we live in hell

I don’t even understand the pitch? you have the disc playing, in your hands, your ownership, no buffering, no subscription required. and they’re saying…hey do you want a worse experience?

  • Reygle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    613·
    11 months ago

    The SMART thing to do is to buy a DUMB TV. Pay a little more and get a real TV- you know. A display, with speakers and HDMI inputs. Nothing else.

    • Water1053@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      11 months ago

      Sometimes you have to be a bit more pragmatic. I’m not aware of any TV with HDR, Dolby Vision, OLED, etc. that isn’t smart and reasonably priced. Your best bet is to buy a smart TV and block Internet access.

      Another thing you can do is visit the selfhosted subs and they can help you out with other things like pihole for blocking ads and intrusive network activity on your home network.

      • corbin@infosec.pubEnglish
        4·
        11 months ago

        Yep, most of them won’t complain if you just never connect them to Wi-Fi during setup.

        • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          There’s a pretty good chance they’ll get around it- if they aren’t already.

          Samsung TV? You have a Samsung phone? There’s an easy way to jump the air gap.

          Neighbor has a TV connected to the Internet? Send data to that TV and pretend you’re not connected to anything so the user doesn’t catch on.

        • TangledHyphae@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          I have never had any smart TV complain (yet) that I have never once connected wifi. I am guessing there would be lawsuits, that a physical device requiring internet and requiring you to connect it just to function, would get sued in a class action of some kind. I use other connection systems via HDMI to transcode media, and even people who still want TV do not need to connect the TV itself to wifi, since it should all come over through HDMI ideally (or DP or whatever cables it may be.)

          • redcalcium@lemmy.instituteEnglish
            5·
            11 months ago

            You’re going to love this free tv then. It’s free, and people has began receiving this tv since the last 3 months or so. In exchange for receiving this free tv, you’ll have to make some sacrifice:

            • The tv must be connected to internet at all times within 5 days of receiving it. You aren’t allowed to disconnect it (except due to brief internet outages)
            • There is a second screen on the bottom with camera that display ads. You aren’t allowed to obscure the second screen to hide ads.
            • No modification allowed. You can’t disconnect the second screen.
            • You aren’t allowed to block ads, even with pihole.

            Breaking the ToS means your credit card would get charged $1000. Very fun TV.

            • LukeMedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
              3·
              11 months ago

              This may not be a popular opinion, but I personally see no issue with this if the terms of service and use are made clear and transparent before you order the device. Would I personally recommend or use the product? Hell no, but people having an informed choice, and choosing to accept these terms is perfectly fine imo.

              • redcalcium@lemmy.instituteEnglish
                3·
                11 months ago

                I agree with you. Instead of spending money to buy a smart tv and still getting ads and your data collected, I can see the appeal of paying $0 to get a smart tv riddled with ads and data collection. At least you’re not paying any money for the device. I just wish the opposite is also possible where you can buy a smart tv with zero ads and data collection.

            • corbin@infosec.pubEnglish
              2·
              11 months ago

              It does all those things because you explicitly agree to it before getting the TV. Not the same as paying outright for a TV that somehow needs a constant connection.

    • chirospasm@lemmy.mlEnglish
      92·
      11 months ago

      This is what’s up. Buy a small Intel NUC, a USB-C combo Blueray & DVD player, and watch any service / play any content without the ridiculousness.

      Spectres are reasonable TVs. Screen tech hasn’t improved drastically for the last few years, and streaming quality hasn’t had any major facelifts outside the frameworks we know and love – don’t let anyone fool you otherwise. Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc., all stream comparably to one another.

        • EdibleFriend@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          Not guarenteed for every single one to break but…yeah. they are known to break for no reason. hell when i was the electronics guy at walmart they came back broken right out of the box waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more then any other brand.

          That is, until, walmart put out their onn trash.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Scepters are horrendous pieces of shit.

        YMMV of course, but I’ve owned two Spectres. Rock solid, no problems. Decade later, they’re still going strong. /shrug

        • EdibleFriend@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          I’m particularly a huge fan of LG televisions. Of course that doesn’t help if you’re trying to avoid smart altogether.

          Also if you’re going LG… Their televisions are great but don’t touch their fucking home appliances. Ever. I don’t get the discrepancy between the two different parts of the same company. Beautiful televisions but things like they’re washers and dryers are notoriously horrible pieces of shit.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Why the F does it require a captcha to go to an Amazon page? I have no idea what you are trying to show, because I’m not doing that.