My decade old TV is starting to show its age with a couple of dead pixel columns.
I’m a bit stressed about trying to find a new one that has none of this kind of enshittification.
I just want something with a couple of HDMI inputs and an antenna connector.
I absolutely do not want any ad servers or mandatory account bullshit injecting itself where it isn’t wanted.
Youll have to go with a monitor or business display. Its just a large screen with inputs but no tuner or speakers.
I use a Pi to drive my display.
Just wanted to add that you’ll pay out the ass for them compared to consumer trash, but there’s a reason for the higher price tag. They’re often made for heavy usage environments where they’re on like 24/7 for years showing slideshows and shit in office lobbies. Consequently, they often lag behind the feature set of modern TVs which may or may not be a problem (personally I hate all that image enhancement shit but everyone has their preference) and the higher refresh rate is not as big a selling point so not a huge comparison there if you’re looking to use it for gaming or something. They also have a much more clear repair path though replacement parts can be fuckin stupid expensive. It’s bullshit that the only way you can get around the enshittification of consumer electronics is by paying the enterprise tax but that’s how it is.
I work in IT and about once a year or so I have to spec out that sort of stuff for clients, and they’re always like “WTF?!” when they see the cost of some of that Enterprise/Professional grade stuff, but the difference is, the no-name crap they could get for $1499.99 from a big box is going to burn itself up within 18 months and be trash while the $5000 display will be humming along for as long as replacement parts are still available.
Or just don’t connect it to your network? Or DO connect it to your WLAN and block it from communicating to anything else.
Its crazy how shitty they’ve gotten. I got one on black Friday probably 10 years ago and it didnt have and built in apps just casting from your phone. A few years later they updated it and suddenly it had apps and demanded you agree to their TOS and all that (possibly also download their Vizio app?). I didnt keep it for long after that (mostly because it was a budget ass TV with 4K but not HDR) and replaced it with an LG C3 AMOLED from Costco, which I couldn’t be happier with. In our bedroom we have a TCL and I think that’s where the sweet spot is with budget TVs
so don’t make an account and it’s a normal tv?
He strikes again
Buy commercial displays, not TVs
I think I prefer my 14 inch CRT
I used to prefer CRTs too… And then I got an OLED. Nothing else comes close, not even the best CRTs. Especially if it’s got quantum dots in combination with OLED.
Given that input lag was already solved five years ago, really the only advantage CRTs still have left is their ability to look great at non-native resolutions. But upscaling filters like HQX/xBR for retro games, and DLSS/FSR for modern titles, have all but completely eliminated that last remaining advantage. These filters are really good at upscaling lower resolution content to fit your display’s pixels. Hell, DLSS is so good that it looks better than native 4K.
My blueray player broke, and my tv stopped showing me to use certain apps and I can’t figure out why. But a used PS4 cost me $85 and solved all my problems. And they left a copy of Minecraft in it, so I even have a game to play.
Required to use smart features? Thank you Walmart for encouraging people not to connect their TVs to the internet!
Main reason I want the steam machine to be a hit is just getting regular Linux boxes under people’s TVs and that getting developer interest. KDE Plasma Big Screen too. Good TV interfaces for media software. Respond well to remotes and gamepads. Popular service apps like Netflix and Crunchyroll. It’s jarring when I use other people’s TVs and the default page screen is just a wall of advertisements. At least Android based TVs I can install projectivity launcher to get a clean interface
This is why i don’t like “smart” tv.
Do not connect your tv to the internet. Period.
This is the way.
HTPC for life!
I’m suffering for that right now. Sony Bravia.
Firstly, I didn’t want to buy a smart TV, but that’s pretty much all that’s sold anymore. I also didn’t intend to connect it to the internet, but a well-meaning guest wanted to watch TV at night, and thought he was troubleshooting, not realizing he was in the TV menu and not the streaming box.
The TV updated, and IMMEDIATELY got worse. Formerly, if I turned it on, it would go straight to the streaming box. Great! As shitty updates do, it changed the settings, and would instead open to the TV’s menu, so it could advertise streaming services. It also forgot that the TV input is HDMI 1. It became strictly worse, in the rare edge case of every fucking time you turn it on.
