9 ms·
I have said this before. Few reasons why I prefer dumb TVs, just a flat LED panel: 1. You have control over bullshit like this 2. You can make them smart by a
by rohan1024 6y ago
I have said this before. Few reasons why I prefer dumb TVs, just a flat LED panel:
1. You have control over bullshit like this
2. You can make them smart by attaching the external box (like Raspberry PI with osmc)
3. You don't have to throw the TV because your Software is now old, just change the box.
4. There's new format which requires hardware support (av1 is coming), change the box.
5. Want to add new hardware? Upgrade the box.
- chrisjc 6y ago> You can make them smart by attaching the external box The problem is that if the box is Android TV, it's now displaying ads. Android TV (Shield) is now the last remaining Android device in my household. I've transitioned to Apple devices over the last couple of years as my frustration with the google "ecosystem" grew. I guess I'll give Apple TV a go next.
- guerrilla 6y agoMuch cheaper to throw out that box and setup an RPi or whatever than buy a new TV, no? Seems like a better problem to have.
- chrisjc 6y agoMy point was that if you're buying a box to work around the problem of having a TV with ads, but now the box has ads too, things have gotten pretty bad. The problem with RPi solutions as far as I'm aware, is that the content services now have DRM that prevent content from running on RPi. Is that no longer the case? Can I use RPi to watch Netflix and YoutubeTV for instance?
- fuzxi 6y agoA cursory search tells me that it is possible to use a version of Chromium that's been modified to enable WideVine DRM support to watch DRM-protected content on an ARM device such as the RasPi.
- rmellow 6y agoAt least when I considered it a year ago, it was a huge hassle to get it working, so not really a solution for everyone.
- farias0 6y agoSmart TVs are the worst thing ever invented. Every TV I came in contact started lagging after +/- 2 years (I live in a 3rd world country, so they may hit the market already outdated). The user experience is terrible. And some of them stopped supporting certain apps pretty early as well. I'm very satisfied with a Chromecast, but I'd prefer to plug a TV box or even a laptop over having a Smart TV any day, and I advise everyone I know to do the same.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- leeoniya 6y ago> I'm very satisfied with a Chromecast you might be more satisfied with: https://github.com/MayaPosch/NymphCast https://github.com/MayaPosch/NymphCast
- throwaway123x2 6y agoCan you even buy those any more? I looked into it and there's nothing of quality available.
- radus 6y agoI think the only truly dumb screens that you might be able to buy are designed for commercial use. But yeah, consumer oriented TVs all have their own smart features.
- kleiba 6y agoIs there a way to hack a smart TV into a dumb one?
- biddit 6y agoYup. Don’t connect it to the internet.
- gmfawcett 6y agoI can't back this up, but I've read stories on Reddit of smart TVs actively scanning for open access points and connecting anyway. There seem to be a lot of dark patterns in this product space.
- lostlogin 6y agoI think that connecting it and locking it down with Pihole or router rules might get better behaviour.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- boring_twenties 6y agoIf that even works today (open wifi? Xfinity, AT&T, etc. hotspots?), it surely won't work in a few more years when cellular radios get cheap enough to just stick them in every TV.
- Diederich 6y agoEverything you're saying makes sense, though I'll offer our personal experiences. We got a big LG 'smart' TV a year or so ago, and we use it for exactly four things: youtube, netflix, xbox and (primarily) to watch content I put on USB sticks. The first two are native apps. Outside of what's going on in the specific apps, there's nothing distracting happening. So, honest question: do you think this 'TV' will be viable for at least three or four years? LG's WebOS seems to update pretty well in the background, and, as I said, it hasn't thrown up anything annoying. So, honest question: can we expect the TV to get slower?
- gamblor956 6y agoMy 9 year old and 3 year old LG smart TVs still work fine. The only apps that don't work on the older TV are the Yahoo apps.
- rbecker 6y ago> We got a big LG 'smart' TV a year or so ago, and we use it for exactly four things: youtube, netflix, xbox and (primarily) to watch content I put on USB sticks. Are you okay with the content you watch, and the filenames on the USB sticks being sent back to LG? https://grahamcluley.com/lg-smart-tv-can-spy/ https://grahamcluley.com/lg-smart-tv-can-spy/
- Diederich 6y agoNot crazy about that. I do effectively randomize the file names played from the stick. As stated elsewhere, I don't really want the 'smart' part, but the screen is large, good quality and was relatively inexpensive.
- ta17711771 6y agoA hash fingerprint of each file could be sent, in addition to the filename.
