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I am hanging on to my 1080p Samsung for dear life. It is about 12 years old, but the picture quality is still fantastic with LED backlighting and it has – get this – no smart “features”.
I just want a big monitor. just display the pixels and I’ll be happy
Someone a while back on a thread not dissimilar from this one suggested looking into commercial display screens. A kind of BYO solution to the smart TV problems.
The nice thing about Samsungs is that basically all their remotes work with all their TVs, so I just found one without the smart button so I can’t tell that mine is smart, and I obviously never connected it to internet. I think it’s a lot cheaper than trying to get a commercial dumb TV too.
Weren’t Samsung TVs the one that would connect to neighbors TVs and stuff and find other ways to connect to the Internet?
Thought that was Hisense… Could be both actually.
Wouldn’t that only work if your neighbors tv was plugged into Ethernet so that the wifi chip can be free to start a hotspot? I can’t find any info about that so I’m not sure.
Interesting – didn’t know that
I’m curious about the need for non-smart TVs… Are you using it exclusively with a game console or is there some sort of other device you use with it?
I still have a smart TV so I don’t need to have a non smart tv. But I refuse to use smart features for several reasons:
- The built in software is often laggy, ugly, and hard to navigate (mine is from like 2016 so all 3 of these are huge issues for my specific TV but my parents just bought a 2024 model oled and I find their gyro / touchpad / pointer remote to be excruciating to use)
- I hate the idea of getting used to the Samsung apps / os and then feeling like I need to stick with Samsung
- They never seem to support the software very long - my TV pre-dates Samsung’s current tv OS and no longer receives updates, so the Plex app available for it doesn’t even connect - so I couldn’t use it even if I wanted to
I mostly watch stuff downloaded to my Plex, so a PC running Plex htpc / desktop or any android box (Nvidia shield is pretty good) with the Plex or jellyfin app is all I need. I also like that I can easily watch YouTube through a browser with ad block and sponsorblock (I think smarttube does that for Android boxes like the shield)
I also game on the PC so I guess you could consider it a game console for the purposes of categorizing the use case.
Smart TVs are literally designed to spy on you, so that’s pretty shit. The software is shit, there are ads in thousand dollar TVs. It doesn’t need its own Netflix app that lags to fuck, or a YouTube app that is far worse than just using a computer.
A media center for watching TV (currently an Nvidia Shield with Kodi) and various games consoles are literally all I’ve used a TV for in the past 20 years.
I can’t believe people are out here raw dogging their TV’s operating system. To me it’s as strange as buying just a monitor for your desktop PC and wondering why your $80 computer injects ads everywhere and sells every scrap of data you give it. I haven’t owned a full sized TV in over a decade, and before that my dad always used an Apple TV and before that a dish network DVR so I always assumed it was the norm to buy some external input device, because I literally have not lived any other way.
Not who you asked but I hook up mine to a PC meant for streaming, there’s no need for it to be smart with either browser or applications that stream the content. Unless I’m missing something.
It’s not a need as much as a preference to not want every device need a connection if you have other means to handle the tasks. Also less bandwidth used since they don’t send back random data to headquarters, not that I imagine it’s a lot.
On top of what everyone else said: they’ll inevitably stop being supported before long and it’s always easier to plug something new in the HDMI.
I feel the exact same way about my 42" 1080 Sony Bravia. It’s heavy as fuck, so I had to hang it on the burliest monitor arm I could find, but it was built like a tank and the picture quality is still great. Bonus - since it’s not a flat panel, the built-in speakers are more than decent.
I don’t know about new ones, but you’re right older Bravias are built like tanks. I got a 40" LED that’s, uh, more than 15 years old now. Survived 5 rental moves, covered in nothing but cling wrap and chucked at the back of me car.
I have no idea what to do when it eventually breaks…
I still got mine too, 32" bought in 2012 with my PS3 then. That thing is indestructible, survived 4 years in the army and 3 moves.
My Samsung is a 40". I definitely wish it was bigger but not enough to jump into the smart TV soup.
My 1080p plasma is still going strong. Sure there’s burn in but it’s had it since I got it and it’s a real big dumb tv. Dreading moving the monstrosity across the country, but it was the perfect price and I don’t want to drop a ton of money on a new tv during a time of uncertainty.
I will say my oled steam deck has made me want a better tv, but I can wait for it.
I have been surprised at how good some of the early LED backlighting can look versus OLED. My understanding is that the backlight in dark areas on my Samsung can be shut off independently area by area, so while the black point isn’t as dark as an OLED, it is way darker than on a lot of other displays I have seen. So it’s a good example of good enough for me.
What does it matter? Unless you’re going back to cable you’ll have to get a “smart” something or other and the “smart” ones always let you pass through the signal anyway so you might as well not deal with all the wires.
