Hey do anybody know where you get a tv that supports 4k and does not have that locked up smarttv shit?
If there are none, does anybody know a tv that boots fast(less than 30 seconds) and displays an hdmi input by default without the need to choose the input from a menu.
Thanks in advance.
And sorry if I am in the wrong place.
Supposedly, the Spectre 55 inch is 4k and dumb as a rock: https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U550CV-UMR-55-4K-UHD-TV-product959category1category73.html
I have an older model of this Spectre. Can confirm it looks fantastic for the price and no smart features .
I paid $200 for mine. Do not buy the Walmart version. Also this seems overpriced for this unit
Do not buy the Walmart version.
I’m pretty sure Sceptre is specifically Walmart’s TV brand, much like Insignia is Best Buy’s brand.
No, Sceptre is an independent company. ONN is Walmarts in-house electronics brand.
That’s probably what I was confusing them for, actually. I forgot that Onn isn’t just Android TV boxes.
I bought mine from Amazon, but that was probably 5 years ago. Sceptre has fallen big time since the early 2000’s, but that would be a new low for them.
I don’t think so. I bought one from Menards years ago.
Also seeing ScAmazon and Worst Buy selling them online.
Ahh, okay, that makes sense then. I’ve only ever seen them at Walmart where I am.
How about projectors? They’re stupid as shit.
The newer ones usually have some smart stuff built in
Wtf! I’ve had my 1080p 55 inch dumb as a rock tv for over 7 year, i liberated it from my brother so its older, and was gonna start looking for when finally starts to go. I guess ima need to find someone that knows how to fix it.
I’ve got a slightly older Sceptre 43 inch 4K, and tbh I’ve been trying to find a replacement for a while. The form factor of the TV itself is great, but the picture is pretty crappy. There’s a ton of light bleed around the edges, the HDR functionality is insanely frustrating and looks terrible, and the upscaling is crap. I got it on a ridiculous sale towards the beginning of the pandemic when local shops were clearing their inventories, so I can’t really complain. But I would not buy it again.
I also have two of their PC monitors, and they have the same problems as the TV. No more Sceptre for me in the future.
So is their 65 inch https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U650CV-UMRD-65-4K-UHD-TV-product1171category1category73.html
Still happy with it after a year. Recommend getting a soundbar though
Does it bother anyone else to pay for all that “smartness” and then figure out how NOT to use it?
How can consumers fight back against this bullshit?
You aren’t paying for the smartness. You are actually getting a subsidized TV that should cost a whole lot more but is being sold for cheap since it is also a data collection device.
Non smart TVs are more expensive than their smart counterparts.
The only answer is to never give your smart tv access to your network and to use an external device for streaming.
This is exactly what I do, my TV never connects to my network.
You’re right. What you really need is a tv that reacts less bad to being online. It’s a shame Logitech killed the Harmony because dumbing down your tv successfully generally requires a universal remote.
As a long time Harmony user, expert, and former employee … The Sofabaton remotes are the closest substitute I’ve found. Easy to configure and use. Just no “activities” like a Harmony. But at least you can set it to control the volume on X device when you have it in the mode to control Y device.
Activities are the killer app of Harmony. How do you set it to switch inputs on the various devices?
It has a physical scroll wheel to switch between devices. The on each device mode you can customize the buttons.
I use configure one of the buttons to be a hot key to set the TVs input for the device I have selected.
Again, it’s not as automated as an activity, but it eliminates switching around to different devices and finding inputs.
In our case we have some devices connected to a receiver (Apple TV) and others to TV (game systems). We use ARC for audio for those devices. I suppose it’s easier if everything is connected to TV for that purpose.
Not really. All the extra circuitry costs money. Building and maintaining the software costs money. And that’s way more than you’re expected to “earn”.
As much as it fuels your conspiracy boners, it’s not like Samsung is raking in billions by showing you ads.
As much as it fuels your conspiracy boners
If you want to discuss this topic further, I’d be happy to. But not if you’re going to causally throw around insults.
You don’t know anything about me or my work experience.
You don’t know anything about me or my work experience.
Throwing around insults is not helpful, but neither is “trust me bro”.
Where was the trust me bro part in his response?
OP literally said to not assume what he did or didnt???I just did some searching around and found out that smart tv with the same specs as dum tv is cheeper.
That’s the neat thing: I don’t need to.
If you’re just parroting the same narrative without any basis like anybody else and also use the same narratives, I can safely assume that unless proven otherwise, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Username checks out
Thanks for confirming my original response to you.
Vizio makes twice as much profit from those ads and tracking services than the actual TVs:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773073/vizio-acr-advertising-inscape-data-privacy-q3-2021
Do you think that Facebook doesn’t cost money to build or run?
A crappy years-old ARM-powered smartphone SOC stuck inside a TV costs next to nothing.
It bothers me a LOT!
Especially when I don’t even use the smart shit, basically use it as a glorified monitor and the thing pops up a message “Our terms and conditions have changed”. I cannot use my fucking TV till I accept the new terms and if I refuse, the TV just turns off.
