I’m considering buying a new TV. There’s plenty of posts about trying to find dumb TVs, comments like ‘just don’t connect it to the internet/network’.

What surprises me is that there isn’t a good overview of (popular) TVs or brands with basic information, answering for each TV:

  • Can you use it as a basic TV by choosing not to enable smart features during setup?
  • Can you opt out by just not accepting a bunch of agreements?
  • Does it have a camera and/or microphone? Where in the device are these? Is there a physical disable switch for microphone?
  • Does it nag when not connected to any network?
  • Does it have higher than normal power usage when not able to phone home?
  • Has it been discovered to connect to public WiFi networks? Does it have the (theoretical) ability to connect to 5G mobile networks?

And similar.

There are extensive lists with a lot of detail about VPN services but nothing like that for TVs. Am I ignorant of a good source, or does this just not exist (yet)?

    • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      23 days ago

      I can’t speak for all Samsung TVs, but I have the Q9FN65 from a few years ago and it has been offline almost since day one.
      Never had any nagging at all and all the pre-installed crap could be removed.

      My biggest gripe with them is the lack of Dolby Vision. Samsung wants people to use HDR10+ which is their own version, but it’s not widely supported. Otherwise it’s snappy and functions well.