection Error" message that puts the entire display into a state where CEC doesn't work, so the whole damn thing is useless.

Which brand / model? Please name and shame.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#714

Post by Nursie »

autoexec wrote: post #487
marshray wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a game console for streaming. Works great. One problem is the TV nags you to enter set it up every time you turn it on. We have to keep the TV remote around just to use the power on/off button. Not the end of the world, but I'd rather have the product that fits my application.

> I use a game console for streaming. Works great. I strongly suspect most game consoles are spying on you just as much as a smart TV would and all of them currently seem to be pushing ads in your face pretty aggressively too. Still probably better than roku which records and sends home multiple screenshots of whatever you're watching every second, but if my PS5 isn't doing some form of ACR already I suspect it's onl…

They are.

I did some minor ps3 hacking a decade or so back, and dumped the network activity. Every boot it would send some XMPP traffic containing a log of your recent activities back to Sony. What you watched over Dlna, what dvds/Bly-rays you played, which games, for how long and when.

I imagine things have only got more detailed since then in newer consoles.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#715

Post by chriscjcj »

Koshkin wrote: post #366
lagrange77 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about IDIOT? Edit: Damn, there is 'IOT' in it.

But who/what are you calling "idiot" and why? I would never think of calling that a plain HDTV set - it is still a technological marvel (and also would have all kinds of "smarts" built in anyway, just no apps or wifi).

Yeah.... I never purchased any books in the "For Dummies" series out of self respect.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#716

Post by speeder »

sgerenser wrote: post #566
potatolicious wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "A smart-but-disconnected TV can meet all of those functional requirements, and your nonfunctional requirements" Ehhh I beg to differ. I got a Sony TV a year or so ago with Google TV built in. It's been a nightmare - the GUI is basically unusably slow (literally 5 entire seconds from button press to response) and the whole experience sucks. So I did what most reasonable people did - plug in some HDMI device that do…

My LG C9 OLED from 2019 works great with my AppleTV. It starts up quickly, and I only ever see its interface if I accidentally bump the TVs remote (all normal interaction including power on and volume go through the AppleTV remote). Of course I never connected it to WiFi.

I have one of these and was happy with it until it decided to use the notification system to nag me.

1. Lots of ads of local TV stations on the system update notifications.

2. Often it nag me about other random things too, like asking me to change the brightness settings or telling me that using the TV for too long is unhealthy.

3. Often it decides to stop work properly unless I accept license agreements. Sometimes I accept and immediately deny them again, and then the TV works fine for about a week.

4. It started to show ads for porn stuff. When I complained to my country authorities they said it was just "documentary recommendations, not ads". And thus why I can't disable them by refusing to accept the EULA for the ad service.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#717

Post by bradgessler »

bertjk wrote: post #713
bradgessler wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a TV recently and "didn't connect it to the WiFi", but guess what it does? If can't connect to the internet for a certain period of time, it desperately wants to display a "Internet Connection Error" message that puts the entire display into a state where CEC doesn't work, so the whole damn thing is useless.

Which brand / model? Please name and shame.

Vizio M65Q6

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#718

Post by wilburTheDog »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #695
potatolicious wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "A smart-but-disconnected TV can meet all of those functional requirements, and your nonfunctional requirements" Ehhh I beg to differ. I got a Sony TV a year or so ago with Google TV built in. It's been a nightmare - the GUI is basically unusably slow (literally 5 entire seconds from button press to response) and the whole experience sucks. So I did what most reasonable people did - plug in some HDMI device that do…

What year/model of Sony TV is it? I've had a couple of Bravias over the past 7 years, with the newer of the two having been purchased in 2018 and I've not seen the smart TV homescreen once since configuring the last used input as the default. Neither were ever connected to the internet though. Also, as I understand recent Sony TVs include something called "basic TV mode" that turns off all smart functionality and mak…

Hadn't heard of "basic TV mode" but it seems to be a feature of any Google TV device made in the last year or two. They say it will disable all smart tv features and leave only the HDMI inputs and antenna input.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/the-best-feature-of-...

https://support.google.com/googletv/answer/10408998?hl=en

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#720

Post by elkos »

lagrange77 wrote: post #256
pupdogg wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, going to take care of that. Thanks for the heads up. I really looked that one over...didn't think too much of it as the domain was available. It's hard to do anything the easy way nowadays!

How about IDIOT? Edit: Damn, there is 'IOT' in it.

According sources in the Wikipedia article about: idiot:

The word "idiot" comes from the Greek noun ἰδιώτης idiōtēs 'a private person, individual' (as opposed to the state), 'a private citizen' (as opposed to someone with a political office), 'a common man', 'a person lacking professional skill, layman', later 'unskilled', 'ignorant', derived from the adjective ἴδιος idios 'personal' (not public, not shared). In Latin, idiota was borrowed in the meaning 'uneducated', 'ignorant', 'common', and in Late Latin came to mean 'crude, illiterate, ignorant'. In French, it kept the meaning of 'illiterate', 'ignorant', and added the meaning 'stupid' in the 13th century. In English, it added the meaning 'mentally deficient' in the 14th century.

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