It’s such bullshit! I own the TV, how can you change the terms and conditions after the fact? Can I change the terms and conditions? I know I paid $1000 for this TV, but I changed my mind, can you please give me back 250$. I altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further.
Same with my goddamned piece of shit phone. Here is a new software version, it will remove 3 features you love and use every day, drains your battery twice as fast and makes the whole thing slow. You can maybe hack shit till it doesn’t update automatically and only occasionally bugs you about it. But then you don’t get any security updates or compatibility fixes, so that’s not really a good option either. So you buy a new device every 2 years, even though it was perfectly fine.
I know the EU is working on it, but I can’t wait for the day manufacturers are forced to provide at least 5-7 years of security/compatibility updates for devices, without also bundling feature updates. And be legally bound to the terms and conditions at the moment of sale, no changing the deal after it’s done.
The only solace I can offer is that I think most TOS have been deemed unenforceable since literarily no-one reads that shit.
Somone correct me if I’m wrong please.
Weird, the new ToC just says “I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.”
Don’t give it internet access and it can’t get new terms and services.
We altered the deal, pray we don’t alter it further.
It bothers me it’s so hard to find one that doesn’t include it, but it doesn’t feel like it’s bloating the price to me, if that’s what you mean. Besides the insistence on the smart shit, TV’s have constantly been getting better, bigger, and yet still cheaper.
It’s unfortunate, but if anything the smart features are part of why they’re staying so cheap. The TV costs the same to make no matter what, but when every company under the sun is paying a fee to have their app baked into the tv, you don’t have to charge the end-user as much to make the same profit. Not to mention the treasure trove of data you can collect(and sell) from the ones who connect it to the internet.
This happens everywhere now.
We had the garage doors replaced, and replaced the openers since they were also a couple decades old and a small part of the total cost. Every damned opener that wasnt bare-bones had smart features. Camera, motion detection, wifi… of course, none of it to any sort of standard, and requiring a special app and account with the vendor. Smart devices are fine - I want smart, to some standard like zwave - but I’ll be god damned if I’m going to make an account with Genie so they can track and sell my garage door use.
Same thing with the dishwasher. The house being as old as it is, all the devices are hitting planned obsolecense at the same time. All the new dishwashers that have any decent features are smart. Again, with some shitty bespoke app, and requiring an account. This time, I got the damned thing and just haven’t installed the app or configured the wifi on it. Maybe it’s talking to one of the neighbor’s unsecured wifi networks; I guess I can live with that.
We got lucky on the refrigerator (this time, something inside broke and leaked water into the underfloor for a week before we caught it). We got a model that had everything we wanted and didn’t have wifi.
I read an article a few months ago about a conference where all these companies are bitching that people are buying these things and not connecting them; with any luck, they’ve been losing money on them and will stop adding smart features to everything. But I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah there’s this idea that we all want high tech, high surveillance everything. Fuck that, I want stuff that works right without accounts, or can work on a home hub or something like that. I hate feeling expected to load my phone with an app for everything I interact with
I already have >500 accounts spread across various shops, game dev accounts (because every publisher needs its own launcher), services, etc.
Too much data floating around the world because just another joe needed to seel some more data >_>
It’s mostly because it’s all heavily integrated. The chipset that drives the smart platform also drives everything else, including the inputs and stuff.
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Got a Sony Bravia OLED and it’s set up as a dumb TV, turns on instantly + I never see the Smart TV UI, not even a logo.
What I did was decline everything at setup, hook up to the Internet via Ethernet once to update, unplug Ethernet and set it to turn on to last input.
That’s just a smart tv acting dumb. Or a smart TV that was taught wrong, as a joke.
“I must apologize for Wimp Lo. He is an idiot. We have purposely trained him wrong, as a joke.”
“Hah ! [Tittering ] If you’ve got an ass, I’ll kick it.”
-Kung Pow
Yep, the new Bravias with Android TV or whatever give you a choice as a part of the first time setup that essentially disables all the smart features. I had the same experience.
I researched this recently - here’s what I found:
Vizio P65-F1
TCL 65R617
Sony x900e
Hisense H65M7000
Sony KDL-65W855C and Samsung UE65H6400
Sceptre U650CV-U
Sceptre, Supersonic, SunbriteTv, outdoor TV’s, and Caixun have non-smart Tv’s
https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-buy-a-dumb-tv-and-why-youd-want-to
If it’s not been mentioned, you want Commercial Displays, or Large Format Displays. Much more expensive generally for less features, but many are explicitly non-smart.
https://www.cdw.com/content/cdw/en/products/computer-monitors-displays/large-format.html
Look into commercial displays.
This is the answer every time this question comes up. You pay more because it doesn’t generate revenue by spying on you, but it doesn’t have all the bullshit cause it’s meant to be on during all biz hours showing store promos and the like.
I’m rocking a 4k ViewSonic display. Nothing smart about it.
Almost every TV doesn’t have smart functions if you don’t connect them to your network.
They usually still have their dumb OS bloated with pre-installed apps.
They don’t matter though.
