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Ask HN: Smart TVs with best track record for firmware updates and patches?

4 points by tatersolid 9y ago

My previous smart TV was abandoned by the manufacturer after 6 months. What brands/models have the best track record for security/bugfix/feature updates?

gargravarr 9y ago
I was once told by a friend when exploring smart TVs: "Let me lay some Harry Potter logic on you: 'never trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain'." This is actually very good advice (I've probably got the quote wrong but I digress). You're going to encounter abandoned products everywhere in smart tech; I wound up buying a Roku box and a dumb TV instead. It's a good combination - Roku is popular enough that the apps/channels are kept up to date, and I never need to worry that my TV will lose its features in a few years. If the Roku box shuffles out of support, it's cheaper to replace that than the TV. So the recommendation - don't bother with a smart TV unless you really need it to be all in one, and buy a smart add-on box instead.
- tatersolid 9y ago
  I can’t seem to find a 4K HDR dumb TV anywhere. A computer monitor won’t work either due to no IR Remote. There are TVs with Roku software...
unwiredben 9y ago
I work on the TV team at Roku, building software for our smart TV platform. We've been shipping versions of Roku OS for our TV partners since 2014, and the first TVs enabled with Roku OS are still getting regular updates here in 2018, as are most of our streaming boxes (any released after summer 2011). Plus, if you end up not liking the Roku TV smart features, you can always factory-reset the TV and run it in unconnected mode.
- tatersolid 9y ago
  I love my Roku sticks, nice work. That said can you still push software updates without manufacturer involvement? That is “big Linux kernel bug, no need to wait for TCL/Sharp/Philips to approve or block the patches after we’ve done the QA”? Or is it more like the (very bad) patching situation with android devices, where the hardware vendors delay or simply ignore upstream patches?

4 points by tatersolid 9y ago

My previous smart TV was abandoned by the manufacturer after 6 months. What brands/models have the best track record for security/bugfix/feature updates?

gargravarr 9y ago

I was once told by a friend when exploring smart TVs: "Let me lay some Harry Potter logic on you: 'never trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain'." This is actually very good advice (I've probably got the quote wrong but I digress). You're going to encounter abandoned products everywhere in smart tech; I wound up buying a Roku box and a dumb TV instead. It's a good combination - Roku is popular enough that the apps/channels are kept up to date, and I never need to worry that my TV will lose its features in a few years. If the Roku box shuffles out of support, it's cheaper to replace that than the TV. So the recommendation - don't bother with a smart TV unless you really need it to be all in one, and buy a smart add-on box instead.

tatersolid 9y ago
I can’t seem to find a 4K HDR dumb TV anywhere. A computer monitor won’t work either due to no IR Remote. There are TVs with Roku software...

unwiredben 9y ago

I work on the TV team at Roku, building software for our smart TV platform. We've been shipping versions of Roku OS for our TV partners since 2014, and the first TVs enabled with Roku OS are still getting regular updates here in 2018, as are most of our streaming boxes (any released after summer 2011). Plus, if you end up not liking the Roku TV smart features, you can always factory-reset the TV and run it in unconnected mode.

tatersolid 9y ago
I love my Roku sticks, nice work. That said can you still push software updates without manufacturer involvement? That is “big Linux kernel bug, no need to wait for TCL/Sharp/Philips to approve or block the patches after we’ve done the QA”? Or is it more like the (very bad) patching situation with android devices, where the hardware vendors delay or simply ignore upstream patches?