Ask Slashdot: Best Non-Smart TV Sets? (slashdot.org)

williamyf writes: I have always been of the idea that my TV shall be non-smart, leaving the smarts to connected equipment (in my case my Synology NAS running Plex and a combination of Chromecasts and laptops do the trick). I think that most of my Slashdot brethren are of a similar persuasion. But, over the years finding decent non-smart TVs is becoming harder and harder, unless your are prepared to pay much higher prices for industrial/signage equipment, or are prepared to deal with slightly inferior specs and quality, or get an old (possibly second hand) set, or are prepared to do long, hard internet searches for that needle in the haystack (all slashdot readers can google, but here at least we can hear firsthand experiences from technically-minded people, and not fake-ish reviews).

In view of the recent story about Samsung TVs being bricked by a firmware update, I ask the Slashdot crowd to amass our collective knowledge and see: What TV makers make decent non-smart TV sets? Which are these sets?

Requirements: non-smart, no apps on the TV, no app on the smartphone, no nothing -- the dumber the better. OTA tuner optional. 1080p50/60 or higher (1333x768 was barely adequate in 2008, but KRAP in 2017). 16:9 or 21:9. From 35 inches (for the master bedroom) to 70 inches (for the middle class living room in an apartment complex). Real remote (not app in a phone) with at least volume up/down, input change and sleep function, plus all needed to configure the set. Lots of HDMI 2.0 (or higher) ports. A decent assortment of legacy ports (including component, composite, S-Video). HDR capable. Good build quality. Good price (Ideally slightly lower than similar smart TVs, since we are forgoing the hardware needed for the smart part, as well as the ongoing support cost for firmware updates). Good image quality. Decent warranties. Reputable manufacturers. Reputable sellers.

Comments

bundle

[mwfischer]

let me know if there is a bundle with one of those with a unicorn. I would be interested as well.

Stop looking for a TV

[Baron_Yam]

Look for a monitor instead. You won't get a handy remote, but if it's any better than 'crap' it'll go into standby after a minute or two without an input signal, and whatever you're using to drive the image will have its own remote anyway.

Re:Stop looking for a TV

[darryldale]

LG makes exactly what you're looking for: https://www.theverge.com/ces/2...

Any TV you want

[FictionPimp]

Buy any TV, do not connect it to your network and do not use any of the smart functionality. Boom instant regular old tv!

Re:Any TV you want

[Waffle Iron]

You can solve that problem with these simple steps:

Get a large roll of heavy-duty aluminum foil, a roll of metalized HVAC duct-sealing tape, and the box that the TV came in.

Cut the box cardboard to form a large pyramid over the screen to form a visor, and tape it to the TV. Now wrap the entire TV and the visor with the aluminum foil, and carefully seal all seams with the duct tape. For added security, you can also tape a piece of wire mesh over the opening of the visor.

Now you can watch the TV by peering into the visor the same way Mr. Spock looked at his sensors. With absolutely no WiFi.

Re:Any TV you want

[RavenLrD20k]

Smart TVs are getting to where they will leech onto any open WiFi signal they can attach to to pull down updates, even if you disable WiFi in the TV's settings. Not so bad when you're out in the middle of nowhere and tech savvy enough that you can just outright perform a block at your router against the TV's MAC address. On the other hand, if live in a neighborhood, apartment, or town-home community where everyone else is a grandmother with an open default network on the other hand and your TV will attach itself to the best signal that allows it to pull an IP.

It's not even recent that TVs that have started doing this. I have an older Samsung directly wired into my network behind a pfsense firewall and have its WiFi disabled I also used to have an Open WiFi guest network available that logged all connections and also behind its own firewall rules. Guess what the TV would do? At about 2am every day it'd silently enable its WiFi and connect to that guest network in the hopes of pulling an update. IT's stopped since I found the buried setting that allows me to explicitly opt-out of automatic updates... but if I weren't as technically able and diligent, the TV would have been able to successfully connect to the update server nightly. Take your average user ability and blocking the TV from connecting is an exercise in futility.

Welcome to the future.

Re:Any TV you want

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

You jest, but the idea that modern devices will start connecting to some sort of mesh network or using their own independent access to mobile/cell networks in order to phone home when you don't want them to and haven't given them access to your own network is disturbingly plausible.

I saw a TV programme a while back about someone building their own home who was concerned about some of this, and so tried to build in what was basically a Faraday cage to prevent unwanted signals getting in or out. It did cut the signal by quite a bit, but not enough to stop the message getting through...

Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick Any Two

[Wolfstar]

You're asking for everything in the world and asking for it cheap, and that's just not going to happen. Non-smart TVs yes have less hardware, but because they're made in much smaller quantities, they demand a premium.

That said, look at the Vizio E-Series. the only "Smarts" it has is app controls and a built-in ChromeCast. The E-series comes with a regular remote with volume and input options (don't know about sleep, never bothered with sleeping a TV manually). 4k 60Hz refresh, HDR-capable. That's probably as close as you're going to get to what you want in 2017.

Re:The internet exists.

[vtcodger]

"without the "smart" features."

And presumably without the "smart" klunkiness. Really guys. There is no reason in this day and age that it should take 10 or 20 seconds for a solid state device to turn on and present one with an image.