My 70" Samsung TV is just being used as a dumb monitor. It's hooked to a small windows 7 HTPC box. I use Media Center to get my DRM cable using $1.50/month cabl

My 70" Samsung TV is just being used as a dumb monitor. It's hooked to a small windows 7 HTPC box. I use Media Center to get my DRM cable using $1.50/month cable cards from the cable company (comcast), so don't need to rent their equipment (except the cheap cable card). I can play 100% of everything and don't have these "smart tv" issues. Skip the smart tv stuff and just use it as a dumb monitor. The TV isn't even hooked to the net. No update notifications, ads, or anything else. Everything works seamlessly with macros on a single Logitech remote that is now about 7 years old. I love this setup. I can access anything from anywhere in the house on any device and it always "just works." It has been for many years. Recently MS ditched their program guide, which sucks, but there are alternatives that make it work and hopefully live on another 10 years.