I’m not a big fan of CCN, but saw this in passing on FB… I wonder if they’ll cost more because the TV manufacturer won’t be able to harvest your data.
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I get by fine with a 15 YO dumb TV and Roku and Tablo. But I have wondered what to do when the old TV finally quits.
A smart TV would be dumb if not connected to the web, right? But there may be some tricks to it or maybe the TV would constantly nag to get connected. Maybe a brand by brand thing so careful research is needed. I think google tv has a basic, dumb mode.
I scanned Costco site and they don’t sell dumb TV, but then they don’t sell next-gen either, yet. Depending on what Fox does with Roku, I may want to ditch Roku. What I like best abut Roku is how little the interface has changed, and it has always been easy to use. Hope Fox does not mess it up.
My “TV” watching is now about 95% YT, could be 100% depending on what happens with next-gen.
When I setup my 1.5 year old Sony TV I chose the “Basic TV” option. It is connected to the internet (my choice), but doesn’t have any apps on the TV (like Paramount, Netflix, etc.), and is not signed-in to a Google account (it uses Google TV). I use a Roku for streaming.
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I wish this was available a year ago when I bought my most recent VIZIO. Even with no WiFi connection and all the preferences set to just be a TV the stupid thing still tries to do things I didn’t ask, and frustrates the snot out of me.
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This is my assumption. However, smart TV manufacturers could also disable certain features if you DON’T connect to the Internet. Then what?
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Maybe, but the article: One unknown brand as the foundation of a “comeback” 
If I could get a numeric keypad remote that would be a victory 
yes so it would be a casebycase situation and a good idea to closely read the manual before buying.
Or go to Costco but they won’t ever sell them, too few customers and too little profit.
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This TV is actually what we’d want to replace our 4-year old Samsung with if/when it goes out. Hoping the specs can be improved. And I hope someone can tell whether or not this works with the Tablo.
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Since it’s a dumb TV, Tablo access would be through an external device like Roku or similar.
Yes, of course. I mean the specs (video support and such). Or does that not matter if using a streaming device?
It shouldn’t make a difference. Tablo is just plain TV signals, and these TV’s are typically the standard 720p and 1080i. If they ever come out with an ATSC3 Tablo, you would only lose out on HDR, but I assume most devices can downgrade that if needed.
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If it made it 4k, id get it. I aint doing HD TVs anymore.
Is there a 4k version out there?
Our main TV in the living room is a 13+ year old Insignia. No problems with it and 1080I or P or Q is good enough for us. I grew up in the 60’s when the only knob used more often than the volume control was the vertical hold. The next most used TV is a 16 year old Vizio that works like new. All are dumb as a box of rocks. If any one of our TVs dies I will just shift them around before buying anything new. And if Nextgen is all that becomes available I will buy a couple of converters or just give up on OTA.
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vertical hold: good times
Not as much fun as when TV’s first started to get UHF tuners. To switch channels from VHF you had to get up out of the chair, go to the TV and turn the dial to channel 3. And then use the Uhf tuner to dial the UHF channel. Only to reverse the process to dial a VHF channel.
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I bought an 4K LG Smart TV but I didn’t liked using their apps so I reset it and never connected it to the internet, I put on a Fire TV stick and prefered using that.
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I bought my LG OLED 55C3 for the picture.
When I plugged it in and saw the unreliable, bug ridden, WEBOS built into it I disconnected it from the Internet and have been really happy with my “dumb” TV ever since.
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There are a ton of 65" 4K monitors out there but the prices are double a regular 4K TV in that size. It is not too difficult to firewall your home network to keep the TV totally offline provided you want to use a device — Roku, Firestick, ONN, personal linux computer running Android, etc… in its place. Those devices can be well protected from intrusion by the TV. So the devices handshake with the network and the TV in that aspect is a brick. A big bonus is the devices I mentioned are very well supported and updates are always pouring down from the providers. You have the most control with the linux computer, but the setup can be brutal if you are just starting out. For 99% the other mentioned devices are more than enough. I don’t trust TV’s and I don’t have concrete proof but they seem sneaky and evasive somehow. LOL
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Several tv brands also sell “commercial displays” which you see in many retail stores advertising products, hours etc to consumers.
Typically they have high quality screens with several hdmi inputs built in speakers, etc. No smart tools, no tuner or antenna connection.
Plug in your streaming stick and go.