4 ms·

Mostly of the “smart” features on my Panasonic are now dead. Netflix still works, YouTube kinda works and that’s about it. It’s frustrating but it’s hard to see

by mnd999 6y ago

Mostly of the “smart” features on my Panasonic are now dead. Netflix still works, YouTube kinda works and that’s about it. It’s frustrating but it’s hard to see how to get around it. Long term support is very expensive and tv sales in the mass market seem to be very price sensitive. Seems to be a choice between pricing it such that you can support it, and not sell any or price it competitively and have no cash to update it. I guess that’s where the ad-supported idea came from as well. The only way I see this changing is if hackers figure out how to mass-brick them.

john-tells-all 6y ago
To be clear, Panasonic stopped making TVs in 2016. We have one, and it's wonderful :)
- mnd999 6y ago
  They stopped making their own panels in 2016. They still make TVs - I know you know this but you comment is confusing. Mine is also pre-2016 and pretty decent.
  - snypher 6y ago
    There's no Panasonic TVs at my Best Buy today. I think they stopped selling TVs altogether in the US market around 2016.
- ornornor 6y ago
  I have a 2018 Panasonic 4K OLED and it’s a fantastic TV. So good they they’re reference displays for calibrating movies in Hollywood apparently. It’s well made, it’s one centimeter thick, and while the smart features still work, I only seldom use Netflix (because it’s 4K, but there is hardly ever anything I want on Netflix.) All the rest goes through Kodi (which can also play YouTube without ads from my phone) and my receiver for airplay or Tidal. The TV works just fine if not connected to the internet and I use nextdns on it to block all the telemetry along with a firewall rule to not allow any other dns. There are no ads anywhere in the menus, it’s got tons of video calibration options, turns on in two seconds flat, and the menus are fast (although I never need them) But I think they only sell in Europe now, they’ve left US and Canada.
  - ksec 6y ago
    >But I think they only sell in Europe now, they’ve left US and Canada. What a coincidence. They just announced one a few days ago. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBAt57MxGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBAt57MxGA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9UN_HbakQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9UN_HbakQ

by mnd999 6y ago

john-tells-all 6y ago

To be clear, Panasonic stopped making TVs in 2016. We have one, and it's wonderful :)

mnd999 6y ago
They stopped making their own panels in 2016. They still make TVs - I know you know this but you comment is confusing. Mine is also pre-2016 and pretty decent.
- snypher 6y ago
  There's no Panasonic TVs at my Best Buy today. I think they stopped selling TVs altogether in the US market around 2016.
ornornor 6y ago
I have a 2018 Panasonic 4K OLED and it’s a fantastic TV. So good they they’re reference displays for calibrating movies in Hollywood apparently. It’s well made, it’s one centimeter thick, and while the smart features still work, I only seldom use Netflix (because it’s 4K, but there is hardly ever anything I want on Netflix.) All the rest goes through Kodi (which can also play YouTube without ads from my phone) and my receiver for airplay or Tidal. The TV works just fine if not connected to the internet and I use nextdns on it to block all the telemetry along with a firewall rule to not allow any other dns. There are no ads anywhere in the menus, it’s got tons of video calibration options, turns on in two seconds flat, and the menus are fast (although I never need them) But I think they only sell in Europe now, they’ve left US and Canada.
- ksec 6y ago
  >But I think they only sell in Europe now, they’ve left US and Canada. What a coincidence. They just announced one a few days ago. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBAt57MxGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBAt57MxGA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9UN_HbakQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9UN_HbakQ