- Diederich 6y ago
- dod9er 6y agoThis. Unfortunately, it seems hard to find dumb but quality TVs?!
- crooked-v 6y agoLook at digital signage. The high-end ones are the same kind of display hardware as consumer TVs, but designed for 24/7 operation and overall greater durability, as well as generally having much higher maximum brightness. Of course, you'll also pay a premium for that quality bump.
- efreak 6y agoWe have a Samsung smart TV. The smart TV features have never been activated. There are no apps, and it has never been connected to the internet. For connectivity, we use a roku, a laptop, and whatever board I feel like playing around with. For all intents and purposes, the TV is a dumb TV with a somewhat decent screen.
- vinni2 6y agoUnfortunately there is almost no dumb 4K TVs available in the market. Computer displays are small and expensive.
- panpanna 6y agoBuy a smart TV, but don't connect it to your wifi.
- lostlogin 6y agoOr do but get a Pihole and lock that TV down. You may also need a firewall rule that redirects any port 53 traffic that wasn’t from the Pihole, back to the Pihole. There is some sneaky stuff that happen and while I’ve only seen a Google Chromecast do it, I assume they all do.
- ta17711771 6y agoCan you elaborate?
- vinni2 6y agoYa that’s what I am doing now but I still don’t feel safe.
- panpanna 6y agoWhy not?
- crooked-v 6y agoLook at digital signage / business TVs, if you're willing to pay a premium for it. For example, there's stuff like this: https://amazon.com/dp/B08651PB1J https://amazon.com/dp/B08651PB1J
- Solocomplex 6y agoI order a conferncing/advertising panel direct from the manufacturer. Usually the same panels without the software
- duxup 6y agoThis works, but I feel like I get "staff picks" on Netflix or Amazon right away too... Everyone has an opinion about what I should watch, and it's usually a horrible shallow opinion.
- boring_twenties 6y agoA dumb flat LED panel sounds perfect, but where can I get a 65" one, and how many Tesla Model 3s is it going to cost?
- EricE 6y agoJust don't hook it to the Internet? Seriously - it isn't that hard. I guess I'm old school - I have an AV receiver (it serves as an amp for my speakers too!) and it let's me pick between the few devices I have. Xbox for games/BluRay, Tivo or Apple TV - there aren't very many services that aren't on one of those three. I would NEVER hook a TV up to Internet. Maybe long enough to do a firmware update, but that's it.
- boring_twenties 6y agoHow can I be sure it won't hook itself to the Internet? For instance, using a nearby Xfinity or AT&T hotspot? Or simply coming with an LTE radio built in?
- sxates 6y agoConnect it to your network but block it's network access. Then it's "connected" but the connections fail. That said, I haven't seen any evidence of smart TV's autonomously connecting to open hot spots without permission.
- throwaway189262 6y agoIt's even worse. Some of them can already connect over HDMI to a device that has network access. The selling point for this is "simplify cabling". Yeah right
- MrMorden 6y agoThe HDMI Exploit Channel.
- yencabulator 6y ago
- zzo38computer 6y agoYes, I also agree. I want to put in my own software, and it can just as well be something external. There are neverthess some considerations, such as picture setting (including backlight controls), volume controls (if you are not using external speakers), input select (if there is more than one), OSD suppress, etc. Connect devices together with IMIDI cables when wanted to program one device to command another (e.g. for date/time synchronization, VCR recording, to transmit captions independently from the picture, to affect volume/input using a unified interface, etc). You could add a separate computer with your own software and then use the existing display, to display its output, and deal with remote control even turn it on/off automatically, or if the display has its own IR receiver, using that to control the computer, using IMIDI to do it either way (IMIDI-over-IR from the remote control, then send to the IMIDI cable connected to the computer, and the computer may send back a command to switch the input or whatever, or forward the command to another device such as a VCR, etc). If you can use your own computer instead with your own software, then you can program it for the feature you like, such as what I might like to include would be numbered menus, caption scrollback, OSD suppress, etc. This can then be implemented, including the exact way of how you want the captions rendered (font, opacity, etc), the OSD timeout and position, the type of command input (e.g. if you want it like Vim), if you want it to include Viewdata, and everything else you will want. Since, if it is a dumb display then it will not render captions by itself, nor most of the menus you might use, so you can instead do it by yourself, and it may well be designed better than what everyone else does. But, well, I would also like a 4:3 display, and without HDCP, and with the possibility to add a full side panel with the channel/mode display separate from the TV screen (like some old TV sets do).