I have a cheap Vizio TV and I can’t remember the last time I saw the smart functions. The only time I even need the original remote is for volume but I’ve already got it set where I like it.
If you connect your device to a compatible hdmi port and turn on the device first, it should turn on your tv to that input straight away. Boot times should be nearly instant unless you do a full restart of the smart tv.
I hate “smart” TVs too, unfortunately I have one but I just never connected it to the internet. I only use the HDMI input to connect it to my HTPC running Linux and Kodi, it’s an awesome setup.
I got a Vizio 4K and refused to give it my wifi access. it boots in maybe 5 seconds and the only issue is the time displayed on screen is way off. otherwise fully functional with no smartness. and it restarts using the same input as when it was last used.
I did the same thing with Vizio and it eventually would randomly turn off, or sound wouldn’t work or something, you’d call support and they’d tell you that you have to update it. It doesn’t make any sense, but I did it and it would work find for awhile again. Thr tinfoil hat in me says they do that to get whatever info they have stored on you.
My 6 yr old Visio is starting that general fuckery too. I have to unplug for a minute to get it going.
Track the DNS requests and if anything calls for telemetry.brand.com block it.
If they arent as evil as youtube and use separate subdomains for thr respective service you should be able to allow the update domain but block all others.A few months ago, I connected my Vizio to my network to do firmware updates to see if it could be any better since it was 3 years old and I was sure there were improvements. Then and only then did I start seeing random crashes and the TV speakers turning on and up to max volume (I have a sound bar + subwoofer). The TV shut off without warning in the middle of a Rocket League tournament and wouldn’t turn back on until I unplugged it and plugged it back in. That was the last straw. Disabled the Wi-Fi connection and it’s been running fine ever since.
interesting. i didnt have those issues. i havent updated.
Almost every smart TV I have played with you can set them up to just go to an HDMI input and turn off any “home” menus screens. You also can usually skip any Network setup.
I have played with LG, Vizio, Samsung and Sony TVs all have had options to do this. (But this has been over the last 1-7 years).
I have a TCL Roku TV and I just set it to boot straight to the HTPC on startup
My vizio also starts on the last input. So it only goes to the smart TV stuff when I want it too. It’s older (E50x or something like that) but it’s been getting updates so I’m assuming it’s the same on newer ones still.
My newer Vizio will not default to hdmi. It always brings up the menu, where you have to scroll through a bunch of ads to get to your apps and input options. The apps randomly change order. Sometimes you even get a pop-up ad when you first turn it on. I wish I had never bought the damned TV.
Isn’t that basically just a monitor?
While I get what you’re saying, there are some differences between TVs and monitors that may be relevant to OP.
TVs have tuners built into them, if they need to receive overt the air or cable signals.
TVs have remote controls where monitors typically don’t.
Large TVs are hella cheap compared to monitors of the same size.
Can you actually get TV-sized monitors?
All day. Above 24" they all get pretty gaming focused, and i will say the fast response time and framerates are incredible if you game. These tv sized ones are a bit rediculous though
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I use then for occasional graphic design projects. The contrast and color accuracy takes MS paint to a whole different level.
Is there actually any practical use for having a tuner built in still? I haven’t plugged a coax into one of those in like 15 years, it’s always to a set-top box first and then hdmi from that to the tv, and the only reason we have cable at all is because of my dad.
Antennae’s still work great. Picture is better with no or little compression compared to cable. Great for live sports.
Digital OTA is useful if you don’t want to pay for cable but you want to watch local sports or the news something. If you are in a large metro area, you can get a great picture and a surprising variety of channels.
The set-top box can do OTA too.
If you don’t have a set top box, i.e. no cable, no sattelite, then you would plug OTA directly into the TV and use the tuner there. I haven’t used a set-top box in like 15 years. It’s always been an HTPC, or an Intel Nuc or something like that.
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Going a step further and physically removing or disabling the Wi-Fi radio is necessary in some. My tv refused to cease attempting to connect to every guest network nearby, even with Wi-Fi off. Thanks, but I’m fine without ads on my home screen, friend.
This is what I did
With an IR remote and built in speakers.
So basically no.
My Samsung boots fast, goes straight to whatever input I left it on, and doesn’t have smart functions because I don’t have it on the network and never accepted the license for them. I update the software occasionally and then disconnect it again.
It’s older though. I’d try and see if you can play with one somewhere and if they’ll let you reset it to factory.
Why even update the software? If it works don’t fix it
It does device recognition and updates have improved that, but really there’s no need.
I have a Samsung and a Vizio and the Samsung hands down is the best for ignoring the smart features.
Samsung bought in 2022 and Vizio in 2021
I have found some. The key is to look for either outdoor televisions or ones designed for commercial use, such as those used for restaurant menus at the counter.
Outdoor televisions usually aren’t very good besides being bright and weather resistant.
Don’t judge my living room design! I need those features!
Wouldn’t those outdoor ones be super expensive?
I need to get non-smart TVs for work and usually end up buying Sceptre TVs. They do everything you’re asking, but I don’t live with them day-to-day so I’m not sure what they’re like in that regard.
