[com2kid]

Given that 100% of my TV usage falls into these categories:

1. Controlling Spotify 2. YouTube videos 3. Photo Albums from Google Photos

No network connectivity would render my TV completely useless.

Though I think I could show photo from a thumb drive, so I'd have that going for me I guess.

[hirvi74]

Chromecast, Apple TV, Fire Sticks, Rokus, etc. could all help out here too. I connect a few of those but never my TV.

[com2kid]

Fire Stick and Roku are worse for ads than what Sony ships.

To clarify, my TV shows a list of apps, and that is it, aside from a single "suggested channel" at top I cannot get rid of.

No content previews, no "watch now!" no special promos, just a list of apps.

To explain a bit more what I said up above, Sony TVs cost more than other TVs with identical specs, ~$200-$300 USD more, but compared to a mid-range LG or Samsung, Sony opts you out of advertising by default (the initial setup is hilarious, for the most part you'd have to manually select a bunch of checkboxes to opt into tracking!).

[hirvi74]

This is all good to know because I am in the market for a new TV. I am not a fan of anything LG has ever made. I always jokingly repeat the joke that LG stands for "Low Grade." I have had good success with LG monitors, but laptops, phones, and other electronics in the past were nightmares.

So, my choices are really between Sony and Samsung, and I think I might just bite the bullet on the Sony and pay the extra amount.

Thank you.

[com2kid]

To get the list of just apps UI you need to enable an option in settings that will disable all content recommendations, if you want to go that far. It also turns off all the "continue watching" UI elements. I forget what the setting is called, but I do remember it is setting for the Google TV launcher.