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Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message.
by pwg 9y ago
Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV.
Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message.
Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.
- ge0rg 9y agoOr, the "smart" TV is cheaper than a technically comparable flat screen that just comes with HDMI-In.
- spacehome 9y agoHow is the current situation possible? Shouldn't some company be able to buy the same panel, put minimal electronics and casing around it and sell it cheaper?
- braythwayt 9y agoWhat if... Work with me here... The "Smart" TV company is paid by malicious hackers to include malware that snoops on its customers. That would allow them to lower the price of the TV to below the cost of the dumb TV. Mind you, they might have to call the malware "apps" and call the hackers "partners." Ok, snark aside, what if the makers of Smart TVs call them "platforms," and they get a subsidy for bundling apps, and maybe even a revenue stream from people who sign up for things like Netflix through the TV? Again, they will be able to make a cheaper TV if there's more money in apps than margin on hardware. This is analogous to the situation with phones. For most companies, there's more money in the telecommunications service than in the hardware margin, so most phones are subsidized by the service providers. So-called television is going there: It's just a platform for advertising, tracking, and services that generate revenue on subscription. This is going to relentlessly drive hardware margins deep into the negative, which makes it impossible to sell a "dumb" display for a reasonable price. I fully expect that it won't be long before leaving a smart TV unconnected to the internet won't be an option: They won't work unless they can phone home. Samsung's partners don't want you hooking a 4K TV up to an AppleTV and routing around their platform in favour of Apple's app store, not if you bought that TV at a discount thanks to their subsidies.
- 0x0 9y agoRight on. It's the same way a windows computer is often cheaper than the same computer without an OS. The seller doesn't get paid by McAfee, Microsoft Office, Norton, and so on for bundling their crapware and has to make up for that by charging more. All that crapware probably covers the license cost of Windows and then some. You can bet Sony didn't put this app on the TV because they wanted to give consumers an improved experience for free out of the goodness of their hearts.
- spacehome 9y agoSounds plausible. Is there any evidence that this is what's going on?
- rocqua 9y agoPresumably, the issue is scale. If most people prefer the TV with 'more features' then they'll take it. The savings of using a dumb TV are probably not a lot, I'd ballpark it at $50. How many consumers are going to think "$50 dollars more to get netflix straigt on my TV? Great!". Besides, that $50 advantage could well be lost in the smaller scale costs.
- chrisper 9y agoOr just don't connect it to the internet
- reacharavindh 9y agoThis. I use a "Smart TV" but never ever configure any Internet connectivity to it. An old Mac mini serves as a media server connected to TV via HDMI. Everything works like a charm with a wireless keyboard and mouse.
- buro9 9y agoTry it. I did. I couldn't find a non-smart TV. They are everywhere. If you want the 4k, then you have a smart TV. The best alternatives were super large monitors (way over the price of a TV, and with no decent sound built in), or corporate display panels (for advertising, signage, etc) whose prices are also way above a TV and include no sound system at all.
- tehwebguy 9y agoIs it dangerous to open a modern TV? Might be worth finding the network chips and disconnecting or breaking them off.
- JasonFruit 9y agoA smart any device, honestly.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- maccard 9y agoUnfortunately if you’re in the market for a high quality TV, your choices are restricted to smart TVs.
- bobwaycott 9y agoYou can then avoid connecting it to the internet at all, providing you a TV with all the beautiful looks and dumb insides.
- drewmol 9y agoThe problem I've run into: the buggy software that's 3-6-9 months+ out of date by the time you get it out of box. Offline sofware update is not always an option. Maybe update once and then disconnect? As someone mentioned, only until they have autoconnect built in through partnership with mobile providers
- ReverseCold 9y agoDoes open smart TV software exist?
- r3bl 9y agoKodi? Disregarding the fucking awful campaign against them because some 3rd party developers make piracy-focused add-ons, as someone who never owned a smart TV, Kodi seems pretty feature-compatible. I could be totally off though.
- drewmol 9y agoLook into LibreELEC, I use that and buy android tv boxes. You can dual boot, LibreELEC from an SD and android from NAND. It's stable enough that I've began to just flash nand and run soley LibreELEC, but you'll be limited from the wide availability of android support for most major content providers apps
- e12e 9y ago
- EpicEng 9y ago> Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Not much of a solution since it will never happen. The best TV's are "smart", and people like nice things, myself included. You're much better of simply never connecting them to the internet. They get the same message and you don't limit yourself to a small set of poor options.
- pwg 9y ago> They get the same message If by "they" you mean the manufacturers, no they don't get the "same message". The message they (makers) got was: "A smart TV sold". They interpret that to mean "purchaser wanted a smart TV".
- EpicEng 9y agoAnd if you never connect you're device the message they get is "the consumer wanted our TV, but not our software." What's hard to understand about that?
- pwg 9y agoNothing hard to understand about your logic. It is the underlying assumption that is flawed. The makers are not tracking that statistic (number of units sold that were not connected to the internet). They don't care if you connect it to the internet or not. Anything that happens after the initial sale (beyond returns and warranty repairs) is simply irrelevant to them, because there is zero income stream (unless they are charging an 'upgrade fee' later for something). They care only about that initial sale. The only feedback channel they listen to is "units sold". But too many people are addicted to the upgrade cycle and as a result not enough will simply turn away and say "no thanks, I'll stick with my dumb TV" (or go hunt down those few dumb TV's that still exist, so the sales numbers shift to dumb TV's).
- EpicEng 9y ago> The makers are not tracking that statistic (number of units sold that were not connected to the internet). They don't care if you connect it to the internet or not. That is absolutely wrong. They are making money off of the data; of course they care! That's the whole point!