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As someone who has never owned a TV and doesn’t know about this space, are there any TV manufacturers that are just a basic screen anymore?

tomxor 25d ago
Not really (I've looked pretty thoroughly), but I've been looking into large format gaming monitors like the 48" Asus OLED PG48UQ [0] which are essentially dumb TV panels. I haven't finished researching yet but happy to discover this category of monitor is a thing now, with close enough to the latest display tech at reasonable prices. I've never owned a TV either and I keep getting stuck trying to buy one because they are all so horrible. These are essentially huge TV panels, with basic TV features like a remote control for the OSD. I guess because it's what gamers want... A TV scale monitor for use as a TV without all the smart TV bits which ruin games. There are also a bunch of "Smart Monitors" in this category to be ware, including from LG. The work is in distinguishing the true large format dumb monitors from the smart TVs in disguise. [0] https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-rog-swift-oled-pg48uq https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-rog-swift-oled-p...
- account42 24d ago
  A lot of TVs can still be used as a dumb display if you simply ignore all their other useless "smart" functionality. If anything, "large format gaming monitors" are a response to that usage from the monitor industry wanting to get back some of those customers.
  - tomxor 23d ago
    Yes, that used to be the way. But it's getting increasingly hard to ignore their smart functionality and be comfortable enough simply leaving it "unnetworked". The problem is the incentives, even though TVs represent a higher turnover for LGE (roughly $1 B), they barely break even, whereas most of the 0.5 B from their advertising division (made through the TVs) is majority profit. They don't want you to use their TVs as monitors (they lose money that way), they are highly incentivised to find a way to track you. This is not unique to LG but they seem the worse affected while having the largest chunk of the market. I feel a lot more comfortable with a monitor controller attached to the same OLED panel rather than trying to figure out if i've neutered LGs ad department enough, or worrying about it somehow independently gaining network in the future after monitoring everything in isolation as proven in this latest news. I think LG tvs doing something like automatic exfil via their own mesh network in future is not far fetched, it's practical with their market share and they have the incentives.
alistairSH 25d ago
Like the sibling said, you have to look at large monitors or commercial displays. But both tend to cost a lot more for similar features (due to not having ad revenue attached, I assume) or have other compromises. The best options seems to be finding a TV that is reported to be usable without any sign-in and without internet connection. The number of models that fall in that category is getting smaller over time.
maxk42 25d ago
Westinghouse makes a line of "non-smart" TVs. A few obscure Chinese brands do also.

tomxor 25d ago

Not really (I've looked pretty thoroughly), but I've been looking into large format gaming monitors like the 48" Asus OLED PG48UQ [0] which are essentially dumb TV panels. I haven't finished researching yet but happy to discover this category of monitor is a thing now, with close enough to the latest display tech at reasonable prices. I've never owned a TV either and I keep getting stuck trying to buy one because they are all so horrible. These are essentially huge TV panels, with basic TV features like a remote control for the OSD. I guess because it's what gamers want... A TV scale monitor for use as a TV without all the smart TV bits which ruin games. There are also a bunch of "Smart Monitors" in this category to be ware, including from LG. The work is in distinguishing the true large format dumb monitors from the smart TVs in disguise. [0] https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-rog-swift-oled-pg48uq https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-rog-swift-oled-p...

account42 24d ago
A lot of TVs can still be used as a dumb display if you simply ignore all their other useless "smart" functionality. If anything, "large format gaming monitors" are a response to that usage from the monitor industry wanting to get back some of those customers.
- tomxor 23d ago
  Yes, that used to be the way. But it's getting increasingly hard to ignore their smart functionality and be comfortable enough simply leaving it "unnetworked". The problem is the incentives, even though TVs represent a higher turnover for LGE (roughly $1 B), they barely break even, whereas most of the 0.5 B from their advertising division (made through the TVs) is majority profit. They don't want you to use their TVs as monitors (they lose money that way), they are highly incentivised to find a way to track you. This is not unique to LG but they seem the worse affected while having the largest chunk of the market. I feel a lot more comfortable with a monitor controller attached to the same OLED panel rather than trying to figure out if i've neutered LGs ad department enough, or worrying about it somehow independently gaining network in the future after monitoring everything in isolation as proven in this latest news. I think LG tvs doing something like automatic exfil via their own mesh network in future is not far fetched, it's practical with their market share and they have the incentives.

alistairSH 25d ago

Like the sibling said, you have to look at large monitors or commercial displays. But both tend to cost a lot more for similar features (due to not having ad revenue attached, I assume) or have other compromises. The best options seems to be finding a TV that is reported to be usable without any sign-in and without internet connection. The number of models that fall in that category is getting smaller over time.

maxk42 25d ago

Westinghouse makes a line of "non-smart" TVs. A few obscure Chinese brands do also.