Technology

Main reason I want the steam machine to be a hit is just getting regular Linux boxes under people's TVs and that getting developer interest. KDE Plasma Big Screen too. Good TV interfaces for media software. Respond well to remotes and gamepads. Popular service apps like Netflix and Crunchyroll. It's jarring when I use other people's TVs and the default page screen is just a wall of advertisements. At least Android based TVs I can install projectivity launcher to get a clean interface

Joke's on them, I don't want any of the smart features

Excellent News ! Finally, an easy way to disable every smart feature !

This is why i don't like "smart" tv.

Roku is every bit as bad. They bricked all customer's previously purchased TVs by implementing a new user agreement through their UI without warning. It couuld not be bypassed. Opting out required first opting in, agreeing to those new terms and then mailing a letter within a very short window with explicit, detailed requirements.

My next TV won't be connected to the Internet and definitely won't be a Roku or Visio product.

I just use my PC through my TV.

Also don't buy tvs with voice activation.

That means they have mics on 24/7.

Its been so long since ive had or bought a tv, what are the brands that are the least shitty now? I used to always be a samsung everything kinda guy but fuck them now. I wish they never started fucking around with software and stuck to just hardware. Their products from strictly the hardware side are still excellent. My zfold7 is amazing the older gens started rickety but each version i got (so the 3, the 5 and the 7) has been a respectible improvement but the 7 really stepped up the quality. The last samsung tv i got was like 65" curved screen amazing picture but the fucking interface was pure cancer and i will not buy another. My samsung 4k monitors, non-smart normal fridge, and my equally as dumb oven are great and dont have any stupid shit so Ill buy more dumb samsung products lol.

The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.

– George Orwell

And if I don't want to use their smart features?

this seems like it might be a win

Do not connect your tv to the internet. Period.

Buy commercial displays, not TVs

Does that mean it disables all Tue smart shit about f you don't connect an account? Nice.

Don't plug in a Ethernet cord, and don't connect it to Wifi.

Now you have a fully functional TV screen that wont be artificially bricked with OS updates.

Get a dedicated "streaming device" like a Nvidia Sheild, Android TV, Apple TV, or Roku and you are good to go.

TVs are screens or privacy nightmares. You get to choose as the consumer.

This is fine IMO, because you shouldn't use the smart features in the first place. Just get a 3rd party streaming box. The ONN one is like $25. (Or if you're a giant nerd hook your computer to your TV.)

This is how you get me to never buy a Vizio TV.

I finally got fed up with it last year and blocked the internet access of my TV on the router level becuase upon contacting support I learned that there was no way to turn off the microphone setting. For real. They just didn't add that feature in to my model. I still can't believe that.

It is a little incovneient that I have to turn on my PC before I can watch anything but man the freedom of knowing that TV won't be spying on me 24/7 is freeing.

Next time I buy I will be looking for commercial displays with HDMI and DisplayPort if its even possible by then.

Damn shame, Vizio's are designed in California.

My mini pc or laptop connected via HDMI to a projector setup makes me more happy every day when I see crap like this. Bonus is you can move it to the patio for outside movie night and it's a whopping five pounds. Same goes for moving apartments because I've always moved too often.

Walmart acquired Vizio with the express purpose of using TV's to serve ads. In fact, that is exactly what they said they were going to do.

No surprises here.

good. maybe people will stop buying them then.

I use a TV for my monitor - last job I worked I really needed the screen real estate for excel.

I hate hate hate when I shut the computer off or power goes off and when the TV comes back on, it auto-plays some "free" streaming channel, which is ALWAYS fascist propaganda. I rush to turn that shit off just as quickly as I can. Fuck that shit.

So Vizio is offering dumb TVs without Walmart accounts? I am actually kind of interested.