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[-] BillWigly@kbin.earth 2 points 23 hours ago

bro if my tv had ads I'd insta refund

[-] Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

You want custom firmware and piracy? This is how you get it.

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 95 points 1 month ago

Not as bad as this, but when I moved to a new town I got a free big TV with my new ISP. I was going with that ISP anyways so a free 4k HDR TV on top was a nice bonus.

I wish I had gotten some other bonus. Viewing angle is atrocious and it is impossible to get rid of the input lag (no there isn't a gaming mode or similar) so no games with precise timing can be played.

So now we have a big living room TV that is too good to replace with something better but bad enough to be a little bit annoying.

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 month ago

Give it to your parents or some other older people who would use it just as a TV and buy yourself a decent TV.

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[-] slumlordthanatos@lemmy.world 89 points 1 month ago

Instead of buying a TV, look for a digital signage display. It's a TV, but with none of the "smart" crap on it.

Alternatively, just don't hook your device up to the internet.

[-] renzev@lemmy.world 110 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is good advice, but I really wish we lived in a world where consumers could bond together and get laws passed that make this type of crap illegal so that buying TV's (or any type of appliance for that matter) didn't involve having to do research on weird non-consumer hardware just to have a nice experience.

EDIT: some morons in my replies keep on saying shit about "voting republican" and We Do In OtHeR CoUnTRiEs. I'm not american, I don't live in america, and I cannot remember the last time I set foot in america. Shut the fuck up, nobody asked you.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 48 points 1 month ago

In other words, you wish we lived in a democracy instead of a plutocracy. 'Cause that's exactly how it's supposed to work. This thread is squarely about the FTC failing to do its goddamn job, because this should not be legal.

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[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The smart stuff isn't the issue. It is all the connected shit.

There are plenty of smart TVs that you just don't have to connect to the internet. Then it can't download ads, be laggy or reboot because of updates, send all your data to the manufacturer, ...

Just connect a small PC over HDMI like you would a dumb TV, and other than a slow boot it will work the same.

I can recommend TLC as a TV that doesn't require an internet connection. But I would steer clear of ever connecting it to a network, the remotes have microphones in them.

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[-] Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf 9 points 1 month ago

Or just don't buy Samsung. Never had this kind of trouble with any other brand except Samsung. Because of this, I'll never ever buy another Samsung product.

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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 81 points 1 month ago

Oops, stepped on another $1200 landmine did you? Should have researched where you put your foot. Everyone knows this neighborhood is littered with landmines. No, there's nothing we can really do about it except hand out these exhaustive charts and navigation tools. Of course they need to constantly get re-updated and are themselves periodically hijacked by the pro-landmine industry to turn into a second-tier grift. But that just means you have to research who you research for your TV research.

Don't worry, you'll get it eventually. God gave us two legs for a reason.

[-] Hackworth@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Four legs good, two legs BETTER!

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 71 points 1 month ago

First rule of smart TVs: if you really have to buy a smart TV, then never connect it to the internet!

[-] Zacryon@feddit.org 21 points 1 month ago

I've read at some other post that some smart TVs won't work at all if you don't connect it to the internet.

Read with caution, I haven't verified this.

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[-] JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee 16 points 1 month ago

I lobotomized our TV after making the mistake of connecting it to the internet when we first got it.

The ads slowed down the menu to switch sources so much it actually angered me. No more internet for you, you get to be a dumb tv forever now.

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 57 points 1 month ago

Looked at the CES reveals and aside from some minor improvements, its nothing but overloaded AI crap.

Even on TVs from 10 years ago, the first thing you had to do was turn off the stupid auto frame generation, smoothing, lighting, and other effects so you can actually enjoy your content in original detail and correct FPS.

[-] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 month ago

It took me way too long to figure out what was going on with those settings. One of my relatives tv's was like this back in the day and at first I thought it was just their "HD" setup which made me completely write off getting anything HD because of the fake look like a soap opera. It wasn't till I was gifted a blue-ray player that I realized their tv just had horrible "enchancement" shit.

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[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

If that's real, then it's full refund or terrorism upon both the vendor and manufacturer.

[-] Rin@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago
[-] synapse1278@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago

My current TV has started to die. It's developing a purple spot that starts to be very distracting. I am not excited about researching a new model that doesn't pull out this kind a shit on me. I don't intend to ever connect it to the Internet. My current TV is nothing more than a big display for my NVIDIA shield TV and the next one will be the same.

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

Sceptre makes a decent dumb tv.

I have one. I like it. 4k. Good enough for me.

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[-] eluvatar@programming.dev 24 points 1 month ago

This is where I would go to research a new tv https://www.rtings.com/

[-] qx128@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Check out “commercial” TVs. These are TVs for businesses (e.g. displaying a menu at a restaurant). They typically don’t have the “smart” features. You have to look for them specifically.

