Technology

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?

Most digital signage displays are 'dumb' tvs

So buying a smart TV and connecting it with streaming box/stick for accessing streaming services does seem to be the best solution.

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.

For anyone who doesn’t necessarily care about data collection and accepts that it’ll happen to some degree and you can’t escape it, and wants an easy experience without ad’s just remember to never connect your TV to the internet and get an Apple TV 4K for $150. The software isn’t jank like some android options, it isn’t sluggish, and you only need the one remote unless you’re changing inputs. I literally never see or interact with the menu of my smart TV and it’s great.

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.

I dont know how anyone could put up with ads on their tv ui I actively avoid all platforms that force ads I quit playing xbox years ago when they started putting ads on the dashboard quit watching tv because of ads about 12 years ago. They need us more than we need them.

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.