Nearly all tvs are smart tvs that make money with showing ads and selling data. Any loss on the hardware is made up on selling customer data and ad space. The tvs would be amazing if they didn’t come with smart features.
You want your favorite streaming service on there? Get an older (used office) PC, load it up with (your prefered flavor of) Linux, get a bluetooth keyboard mouse combo, hook it up to your HDMI port, and go ham.
Some TVs even let you turn them on directly to a specific HDMI port for a bonus fun time of never having to see the TVs menu.
Not really, the smarts are integrated into the control circuitry. You can’t bypass them and turn them into simple, dumb displays.
Depending on the model, you can block the TV from the internet and leave it on set to one of the inputs and the smarts bits won’t bother you again. Other ones are more intrusive and pushy about it.
2018 is about when it started but it was a very small number of tvs. By 2020 it was a common thing but it was a dedicated line of tvs from each brand. By 2024 it was all cheaper tvs basically. And now it’s basically every TV and even some monitors.
The non smart TVs are almost as hard to find now as finding a smart one was in 2018. And monitors are starting to have smart features and ads even among the highest end offerings. But unlike tvs they arnt any cheaper for it. Its stupid.
TVs are made from components that are made through almost entirely automated processes at such large scales that the underlying raw material and cost of shipping become the main driver of cost. Paradoxically, that means that TVs that have gotten thinner and lighter use less material and therefore have a lower floor of how little it can cost.
Once a production line is set up to make the components, each additional one produced costs very little, so making high volume runs is the key: lots of shared parts between brands and models, very long production runs to minimize the cost of redesign or retooling or downtime.
How have TVs gotten so cheap. It’s gotta be shit.
I’m guessing it’s all advertising deals and spyware. Oh, and the TV is still shit.
Telly is a TV you can pre-order, which is completely free but apparently pays for itself with all the ads it will display lol
Nearly all tvs are smart tvs that make money with showing ads and selling data. Any loss on the hardware is made up on selling customer data and ad space. The tvs would be amazing if they didn’t come with smart features.
Is there any way to lobotomize these smart TVs? Even the specs on a cheaper mid-range would blow my current dinosaur out of the water
Never connect them to the internet
You want your favorite streaming service on there? Get an older (used office) PC, load it up with (your prefered flavor of) Linux, get a bluetooth keyboard mouse combo, hook it up to your HDMI port, and go ham.
Some TVs even let you turn them on directly to a specific HDMI port for a bonus fun time of never having to see the TVs menu.
Find out the streaming service limits the quality then stop paying for it and pirate that shit instead.
Don’t connect them to the internet.
True, I’ll probably end up going that route when this one dies (assuming they don’t all require sign in and heartbeats at that point)
Was hoping for something like a FOSS OS just for the convenience of keeping jellyfin up to date and cleaning up the useless baked in apps.
Use an external media player. Personally, I use a roku routed through a pihole.
Iv stared coming across some that’s not remotely an option. They require a logged in account before they accept any input.
If you attempt to use a DNS ad blocker they also just stop working. Its fucking toxic.
Right back to the store then.
Fuck around and get a charge back.
Wow. Fuck that.
I’m actually curious enough to buy one to see how bad they actually are now.
Not really, the smarts are integrated into the control circuitry. You can’t bypass them and turn them into simple, dumb displays.
Depending on the model, you can block the TV from the internet and leave it on set to one of the inputs and the smarts bits won’t bother you again. Other ones are more intrusive and pushy about it.
did this happen recently? i got mine in 2019 its enormous and all it does it turn on and lets me play xbox
2018 is about when it started but it was a very small number of tvs. By 2020 it was a common thing but it was a dedicated line of tvs from each brand. By 2024 it was all cheaper tvs basically. And now it’s basically every TV and even some monitors.
The non smart TVs are almost as hard to find now as finding a smart one was in 2018. And monitors are starting to have smart features and ads even among the highest end offerings. But unlike tvs they arnt any cheaper for it. Its stupid.
TV?No, it’s just a big display
TVs are made from components that are made through almost entirely automated processes at such large scales that the underlying raw material and cost of shipping become the main driver of cost. Paradoxically, that means that TVs that have gotten thinner and lighter use less material and therefore have a lower floor of how little it can cost.
Once a production line is set up to make the components, each additional one produced costs very little, so making high volume runs is the key: lots of shared parts between brands and models, very long production runs to minimize the cost of redesign or retooling or downtime.
They’re single use and throwaway, with the bonus of spyware. Like everything made today. Everything.