Announcing the First Netflix Recommended TVs
blog.netflix.com
blog.netflix.com
But I'm not a fan of Smart TVs anyway because they will become disposable much more quickly.
Of course, if you aren't using the built in receiver for OTA broadcasts, you don't really need a TV, you need a monitor. You can get commercial monitors that are just like "Smart TVs" without the smarts and the receiver that makes it a TV instead of a monitor, though you may have to look outside of the consumer-focused retailers that you think of when buying a TV.
All my TVs now are actual TVs, but they are more or less permanently set to HDMI1 input and all the other input source switching is handled externally. The exception being Netflix on the non-theater TVs, for that I usually use the on-TV Netflix client.
And, if that fits what you want, great. OTOH, If someone is trying to avoid unwanted features of SMART TVs, some of which may not be separately opted-in and which generally rely on network access, providing network access to the SMART TV to allow the use of the on-TV Netflix client is self-defeating.
(I'm personally not so concerned about those features, though I've seen plenty of people who seem to be, I just want to avoid relying on SMART TV features because they are additional potential sources of failure, and because the "SMART" parts become outdated much faster than the display parts.)
So, the TV effectively becomes a monitor, but cheaper.
It turned out to be a really incredibly slow OS with the TV occasionally crashing due to RAM shortage (having to reboot the TV). It's unbearable slow when "SIMPLINK" is on, ie forwarding remote control key presses like "play" over HDMI to my Kodi player, even for stuff that I don't think is forwarded (volume etc). It can without exaggeration take 10s from eg volum-up-press to volume increasing on the TV. Unbearable.
Fortunately, the smartness also allows me to control it programmatically. I've written a small node.js/javascript module here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/lgtv so that I can control it over my local network.
I use it to have a webapp served by my media server to press the Totoro-button to switch to HDMI_1, volume = 10, Kodi start movie Totoro (my daughter loves it). Etc. To qoute Jim Carrey, "There's no end to the possibilities!" :)
We are accustomed to constant updates, but it is hardly required. Software, so long as it is quality, can stand alone as an "appliance" for a long time.
My truck's onboard computers and smart radio come to mind. As does the intel 486 ROM burner in my college lab. The world marches forward, but they still do the job.
The biggest "risk" is probably just the advancement of media formats. My smart TV will probably support fewer of the most common formats come 2020.
So a TV that turns on when you turn it on is a feature worth certifying for, now? Ahh the joys of smart equipment. My dumb TV turns on instantly.
The AppleTV is practically instant on, the Viara is PDQ, not instant, but way less than 30s.
30s is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but considering how quickly my current setup is ready, if I had to wait 30s with a new TV, I would take it back.
Which are 4K TVs and likely support the Netflix 4K standard as well.
That said UPnP is a fractured standard, so behavior is patchy. Some formats simply aren't supported, and Windows can't figure out how to control volume when rendering to the TV- but that's the fault of a weak standard more than of the TV.
There is a remote control API as evidenced by the Android remote control app, but it's probably a closed API.
While I'm sure some sales will be driven by this, I don't believe its going to be enough to move the needle. If anything, it'll push Amazon and Google to provide better offerings with their respective devices.
Most Netflix subscribers (edit from people) just want to watch Netflix on their TV. If you're buying a new TV, the easiest way to do that is to get one that supports Netflix out of the box.
Citation required please.
My grandpa has a Netflix account. If he wants to buy a tv that can play Netflix, It's so much easier for me to tell him "buy a TV with the Netflix logo" than "buy a TV and then buy either chromecast/Apple tv/roku."
I think it's a safe assumption that most Netflix streaming subscribers already have a way to watch Netflix where they want it, whether that's on their TV, on some other device, or both. In some cases, when that's on a TV, its directly through the TV, but in many cases its through a Chromecast, DVD/BD player, AppleTV/Roku, etc., etc., etc.
If they are looking to replace the TV, then, in all cases except where the existing TV is also where the Netflix app is, all they need to do is replace the TV with any TV/monitor that works with their existing mechanism, which probably means "has an HDMI port". Which isn't a really difficult challenge.
The only time the friction is reduced for an existing customer by a TV with an integrated Netflix app is when they are adding a new location, or replacing an existing TV where they were already relying on an on-TV app.
If all you want to watch on your screen is Netflix, why buy a TV (defined by being a monitor with a TV tuner built in) at all?
Literally every device in my entertainment system can independently access Netflix: the TV itself, the Apple TV, the Blu-Ray player, and the Xbox. Two of those devices' remotes have dedicated Netflix buttons on their remotes.
So you're right that this is probably not going to drive sales. But that's only because they've saturated the market already, not because they aren't relevant to how a lot of people watch TV.