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Comment by Gualdrapo | Hacker News Reader

The one I'd really like (and I've mentioned this before here on hn) is a Framework-like TV where you could easily swap memory, processor, drive, ports... even its panel.

Like, I don't want to plug a chromecast into my "old" tv to "upgrade" it and having to live with a second remote control and more batteries, plugging another device to the electricity outlet and being able to use it only with wifi while the ethernet port of the TV is now rendered useless - I'd really like to be able to upgrade its internals without having to go broke while buying a new one.

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It’s funny, if you open a TV set it’s already super modular like computers were before we had standardized parts, ports, and form factors. It’s got the power supply which makes the 24V for the display, 12/5/3.3V for the other electronics, an I/O interface board, the MCU and its peripherals, the sound driver, and the IR receiver/Button control.

They do this so a manufacturer can use the same parts among different products or simply install an upgraded one to unlock more features.

If it were standardized, this would be fairly easy given that they all pretty much work the same but then they would have write actually good software and UI for people to elect to use their specific product.

Following this, an idea I’ve had for years without any ability to act on is a smart TV replacement board that’s sold alongside adapter boards for various popular models of TV that handle differences in power, display connection, etc, making dis-enshittifying one’s smart TV as easy as upgrading the GPU on a computer tower.

You could have 2 tiers of board: Essentials, which is cheap and only has as much hardware and software as is strictly necessary to produce a pre-smart-TV experience, and Deluxe which would be pricier and built around a recent flagship SoC (e.g. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/2/3) with an unlocked bootloader and preloaded with Android TV.

    > 24V for the display

Is there a reason that the industry settled on 24V for most large displays? I would like to learn more. Are they trying to keep wire gauge small by having fewer amps to deliver watts?

There was (still is?) a standard of pluggable computer interface into commercial displays. Like you'd get a TV with one or more bays where you'd populate with essentially a small computing blade with whatever capabilities you needed. Different inputs, chaining displays together, running signage apps, etc.

Cathode Ray Dude has a few episodes about them.

https://youtu.be/wRPDn5zPF7U

https://youtu.be/q9a3dCd1SQI?t=2006

They're called Open Pluggable Specification Modules.

https://www.touchboards.com/ops-pc-modules/

I think this would be helpful, although it will need to be fully documented, and should also include FOSS (although this is probably less important than having comprehensive documentation about all of the parts, since the software can be written by someone else if the documentation is available).

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