7 ms·

The issue is that it's hard to find any not-too-smart TVs with up to date technology (4k, OLED, HDR etc). Unless you spend a fortune on a luxury brand like Bang

by dthul 5y ago

The issue is that it's hard to find any not-too-smart TVs with up to date technology (4k, OLED, HDR etc). Unless you spend a fortune on a luxury brand like Bang and Olufsen.

drewg123 5y ago
One alternative is the Gigabyte AORUS FO48U 48" 4K OLED. This essentially an LG OLED, minus the smart TV stuff, plus better inputs. It seems to have a ~15% price premium over the TV.
- dthul 5y ago
  That could be a nice alternative! In that case you do need a separate tuner though and something like a Chromecast if you want to watch Netflix. And you might not have easy access to extended channel offerings such as watching older episodes on demand etc.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - pdpi 5y ago
    I have literally not used a built-in TV tuner at home for 15 years. It used to be a set-top box for cable/satellite providers, now mostly an AppleTV for streaming services (including for public broadcast like the BBC iPlayer). If/when I replace my TV it'll almost certainly be closer to a TV-sized display with decent built-in speakers.
  - lsaferite 5y ago
    It would be interesting to see some metrics on the number of people that use tuners on TVs now days.
- plussed_reader 5y ago
  Gigabyte does not do business in good faith. I am extremely leery of anything related to them now; they are not a safe brand. https://www.windowscentral.com/gigabyte-allows-returns-or-exchanges-exploding-psus-are-reliable-real-world-usage?amp https://www.windowscentral.com/gigabyte-allows-returns-or-ex...
  - scns 5y ago
    Hm, don't want to side with with Gigabyte here, but drawing a conclusion from a test of a PSU enduring 120% load for an extended period of time failing would not make me dismiss all their products.
    - e40 5y ago
      Not to mention said test is in a general purpose computer and we're talking about a monitor here, with a fixed load.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >from a test of a PSU enduring 120% load for an extended period of time failing That's from gigabyte's response, not the accusations levied against them. In GN's testing, they found that the PSU failed at 60% load after 72 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACtT_rzToI&t=1427s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACtT_rzToI&t=1427s
      - scns 5y ago
        Well, that is definetly not okay. Would never consider buying something else than a motherboard from gigabyte, but i prefer Asus anyway.
    - hughrr 5y ago
      They're fucking shit. I've had to replace once twice here and it's less than 50% of the stated load. There's a Be Quiet unit in there now like the rest of the PCs in my place.
      - sundvor 5y ago
        Have been happy with their Aorus GPU, a 1080TI Xtreme, however their software suite turned into a pile of shit. I will not buy another Gigabyte / Aorus card for that reason.
        hughrr 5y ago
- ribosometronome 5y ago
  The max brightness on the FO48U is 385 nits, the LG CX 48 has a max brightness of ~740. That'll really impact the sort of high level HDR features you expect at that price point while paying a premium to use the same Apple TV or Shield Pro as your smart portion.
piyh 5y ago
Why isn't the alternative to keep your TV off the network?
- magnetowasright 5y ago
  A family member has a Samsung “smart” tv that isn’t connected to the internet. It was hideously expensive, one of their high end TVs. It takes about 5 minutes to get from standby to being able to watch something (TV or via HDMI) when it’s working well. It also bugs out constantly with random pop ups with nonsense errors that can’t be dismissed (have to restart), the EPG doesn’t work because setting the date and time doesn’t work (saves random info when you manually enter it; it is often reset to jan 1970 on boot), it frequently freezes on boot and I’ve had to reflash it afterwards several times, and frequently it just won’t allow you to use the TV function at all. All of this is only getting worse and worse. Sample size = 1/anecdatally this is why I get frustrated at suggestions to simply not connect “smart” TVs to the internet. Internet or not, the software on these things is an absolute nightmare, even if you update them (via USB). It’s unfortunate that it’s either prohibitively expensive or mostly impossible to find non “smart” TVs. I lucked out and found a 50” 4K TV that has exactly zero “smart” features from some shitty brand for like $600, and it looks fantastic to me, but I am not picky about TV tech like some people are. If it breaks I’ll probably spring for a commercial display or a really big monitor.
- beermonster 5y ago
  Or segregate it from the network (e.g. using a VLAN). Some folk might need the freeview/on-demand TV apps (if they're trying to avoid having other smart devices for these things (e.g. fire sticks and Apple TVs et al) and these require at least working outbound internet access.
- criddell 5y ago
  For now, that works. It's easy to imagine a time when the TV includes it's own 5G modem or that Samsung would make a deal with Amazon or Comcast for access to their wifi mesh networks so the TV can get online without user intervention.
  - 5y ago
ezconnect 5y ago
That's the problem of current consumers. The modern TVs have an equivalent no smart same spec screen but only available to corporate users with all the modern inputs just without the smart. If only we could get access to that market.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  > If only we could get access to that market. You often have access to it, it's just a higher price (sometimes double) because it isn't subsidized by advertising.
  - est31 5y ago
    The subsidies from advertising don't cause thousands of dollars of difference. It's maybe a few dozen, or few hundred at the most. Facebook's yearly revenue per user is about 33 USD, and they probably have a way better grip on your eyeballs. A TV lives about 5 to 7 years. The way larger component is due to effects of scale which punishes products that run in small batches, and the effect that the "business" version of something is usually more expensive, but available with higher quality, than the consumer version.
amelius 5y ago
You can shop for bare display panels at https://panelook.com https://panelook.com Building the TV receiver part shouldn't be too difficult. Perhaps someone could write a blog about it.
- olq 5y ago
  Then you're very welcome to write it if it's that easy /s I have looked in to fixing a new but broken pc monitor that way but it would end up the same cost as a new monitor, at least in my case.

