The tech world really needs to adjust to the reality of today and adapt. Today’s laws and typical contract formats just don’t work. Stop with this annual licencing bullshit. If a product needs access to another company’s shit, buy it outright for lifetime access, or at least access with 10 years after cancellation.
"Sorry, but you clicked 'okay' on the terms and conditions. It specifically says that we reserve the right to alter or remove software offerings on our devices at our discretion.
It also says that your first-born child is to be delivered to Samsung headquarters freight prepaid within 90 days of acknowledgement of the terms. I see from our automated face tracking that you have three children and we have not yet confirmed receipt of... let's see.... Molly, is it? I'll give you a 30 day grace period, after which we will remotely melt your television. How does that sound?"
You know what? I’m considering just going back to the basics. A dumb phone, a dumb tv, a dumb remote, back to basic cable, canceling all my subscriptions, and just staying on the fediverse for my internet fixes. Fuck all this noise, it isn’t making our lives better, just more fucking stressful. How the fuck can these companies get away with this? I’ll answer my own question. We let them.
After someone pointed out I can just use a computer monitor, it dawned on me that I was using entry level audio monitors too so the build in speakers of the tv weren’t even relevant to my use cases and now I’m eyeing those qd oleds
From what I've seen dumb TVs are usually a few hundred more than a smart TV with similar specs. In fact, I've looked in the big box stores near me and can't even find dumb TVs. Even the crappy 32-inch 720p $200 Hisense is a smart TV.
You understand that those components are dirt cheap now, right? Stupid TVs cost more for a reason. Smart TVs pay for their BS with the data they collect. It’s part of why they can be so cheap with decent specs.
You need small computer there. With self cost + margin + software development costs you typically talk about $100-$200 extra for 4K setup with decent performance. Just look at things like apple TV. I actually do not know, did not investigate how much equivalent dumb TV cost today, but my suspicion is that it is not extra data that covers the cost but
Volume of manufacturing (more smart TVs than dumb TVs are manufactured)
Ability to run adds
I suspect those netflixes, youtubes pay some money to be on by default and having dedicated button on remote control (which still means that customer pays, but now through subscription prices being higher)
No, you pay extra not to have those. Smart TVs are typically FAR cheaper than an equivalent quality dumb tv because the price is subsidized by selling the data they collect.
You’re best buying a smart tv and just never connecting it or setting up any of the smart features.
For the most part in the West you can still buy a smart TV, connect to it via HDMI, and never connect it to the Internet and it works fine. In China there are already TVs that have to be registered before they’ll even start working as a TV. I’m sure it’s a matter of time before this comes to the western world.
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