Originally published at: The "dumb TV" is almost dead | Boing Boing
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opt out
Large monitor + cheap Linux box = dumb streaming TV
Now if only they’d stop stuffing microprocessors into every g+&_$#m appliance…I miss the good old days of simple, robust electromechanical devices.
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While not as pricey as the enterprise displays discussed in the post, monitors tend to be significantly more expensive per inch than TVs (unless something has changed drastically since the last time I bought either).
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If I want a 60"–70" inch monitor, no speakers but good picture quality, what can I expect to pay? I’ve a feeling a I can find a “smart TV” cheaper.
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At this point I feel no incentive to buy a new tv unless the one we have physcially dies. We’ve got the dvr. the blu-ray payer, Apple TV, the tv doesn’t need to do anything except display the picture. Also, the new tvs are too big for our living room.
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I got a dumb 35" vizio 1080 set, probably the last dumb set they made. I definitely do not want a set with the manufacturers’ take on chrome cast/apple tv built in. When this set blows, which I know it will eventually I’ll look at this brand sceptre, even tho it sounds like a bond villain.
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Do “smart” TVs require an internet connection for basic functionality? Why not just, I dunno, NOT connect it directly to the internet?
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ding ding ding! we have a winner. They’re all dumb TVs until you give them your wifi password.
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Because many newer ones simply will not function if they can’t phone home.
At which point you have a very expensive, not-very effective mirror.
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Simple answer: don’t give them network access.
Yes, getting your content by other means is a minor hassle but you’ll probably have to in order to get access to Funimation or whatever anyway. Meanwhile the “television” still accepts HDMI input.
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Any tv I’ve looked at, even the ‘smartest’ ones, have at least one (usually more than one) HDMI input. As long as I can plug in a source to that and set it to the appropriate input, I have a ‘dumb’ tv.
Are there actually sets out there that either have no external video inputs, or have them but don’t let them function unless the tv is net-connected?
Those will be tv sets I will not buy.
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In similar news, Google announced a “dumb TV” option to be added to all new devices.
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Which means that they’re dead as soon as the maker switches off the server.
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Now if only they’d stop stuffing microprocessors into every g+&_$#m appliance
I had a fancy one-cup coffee maker that had some sort of chip in it. Chip died, so coffee maker stopped working.
I replaced it with a $20 Mr Coffee drip machine. It has a switch. It works great.
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The “smart TV” is cheaper than the monitor in part because they can monetize the information they gather and the ads that they serve up.
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thats just what the tvs’ want us to think.
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Plus TVs come in significantly larger sizes. You won’t find a 65" 16:9 monitor. Or at least not one for under $2000…
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I have a 3 year old 65" sony whose screen works perfectly fine, but the “smart” part is broken after a software update. None of the factory reset tricks work. I now have a $2000 brick. yay!
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“Whoops. I guess you need to upgrade to one of our supported models!”
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