I’m one of the crazy people who spent 4 grand on a 85 inch dumb display meant for stores to use as digital signage. Honestly a great decision. It’s no home theater display but damn if it isn’t just as good as any smart tv I’ve seen. I just have it hooked to a raspberry pi running librelec.
Unfortunately some modern TVs do stuff like constantly pester you to connect to the internet, or have offline ads. There have even been trials of Amazon-powered TVs connecting to nearby Echo devices and gaining internet connectivity that way.
My parents’ Sharp has lasted more than 10 years and it’s even a smart tv, but it’s probably way more dumb than the current ones since it could only do Netflix.
Rooting an Android TV gets you there, plus you get a TV that you actually own. It’s super niche and difficult to do, though. Hard to find info on which TVs can be rooted.
Is any of that information centralised anywhere? I still have and love my old dumb TV, but I want to be prepared for when I am inevitably dragged in to the “smart” era.
Hopefully they won’t start standardizing TV’s that have to phone home periodically and if they are denied this for long enough, refuse to work until they’ve established a connection to their servers. I’m not aware of anything that does this but it’s definitely what will start happening if enough people disable network connectivity to circumvent smart features. This wouldn’t worry me too much since I’d likely want to use the device as just a display anyway and plug something useful in to the HDMI but if the whole machine is somehow tied up in these sophisticated operating systems, what if they just disable HDMI until they get their way?
My TV has never been near any Internet connection. The source button on the remote has been clicked once, the color settings has been changed once. The only button in regular use is the on/off button. This is the way.
We managed to pick up some off newegg.ca as recently as a couple of years ago (RCA branded). Only 32-inch panels, though, so if you’re looking for a living room centerpiece, you’re better off going the digital signage route.
The real question is whether or not you can still buy a dumb TV in 2024.
I’m one of the crazy people who spent 4 grand on a 85 inch dumb display meant for stores to use as digital signage. Honestly a great decision. It’s no home theater display but damn if it isn’t just as good as any smart tv I’ve seen. I just have it hooked to a raspberry pi running librelec.
I just don’t hook mine up to the Internet and disable all the ad and tracking stuff on my LG, but at least yours will probably last 10+ years.
Unfortunately some modern TVs do stuff like constantly pester you to connect to the internet, or have offline ads. There have even been trials of Amazon-powered TVs connecting to nearby Echo devices and gaining internet connectivity that way.
That was kinda the idea. We just moved and I wanted to get something set up that I wouldn’t have to worry about for at least a decade.
My parents’ Sharp has lasted more than 10 years and it’s even a smart tv, but it’s probably way more dumb than the current ones since it could only do Netflix.
Rooting an Android TV gets you there, plus you get a TV that you actually own. It’s super niche and difficult to do, though. Hard to find info on which TVs can be rooted.
Is any of that information centralised anywhere? I still have and love my old dumb TV, but I want to be prepared for when I am inevitably dragged in to the “smart” era.
I personally just had to figure it out for myself.
I use video projectors. Many of them, typically the better ones do not have any built-in smarts requiring an Internet connection.
In general, smart devices are a major security risk, and need to be firewalled off.
business opportunity, Smart TV lobotomies.
Wouldn’t that basically just be the same as “deleting the wifi password from the TV”?
Hopefully they won’t start standardizing TV’s that have to phone home periodically and if they are denied this for long enough, refuse to work until they’ve established a connection to their servers. I’m not aware of anything that does this but it’s definitely what will start happening if enough people disable network connectivity to circumvent smart features. This wouldn’t worry me too much since I’d likely want to use the device as just a display anyway and plug something useful in to the HDMI but if the whole machine is somehow tied up in these sophisticated operating systems, what if they just disable HDMI until they get their way?
My TV has never been near any Internet connection. The source button on the remote has been clicked once, the color settings has been changed once. The only button in regular use is the on/off button. This is the way.
You can, but now it’s called “a big monitor and your own server with a personal media library”.
Bought an LG A2 OLED, I have never hooked it up to the Internet and I love it. I don’t use any smart functionality just a PC
We managed to pick up some off newegg.ca as recently as a couple of years ago (RCA branded). Only 32-inch panels, though, so if you’re looking for a living room centerpiece, you’re better off going the digital signage route.