this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025

137 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

40118 readers

265 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org

gyrfalcon@beehaw.org

rs5th@beehaw.org

coldredlight@beehaw.org

SemioticStandard@beehaw.org

TheRtRevKaiser@kbin.social

remington@beehaw.org

137

I love my smart TV (From Mastodon) - Repost (lemmy.ml)

submitted 7 months ago by perishthethought@lemm.ee to c/technology@beehaw.org

140 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Reposting this from here from 2023, after I stumbled across it tonight and it hits hard.

The text in the image:

I love my smart TV. I love the way it takes a long time to boot up because it’s trying to refresh the advertisements on the home screen. I delight in the way it randomly restarts because it’s downloaded an update without asking me, each of which makes the TV slower and slower with every subsequent install. I adore the way it buries the apps that I want to use, and that I use without fail every single time, below the apps that it’s being paid to promote and which I have never touched in my life and would never use without the cold metal of a glock pressed hard against my sweating temple. I am infinitely thrilled by the way the interface lags constantly, due to the need to have one thousand unnecessary animations rendered on hardware ripped wholesale from a ten year old phone. I feel myself borne aloft on wings of pure joy when I am notified that my data will be collected and analysed to determine my usage patterns. Even now I am writing this from a field of beautiful flowers and soft luscious grass as I lie and look up happily at the bright blue sky, smiling happily to know that this is the future of technology

(page 2) 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] astronaut_sloth@mander.xyz 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is why I am dreading when my 2017 dumb TV dies. It's really telling that dumb TVs, which should be cheaper to produce and sell, are either not available or very expensive (as in commercial displays). Really proves the point that the consumer is really the product.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

How about using computer for all the smart stuff and leaving all the visual stuff to the display? Besides, you can run Firefox and ublock origin to watch YT without ads, so what do you need a smart TV for?

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Because it's "convenient" and people are lazy.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Last time I was looking for a TV I couldn't find a single dumb TV unless I wanted to roll back to standard definition, which makes the text in a lot of modern video games unreadable.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

From my experience, it's best to just buy a used dumb screen. Check if it's working properly and doesn't have any screen problems and you're golden.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago

That's what I did, hence only finding standard def. :( I assumed that was the only option, actually. If someone is even making new ones, I'd probably have better luck there.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah... I got a Sony OLED as my most recent TV and the picture is incredible. Best I've ever seen.

Even if I could find "dumb" TVs, I doubt they reach that level of quality.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 months ago (4 children)

But you don't need a dumb TV.

The smart part isn't what makes those TVs bad. It is the internet connection that sends you ads, scrapes your data, causes lags and reboots because of updates, and makes your network less secure.

Just connect an other device over HDMI like you would a dumb TV, and never connect it to the internet like you would a dumb TV.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago

That's true. I was even more tech illiterate back then than I am now and couldn't figure out how to switch inputs without going through the menu, which I couldn't get to without connecting to the internet and going through the whole setup process.

No going back now since I mostly cast from my phone these days since it's the laziest way for me to watch without ads.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What if I just want the screen to turn on, displaying the last output I used? No, we gotta boot Android and then select the output through a menu for no reason

[–] Tja@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

My TV boots to the last input selected. It's a smart tv.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 months ago

Mine too, just takes a while to go through all the google, android, TLC screens before it gets there.

Good thing that is only at the start.

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago

Because finding dumb screens is actually difficult and smart TVs are cheaper.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I have a cheap N100 mini-PC with Lubuntu on it with Kodi alongside a wireless remote as my TV box, and use my TV as a dumb screen.

Mind you, you can do it even more easily with LibreELEC instead of Lubuntu and more cheaply with one of its supported cheap SBCs plus a box instead of a mini PC.

That said, even the simplest solution is beyond the ability of most people to set up, and once you go up to the next level of easiness to setup - a dedicated Android TV Box - you're hit with enshittification (at the very least preconfigured apps like Netflix with matching buttons in your remote) even if you avoid big brands.

Things are really bad nowadays unless you're a well informed tech expert with the patience to dive into those things when you're home.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 7 months ago

There's no HDR on Linux solutions. And I do like the HDR.

You can at least swap out the launcher and remap the buttons on the nVidia Shield Pro if you're that way inclined. It's not perfect, but there's fewer compromises.

You get the full fat versions of paid streaming services as well, although I mostly use Jellyfin now.

The only MiniPC solution that does everything right now is going to involve Windows 11...

[–] Onsotumenh@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 7 months ago (10 children)

I'm in the market for a new tv and all this crap just makes me want to scream in frustration. But prolonging the decision will just make it even worse.

On top of that my 2017 shield is starting to show its age and there is really no comparable 4k (streaming) alternative thats not a security risk. I feel more and more pushed towards piracy, so that I can use my linux box and decide how and where to watch content. I hate it...

load more comments (10 replies)

[–] termus@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago

We have an older 2012 1080p Sony 55" TV. Super thin, still works great. It had a few "smart" things it could do, like local tv guide, weather. Very simple stuff, nothing like streaming apps. Those basic smart things haven't functioned in a while. Support ended for them a long time ago. I've had a negative opinion for smart TVs since then. Having those functions sitting there broken drives me nuts.

We always used some type of streaming box. Started out with some Roku's for a long time that worked okay until they updated them enough to run like shit. Ads were never egregious but you could tell where the trend was going. A friend let me have an older Nvidia Shield TV. It was FILLED with ads for shit we didn't care about. Google Play store shit, Nvidia shit, advertisement shit, AHHHHHHH. It too eventually was updated enough to where everything runs like shit. I looked into a lot of self contained media systems from no names on Amazon, but I just didn't trust them. I could set up a PC to do it all and I'd be fine with it but my wife wants something easy to use.

Sooo I ended up going with an Apple TV. So far it's been really nice. Zero ads on the home screen. It lists the previous content we were watching and then our streaming apps below it, that's it. When you move the cursor over the Netflix or other apps it lists what you previously watched and some recommendations for other shows but it's not in your face or moving anything around to do it. There are some apps you can't remove, but I just made a folder and threw them all in there. It's nice but it's costly at around $140. So far for me, I'd say it's worth it. We only use Netflix, Hulu and Plex on it, but all of them work great. It also supports the Steam Link app. I use it some, but I've started to use Moonlight that is installed on my Steam Link device instead, since the picture and stream quality is a lot better.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 1 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I honestly wonder how hard it would be to do a full lobotomy on a smart TV and if there would be a big enough market for that kind of service.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago (4 children)

best thing is to never hook 'em up to the internet. provided the manufacturers don't all start requiring internet to 'set up' a tv.

next best thing would be a revert of firmware or a full 'reset' of settings; if possible. to return it to an 'out of box' state--then above, never connect it to the internet.

replacing a cheap streaming device is a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing the tv once the software gets obsoleted for whatever reason.

my coworker (and boss, technically) just casually mentioned that her inlaws 'updated' their tvs when they were visting over the holidays. i cringed so fucking hard because i have the same model, just smaller--so i know what happens.

they had just recently hooked-up wireline internet and could actually stream stuff now.. so i had just given them a new streaming stick to use instead of connecting their now 3 year old tv to the wifi.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

provided the manufacturers don't all start requiring internet to 'set up' a tv

That's an important caveat. And it appears that increasingly manufacturers are adding that requirement.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] late_night@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

1000009274

load more comments