Because the "smart" component in TVs is usually a potential minefield of spyware, ads and security vulnerabilities.
As a rule of thumb, don't trust any software developed by white goods manufacturers and connect it to the internet since it has most likely been developed in a rush and on a tight budget (HW margins are razor thin and good devs with security know-how are expensive) and is most likely a house of cards of outdated kernels, libs and services that are full of CVEs which might never get updated.
Useful life of a TV is at least 10 years. Useful life of a internet media device is generally significantly less than that, but also relatively cheap to replace/upgrade every couple years. (Aside: my 5 year old Nvidia Shield still gets updates and works perfectly, but that's an exception compared to all the other media devices I've owned).
The one smart tv I own is crazy annoying. I used Plex, Netflix and YouTube on it, and about once a week either the core software or one of them would get updated, constantly nagging me with "update available, install now?" prompt, and then blocking usage for several minutes when I finally relented and said yes. That TV now has a Chromecast and all built in network connections disabled.
I won't even get into the adware/malware nonsense others have already talked about.
Yes. Id pay significantly more to have a good panel that is dumb. no apps, no privacy concerns, fast boot. Pioneer years ago used to make the elite panels that were exactly this.
Have a look at commercial-grade tv lines from your preferred manufacturer. Often lacking the smart features but otherwise match or exceed consumer specs. There is a price premium, and you may have to go through more niche retailers that typically supply businesses.
I've had my TV for nearly 10 years... and in that time I've "upgraded" my Roku 3 times to get more features, and then to get more performance.
Having the "smart" features decoupled from the screen itself has allowed me to keep my perfectly fine (to me) 1080p screen for all these years while still enjoying the latest-and-greatest "smart" features.
Their UIs are faster and slimmer than their smart TV counter-part. Since I only use my TV to connect to either a laptop, my mini-desktop that sits under it or a gaming console, I have around 0 use cases that gets solved by having "smart" functionalities which ends up bloating the rest of the experience.
Display technology has historically improved/changed at a slower rate than signal generation technology. Additionally display technology was significantly higher and slower to decrease cost than most signal generators such as VCRs/DVRs/game consoles/etc. Thus beyond minor commodity signal generation such as a TV receiver it makes sense to separate the two at a component level.
This user behavior has been guided by two past trends: A. in the transition from analog to digital TV signals many display makers separated the TV receiver function; B. by the time makers integrated VCRs the world had moved on to DVD which made the integrated VCR a waste product that could not be disposed of without refreshing the display.
Are the signal generation components of "Smart TVs" similar to the analog TV tuner, slow to change and nearly always needed, or are they like the VCR which was integrated right at a signal generator change?
On the other hand, I suspect that displays are adding more general computing for the purpose of scaling, color representations, decryption, etc even without the components that provide "smart" functions. As a result scaling them to include smart functions as software functions is low hanging fruit. I wonder if display computation architecture is common enough to support a user/hobbyist controlled OS.
yes!
I much prefer my Roku, and its super simple remote. I also appreciate how I can just block one domain in my home DNS for roku, and stop telemetry. Also, My Roku is regularly updated, unlike most smart TV's, and I have heard horror stories of TV's no longer working with things like netflix, because they can't be updated anymore.
I have a Roku TV and while it suffers from a bunch of smartness issues it’s pretty good. A bit slow to boot, a bit slow to shut down, the apps are shite, and the “Oh no that’s our competitor so you can’t do this obvious thing (like use hbomax)” experience is terrible.
But overall it’s okay. The remote is simple, the main apps are fine and the overall ecosystem integration is okay
I'm in this camp also. I upgraded my Roku to one that can control the volume and mute the TV, so now I don't ever need the TV remote. Any "smartness" in my TV is wasted effort on me. A dumb monitor with an HDMI connection and audio out is all I need.
As a rule of thumb, don't trust any software developed by white goods manufacturers and connect it to the internet since it has most likely been developed in a rush and on a tight budget (HW margins are razor thin and good devs with security know-how are expensive) and is most likely a house of cards of outdated kernels, libs and services that are full of CVEs which might never get updated.