Technology

It’s all about supply and demand, and the customers have demanded smarter TVs. In this way capitalism drives innovation. Who knows, a couple years from now TVs will likely be twice or three times as smart as they are now!

My Samsung Tv from 2013 appreciates this post.

I unfortunately am using a firetv 2nd gen with it and it's horrendous. I also use a xiomi mi stick,which is also horrendous (shitty hardware).

I want dumb but good panels,no smart features please. Does anything like this even exist anymore?

I get the concern with bloatwear but it's never been a concern for me with a TV. I simply use Roku and it's functioned extremely well. I also don't connect my TV to the internet for the most part. It's literally as simple as that. It's not like my TV is running out of storage.

I have an LG c1 and the apps and start page dont bother me too much. The remote gives you easy quick launch options and I just immediately boot into my PC anyway and then use the remotes quick launch features to hop into the streaming apps I used to use(because DRM makes browser streaming a hassle especially on linux).

My beef with my smart tv is that basic settings are not hidden behind sub menus under submenus under submenus. Want to blank my screen? Adjust some picture settings a smidge? Audio stuff? Best to google it cause stuff that used to be front and center on my old tvs is either missing or buried deep down.

I dont think they charge extra for the smartness either. A 55 inch 4k tcl tv can be had for under $500, and those have roku cooked in. MY c1 was all about the hardware as well.

Same here. I use my TV as a glorified monitor with a ton of HDMI ports. All smart features are basically non-existant to me. I disable all picture "quality improvement" shit (that typically introduces latency). Everything else is then handled by the attached smart devices that I can exchange or upgrade however I want.

When I look for a new TV, I actually still prefer going to the store, because the one most important aspect for me is input latency. I absolutely hate hitting a button on the remote and then having a delay of a second or so until it actually reacts to it. So this is something I need to try in person: if I hit a button, how fast do I get feedback? If it's not instant, the TV is out of the question.

Most digital signage displays are 'dumb' tvs

I made the mistake of using the LG smart tv features for like 2 years. I set up a pihole to block ads and eventually WebOS just quit working because ads and trackers did t work anymore. I factory reset the tv and switched over to a Roku stick. That worked well for nearly 4 years. Now I’m on a $19 ONN 4k streaming stick from Walmart. It’s actually kinda beef for what it is. Made by Asus and flashed LineageOS on it. Audio drops out and requires a reboot every few days. I want to move to a Nvidia shield but haven’t had the funds for it because I’m in a kitchen remodel.

I'm about to get rid of my ageing "dumb" TV and not replace it. Everything comes in to my laptop now, so any monitor and set of speakers to plug it in to will do.

My prediction is that this is going to be the end of the line for TVs as stand-alone hardware - just like most people don't really have stand-alone Hi-Fi systems any more.