I got a “smart” tv and just don’t let it on the network. Problem solved.
They have sluggish menu systems, are slow to switch between inputs and startup times frequently measured in 10s of seconds. Compare that to dumb TVs that switch on in less than 2 seconds and respond immediately.
Then there’s of course the ads and spying that you can avoid by not letting it on the network.
If you're getting a dumb TV because it stays off your network, but then get ipTV dongles and boxes for it, then you effectively have a smart TV on the network.
I have one and like it a lot. The remote control is beautifully simple. There is no complicated menu structure; it took all of five minutes to go through all the screens, to discover all that can be tweaked. The remote has dedicated buttons for switching among the HDMI inputs: power it on and hit the button for the input that you want.
I like the separation: the TV is the TV, and the box or dongle is the box. You can ditch the dongle and get another one, while keeping the TV. You can take the dongle on the road and plug it into another TV wherever you are.
The dongle has its own control mechanism (own remote, or smartphone). This simplifies things. You know what is a TV setting and what is an IPTV setting, and talk to the right piece of hardware with the right remote.
There is fault isolation. If your IPTV dongle or box fries itself, then it's just the box. If it's integrated into the TV, then the whole TV is toast.
You can ditch the dongle/box in a few years and upgrade to different/newer one, while keeping the TV. If you're happy with the size, colors and resolution, and the thing works, there is no need to update it. It will work fine with whatever you're interested in four years from now.
I was in the dumb tv camp, but I think having all my settings in one menu has converted me a bit.
If you're plugging in a roku or fire anyway just get a roku or fire tv and avoid the extra complexity of the interface handshake.
Have you ended up with two remotes?
My LG OLED has received updates to support TrueHD audio, add new color settings like Technicolor modes, UI functions like the ability to apply your customized picture settings to all inputs, and changes to the motion smoothing for certain video formats.
"Here's why your Samsung Blu-ray player bricked itself: It downloaded an XML config file that broke the firmware":
https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/18/samsung_bluray_mass_d...
But you're right, I was just saying everything with software has a reason for updates, though not a good one sometimes.
No idea what they do or yours in particular. But something to consider
Apart from that I'd always assume the worst case when it comes to digital self-defense.
Maybe not LTE, but Kindle comes with 3G cellular.
- A carrier contract costs some money (some m2m contracts for very low bandwidth can go for around 1€/month).
- It's extra design and management effort (antennas, contract management and such)
- Maybe most importantly: It's rather easy to spot and people would ask uncomfortable questions.
I suspect that the 5g era will bring with it many more devices connecting unbeknownst to their owners, and that "smart" appliances will be first on the list.
As that approaches, we need solutions that address this as well.
Also, smaller antennas.
For 26Ghz, yes. But unless your device will be outdoor-mount-only, you'll need bigger antennas for the frequencies that can punch through a wall.
I would imagine the profits from that dwarf the hardware costs of some antennas (that the consumer pays the power for).
The profit incentive from surveillance is already there. We have to be vigilant in rejecting products that include it.
Maybe it would be sold as a feature, like "Built in 5g hotspot!" or something like that.