1. You have control over bullshit like this
2. You can make them smart by attaching the external box (like Raspberry PI with osmc)
3. You don't have to throw the TV because your Software is now old, just change the box.
4. There's new format which requires hardware support (av1 is coming), change the box.
5. Want to add new hardware? Upgrade the box.
I'm very satisfied with a Chromecast, but I'd prefer to plug a TV box or even a laptop over having a Smart TV any day, and I advise everyone I know to do the same.
you might be more satisfied with:
So, honest question: do you think this 'TV' will be viable for at least three or four years? LG's WebOS seems to update pretty well in the background, and, as I said, it hasn't thrown up anything annoying.
So, honest question: can we expect the TV to get slower?
The only apps that don't work on the older TV are the Yahoo apps.
Are you okay with the content you watch, and the filenames on the USB sticks being sent back to LG? https://grahamcluley.com/lg-smart-tv-can-spy/
As stated elsewhere, I don't really want the 'smart' part, but the screen is large, good quality and was relatively inexpensive.
Very little if anything. Mostly I just wanted a big, nice and relatively inexpensive screen, which it definitely is.
If you can use your own computer instead with your own software, then you can program it for the feature you like, such as what I might like to include would be numbered menus, caption scrollback, OSD suppress, etc. This can then be implemented, including the exact way of how you want the captions rendered (font, opacity, etc), the OSD timeout and position, the type of command input (e.g. if you want it like Vim), if you want it to include Viewdata, and everything else you will want.
Since, if it is a dumb display then it will not render captions by itself, nor most of the menus you might use, so you can instead do it by yourself, and it may well be designed better than what everyone else does.
But, well, I would also like a 4:3 display, and without HDCP, and with the possibility to add a full side panel with the channel/mode display separate from the TV screen (like some old TV sets do).
The problem is that if the box is Android TV, it's now displaying ads.
Android TV (Shield) is now the last remaining Android device in my household. I've transitioned to Apple devices over the last couple of years as my frustration with the google "ecosystem" grew. I guess I'll give Apple TV a go next.
The problem with RPi solutions as far as I'm aware, is that the content services now have DRM that prevent content from running on RPi. Is that no longer the case? Can I use RPi to watch Netflix and YoutubeTV for instance?
Seriously - it isn't that hard. I guess I'm old school - I have an AV receiver (it serves as an amp for my speakers too!) and it let's me pick between the few devices I have. Xbox for games/BluRay, Tivo or Apple TV - there aren't very many services that aren't on one of those three. I would NEVER hook a TV up to Internet. Maybe long enough to do a firmware update, but that's it.
That said, I haven't seen any evidence of smart TV's autonomously connecting to open hot spots without permission.
The selling point for this is "simplify cabling". Yeah right
But, for our needs (a handful of hours a week of focused watching or game playing), it's perfect. I wouldn't want this for casual TV watching or background TV watching, but that's just not how we consume (laptops or phones fill that role).
The projector is as dumb as can be, too, meaning nothing to connect to the internet, and nothing to update.
If you're looking to catch 20 minutes of a show every now and then, while doing other things, with lights on, or you're trying to fill a void with daytime television, look elsewhere.
You may also need a firewall rule that redirects any port 53 traffic that wasn’t from the Pihole, back to the Pihole. There is some sneaky stuff that happen and while I’ve only seen a Google Chromecast do it, I assume they all do.
Everyone has an opinion about what I should watch, and it's usually a horrible shallow opinion.
There seem to be a lot of dark patterns in this product space.
I have an older Kindle, you can simply turn on airplane mode permanently and sync only using Calibre on your PC. So it's not as user-hostile as newer TVs.
Yes, you can buy large monitors or commercial displays. They might not be “TVs” because they don't have built-in tuners, but if you are getting content through an external network-connected device on an HDMI port, who cares about a built-in tuner?
I hate remotes and will tolerate one maximum. I don’t want an Apple TV, amplifier and some other one.
Or there are a couple of very large displays available that are advertised as monitors rather than TVs. i.e. the 43" Asus PG43UQ or 65" HP OMEN X Emperium.
Then there's the whole world of commercial displays, examples include the NEC E657Q or Samsung QB65R.