Not sure if that's they're intent here, but I could easily see that becoming a thing (if it isn't already). And what better way to collect useful ad data on people than forcing them to create an account and then tracking their usage of the device.
That's Amazon's Fire TVs in a nutshell.
practically every other electronic has gone up in price like crazy, tvs have gone down.
Computers are cheaper. Phones are sort of cheaper. Headphones are cheaper.
Game systems cost more.
that does not reflect my reality, for the things i have bought (or considered buying), no.
but i dont have hard data to back that up, so maybe i am wrong about the general case and the price increases are more local or specific to some other variable.
I think I have my next startup idea: a physical ad blocker for this thing. We could even have multiple styles: yellow sticky note, duct tape, painters tape.
And if you want cheaper ones, we can print our own ads on your ad blocker!
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They did it with a computer to sell ISP services. Maybe they could sell a TV that requires streaming subscriptions?
https://www.theregister.com/2000/03/20/circuit_city_shuts_do...
2042: a $20 budget neural version hits the market but requires the user to watch a 15s ad every 5 minutes.
We simply augment their content with a 15-second fully-immersive aesthetic and psychological experience which highlights the quality of our sponsor's product.
Every year after: interval decreases by a minute between ads
I just have Stremio, Jellyfin and VLC installed and remapped the free TV button on the remote to Stremio.
There's plenty of ways they can interfere with attempts to use the TV in "dumb" mode. Heck it could refuse to show any video at all til you've signed in.
The Samsung S90D (a 65" 4K model) you bought appears to sell for about $1000. Looking at Best Buy's site, you can also buy a Samsung 65" 4K TV for as little as $180 (model DU6900).
Yes, there's other differences. LED vs OLED etc. But at a glance they seem equivalent to a consumer...and one costs 5x more. The $1000 TV is targeting a market that expects more from their purchase and would potentially grate at a persistent sign-in notification. The <$200 TV is targeting a market that wants a big TV and hasn't thought much past that.
There's definitely a chance that on some models Samsung would be more aggressive about enabling smart features, because those models are expected to be subsidized by ads.
But don't think people who can afford the more expensive TV are also more tech-savvy. Some just want a nicer TV. Also, they are a much more lucrative target market than people who cannot afford the nicer TV.
Except SSDs, I guess. Would be nice if I could meaningfully reject all products from a given company. I'm sure they'll someday cram ads and spyware into those also.
I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to work fine as long as I'm careful not to blindly update.
[0] https://github.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/blob/master/Smar...
All 3 make streaming devices (Stick, set-top box, etc).
(Seehttps://www.amazon.com/firetv for Amazon brand TVs)
I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I just want a giant dumb display from my Apple TV. I vaguely remember someone posting a link to tvs restaurants use but I don’t remember exactly what or if it was what I’m looking for.
(Sorry, being lazy here)
A TV capable of operating in those conditions has to be more expensive or else it'll need replacing twice as often and cost even more long term. Remember when Tesla used bog standard laptop screens in their dash because they were cheaper than automotive grade, leading to high failure rate?
When the TV is never connected to internet, and you use a single HDMI source like me, the TV acts completely like a dumb TV. It gets turned on via my AppleTV remote and displays the picture 1-2 seconds later. No LG logo (I disabled this), and no smart interface shown whatsoever.
If you want to change settings, you can display the settings interface via LG remote control and it generally acts like a dumb TV (not blocking the entire screen, so you can adjust picture quality and see the result as expected).
I've had the TV for about two months and never been asked to update it or shown any ad. The only time I've ever seen the smart fullscreen interface is when you unplug a live HDMI source and the TV detects that nothing is there. (If you turn the source off, it tells the TV to turn itself off as well.)
Hope this helps since it's a lot easier to buy a nice smart TV and do it this way than find a truly dumb commercial panel.
I'm not sure how true any of that is, but in any case Costco still has a reputation as a place where it's easy to return a TV, and they pay attention to the stated reason for return.
I just googled “dumb tv” and that brand showed up.
Walmart is one of the most litigated companies ever, and probably has 10+ active lawsuits against it at any given time. So if they're getting into this, they're fairly sure it will work legally now and in the future.
