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Comment by lbotos | Hacker News Reader

I'll get on my high horse and say you can get solid "DID/Commercial" TVs for not that much more: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1788343-REG/samsung_q...

I got this a few months ago -- 4k, solid brightness, and ok color.

Is it the OMG BEST? no. But I Disabled wifi, and even the channel display.

I use it with an apple TV with CEC on the TV -- I turn on the apple tv, TV turns on straight to apple interface. I turn off from the apple remote, TV turns off.

It's effectively "an apple TV" -- I'm happy.

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>Is it the OMG BEST? no. But I Disabled wifi, and even the channel display.

Why not just get a (presumably subsidized) smart TV instead, and skipping the premium? It'd also be not disconnected from the internet, and despite vague HN/reddit speculation that TVs have cell modems in them, that has yet to be confirmed.

If you do this, connect it to the internet at least once, because most smart TVs ship with missing features that aren't activated until you do a firmware update.

Were I an enterprising enshittificator, I would certainly make sure to force being online as a prerequisite for basic functionality for any TV that has ever been seen online since that proves that it's capable of connecting. So.. be careful upgrading the shitware, you might get more functionality that you've bargained for. Functionality that you can't downgrade because you don't own the TV.

Some TCL TVs will refuse to work if you don't connect them to the Internet. I'd never buy one in the first place, and if I did, I'd return it immediately as defective. Eventually retailers will get the message and stop carrying the despicable brand.

Hmm generally I want the smart tv to have as few features as possible, ideally never ever even show me their "home / launcher".

Kinda on the opposite recommendation that the fw it shipped with had to meet SOME minimally functional bar and every update after that is an opportunity to make it worse.

I wanted more control and no UI. The commercial ones do that -- I think this was like $150 more than the "samsung smart ui" one... Never seeing a smart TV interface was worth that for me. YMMV.

Idk. I mean I have the equivalent experience on a Samsung TV that has the smarts. I only see the Apple TV interface and control it with the Apple remote, including volume and power.

While I have WiFi disabled on the TV, I do like that I can still hook up a broadcast TV antenna and have the TV scan for channels and all that, which Apple TV can’t do

I have a TCL Roku TV that I use disconnected and with an Apple TV. It still has annoyances here and there, like pausing for three seconds or so on every startup before it switches inputs. I’d pay a mild premium to not have that.

I've noticed that older TCLs are a bit laggier than Samsung smart tvs. Nice to have one that actually has a fast response to the remote. There was an app that was super slow on it- one of the less popular streaming apps. Although when the firmware updated, it might have erased the entire account and started anew. The Google Play store manages the apps, so I would imagine they get purged when they aren't up to the latest requirements. I am not sure how long the Android/Google OS version would get supports though).

Same. Our data is worth a lot I guess (not the whole differential but):

$627 - commercial display

~$200 - comparable invasive options

I use HDMI on my Smart TV and just disabled wifi because I realized it was downloading more than half my bandwidth (a small amount, in fact). It could have been doing an update but I found no reason to leave it on. Occasionally I'll use YT or Prime since it doesn't have to be tethered to a PC, but overall it's nicer as a monitor than a streaming app.

Not that I believe it is used, but an ethernet connection can actually ride over HDMI. Possible to share your network connection by plugging in a display.

I believe that was eventually dropped from the standard due to disuse, but I might be mistaken.

I am curious if PoE (Power over ethernet) ever worked on HDMI. I know there is some minimal data sent, but would be hesitant to leave an HDMI cable plugged in if it has any Ethernet or power capabilities. I wouldn't be surprised the feature was dropped due to general security concerns (not that it's a useless feature- in fact I would prefer that in some cases, although newer monitors can also be powered by USB-C, negating some of that need.

Some instead assert TVs might connect to the first open network available, like if a neighbor briefly opened a hotspot, which sounds more believable.

Both theories would be easily testable. The danger is also much smaller if it's not on your Wi-Fi regardless.

Not really. There’s zero reason that a manufacturer wouldn’t just program it to wait several months before attempting to connect to open networks.

I haven't seen an open network around me or anywhere I go in years. Even places like gyms, coffee shops, and restaurants require passwords typically.

I think it's much more likely TVs make deals with cell phone companies and offer hardware that only works with their cellular service. Many pay more than $100 a month on their phone bill to pay off a phone. People might accept another $20 or so for a large screen TV with bundled apps-costs can be kept down for the carrier with ads and tracking that can't be bypasssed as it will use the carrier's network connection.

I don't think you can use the ones at wal-mart without an internet connection of some kind

These days a lot of them will nag you if you don't connect them to the internet and only use them as a dumb display.

That hasn't been my experience.

We keep our TV dumb, have a laptop behind it running Kubuntu Linux. Stream in everything in Chrome. Use an Air Mouse and wireless keyboard sometimes. Works great.

Some TCL TVs will refuse to work unless you connect them to a network with access to the home base. Fortunately, my Samsung S95D doesn't (lovely matte OLED screen), and is perfectly usable without a network connection or even setting up the Smart TV features. The only controls I need on it are volume and HDMI input switching. Like you, I use two AppleTV 4Ks as sources, one tied to my US Apple ID, one for the UK one. At some point, I will also connect my Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-Ray player, but I haven't needed to in the 2 years since I moved to the new house.

That looks like The Frame from Samsung. Does it have a matte surface? What version of Tizen is it running? Does it have API access?

This would be my dream tv. I like the matte look of the Frame a lot (I have one), but it's not at all worth the being subjected to the terrible Samsung software experience

The 2020 and 2021 versions of The Frame had direct API access for updating artwork. Newer versions apparently have access through cloud services, but I haven't tried it yet.

- https://github.com/ow/samsung-frame-art (older models)

- https://github.com/TheFab21/ha-samsungtv-smart (newer models)

Hmmm maybe I'll try this, since I have a newer Frame (which I'd love to get rid of).

I don't like that anything would have to go through their services, but it would be fun to try!

This is a 43" at $800. Effectively 3x higher priced than a Costco/Walmart special. Why not just block the nasty bits on the router, unless out of principle?

Begs the question - why has apple never come out with a TV.

Why should they? It’s an absolute cutthroat business with next to no profit margin.

All you gotta do is add an Apple TV and you got everything they would give you. And they make nice margins.

Apple seems to have next to no interest in making displays at all. We are lucky whenever a new one gets announced.

What's the current OLED recommendation today?

Last time I looked, I couldn't find an OLED commercial display like that.

I'd recommend a Samsung S95. Great matte OLED screen, the TV works just fine even if you never set up the not-so-smart features.

Nitpick, hobby horse, not high horse.

Huh?

“Get off your high horse” is the phrase I flipped because I was grandstanding.

What phrase are you referencing?

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