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Comment by bitwarrior | Hacker News Reader

Its an interesting point in the article about the indignity of smart TVs. I was contemplating getting a new TV, but I felt I was getting ripped off. I have a ton of external devices which handle providing Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant, whatever. I don't want to pay a huge premium on a TV because the manufacture thinks this is a novelty to me. As is evidenced in the article, I also don't want my TV to have a complicated OS that can literally crash when I attempt to change the channel.

Fundamentally, I just want my TV to be a display - an amazing display. I don't even want or need it to have those shitty speakers TVs necessarily have - I already have a fantastic sound system. I want as close to 100% of my money going into the quality of the picture, not huge feature lists I have no need for.

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Then search for "Large Format Display", for example:

http://www.newegg.com/Large-Format-Displays/SubCategory/ID-6...

or just big monitors:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_eb?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541...

Main problem here seems to be a lack of reviews/testing. Every aspect of mainstream TVs is thoroughly tested and reviewed, but with these monitors you're basically rolling the dice. You don't know the color accuracy, viewing angles, black uniformity, etc. until you get it back to your house. That's a big gamble when you're spending ~$1,000 and planning to keep the device for several years.

The DELL E5515H looks nice though. Wish they made a 60" or 65" version.

I've been shopping for the same thing for the past 2 years. All I want is a decent picture with low input lag (for gaming) at a reasonable price. That's it. But it doesn't exist anymore.

Every TV comes with enough bloatware to bring Watson to its knees. And the ones that manage to display a picture quickly despite that all extra processing start at $1,500, which is twice the price you would've paid 10 years ago.

Buy a large format monitor or business-focused/commercial display panel.

Unfortunately you will almost always have to pay freight to wherever; you can't pick them up at a local store.

If you find a model # you like, you could always try your luck searching for it in auctions on Craigslist or EBay, as you would for office furniture.

What you want is a display panel, like what they install in an airport to show arrivals and departures.

These can be purchased individually, but unfortunately they tend to be more expensive than a "smart" TV.

What did you end up finding?

I was given advice when shopping for a new screen to find the highest model range, as in the highest leading numbers, and then get the lowest number within that range as that usually trims out the "features". However, looking at LG's range of OLEDs, everything comes with "features", even the lowest model in the highest model range.

Consumer markets are generally awful at supplying what consumers want. For example, if you ask many consumers what would they like their white goods to have, is reliability at affordable price. But it's impossible to find, even though manufacturers have an amazing selection of materials to work with.

And TV's are just a case in point.

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