5 ms·

If nobody's started one yet, I think there would be an audience for a blog/vlog/whatever that reviews non-smart TVs. And/or a place that evaluates which "smart"

If nobody's started one yet, I think there would be an audience for a blog/vlog/whatever that reviews non-smart TVs. And/or a place that evaluates which "smart" TVs function acceptably as "dumb" when they are not connected to a network. Realistically, this would have to include evaluating things beside consumer TVs for use as living room devices, since "smart" features in consumer TVs are nearly unavoidable at this point. Because I'm going to have to start looking into the world of commercial displays for my next TV, I guess. At least I think those don't have "smart" features. Yet?

tracker1 10y ago
Personally, I'd be pretty happy with very high quality monitor-only sets... I mostly run everything through my AVR anyways. Though some of the smart tv options are getting compelling, I tend to find the integrated devices are always a letdown after a couple years.
- kelnos 10y ago
  Yeah, same: I expect a TV to last a decade or more, but I expect a smart TV features to become out of date about as quickly as most smartphones do. And I never expect drastic updates for those sorts of things; the TV company's revenue stream depends on you buying a new TV more frequently than I'd plan to. I think a separate device like a ChromeCast or Apple TV is a much better choice.
swsieber 10y ago
I'd also like non-smart Blu-ray players. Well, speaking over HDMI is okay, but no internet crap.
- dzdt 10y ago
  Internet crap is a required part of the Blu-ray standard.
ams6110 10y ago
I think it's not just TVs. Any internet-connected home devices have to be viewed with suspicion until proven to be good household citizens.
radiorental 10y ago
There was a similar thread here on HN a month or two ago with a comment about swapping out the 'smart' logic board for a generic 'dumb' board. Doesn't work for all boards but it makes sense that for some makes and models, the screen is relatively generic and can be driven by something you can buy off of ebay. That or source an industrial display
ktta 10y ago
Rather than avoiding such TVs, I think we're better off taking some good precautionary measures. Why buy commercial displays which usually are pretty expensive, when you can buy consumer ones and be smart about how you use it? Of course, even if they start coming with in-built wifi, just don't let them connect to anything. First, off taking control of your own home network is crucial. Get a good router, something you can install pfSense or linux on. You'll basically have to get an NUC and learn how to manage firewalls. I suggest pfSense or just plain jane ubuntu server if you aren't very good with these systems. Then, a wifi access point can be connected to it for your wireless devices. Prevent external network access to all the devices, and then whitelisting them (probably only your computers) is the way to go. Unless you bother to teach every one who lives in your house about the terrible things that some companies do, just block everything. I don't think we can prevent IoT just like we couldn't stop phones. Home automation can be the best thing since mobile phone. As nuts as it sounds, you might just realize the comfort factor of having a "smart home". Just have to be careful, just like you're careful with your phones, and what they do. Read up on basic security, common exploits targeting IoT devices, etc.
- richardwhiuk 10y ago
  There's an absurd amount of technical knowledge that you are suggesting that every household in America should subscriber to. Also, if you have a SmartTV, you probably need to allow it contact the internet, otherwise playing internet TV (Netflix, iPlayer, Hulu, etc) is not going to work. If it can access Netflix, it can probably phone home with your data.
  - prebrov 10y ago
    Not much technical knowledge required. Basic parental control on my ASUS router denies access to the internet to Samsung TV and it can still play content from LAN via UPnP.
    - brennen 10y ago
      In order to roughly scale how much technical knowledge this actually represents, remember that most humans, even most humans with home networks, do not know what routers and networks are.

tracker1 10y ago

Personally, I'd be pretty happy with very high quality monitor-only sets... I mostly run everything through my AVR anyways. Though some of the smart tv options are getting compelling, I tend to find the integrated devices are always a letdown after a couple years.

kelnos 10y ago
Yeah, same: I expect a TV to last a decade or more, but I expect a smart TV features to become out of date about as quickly as most smartphones do. And I never expect drastic updates for those sorts of things; the TV company's revenue stream depends on you buying a new TV more frequently than I'd plan to. I think a separate device like a ChromeCast or Apple TV is a much better choice.

swsieber 10y ago

I'd also like non-smart Blu-ray players. Well, speaking over HDMI is okay, but no internet crap.

dzdt 10y ago
Internet crap is a required part of the Blu-ray standard.

ams6110 10y ago

I think it's not just TVs. Any internet-connected home devices have to be viewed with suspicion until proven to be good household citizens.

radiorental 10y ago

There was a similar thread here on HN a month or two ago with a comment about swapping out the 'smart' logic board for a generic 'dumb' board. Doesn't work for all boards but it makes sense that for some makes and models, the screen is relatively generic and can be driven by something you can buy off of ebay. That or source an industrial display

ktta 10y ago

Rather than avoiding such TVs, I think we're better off taking some good precautionary measures. Why buy commercial displays which usually are pretty expensive, when you can buy consumer ones and be smart about how you use it? Of course, even if they start coming with in-built wifi, just don't let them connect to anything. First, off taking control of your own home network is crucial. Get a good router, something you can install pfSense or linux on. You'll basically have to get an NUC and learn how to manage firewalls. I suggest pfSense or just plain jane ubuntu server if you aren't very good with these systems. Then, a wifi access point can be connected to it for your wireless devices. Prevent external network access to all the devices, and then whitelisting them (probably only your computers) is the way to go. Unless you bother to teach every one who lives in your house about the terrible things that some companies do, just block everything. I don't think we can prevent IoT just like we couldn't stop phones. Home automation can be the best thing since mobile phone. As nuts as it sounds, you might just realize the comfort factor of having a "smart home". Just have to be careful, just like you're careful with your phones, and what they do. Read up on basic security, common exploits targeting IoT devices, etc.

richardwhiuk 10y ago
There's an absurd amount of technical knowledge that you are suggesting that every household in America should subscriber to. Also, if you have a SmartTV, you probably need to allow it contact the internet, otherwise playing internet TV (Netflix, iPlayer, Hulu, etc) is not going to work. If it can access Netflix, it can probably phone home with your data.
- prebrov 10y ago
  Not much technical knowledge required. Basic parental control on my ASUS router denies access to the internet to Samsung TV and it can still play content from LAN via UPnP.
  - brennen 10y ago
    In order to roughly scale how much technical knowledge this actually represents, remember that most humans, even most humans with home networks, do not know what routers and networks are.