The battle against personal-data-collection by default on TVs is probably lost at this point. It's over. Non-smart TVs will probably become specialized, super-expensive corporate-class expenses out of reach of most people before too long.
Projectors are capable of creating a big image on a wall like a TV, and while it's not as bright, it comes with much less privacy invasion, and is also portable. That's where I'm likely spending my future TV dollars until those gets caught up in this as well.
Alternative solution that doesn't require worse picture quality, never hook up the TV to the internet. State of the art quality, none of the data collection.
So that sticker will be a big "This TV requires a Walmart+ account - Sign up for Walmart+ and get free grocery delivery on orders over $30 and discounts at the self-checkout AND deals on streaming!" Their electronics department people will probably be trained to answer any questions and help people sign up on the app (if they're not already).
Walmart's pretty smart here.
What? If anyone truly believes that "People are going to like this", then just make it opt-in.
There is a reason it's not "opt-in". They know damn well people are NOT going to like it.
I skimmed TFA and what I consider "Smart TV features" are the things the Shield does: Apps, streaming, etc.
I see no indication that picture settings or HDMI features are disabled without an account.
I have a Samsung TV that is "smart" but I use a Shield and never touch my TV remote unless I need to adjust a picture setting.
TV is just a screen. That is how I've used mine for the last 5+ years.
The local electronics chain has 50-100 different TV's. All are 'smart'.
I would be ok with classifying this as a crime against humanity. /s
But honestly, I've just given up. I don't watch tv or movies or stream anymore, because it's all the same bullshit
Set the input to "HDMI-1" or whatever my Roku is connected to, and that's the last thing I touch on the TV remote.
"It will not let you do anything until you download the app on your phone, make an account, and log in on the TV. You cant just change it to HDMI 1 and use a Firestick. I set it up with a throw away email, then deleted the app, and took the TV off of the WiFi."
The last TV I actually enjoyed more than a PC/Mac display was a monster Panasonic plasma that had some serious practicality issues. I'd use it maybe 2-3 hours per week.
None of the other display technologies are that interesting to me. OLED gets close sometimes, but nothing matches the visceral urgency of a plasma panel clocked at 600hz. The noises it would make in bright scenes was crazy. You had to have a powerful sound system to cover up the semiconductor switching. And, that's kind of the entire point for me with a television. Go big or go home. Exhibition. If I just want to consume content without pissing off the neighbors, my MacBook/PC tends to provide a much better experience.
The hardware is amazing, the software could improve in terms of how it deals with motion blur and surfaces like gravel.
Aren't you just letting amazon collect and monetize your viewing habits while allowing them to push ads at you? Avoiding ads and data collection are the reasons I'd want to leave my TV offline in the first place.
Option B: use Amazon Prime Video to watch shows. Share your viewing habits with Amazon.
I've looked into flashing it to use a dumber firmware, but it got into technical documentation that I don't really understand really quickly. I haven't looked into it since I got a Claude Code membership though, so it might be worth revisiting with AI assistance.
If it's going from a cold boot e.g. where it was unplugged or if it's doing a full reboot it takes a bit longer and shows a splash screen, but if it's turning on from a regular "off" state it takes about the same amount of time as the rest of my dumb screens and goes directly to the last used input.
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Some questions prospective buyers should ask:
1. Is "onboarding" necessary for this "Smart TV" to function as a "dumb screen"? i.e. Would a user need to get a Walmart account just to access video settings?
2. Does it inject ads or phone home to share screen captures from HDMI input?
3. Is not giving it access to WiFi sufficient, or does this thing have alternative ways of getting "updates"?
Of course, I would never buy this tv because of the requirement. I just buy dumb tvs and then stick an apple tv in front if the hdmi input.
If one wanted arguably less/different spyware, there's the Fire TV Stick 4K Max* $35, Apple TV 4K* $149, or Nvidia Shield TV Pro** for $199.
* Shows ads
** Shows ads that can be disabled by stopping Google/Android services
JoeBOFH•2h ago
They have been on a decline for years and this is a nail in the coffin.
hypercube33•1h ago
bombcar•1h ago
Buying a similar Vizio would be delivered by free by Walmart for $200, you just ignore the setup prompts, stick HDMI in, and give it to a nice hotel employee when done.