[-] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 11 points 1 month ago

No, they are NOT tvs! The difference is that the display panels are to slow for fast action scenes or any kind of scene switch, that's why they only show a set of static images on rotation.

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[-] Rubanski@lemm.ee 35 points 1 month ago

Verification can when?

[-] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

I needed a second t.v for the basement and i decided to just not buy one.

I had an old mini projector I repurposed and there a nice tv upstairs/phones for anything else.

Cant wait till "minimal" stuff becomes the trend.

[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 19 points 1 month ago

Joke's on you! Projectors get this "smart" bullshit, too!

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[-] glitchdx@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

I just bought this dumb tv. Couldn't be happier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CJV6722?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

It's not a good tv, but it's the biggest one I could fit on my desk and it has absolutely no "smart" features.

[-] hardaysknight@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Just don’t connect smart TVs to the internet. That’s all you have to (not) do

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 month ago

Too much of a gamble. What if someone already did once and it uses the cached ads? What if they have some preloaded?

Better financially support products that never have ads and that way demonstrate demand.

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[-] TomAwsm@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

From what I have heard, this is not true for all brands. Some won't work without being connected. Shouldn't be legal, but here we are.

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[-] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

My TCL TV flashes a little ring light constantly if it doesn't have an internet connection. The best part is the LED is part of the IR receiver, so if you cover it up your remote stops working. I've dimmed it as much as possible through the hidden service menus, but the option to remove it was apparently removed in a firmware update at some point.

[-] FuryMaker@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Jesus fucking christ. This is by design; they knew what they were doing.

Rtings needs a category/filter for design and "smart" features that cause issue.

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[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nothing to research. They're all the same bad or will get bad in the foreseeable future. Only thing that matters is the screen technology and the specs of your external media center.

[-] Trollception@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago

My LG has none of this. Any advertising/ai can be disabled as can the network itself.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

Wasn't there news lately that LG wants to display ads in pause?

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[-] archomrade@midwest.social 20 points 1 month ago

I'm getting from context that this is a smart tv displaying an advertisement, but what the fuck is it even advertising here? A baseball game? Why is the countdown to-the-hour? Why does the player look like a drawing instead of a photo? Why is it specifically that player and not just 'dodgers game tomorrow!"..? It almost looks as if it's an in-game notification for an MLB-Manager game.

If it were a burger-king commercial I'd be upset, but the inscrutability of this as an ad at all actually infuriates me.

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

Anybody else have a weird level of fixation on the baseball player and the game character being in the same pose? Like, "maybe it's watching" kind of fixation?

[-] Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 month ago

I'd like to be exactly this high, please

[-] twinnie@feddit.uk 18 points 1 month ago

I can’t believe this is real. I’ve just bought a relatively cheap Samsung smart TV and it’s got nothing close to this. I would hardly even say it’s got adverts since it’s mostly just recommendations from my apps in the same way they all do now, I don’t think I’ve actually seen it try to sell me anything or get me to watch something that wasn’t free.

Who the fuck would buy a TV like this? If a company was going to introduce on-screen ads like this they’d start really small.

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[-] 1ns1p1d@lemm.ee 16 points 1 month ago

Is there an open-source version of Google TV and similar smart TV software? I feel like i read about one quite recently.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Connecting a Raspberry pi or a Linux computer into the HDMI port. And not connecting the TV to WiFi.

Smart TV's can be used as dumb TV's by not connecting them to the internet. Likewise the HDMI port can connect your own device for the smart functionality.

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[-] magnetichuman@fedia.io 14 points 1 month ago

I will be very sad when my 16 yo Sony Bravia TV dies

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[-] FolknForage@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago

Ads and bloat are the main reason I still use my 1080p Bravia from 15 yrs ago, which btw still looks great.

Well, that and that I have better uses for 1k usd

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[-] mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 month ago

computer monitor + sound bar?

[-] wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago

This really seems to be the right answer. At least while computer monitors stay dumb.

Get one of those tiny PCs that you can just leave behind the TV, get a wireless mouse and keyboard too.

Nothing on TV isn't available online anyway. Paying the cable company for anything more than an Internet connection seems like setting money on fire to me. Maybe sports would be difficult, but that can literally be found if you know what you're doing. Even games you wouldn't be able to with TV.

Cable TV just seems to me like a boomer's version of the Internet. It has no place in a world with the Internet, change my mind. The ads on TV are worse than what you find on any popular website/app.

But as usual, capitalism is messing everything up with the marketing. In a world where hi speed Internet is widely available, "TV" just has no use. None. And worse, the commercials are now leaking through your literal screen.

I'm not saying that ads aren't a problem, but there's a hell of a lot more you can do about them.

In a perfect world, there would be a place you could go whenever you wanted something and find products and solutions for that thing, and there wouldn't be ads in anything else at all.

But until there's an actual argument to say TV technology isn't totally worthless, my stance is simply "no TVs are necessary or useful".

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this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2025
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