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Comment by gruez | Hacker News Reader

>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.

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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

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 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.

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.

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

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