…all what wires? Back to cable? Not sure what you are referring to. I have a single HDMI cable plugged in to a dumb TV from a computer I control. All content comes in through that (with the benefit of things like ad blocking).
Smart TVs have features designed in part to collect data on you and facilitate things like serving you ads. Why would I want that as opposed to a TV without such “features”?
It wouldn’t be an issue if the industry still offered dumb TVs, but by and large, they don’t (for good reason – they can profit off of the collected data).
You can just not connect it to the internet
Generally yes, but as that gains popularity, the industry will look elsewhere to get their connection.
The world is bathed in cellular data networks and WiFi. I’d suggest that we aren’t that far off from TVs that are connected without your knowledge.
And even if you find that tinfoil-hattish, the key point is: having the hardware in your house to begin with is a security risk. Why must I buy a TV with a camera in it when I literally have no personal use case for a camera in my TV?
“Oh, those little straps on the controllers? Yeah, don’t worry about those.”
Just remove them just in case.
Choking hazard
I think those are in the back pocket
Oh yes! Well spotted!
No, that’s a handkerchief indicating openness to specific fetishes.
“Dad the game is telling me to put it on my wrist”
“Yea only if you’re a coward”
For real though: it’s easier to convince the wife if the old TV can be sold to make the space and get some money to put towards the new one. TVs can last for decades and it’ll be a long time if you’re waiting for it to get “broken”.
TVs can last for decades and it’ll be a long time if you’re waiting for it to get “broken”.
Don’t worry, they’re making them cheaper and less reliable by the minute!
TVs can last for decades and it’ll be a long time if you’re waiting for it to get “broken”.
Ummm…who wants to tell him?
He is correct tho. Unless we are talking about some more expensive tvs. Ironicaly more expensive tv dont last as long Beacuse they have more cutting edge experimental technology ( early OLEDs for example ).
Maybe if you’re paying the Samsung/Sony/LG premium
But the cheap brands most people buy like TCL and Hisense, cut corners everywhere they can so that they can hawk a 75" “4K” TV for $400. They usually die in < 5 years and it’ll probably be, at least one of, the LED backlight strips. They’re damn near almost made to be “disposable”
The joke in the comic is that they are playing a wii game without the controller straps. The kids will probably whip the controllers into the TV, breaking it.
old TVs last forever. After our decade old one finally bit the dust My family got a fancy ass huge 4k Samsung one and it died in like 3 months. No physical damage, it just stopped turning on 🤷♀️
Replaced it with a cheap 1080p one from Walmart and it’s been doing well.
Teaching kids how to be capitalists: create a demand by obsoleting early.
I miss my LG Plasma. Sold that dude with the house because it was super heavy and I was too lazy to unbolt it from the wall. Still regret that decision.
This is just an admission of guilt by the author. :D
I thought the punchline was that the Wii still works, so it hasn’t been replaced either lol
We played that board game island thing in Wii Party last night. Rock solid, after … 16 years? Wii for life, people.
I have it on good authority that if you don’t Wii for too long you die.
Just brought ours back out for Tanks in Wii Play. Solo, or VS, that game is still great
Yes. 100%
Serious question 'cause I am out of touch with modern society: Does the Switch still have party games for groups of 4 like the Wii did?
Oh, absolutely. The Switch is like the only console that still has a lot of couch co-op. Overcooked, Warioware, Mario Party of course, and there’s a Switch Sports as well. Lots of great options, and the hybridization of a handheld and a full console means it’s super easy to just bring your Switch along to a friend’s, so you have access to both of your libraries of games.
It definitely has its flaws, but my Switch is my favorite console ever for those reasons
Cool thanks. I might just have to check that out…
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Mine still works. It survived two wives and four kids (and me).
For real though, I’m rocking 1080. Is an upgrade to 4k worth it?
Depends on screen size and distance. Here’s a nice graph:
I do recommend an OLED or QLED, though.
Perfect answer. For most people, no. I actually did make the jump to a 4k TV and sit close enough to it that I can visibly see the difference. About 8 feet from a 65" TV, still barely in the “Ultra HD Worth It” category.
It truly is ridiculously large for the space, everyone who visits us comments on it. My wife likes to joke when we watch Make Some Noise that the people are “life size”. If you don’t have a small living room and aren’t planning at least a 65" or larger TV, than it’s almost certainly not worthwhile.
Crazy to me that most AAA console games push 4k as the standard at the expense of 60FPS, given these realities.
Who the hell has a 100 inch tv less than the height of an average Scandinavian man away??
You probably wouldn’t even be able to see the edge of the picture in your peripheral vision, let alone have enough of it in focus to be able to have a solitary clue what’s going on in any movie scene or video game action sequence or whatever 😄
Doesn’t really look like it then, though all the OLED and QLED were 4k.
