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I don't understand why do "smart TV" even have to exist when we can just attach whatever a smart box to any ordinary TV/monitor/projector?

allkindsof 2y ago
Yeah I agree too... Someone found a way to solve a problem they posed as a problem. Smart TVs consolidated buying the "extra" device for older consumers... Or maybe it's as simple as it's really that's all that is left to buy?
- nehal3m 2y ago
  Yeah, that last thing. Find me a competitively priced, quality 55 inch television without smart features. Just a dumb display. I can't find any around here anymore. I just bought a 27" 4k display and slapped it on the coffee table.
  - beej71 2y ago
    These used to be called "commercial displays". I don't know if they're still sold. Costs more than a smart TV, but is dumb.
soneil 2y ago
This is going to sound incredibly cynical, but I'm convinced the primary reason for Smart TVs to exist is to sell TVs. My current TV is 17 years old. It's 720p, plasma, and yes I want to replace it. But functionally it's as good as the day I bought it. I've used it with appletvs since the first generation - if you're not into apple, there's android and amazon boxes and sticks too. When my appletv goes EOL, I'll buy another $99 appletv - and they're usually supported for about 5 years. I do fancy upgrading to 4k and all that jazz, but every time I go looking at my options - they're all "smart". They're rarely supported for 5 years, let alone 17. Obviously yes you're going to airgap it once it stops being supported in 2-3 years, but having to click through one OS to get to my STB's OS sounds like such an ugly kludge. So back to my original premise - I can't help feeling that annoying me into upgrading in 3-5 years rather than clinging onto it for 15-20, is the entire point. The primary reason I want to upgrade today is to go from 720p to 4k. In 17 years I'll be touching 60, and probably won't be very fussed about 8k. If I could buy a current version of my venerable old plasma today, it'd likely be the last TV I buy. And that's not what they want. They've seen the lifecycle on phones and they want in. (rant aside: when I got my current set, I naively thought CableCard was going to evolve into pluggable smarts. So you could buy a brain from your cable company, or apple, or msn, or tivo, and slot it into your TV. And when Real10 needed more grunt than your card had, you'd get a new card. Instead we ended up with disposable TVs.)
- smoyer 2y ago
  I have a cable card from my provider that is plugged into an HDMI Homerun Plus which gives me three tuners to watch TV on any device in the house.
autoexec 2y ago
Because you can unhook a "smart box" and prevent the collection of your data and the showing of ads. Also because TV manufacturers who want your data and want to push ads at you don't want the extra cost in making and selling an extra box when they can just put their consumer hostile garbage right in the TV itself.

allkindsof 2y ago

Yeah I agree too... Someone found a way to solve a problem they posed as a problem. Smart TVs consolidated buying the "extra" device for older consumers... Or maybe it's as simple as it's really that's all that is left to buy?

nehal3m 2y ago
Yeah, that last thing. Find me a competitively priced, quality 55 inch television without smart features. Just a dumb display. I can't find any around here anymore. I just bought a 27" 4k display and slapped it on the coffee table.
- beej71 2y ago
  These used to be called "commercial displays". I don't know if they're still sold. Costs more than a smart TV, but is dumb.

soneil 2y ago

This is going to sound incredibly cynical, but I'm convinced the primary reason for Smart TVs to exist is to sell TVs. My current TV is 17 years old. It's 720p, plasma, and yes I want to replace it. But functionally it's as good as the day I bought it. I've used it with appletvs since the first generation - if you're not into apple, there's android and amazon boxes and sticks too. When my appletv goes EOL, I'll buy another $99 appletv - and they're usually supported for about 5 years. I do fancy upgrading to 4k and all that jazz, but every time I go looking at my options - they're all "smart". They're rarely supported for 5 years, let alone 17. Obviously yes you're going to airgap it once it stops being supported in 2-3 years, but having to click through one OS to get to my STB's OS sounds like such an ugly kludge. So back to my original premise - I can't help feeling that annoying me into upgrading in 3-5 years rather than clinging onto it for 15-20, is the entire point. The primary reason I want to upgrade today is to go from 720p to 4k. In 17 years I'll be touching 60, and probably won't be very fussed about 8k. If I could buy a current version of my venerable old plasma today, it'd likely be the last TV I buy. And that's not what they want. They've seen the lifecycle on phones and they want in. (rant aside: when I got my current set, I naively thought CableCard was going to evolve into pluggable smarts. So you could buy a brain from your cable company, or apple, or msn, or tivo, and slot it into your TV. And when Real10 needed more grunt than your card had, you'd get a new card. Instead we ended up with disposable TVs.)

smoyer 2y ago
I have a cable card from my provider that is plugged into an HDMI Homerun Plus which gives me three tuners to watch TV on any device in the house.

autoexec 2y ago

Because you can unhook a "smart box" and prevent the collection of your data and the showing of ads. Also because TV manufacturers who want your data and want to push ads at you don't want the extra cost in making and selling an extra box when they can just put their consumer hostile garbage right in the TV itself.