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Comment by vollmond | Hacker News Reader

I want a dumb display and a smart STB -- because I don't want to have to replace a thousand-dollar display just to get new STB hardware.

It's why I have a TV and a Roku, rather than a Roku TV. Why combine them when their upgrade cycles don't match up?

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Also a fair point. But then I want a Real DUMP TV. Or a Display Panel only with speakers. A Single Port for the STB, and have everything attached via the STB, including the TV Aerial line. Why? Because i dont want a Remote for my Dump TV, another Remote for my STB, a remote for DVR etc. I want a single user interface to control my experience on my TV. We are well into 2016 and i dont see any improvement in sight.

The UX we currently have TV Sucks.

P.S - The problem with this solution is that no manufacture is willing to sell you a display panel only.

AFAIK at this point the dumb TVs all have worse displays.

Which is why I just ignore the smart stuff and use a capable STB instead.

emodendroket is stating that "ignoring the smart stuff" means disregarding high-quality imaging available on the top-of-line products.

Twirrim is stating that "ignoring the smart stuff" doesn't necessarily mean buying a dumb TV, and that they buy a smart TV, ignore a bunch of the TV's features, and replace them by using a separate set-top box.

Ah, of course. Ok, chalk it up to muphry's law.

Consider a short-throw projector instead: zero "smart" features, multiple inputs, relatively portable, adjustable screen size.

But it doesn't have to be that way, even if it is right now. I wish there were a way to explicitly signal "I bought this Smart TV as a dumb display, and I'm using smart features, just not the ones provided by the TV". If enough people were known to be doing that, it might suggest a market for high-end dumb TVs.

Get yourself a big computer screen instead? That's what I use.

Same here. Super happy with an Nvidia Shield TV.

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