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I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating forever. And with the privacy concerns on top of all that, I wish I had a dumb TV. My shit cube TV from the 90s was better!

GuiA 7y ago
Don't buy it. (Older TVs of excellent quality can be found second hand for very cheap)
- voltagex_ 7y ago
  Older TVs also use more power (and put out more heat). You'll eventually find your game consoles, Blu ray players etc no longer function with the TV as it doesn't support whatever the latest HDCP standard is.
  - elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
    There are LED 'dumb' TV's.
    - IntelMiner 7y ago
      Where? Are they cost and quality competitive with "Smart" TV's?
      - astrange 7y ago
        They won't be quality competitive with newer cheap smart TVs, which are all very good - they support 4K/wide color and have dynamic backlighting good enough for HDR. If you insist on a dumb TV and are in Silicon Valley I'll sell you my Panasonic 1080p TV from ~7 years ago. It's got an IPS panel!
      - elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
        My Samsung SyncMaster T27B300 is a good example. LED TV without "Smart" software.
      - Jonnax 7y ago
        Nvidia has an initiative to get manufacturers to make G-Sync capable large displays. Some of these are non smart but large. https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/big-format-gaming-displays/ https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/big-format-gam...
      - navaati 7y ago
        https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-43-ultra-hd-4k-multi-client-monitor-p4317q/apd/210-aidz/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-43-ultra-hd-4k-multi-cl... Yes, that's a computer screen. But it's 43". That's what you want. (I have it in my living room and you couldn't tell the difference).
- pmontra 7y ago
  I bought a LG smart TV because it was only 50 Euro more expensive than the non smart one and its display was much better. I never configured its WiFi so it's as dumb as any other TV set but I enjoy the screen.
agotterer 7y ago
I also hate my Samsung smart tv. On a fresh “turn on”, before I can load any app I have to wait for the tv to “sign in”. This can take up to 20 seconds.
- tomc1985 7y ago
  I have a Samsung smart TV and the best thing I ever did was not accept the EULA and never plugged it into the network
  - 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
    If anyone's made the mistake I did and did accept it, there is some factory reset type of thing in the menus. After that, don't accept anything and never give it access to the internet.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      My interest in PKD was never based on his futurology, but I have to say he totally nailed the scene where Joe Chip argues with his apartment door. "Never accept anything your TV proposes" could be straight from Ubik!
test6554 7y ago
I have resisted the urge to buy a new tv for 11 years. I own the same 48" non-smart Sony I've always had. I have always felt like the grass would be greener if I were to buy one of those 65" LG OLED tvs, but thank you for setting me straight. This old TV is 5 inches thick, but it turns on in 2 seconds. I hooked an amazon fire tv into one HDMI port. I also have a sonos "connect" hooked up to the audio-out so that I can play my TV audio through my ceiling speakers when I want. But it's just a display, so I can plug and play the capabilities I want. I can even tell alexa to open up plex while the TV is off and the fire TV must send a signal through the hdmi port because the tv turns on and it loads plex.
- osamagirl69 7y ago
  Just wanted to chime in since you specifically mentioned the "65" LG OLED", which is the same TV I have (specifically the OLED65B6P). When plugged into the internet it has all of the usual unfeatures (including ads displayed over hdmi input), however if you leave it unplugged from the internet it works great and boots up almost instantly to the last input selected without any fuss. Furthermore, the HDMI CEC commands work as expected (in both directions--control of the tv from the computer and control of the computer from the TV with all of the expected buttons on the remote being passed through). The set is also quite good about supporting legacy S/PDIF (optical) passthrough so I haven't needed to replace my receiver. So far the only feature I have been unsatisfied is that for some reason the set does not auto-shutoff when the hdmi input is not active. For example, I had it hooked up to a computer which was set to turn the monitor off after 15 minutes and instead of the TV shutting off it displayed an 'input disconnected' screen. As a stopgap solution I set the computer to have a 'screensaver' that is all black instead of turning the monitor off--which works pretty OK since the OLED is completely 'off' when displaying a blank screen. The only downside is that the the electronics in the TV stay running, so the power consumption in this state is about 20w.
  - nitrogen 7y ago
    I have this problem as well (display staying on when there's no video signal) with an older PC monitor. I think it might be caused by the HDMI audio continuing to transmit while the video is blank. To test the hypothesis, try disabling your HDMI audio device driver temporarily and see if it fixes the problem (though then you don't have sound...). Of course, it could be something completely different...
Mr_Manager 7y ago
Personally a big fan of my Samsung smart TV. Although the Twitch app was recently removed which is a tad annoying.
raxxorrax 7y ago
> I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast But you wouldn't get the security service from the CIA. They should just do tests like they do for paternity. Tests have concluded to certainty of 99,9% that jmalkin is no domestic terrorist. Maybe they would even have a printable version you could pin on your walls.
datenhorst 7y ago
In Europe, people have started purchasing so-called public displays instead of Smart TVs and just hook up a Chromecast/Pi/Fire TV Stick to it. This is especially common in countries where one can avoid public broadcasting fees by doing so.
- apexalpha 7y ago
  Didn't now the concept but they're tv's without tuners?
  - datenhorst 7y ago
    Pretty much, yeah. There's a good range to choose from as well these days: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=monplas https://geizhals.eu/?cat=monplas
    - JetSpiegel 7y ago
      100 inches ranges from 10k to 111k €. I know what to buy if I win the lottery.
- INTPenis 7y ago
  You mean projectors? Because that would explain why I rarely see youtube ads on chromecast hooked up to my projector. As soon as it plays on my tablet ads show up.
- SaturateDK 7y ago
  I'll do this for my next "TV", however I might never buy a new one really. Unless it dies I don't really feel the need to upgrade it.
- agopaul 7y ago
  What do you mean with "public displays"? I researched a little bit before buying my TV and couldn't find decent options in terms of cost, size and quality of the panel.
  - 7y ago
Theodores 7y ago
Remember hi-fi separates? The true music audiophiles would have half a dozen boxes for their hifi. Kind of need the same where everything just does one job well. So the screen is a screen, not some screen with built in set top box. Ideally it doesn't even have speakers built in, again separates for that. It should also not have a remote but just wake up to a signal and play it. Is this a monitor? Maybe. Monitors are not designed to show the football. You turn your computer on and they turn on. You can plug a Chromecast in and get whatever you want beamed to them. There has to be a market for a generic display panel that doesn't do much apart from show the picture. But when a SoC costs little and might as well have the wifi then it isn't going to happen.
CloudNetworking 7y ago
My Samsung from late 2017 works a charm. The apps and the interface in general are snappy. It comes with the classic remote and a new one with only a few buttons that's pretty amazing (and has a mic to help the CIA on getting the sound too lol). I paid £750 for the 55" version. I would never buy something like a Toshiba because of the software and I'm keeping a very close eye to Samsung to see for how long I can keep using the integrated software to watch Netflix, Prime Video, NowTV, Disney, etc without a Chromecast or Fire stick or Apple TV (and with only one remote for everything, including my BT set and the Xbox!)
decoyworker 7y ago
The only smart feature that I love is the ability to play 4k HDR videos from a USB drive. With that said, I will never connect the thing to my network.

