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It's pollution in general. The marketing shit getting people to buy 4K TVs when a 20 year old person struggles to see the difference from the other end of the

It's pollution in general. The marketing shit getting people to buy 4K TVs when a 20 year old person struggles to see the difference from the other end of the room is literally producing unnecessary technology when the old stuff was just fine. Add on artificial software breakage and it becomes even more extreme.

asark 7y ago
HDR and larger color gamut's nice. Deeper blacks are nice. Agree 4k's more useful for monitors than TVs, where it's bottom of the list of important modern upgrades to ordinary hi-def TV, IMO, unless you're rocking a legit home theater, as in projector and huge room and all. Semi-properly-set-up surround's way more important than 4k, though also expensive and very inconvenient in most people's TV spaces.
- esotericn 7y ago
  Yes, yes, for videophiles it matters. The vast majority of people buy the shit because it's pushed on them. My grandmother doesn't bloody need 4K.
  - asark 7y ago
    And they're pushing 8k now! I don't know who that's even for. The "actually benefits from 4K" slice of the market's already pretty damn small.
14 7y ago
To a point I agree. I have a 1080 and my friend picked up just a 2k screen. His it’s like getting an eye massage while watching tv the picture is just so crisp. I do dislike smart TVs however. Very thankful my dumb Samsung has lasted about 10 years and still going strong. Are there any dumb TVs left to buy?
- esotericn 7y ago
  I have a 4K Samsung Smart TV that I use as a monitor. It just doesn't get on the network. Has never been updated but it's airgapped so who cares. Of course if it gets on some open WiFi or has a sim card in it I'm knackered. Doh. Should probably crack it open and remove the antenna.
  - RandomBacon 7y ago
    Unless you read the code and flashed the TV yourself, you have no idea if it periodically checks for unsecured wifi networks to connect to. So yes, I would remove the antenna. Someone somewhere probably thought, "Hey, let's help out our customers that may be too lazy or not smart enough to figure out how to connect, and do it automatically for them!"
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      Surreptitiously connecting to a network that you don’t own or have permission to use seems like it would fall afoul of the CFAA.
      - ryacko 7y ago
        Radio piracy isn’t actually a vulnerability though.
        saagarjha 7y ago
        I don't think that matters. The Act has verbiage along the lines of accessing a computer without authorization, which is what you're doing by hopping on the network.
      - esotericn 7y ago
        Exfiltrating surveillance data probably falls foul of some law as well, that's not the point. People who remove antennae from their devices are doing so because the law is cold comfort after the fact. This is like telling a farmer they don't need guns because 911 will be there quickly enough. Nope. It also seems unlikely that connecting to an unsecured access point can be said to be "unauthorized access". That would make like, free wifi essentially anywhere (hotels, fast food places, airports, coffee shops, libraries) illegal to access unless you like, asked someone first. It's in direct contrast with how probably 99% of people use WiFi.

asark 7y ago

HDR and larger color gamut's nice. Deeper blacks are nice. Agree 4k's more useful for monitors than TVs, where it's bottom of the list of important modern upgrades to ordinary hi-def TV, IMO, unless you're rocking a legit home theater, as in projector and huge room and all. Semi-properly-set-up surround's way more important than 4k, though also expensive and very inconvenient in most people's TV spaces.

esotericn 7y ago
Yes, yes, for videophiles it matters. The vast majority of people buy the shit because it's pushed on them. My grandmother doesn't bloody need 4K.
- asark 7y ago
  And they're pushing 8k now! I don't know who that's even for. The "actually benefits from 4K" slice of the market's already pretty damn small.

14 7y ago

To a point I agree. I have a 1080 and my friend picked up just a 2k screen. His it’s like getting an eye massage while watching tv the picture is just so crisp. I do dislike smart TVs however. Very thankful my dumb Samsung has lasted about 10 years and still going strong. Are there any dumb TVs left to buy?

esotericn 7y ago
I have a 4K Samsung Smart TV that I use as a monitor. It just doesn't get on the network. Has never been updated but it's airgapped so who cares. Of course if it gets on some open WiFi or has a sim card in it I'm knackered. Doh. Should probably crack it open and remove the antenna.
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  Unless you read the code and flashed the TV yourself, you have no idea if it periodically checks for unsecured wifi networks to connect to. So yes, I would remove the antenna. Someone somewhere probably thought, "Hey, let's help out our customers that may be too lazy or not smart enough to figure out how to connect, and do it automatically for them!"
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Surreptitiously connecting to a network that you don’t own or have permission to use seems like it would fall afoul of the CFAA.
    - ryacko 7y ago
      Radio piracy isn’t actually a vulnerability though.
      - saagarjha 7y ago
        I don't think that matters. The Act has verbiage along the lines of accessing a computer without authorization, which is what you're doing by hopping on the network.
    - esotericn 7y ago
      Exfiltrating surveillance data probably falls foul of some law as well, that's not the point. People who remove antennae from their devices are doing so because the law is cold comfort after the fact. This is like telling a farmer they don't need guns because 911 will be there quickly enough. Nope. It also seems unlikely that connecting to an unsecured access point can be said to be "unauthorized access". That would make like, free wifi essentially anywhere (hotels, fast food places, airports, coffee shops, libraries) illegal to access unless you like, asked someone first. It's in direct contrast with how probably 99% of people use WiFi.