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I do not understand why the prices of these have not fallen to $0, in much the same way an inktjet printer has. Or why the TV does not come as a freebie with so

I do not understand why the prices of these have not fallen to $0, in much the same way an inktjet printer has. Or why the TV does not come as a freebie with some kind of (cable, otherwise) content subscription. (Disclaimer: I hate “smart” TVs)

stormbrew 7y ago
There are definitely cable bundles that include a tv in some places at least. The value of cable is now so far in the negative for a lot of people though that you'd need to be giving them a hell of a tv to justify it. :P
wmf 7y ago
Because the spying and advertising isn't worth that much?
- ojilles 7y ago
  Printers didn’t need the spying?
  - toast0 7y ago
    Printers get you on the ink, and the terrible driver software, and maybe an ink subscription. And the support contract.
    - ojilles 7y ago
      This is my point: printers started off expensive, then lower costs due to manufacturing efficiencies/scale, but then ultimately drop to effectively $0 due to business models shifting. It's a fair assumption to make that a similar thing would happen to TV's but it doesn't look like it has?
derefr 7y ago
Have you ever tried to sell a TV? Much like diamonds or cars, it seems that a lot of their value derives from the "primary-market freshness guarantee." For base-model TVs, the secondary-market price (e.g. the one you'd get at a pawn shop) is essentially zero. People aren't really buying base-model TVs, though. Who wants a 30" 30Hz 720p non-HDR display (let alone an old CRT or plasma TV), even for free? "I'd rather watch shows on my phone than on that piece of junk" is a pretty common thing to hear when someone is being offered one of these. And so we still see, not only the primary-market markup effects, but also the "leading edge" markup effects, where having to have all the best features (larger size, 4K, HDR, 144Hz, OLED, curved display, etc.) that you don't have to have, makes the TV more expensive. (But not that much more expensive. Even with both of these markups, the average "good enough to watch anything without downsampling" TV is still only $500.)
- shantly 7y ago
  > Who wants a 30" 30Hz 720p non-HDR display (let alone an old CRT or plasma TV), even for free? "I'd rather watch shows on my phone than on that piece of junk" is a pretty common thing to hear when someone is being offered one of these. That's exactly the kind of TV (and somewhat better, actually) that you can thrift or find on Craigslist for free or so-cheap-it's-almost-free.

stormbrew 7y ago

There are definitely cable bundles that include a tv in some places at least. The value of cable is now so far in the negative for a lot of people though that you'd need to be giving them a hell of a tv to justify it. :P

wmf 7y ago

Because the spying and advertising isn't worth that much?

ojilles 7y ago
Printers didn’t need the spying?
- toast0 7y ago
  Printers get you on the ink, and the terrible driver software, and maybe an ink subscription. And the support contract.
  - ojilles 7y ago
    This is my point: printers started off expensive, then lower costs due to manufacturing efficiencies/scale, but then ultimately drop to effectively $0 due to business models shifting. It's a fair assumption to make that a similar thing would happen to TV's but it doesn't look like it has?

derefr 7y ago

Have you ever tried to sell a TV? Much like diamonds or cars, it seems that a lot of their value derives from the "primary-market freshness guarantee." For base-model TVs, the secondary-market price (e.g. the one you'd get at a pawn shop) is essentially zero. People aren't really buying base-model TVs, though. Who wants a 30" 30Hz 720p non-HDR display (let alone an old CRT or plasma TV), even for free? "I'd rather watch shows on my phone than on that piece of junk" is a pretty common thing to hear when someone is being offered one of these. And so we still see, not only the primary-market markup effects, but also the "leading edge" markup effects, where having to have all the best features (larger size, 4K, HDR, 144Hz, OLED, curved display, etc.) that you don't have to have, makes the TV more expensive. (But not that much more expensive. Even with both of these markups, the average "good enough to watch anything without downsampling" TV is still only $500.)

shantly 7y ago
> Who wants a 30" 30Hz 720p non-HDR display (let alone an old CRT or plasma TV), even for free? "I'd rather watch shows on my phone than on that piece of junk" is a pretty common thing to hear when someone is being offered one of these. That's exactly the kind of TV (and somewhat better, actually) that you can thrift or find on Craigslist for free or so-cheap-it's-almost-free.