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> At least in my 15 years of using flat panel TVs, I have never seen a need for a firmware update.

Never had any HDMI negotiation issues or CEC issues or OTA demuxer crashes, I guess? Or adaptive backlight dimming issues... Lots of software in TVs these days.

HDMI version updates may cause machines with older decoders to not work without an update. Its no biggie until you attach a streaming service dongle and it can't send its encrypted HDMI.

Which brings us back to Mr. Gabe Newell and his "Piracy is a service problem" quote, but we've already had that discussion on HN this week.

While I try to hold onto my electronics for awhile, I personally would have a new TV by the time that happened.

Times have changed. My TV (a 2018 Sony) needed a firmware update to support Dolby Vision. My receiver needed a firmware update to support eARC.