GuiA 7y ago

Don't buy it. (Older TVs of excellent quality can be found second hand for very cheap)

voltagex_ 7y ago
Older TVs also use more power (and put out more heat). You'll eventually find your game consoles, Blu ray players etc no longer function with the TV as it doesn't support whatever the latest HDCP standard is.
- elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
  There are LED 'dumb' TV's.
  - IntelMiner 7y ago
    Where? Are they cost and quality competitive with "Smart" TV's?
    - astrange 7y ago
      They won't be quality competitive with newer cheap smart TVs, which are all very good - they support 4K/wide color and have dynamic backlighting good enough for HDR. If you insist on a dumb TV and are in Silicon Valley I'll sell you my Panasonic 1080p TV from ~7 years ago. It's got an IPS panel!
    - elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
      My Samsung SyncMaster T27B300 is a good example. LED TV without "Smart" software.
    - Jonnax 7y ago
      Nvidia has an initiative to get manufacturers to make G-Sync capable large displays. Some of these are non smart but large. https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/big-format-gaming-displays/ https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/big-format-gam...
    - navaati 7y ago
      https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-43-ultra-hd-4k-multi-client-monitor-p4317q/apd/210-aidz/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-43-ultra-hd-4k-multi-cl... Yes, that's a computer screen. But it's 43". That's what you want. (I have it in my living room and you couldn't tell the difference).
pmontra 7y ago
I bought a LG smart TV because it was only 50 Euro more expensive than the non smart one and its display was much better. I never configured its WiFi so it's as dumb as any other TV set but I enjoy the screen.

agotterer 7y ago

I also hate my Samsung smart tv. On a fresh “turn on”, before I can load any app I have to wait for the tv to “sign in”. This can take up to 20 seconds.

tomc1985 7y ago
I have a Samsung smart TV and the best thing I ever did was not accept the EULA and never plugged it into the network
- 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
  If anyone's made the mistake I did and did accept it, there is some factory reset type of thing in the menus. After that, don't accept anything and never give it access to the internet.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    My interest in PKD was never based on his futurology, but I have to say he totally nailed the scene where Joe Chip argues with his apartment door. "Never accept anything your TV proposes" could be straight from Ubik!

