Best Dumb TVs
makeuseof.com
makeuseof.com
Sceptre Model U65 is a 4K UHD, 65” 3840x2860 that supports Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) upscaling, HDMI 2.0, HDCP v2.2.
Best part?
No Ethernet plug nor WiFi.
It’s nearly $649 USD (or still almost $10/screen-inch).
Smart TV have a absolute requirement of having an Ethernet port/WiFi in which to “optionally” do Internet with.
Keeping the Internet away from the TV and you should be entirely just fine and ad-free.
Currently smart TV's rely on home internet connectivity, but the current big fear is that they will start using things like Amazon Sidewalk or other 3rd party WiFi providers automatically, or even have manufacturers start embedding 4G LTE or 5G connectivity into the TV's itself so you can't isolate them without taking the thing apart and cutting out the antenna (and hoping there isn't a kill-switch if it can't call home).
This has been going on for a long time - part of the reason "dumb" monitors such as digital signage displays are so much more expensive than smart TV's is that they aren't subsidised by ads and telemetry.
I've been asking myself that question for quite a while, now. It's got totalitarian states, theocracies, personality cults, total surveillance, random ostracism, flying killer robots, increasingly unstable weather, increasingly unstable economies, the return of the nuclear threat, bitter internal political divisions, and probably more.
An "all of the above" dystopia?
That's crazy expensive for a TV of such quality.
https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U650CV-UMCC-65-4K-UHD-T...
Amazon have them way cheaper.
I probably need to re-evaluate the pricing on 40 inch computer monitors, if I can find a non-4K one.
Why is a non-4k one preferred? I notice it's discontinued now and there are newer LG 43" monitors (with maybe better blacks/saturation).
Can you expand on this? What is this law? What's the impact on a TV vs. a monitor?
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/phone_interne... Has a summary.
"A TV licence costs €160"
"You can be fined up to €1,000 (or €2,000 for subsequent offences) if you do not have a TV licence when you need one."
"An Post keeps a database of every premises which should have a TV licence. The database is regularly updated."
"A TV inspector could visit your premises to check if you have a TV."
"If you have been fined and you breach court orders directing you to pay their television licence, you can be imprisoned."
Wow, that is just ridiculous, insane really. Particularly when you consider that lower income households could definitely use the €160.
I've always said it, there's a huge difference between what you read about a place or experience as a tourist and actually living there. I see this in comments from Europeans who have never lived in the US.
I've also spent the bulk of my life neither paying the fee nor owning a telly.
The cost is comparable to Netflix and cheaper than buying a console game every second month. Not to moralise, but are you arguing it's a fundamental right to stare at the gogglebox? I'm progressive but that's a step too far for me.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0711/1309666-media-commission/ (I get the irony of linking to rte.ie for a news story) indicates that the fee may be changed to be a wider funding of the arts and media in Ireland. That would make me consider changing my mind and stance, but at that point I'd rather see a % based take-off of my income so that less affluent households are affected to a lesser degree.
It's interesting to me how people can rationalize the government coming into their homes from every possible angle. The idea that a government agent can --according to the law-- come into your home to determine if you have a TV is nothing less than dystopian to me.
Funding the BBC? Have a separate tax people can vote on to fund the BBC. If they think it has value they can vote every n years to keep it funded.
I feel quite strongly that both liberals and conservatives have lost their ways. Freedom should be a top class unassailable right that rules all decisions. I am not taking about no government and complete mayhem. What I am talking about is government becoming a brutal beast that swallows it all and controls it all.
I'll give you an example of this. We live by a lake. I can walk there. It's beautiful. I love walking around the lake. However, I cannot dip my toes in the water. I cannot walk along the shore in water up to my ankles. It is illegal. I could be fined a non-trivial amount for this. No, this is not a source of drinking water at all. There are people fishing and kayaking in the lake. There are a couple of zones designated for swimming (only when allowed and lifeguards are present). Getting your feet wet, either sitting at the edge of the water or walking, not permitted.
Every time I go there I think "Land of the Free" (a common US phrase and part of the national anthem) in a sarcastic tone. It's ridiculous that we have allowed things to get this far. And this is a simple example. We need less government, not more.
Btw, I watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4o3E1Yjvp8 it's an Android TV
Someone in the comments on youtube says: "They actually do more than pay the bills with those buttons on the remote. I've heard that at least Netflix and Disney+ will outright not allow their apps to be pre-installed onto a TV if there is not a dedicated button for the app on the remote. So if Sony wants to include Netflix, Disney+, or other major streaming services on their internal OS, they usually have to include that button on their remote."
This screams like an anti-competitive practice.
For my last major TV purchase, rtings.com was the most useful resource I could find for understanding the differences between options at the size I was looking for. They also have good roundups of the best overall TV brands¹, as well as regular roundups of the best options in several categories (size, primary use, etc.).
For this reason you will most likely buy tiny Android TV boxes, which will be cheap and replaceble.
I have a Vero 4K+ which I don't get much use out of (don't seem to find much time these days for movies/tv) but is a reasonably nice ARM64 device running a derivative of Debian Linux with OSMC on top... you can get in under the hood using SSH and mess around if you like, although it may break the warranty. My only complaint is I haven't had much luck using it for Amazon Prime video playback (needs a 3rd party community add-on, and something along the chain is causing weird stuttering issues... suspect a DRM issue), but I haven't spent too much effort on that. For SMB file playback and so on it works quite nicely.
Fails if they’re using DoH, but older gear isn’t going to have that functionality built in yet.
Long story short: they ain't LGs, but they're surprisingly acceptable for the price.