It did make me wonder what quantum led means though.
It is on work PC due to app scaling. On TV it greatly depends on it’s quality, the quality of a source video and so on. Since I lucked into have an okay display, and mostly watch old 720-1080p shows and movies I never cared to update my TV, but since enormous 4k torrents are popular I guess people do seek and enjoy them. See if you have some friends with it and try watching a movie with them to know if you care about the difference.
For me, it does, granted what other people said OLED you’ll notice more than 4k. But ultimately it depends on what you like. If fidelity is your thing then go for it. If you don’t care and are happy, then no need to rush
do you have any source that would provide 4k content? I feel like even 720p is good enough at a decent bitrate. But it also depends on the size of the screen and the distance to it.
We still have a fair bit of 360p content, it looks awful on the 4K tv in our lounge room.
On our old 32” 1080p screen in our back room it looks just fine. So we’ve been watching different content in different rooms 🙄
I just upgraded because we got a new condo and I’ve never had an awesome TV, and I’d say it’s totally worth it if you can put it to use, but with a decent 4K TV it’s a lot more than just the resolution. You’ll probably get HDR and 120Hz and Dolby Atmos and anti-jitter settings and upscaling and all sorts of crap and that really does seem to do a lot, compared to a midrange 1080p TV from >10 years ago, even if the source is 1080p. I even noticed a huge difference playing Baldur’s Gate 1 on Switch. For reference I went from some midrange thing to an LG C4 65" (seems to be the best ‘balling on a budget’ TV out there based on reviews, I mean there are better TVs out there but this thing delivers 95% of it for half the price)
Made a huge difference when I replaced my 12 year old 1080p with a new 4K that wasn’t even expensive. Media these days is made with 4K in mind with the tiny texts and stuff, it was barely readable anymore on my old TV. But I also bought a PS5 at that time so I wanted to enjoy that as much as possible.
I gave the old one to a friend who’s not as privileged and always tight on money. Win Win.
I just got a new LG 4K and I love it but (1) it’s not connected to the internet (NVIDIA Shield Pro handles everything) and (2) I have a ton of 4K/TrueHD media.
FWIW I’ve also got 1080p and some old school TV rips and they look fine.
Xbox 360 Kinect vs Wii motion games, which one is superior and/or your favorite?
The kinect and even PSMove had great potential, but they never did anything that really stuck out. The wiimote was mostly used for one thing across multiple games: wiggle it and get a function that a button also did more reliably. That said they somehow released multiple titles that stuck with people for a long time, even some of the shovelware type games that actually used motion tracking were kind of fun. Meanwhile with Kinect, while microsoft still actively supported it, you almost exclusively had shovelware type experiences but they had the word Kinect in the title. Even Disney joined in. Those games were unapologetic garbage and largely didn’t function, even with plenty of time setting up a kinect play space.
It took years after the kinect was no longer popular/supported for developers that actually wanted to do something with it to arise, with Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. Hilarious results. https://steamcommunity.com/app/1507780/discussions/0/3192486000805884901/
I never played a Kinect game that was actually good.
I would like the hardware for other reasons, though. It’s a great FBT system for VR.
i thought kinect sports was fun. then again i was 12
Kinect! I mean, a bunch of Wii games were really fun, but Kinect had some really interesting uses. And unlike Wii games the sports games actually gave me an exhausting workout. Without cheating.
Neither of the platforms really got to the fullest of the full potential though.
But even there, Kinect had one incredible example of where it was great. Xbox 360 Skyrim had the absolute best voice commands I’ve ever used anywhere.
You meant to also include The SEGA Activator, right?!
Edit: Of these three, I have only ever tried the SEGA Activator. So I can pretty confidently cast my vote in favor of: either of the others, just anything but the Activator.
My wife brought a 37" Vizio into the relationship she got in 2008. It still works great. It’s now hanging on the wall in the bedroom (and requires a special bracket because it doesn’t have the VESA specified mount). We have a FireTV that allows us to stream television to it. It has survived two moves, plus being relocated in the house a few times.
So I’m with the guy in the comic - waiting for it to break could take forever.
Our living room TV and Blu Ray player are from that very short time period where you could get a 3D TV setup that uses passive polarized glasses, not active shutter glasses. (We’ve only ever watched one movie in 3D on it.) So even that is at least 9-10 years old at this point.
Obviously I’m not big on getting the latest and greatest TV, but if you wait until it’s broken, it could be a while, in my experience. I’m generally with the wife on upgrading things, ie after they break, but for some things, that might not be a viable plan (or, the reward is worth it).
VR might work better.
Can confirm.
Bruh if you want a 4k telly, work, save and buy it.
