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Comment by bgwhn | Hacker News Reader

I'm with you, and I prefer "dumb" devices, but you can still buy these blu-ray players and not connect them to the internet.

The internet connectivity is sold as an additional feature so that you can use your blu-ray player to watch Netflix. I agree that I don't want logging on a device like this, but if I was going to connect one of these to the internet, I would at least want regular security updates.

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Vote with your wallet. Don't buy these internet devices.

All it takes is for a visiting family member or friend who wants to watch Netflix while you're in another room/asleep/etc to click okay.

Easier said than done. It’s increasingly difficult to find a “dumb” TV these days. Almost all have smart functionality.

(and besides, most TVs have other ways of watching Netflix that ought to be more convenient for a visitor. A $30 Roku stick is all you need)

Sceptre makes 4K dumb TVs (Walmart).

You can also find other brand 4K dumb TVs on Amazon.

A guest might not see it plugged in and not know to try all the HDMI inputs before selecting the easy, built-in option on the TV.

Don't buy a TV then, buy a monitor. https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/dell-55-4k-conference-r...

In the US, you can get a 55 inch dumb 4K TV for less than half the price.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-55-Class-4K-UHD-LED-TV-HD...

Is there any difference in display quality between a monitor and a TV with roughly the same specs?

I really doubt it. My 2015 Sony bravia has a similar 4K VA panel that I'm largely happy with. I absolutely hate that TV for reasons besides it's panel. And I regret blowing £850 on it.

You're not going to find IPS or OLED panels on those large form factor monitors for a sensible price, so do consider that.

Also keep an eye open for NEC digital signage displays on eBay, they're quite common coming from liquidated businesses. I bought a few of them for the office on the cheap and they're solid as long as you avoid the really old plasma models.

Traditionally, a computer monitor would be superior in quality since they are used at a closer distance where things like dead pixels are much more noticeable, in contrast to a TV that's mainly used for video at a longer distance.

With LCD monitors being available in sizes as large as TVs and with the same resolutions, I suspect there won't be much difference but perhaps panels intended for TVs may still have more allowable defects.

That’s what my in-laws did. “For some reason you hadn’t connected your smart TV to the internet; instead of using your Apple TV, we gave TCL your WiFi password. Aren’t you proud we figured it out on our own?”

Better be sure and block the TV from wifi then.

Wow. I hadn't thought of this vulnerability. Time to set up MAC address blacklists on my router.

If you're going to that sort of length, maybe just filter DNS requests from the TV to whitelist Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, etc. but block everything else. A custom router might go one step further and only whitelist outbound traffic to IP addresses that were previously resolved through DNS.

Are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Youtube etc. IP addresses stable enough to be whitelisted, er, allowlisted without frequent updates?

If it's developed with the assumption that they can deliver rolling software updates, the software it ships with might be unusably buggy.

> you can still buy these blu-ray players and not connect them to the internet.

Unfortunately this is only a temporary solution IMO. Within the next decade I think you'll see these smart devices shipping with built in connectivity that's difficult or impossible to disable, especially if Starlink or other satellite based services really take off.

I don't think these kind ofdevices will use Starlink or an equivalent service any time soon. Starlink needs a "pizza box sized" satellite dish that constantly adjusts its position to stay in contact with the satellites. I assume they won't work inside, like other satellite based antennae.

If smart devices will have build in connectivity in the next decade, I think 5g will be a more likely candidate. But I don't see that happening either. Why would a company pay for the data of its users when most people will just connect it to their wifi?

I. Couldn't find a source on "pizza box sized", but I remember Elon Musk has said that. Also here is a picture of one of the antennae: https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/hruzck/new_photo_...

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