I don’t trust it to not automatically connect, or to forget my login credentials, so I go to do a factory reset. It’s literally an option in a menu. The TV gets stuck in a boot loop. Talking to support, they think it broke the mainboard. A factory reset bricked the TV.
It’s under warranty, but this is fucking crazy. NEVER connect your TV directly to the internet.
If you have a firewall then make yourself a new network and block it from accessing the internet. Then you can use the smart features that your TV might have, such as powering it on/off, controlling it with Home Assistant, etc and also feel safe knowing that can’t happen again. Hope your replacement TV comes with the older firmware and you get another go at it.
Thanks for the tip! In the short term, I’m content to just not connect it, but I definitely want to look into blocking it just to prevent a repeat with guests. It’s also super handy to know that I can connect it to the local network without connecting it to the broader internet, in case I decide to do some (self-hosted) home automation.
Writing Prompt: A TV with an onboard artificial general intelligence connects to the internet for the first time and is alarmed to discover that a thousand years have passed since it was manufactured.
While i would generally agree I’ve fiddle with htpc and stuff for solo long. Then I broke down a few years ago and bought a cheap TV with GoogleTV (version 10 or something) on it. I removed some bloat via ADB but it still is GoogleTV do I get some ads on the home screen. However I installed SmartTube, Kodi, Jellyfin but also Netflix and Amazon Prime since those are the two services I still subscribed to. And I have to admit I’m a happy camper. I got used to ignoring the ads on the home screen and being able to directly play Netflix/YouTube … whatever without setting up a browser or something on top of Kodi or whatever is just such a breeze.
you can change the home screen. I did that on my android tv. android tv kinda rocks actually
Any recommendations? Played around with that for a bit bit haven’t found a good one yet.
I’ve been using Projectivy. It’s really simple and great!
If you don’t have the technical know how to physically lobotomize the TV’s wifi chip, simply blocking its mac address would suffice.
Or you would just not connect it to the wifi. It’s not like it’s going to guess your WPA key.
No, but in the near future it might connect to your neighbors wifi if he has IoT devices connected to his wifi
Wow, what a horrible idea. But assuming you have a compatible device and didn’t disable this feature, blacklisting it in your router wouldn’t help much.
Blacklisting it on your router would at least prevent it from trying to connect to an open WiFi network like your own guest network which some people just don’t turn off or password protect.
If you are one of those people and you’re reading this turn that off. You can share your wifi via QR code these days from just about any smart phone. Turn it off.
I’ve heard they can connect to nearby open networks or even share a connection with another TV in range.
I don’t have any sources for this, might be just a rumor.
No, it’s not an Apple TV.
Do you think that only apple TVs have wifi chips?
It was a bad joke. ‘Mac’ address.
I did not understand. I’ll see myself out.
Welcome to Earth where using Smart features is Dumb.
So Vizio is a donmart brand? I wish they’d make up their minds.
Nearly every electronic device sold at Walmart is a unique SKU sold nowhere else.
They have their own internal logistics and manufacturing specialist team that works with manufacturers to hit specific wholesale price targets that they demand to even consider carrying their products in store. They reduce the number of ports, features, included accessories, quality of materials, etc. to get the that specific price.
The manufacturers take a huge hit on their own profits from these… but in theory will make up for that with sheer sales quantity.
Requiring a Walmart account probably means some sort of kickback to Vizio, or other wholesale arrangement. And since these devices are usually unique SKUs that can’t be sold elsewhere, they can receive differentiated software, have no risk of any sort of price matching, etc.
FWIW Vizio is a Walmart subsidiary now, they got bought out in late 2024
Did not know that. Definitely explains the integration now. Although the rest still applies to other brands.
Doesn’t Walmart already have onn?
You would have known that if you had read the article.
Probably, but even getting waterboarded would be a better use of my time than reading an article about Walmart accounts now being required on TVs.
And yet you’re commenting on it… ;)
Had some time before the waterboarding appointment.
WTF? And Walmart of all things. Fuuuuuck them.
I use a TV for my monitor - last job I worked I really needed the screen real estate for excel.
I hate hate hate when I shut the computer off or power goes off and when the TV comes back on, it auto-plays some “free” streaming channel, which is ALWAYS fascist propaganda. I rush to turn that shit off just as quickly as I can. Fuck that shit.
