I got a Roku and a Chromecast. Those provide better "smart" functionality than any TV ever could.
Chromecast is sold by a business whose entire model is collecting user data and selling advertising.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my TCL Roku TVs - I have three. But let’s call a spade a spade. Also, my main one is setup to go directly to the HDMI port used by my AppleTV.
Apple TV is the only "smart TV" device that I'd trust to not patch in ads like that at this point.
Similarly, it's the only one I trust to not be spying on me for data brokers.
But, whether the TV is smart or not, as long as it has HDMI ports, it really doesn’t matter.
Like the software quality is better, you can mix and match devices, you get feature and security updates, the apps are better, you get support, the apps don't EOL when next year's model comes out.
I don't really care if TV's bundle their software stack into the device -- clearly some people like them. It's the TVs that put ads on the input selection menu that go straight to my shitlist.
Similarities apply with the Smart TV situation but the reasonable "non-smart" options are quickly being drowned out by the "smart" devices.
For what it's worth, my setup is a dumb Samsung TV and an attached Apple TV. One HDMI slot is left open for the occasional thing I want to plug in that can't be streamed or mirrored (e.g. a playstation). I haven't used that other slot in over a year and it's nice not being forced to do so. I'll keep using this TV for years with the comfort of knowing that, a few years from now, I won't have to wade through menus of streaming services I don't use in order to watch something on an 5-8 year old under-resourced, internet-connected OS with a half-assed UX that stopped receiving software and firmware updates after its first or second year.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20201561
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20202138
[3] https://www.zdnet.com/article/lg-smart-tvs-send-viewing-habi...
But be careful with "TVs exist without ads and they are apparently still profitable" - 'profitable' won't stop them if adding ads means they could be more profitable.
One annoyance with mine using the RokuTV speakers is that speakers drop out and don't maintain a consistent volume level whenever the WAN connection is lost. Something is taking up too much processor time trying to connect to the outside world. The speakers are unfortunately the only way to get AGC in a stereo system because the TV itself can't do it for whatever reason.
If I turn on my PS4 with the controller, it turns on the Vizio TV and the Yamaha receiver, and sets it to the correct inputs.
If I turn on the PS4 on the TCL, the TV does turn on even though CEC is enabled. I have to turn on the TV manually. A dumb tv would go back to the input I left it on, but the TCL goes to the home screen. I have to go and pick the PS4 input every time I turn on the TV.
So I have just wanted dumb TVs before. When setup properly and everything works properly, they're great. But there has also been a time when turning the PS4 on in the main setup would turn everything on, but then put it on the wrong input (ARC is on 1, PS4 is on 5, it would switch to ARC whenever the PS4 home button was pushed). There is a big blurry line between smart and dumb which is more inconvenient than either.
At least, there is on my TCL roku tv.
Last time I checked their privacy policy they admit to using content ID systems on their TVs, but I'm on mobile and don't have a citation on that at the moment.
At least a Chromecast is cheap and replaceable with a de-googled AndroidTV box without having to toss the whole TV.
Of course, the same argument applies to this as to the smart TV features— if the cost to include extra ports is small and many people still use them, it's easier for the manufacturer to just include them everywhere than maintain a product variant.
Multiple inputs on the TV can be nice for temporary things. Rather than keep my SNES Classic, NES Classic, and Switch all hooked up all the time, I'd rather keep them in a closet, and just plug then in when I actually want to play a game.
My receiver inputs are in the back, and the receiver is on a shelf below the TV. It's a pain to get to them, requiring moving some stuff out of the way and sliding the stand out. The TV inputs are on the back of the TV but near the edge, and are pretty easy to get to without having to move anything.
On the other hand, hooking things up to the receiver directly means no issues getting sound to work. For the longest time, I just could not get ARC to work to get sound from the TV to the receiver.
Eventually, I noticed that the receiver manual specifically said that to use ARC the device had to be connected with a "Standard HDMI cable with Ethernet" or "High Speed HDMI cable with Ethernet". So I swapped out my regular HDMI cable for one "with Ethernet", and ARC immediately started working.
This, of course, makes no sense whatsoever. To quote HDMI.org, the people that are in charge of HDMI, "All HDMI cables will support Audio Return Channel functionality when connected to Audio Return Channel-enabled devices. You can use your existing HDMI cables or choose a different cable type" [1].
If we were talking about eARC, this would make sense. eARC requires a "with Ethernet" cable to get the bandwidth it needs. But that's an HDMI 2.1 thing, released at the end of 2017. My receiver is from 2011, long before 2.1 was even on the horizon. (The TV is also too old for eARC).