by dthul 5y ago

The issue is that it's hard to find any not-too-smart TVs with up to date technology (4k, OLED, HDR etc). Unless you spend a fortune on a luxury brand like Bang and Olufsen.

drewg123 5y ago

One alternative is the Gigabyte AORUS FO48U 48" 4K OLED. This essentially an LG OLED, minus the smart TV stuff, plus better inputs. It seems to have a ~15% price premium over the TV.

dthul 5y ago
That could be a nice alternative! In that case you do need a separate tuner though and something like a Chromecast if you want to watch Netflix. And you might not have easy access to extended channel offerings such as watching older episodes on demand etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- pdpi 5y ago
  I have literally not used a built-in TV tuner at home for 15 years. It used to be a set-top box for cable/satellite providers, now mostly an AppleTV for streaming services (including for public broadcast like the BBC iPlayer). If/when I replace my TV it'll almost certainly be closer to a TV-sized display with decent built-in speakers.
- lsaferite 5y ago
  It would be interesting to see some metrics on the number of people that use tuners on TVs now days.
plussed_reader 5y ago
Gigabyte does not do business in good faith. I am extremely leery of anything related to them now; they are not a safe brand. https://www.windowscentral.com/gigabyte-allows-returns-or-exchanges-exploding-psus-are-reliable-real-world-usage?amp https://www.windowscentral.com/gigabyte-allows-returns-or-ex...
- scns 5y ago
  Hm, don't want to side with with Gigabyte here, but drawing a conclusion from a test of a PSU enduring 120% load for an extended period of time failing would not make me dismiss all their products.
  - e40 5y ago
    Not to mention said test is in a general purpose computer and we're talking about a monitor here, with a fixed load.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >from a test of a PSU enduring 120% load for an extended period of time failing That's from gigabyte's response, not the accusations levied against them. In GN's testing, they found that the PSU failed at 60% load after 72 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACtT_rzToI&t=1427s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACtT_rzToI&t=1427s
    - scns 5y ago
      Well, that is definetly not okay. Would never consider buying something else than a motherboard from gigabyte, but i prefer Asus anyway.
  - hughrr 5y ago
    They're fucking shit. I've had to replace once twice here and it's less than 50% of the stated load. There's a Be Quiet unit in there now like the rest of the PCs in my place.
    - sundvor 5y ago
      Have been happy with their Aorus GPU, a 1080TI Xtreme, however their software suite turned into a pile of shit. I will not buy another Gigabyte / Aorus card for that reason.
      - hughrr 5y ago
ribosometronome 5y ago
The max brightness on the FO48U is 385 nits, the LG CX 48 has a max brightness of ~740. That'll really impact the sort of high level HDR features you expect at that price point while paying a premium to use the same Apple TV or Shield Pro as your smart portion.

piyh 5y ago

Why isn't the alternative to keep your TV off the network?

magnetowasright 5y ago
A family member has a Samsung “smart” tv that isn’t connected to the internet. It was hideously expensive, one of their high end TVs. It takes about 5 minutes to get from standby to being able to watch something (TV or via HDMI) when it’s working well. It also bugs out constantly with random pop ups with nonsense errors that can’t be dismissed (have to restart), the EPG doesn’t work because setting the date and time doesn’t work (saves random info when you manually enter it; it is often reset to jan 1970 on boot), it frequently freezes on boot and I’ve had to reflash it afterwards several times, and frequently it just won’t allow you to use the TV function at all. All of this is only getting worse and worse. Sample size = 1/anecdatally this is why I get frustrated at suggestions to simply not connect “smart” TVs to the internet. Internet or not, the software on these things is an absolute nightmare, even if you update them (via USB). It’s unfortunate that it’s either prohibitively expensive or mostly impossible to find non “smart” TVs. I lucked out and found a 50” 4K TV that has exactly zero “smart” features from some shitty brand for like $600, and it looks fantastic to me, but I am not picky about TV tech like some people are. If it breaks I’ll probably spring for a commercial display or a really big monitor.
beermonster 5y ago
Or segregate it from the network (e.g. using a VLAN). Some folk might need the freeview/on-demand TV apps (if they're trying to avoid having other smart devices for these things (e.g. fire sticks and Apple TVs et al) and these require at least working outbound internet access.
criddell 5y ago
For now, that works. It's easy to imagine a time when the TV includes it's own 5G modem or that Samsung would make a deal with Amazon or Comcast for access to their wifi mesh networks so the TV can get online without user intervention.
- 5y ago

ezconnect 5y ago

That's the problem of current consumers. The modern TVs have an equivalent no smart same spec screen but only available to corporate users with all the modern inputs just without the smart. If only we could get access to that market.

InitialLastName 5y ago
> If only we could get access to that market. You often have access to it, it's just a higher price (sometimes double) because it isn't subsidized by advertising.
- est31 5y ago
  The subsidies from advertising don't cause thousands of dollars of difference. It's maybe a few dozen, or few hundred at the most. Facebook's yearly revenue per user is about 33 USD, and they probably have a way better grip on your eyeballs. A TV lives about 5 to 7 years. The way larger component is due to effects of scale which punishes products that run in small batches, and the effect that the "business" version of something is usually more expensive, but available with higher quality, than the consumer version.

amelius 5y ago

You can shop for bare display panels at https://panelook.com https://panelook.com Building the TV receiver part shouldn't be too difficult. Perhaps someone could write a blog about it.

olq 5y ago
Then you're very welcome to write it if it's that easy /s I have looked in to fixing a new but broken pc monitor that way but it would end up the same cost as a new monitor, at least in my case.