[l8again]

In the same vein, I think the industry is ripe for "smart-less" TVs. Reduce the cost, and take all the smarts out of it. Don't even need wifi. Apple TV, roku, chromecast - enough good options out there that there's really no need for your TV to come built in with any apps or smart features.

[AdamJacobMuller]

I hope that you're right but I don't think you are.

While we (you, me, most of HN) see smart TVs as an anti-feature, most of the public sees them as a huge feature.

"I can't buy a TV that doesn't support Netflix, I want to watch Netflix!"

"yes but you can just get a AppleTV and watch Netflix with that"

"I don't like the Apple TV service, it doesn't have as many good shows as Netflix!"

Even if you can convince them that AppleTV can show them netflix you need to get past such insurmountable obstacles as "needing an HDMI cable" and "having two remotes" and "which input does the TV need to be on?" and "which remote do I use for the volume?"

And, yes, CEC fixes some of this and 80% of the time when it works it's fantastic.

I think we'll see TVs which have "swappable" OSes before we see smart-free TVs but I don't think either one is gonna happen in my lifetime.

I'm just resigned to buy the least-shitty smart TV experience I can and to neuter it as much as I can. Currently I have a nice LG C9 OLED which doesn't bother me at all. If this dies before me, or, I feel compelled for an 8K/UltraHDR upgrade, I think LG will continue to offer reasonably non-shitty experiences on their top of the line TVs which I can block from the internet still.

When they stop doing that I'll just buy a projector.

When projectors become infested with this nonsense I'll just move to the woods and become a hermit.

[acdha]

> While we (you, me, most of HN) see smart TVs as an anti-feature, most of the public sees them as a huge feature.

There's a lot of truth here but the manufacturers skimp so much on hardware that they're making that easier to understand. When you buy a brand new Samsung 4K TV and it can't play >1080p without stuttering the value of an Apple TV is a lot easier to understand.

> Even if you can convince them that AppleTV can show them netflix you need to get past such insurmountable obstacles as "needing an HDMI cable" and "having two remotes" and "which input does the TV need to be on?" and "which remote do I use for the volume?"

This is incorrect for the last 3 (you need something like 2000s-era hardware not to auto-detect inputs or allow the player's remote to control the volume) and the first one is true but also quite familiar to most people and it's hard to buy one without some kind of “do you already have a cable?” prompt since the vendors all want to sell you one.

[ilyt]

> I think we'll see TVs which have "swappable" OSes before we see smart-free TVs but I don't think either one is gonna happen in my lifetime.

There was already a thing doing it, didn't get popular.

But I'd definitely see the market for "just few HDMI inputs and a screen", especially for people that say already use Netflix from their PS5 or xbox

[Night_Thastus]

Such TVs will never exist, and people need to get used to that.

Customers care about price and features. A TV with "less" features has no market appeal, except to a very, very niche audience.

It also has far less power to collect user data, which means less profit as well.