test6554 7y ago

I have resisted the urge to buy a new tv for 11 years. I own the same 48" non-smart Sony I've always had. I have always felt like the grass would be greener if I were to buy one of those 65" LG OLED tvs, but thank you for setting me straight. This old TV is 5 inches thick, but it turns on in 2 seconds. I hooked an amazon fire tv into one HDMI port. I also have a sonos "connect" hooked up to the audio-out so that I can play my TV audio through my ceiling speakers when I want. But it's just a display, so I can plug and play the capabilities I want. I can even tell alexa to open up plex while the TV is off and the fire TV must send a signal through the hdmi port because the tv turns on and it loads plex.

osamagirl69 7y ago
Just wanted to chime in since you specifically mentioned the "65" LG OLED", which is the same TV I have (specifically the OLED65B6P). When plugged into the internet it has all of the usual unfeatures (including ads displayed over hdmi input), however if you leave it unplugged from the internet it works great and boots up almost instantly to the last input selected without any fuss. Furthermore, the HDMI CEC commands work as expected (in both directions--control of the tv from the computer and control of the computer from the TV with all of the expected buttons on the remote being passed through). The set is also quite good about supporting legacy S/PDIF (optical) passthrough so I haven't needed to replace my receiver. So far the only feature I have been unsatisfied is that for some reason the set does not auto-shutoff when the hdmi input is not active. For example, I had it hooked up to a computer which was set to turn the monitor off after 15 minutes and instead of the TV shutting off it displayed an 'input disconnected' screen. As a stopgap solution I set the computer to have a 'screensaver' that is all black instead of turning the monitor off--which works pretty OK since the OLED is completely 'off' when displaying a blank screen. The only downside is that the the electronics in the TV stay running, so the power consumption in this state is about 20w.
- nitrogen 7y ago
  I have this problem as well (display staying on when there's no video signal) with an older PC monitor. I think it might be caused by the HDMI audio continuing to transmit while the video is blank. To test the hypothesis, try disabling your HDMI audio device driver temporarily and see if it fixes the problem (though then you don't have sound...). Of course, it could be something completely different...

Mr_Manager 7y ago

Personally a big fan of my Samsung smart TV. Although the Twitch app was recently removed which is a tad annoying.

raxxorrax 7y ago

> I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast But you wouldn't get the security service from the CIA. They should just do tests like they do for paternity. Tests have concluded to certainty of 99,9% that jmalkin is no domestic terrorist. Maybe they would even have a printable version you could pin on your walls.

datenhorst 7y ago

In Europe, people have started purchasing so-called public displays instead of Smart TVs and just hook up a Chromecast/Pi/Fire TV Stick to it. This is especially common in countries where one can avoid public broadcasting fees by doing so.

apexalpha 7y ago
Didn't now the concept but they're tv's without tuners?
- datenhorst 7y ago
  Pretty much, yeah. There's a good range to choose from as well these days: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=monplas https://geizhals.eu/?cat=monplas
  - JetSpiegel 7y ago
    100 inches ranges from 10k to 111k €. I know what to buy if I win the lottery.
INTPenis 7y ago
You mean projectors? Because that would explain why I rarely see youtube ads on chromecast hooked up to my projector. As soon as it plays on my tablet ads show up.
SaturateDK 7y ago
I'll do this for my next "TV", however I might never buy a new one really. Unless it dies I don't really feel the need to upgrade it.
agopaul 7y ago
What do you mean with "public displays"? I researched a little bit before buying my TV and couldn't find decent options in terms of cost, size and quality of the panel.
- 7y ago

Theodores 7y ago

Remember hi-fi separates? The true music audiophiles would have half a dozen boxes for their hifi. Kind of need the same where everything just does one job well. So the screen is a screen, not some screen with built in set top box. Ideally it doesn't even have speakers built in, again separates for that. It should also not have a remote but just wake up to a signal and play it. Is this a monitor? Maybe. Monitors are not designed to show the football. You turn your computer on and they turn on. You can plug a Chromecast in and get whatever you want beamed to them. There has to be a market for a generic display panel that doesn't do much apart from show the picture. But when a SoC costs little and might as well have the wifi then it isn't going to happen.

CloudNetworking 7y ago

My Samsung from late 2017 works a charm. The apps and the interface in general are snappy. It comes with the classic remote and a new one with only a few buttons that's pretty amazing (and has a mic to help the CIA on getting the sound too lol). I paid £750 for the 55" version. I would never buy something like a Toshiba because of the software and I'm keeping a very close eye to Samsung to see for how long I can keep using the integrated software to watch Netflix, Prime Video, NowTV, Disney, etc without a Chromecast or Fire stick or Apple TV (and with only one remote for everything, including my BT set and the Xbox!)

decoyworker 7y ago

The only smart feature that I love is the ability to play 4k HDR videos from a USB drive. With that said, I will never connect the thing to my network.