Any good debloated TVs?
Hi there!
So I am looking to buy a new TV, but the latest smart-TVs all seem to be very bloated with ads and other ridiculous and unnecessary features. I know very little about TVs, and therefore wondering if anyone has any tips on some good TVs that include as little bloat as possible.
Thanks for any recommendations or tips!
You can make any smart TV dumb. Just disable the network on it and use your own streaming device (Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV, etc.).
Yup. My family bought me a new TV to replace the one I've been using for 15 years, and they keep telling me how great it is that I can get movies and TV shows for free, and I can sign in to all the streaming services right from my TV!
I don't have the heart to tell them that I'll die before this TV connects to anything other than an HDMI cord
Do research on smart devices before you decide to use one. Fire TV is filled with ads. Roku that’s built into TVs have ads; not sure about standalone boxes.
My Roku stick doesn't seem to have ads. But I recently switched to a Google Chromecast TV and like it the most. Better interface and more features than Roku (e.g. Bluetooth). The one thing that's worse is the remote.
Also, some smart TVs have ads downloaded locally so they can be played if they don't have an online connection (they usually rotate them when you update the TV). Make sure they don't have those before buying one!
Meh, I eventually switched from Roku (which has ads on the home screen) to Fire TV because SmartTubeNext isn't available on Roku, plus the 4k version of the Fire TV was on sale dirt cheap. The Fire TV also has ads on the home screen, but I'm only ever on the home screen for however long it takes (1 or 2 seconds) to open one of my streaming apps, none of which have ads.
Don't bother using the TV, get a separate box. Even Google TV shoves recommendations down your throat.
Hate to say it, but the Apple TV is probably the most debloated system out there. It is more or less the easiest way to get just a grid of apps.
I have to agree. Every time I’m at someone’s house I’m reminded of how bad the ads are on every other service/platform and it makes me glad to have that Apple TV. We’ve had it for a long time and it still chugs along just as well as it did on day one!
Pricey but worth it!
Are there any decent TV Boxes out there? Nvidia shield is what I use now, but I had to switch to a 3rd party launcher to avoid recommendations. I have a feeling I may end up with a PC hooked up to my TV at some point in the future.
Well, you have one of my recommendations of a Shield with a 3rd party launcher lol. My other would be an Apple TV.
You can get an On box at Walmart for like $25 and it doesn't have ads. It has recommendations for services you have (ie watch this next on Netflix) but you can turn them off.
Maybe it is because I have a pihole but I never notice the recommendations. I remapped the Netflix button to plex and barley spend any time on the launcher
Get a commercial display instead of a "smart" tv and then hook your smart device of choice in
Totally agree. Though typically commercial displays aren't really built for home use so they may take some tweaking to get them to look good at home. The good news is if you get something like a NEC commercial display they usually have easy to access and very detailed calibration menus. Also they'll have tons of ports and even legacy ports like VGA so they'll be super flexible. But above 50" the prices go up a lot.
I was in the same boat as you. It doesn’t sit right with me having all the smart stuff enabled even if I’m not using it. There’s plenty of concerns there. I ended up getting a smart tv, using an Apple TV plugged into it, and turning off the WiFi on the tv itself. When I want to update it, I can. Otherwise, you can look for TVs marketed towards businesses. Like the ones that get hung up to display menus and stuff. That was the only avenue I found where the smart stuff wasn’t baked in. They’re expensive though.
Not really. TVs are subsidized by ads and data collection, so they all have this crap. The more reputable brands do have better UX and may let you opt out of some of it, but not all.
My recommendation is to buy the TV with the best hardware features that you want. Once you get it, connect it once via Ethernet and update it to get all the most up to date features and fixes. Then disconnect it from Ethernet and connect a smart TV box like Apple TV or the nVidia Shield and use that.
Your experience will be better, the UI will be simpler, and you don't have to worry about all the ads and spyware.
all the most up to date features and fixes
Genuinely, what features and fixes could a TV possibly get from the internet besides applications that require an internet connection? If you're using an external device to watch your stuff, why would you need to update your TV?
For my Sony TV, updates have improved performance if I bothered to use the built in Android TV interface and it enabled 4K variable refresh rate support for things like the PS5.
Just speculating, but firmware updates might be useful. Some display resolutions, refresh rates, VRR, etc might not have been programmed correctly and later fixed. They could add new features like offsetting pixels slightly differently over time to reduce colour burn in or something that might reduce warranty claims (I don't really expect them to add more value to the TV through new features unless it would help them financially).
That said, I've never connected my current TV to the internet and it's been fine. I'd suggest trying an update if your TV does something annoying or isn't working as well as you'd like. You can also read about your model online to see if there are any updates available and what they do to determine if you want them.
This is a great tip, thanks!
Definitely not the case with Chinese products. Cheap is king
What do you mean?
I went on that journey a couple years ago. What I ended up buying is technically considered "digital signage" rather than a TV. Basically zero bloat. You may have to pay a little extra but I don't recall it being that much. Pretty sure I got it here.
Yep, a commercial display is what OP is looking for. You won't get fancy stuff like high framerates or digital audio processing, and they cost a bit more as many of them are meant to be on 24/7/365, but there are no apps installed. They'll have network connectivity, but only so you can manage them.
Be careful when buying commercial displays for digital signage, some do not have speakers built in, though they should still have a 3.5mm and/or optical out and you can always strip the audio from an hdmi cable.
Quite right. I did get one with speakers, but they were even worse than I expected. I bought a sound bar to go with it. There are also a few quirks that remind me it's a commercial display. Like there's no power button on the unit. I have to use the remote. I suppose one wouldn't want their signage turned off by randos.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using an URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !buy@www.bhphotovideo.com
There is a "apps mode" on Google Chromecast with Google tv - that takes out all the recommendations and stuff and just shows you the apps, fwiw.
It still shows adverts on the homepage though.
Not if you install a custom launcher.
Holy crap this changed my life thank you!
I’ve heard Sceptre TVs are non-Smart TVs.
Get one with a good panel and ignore the "Smart" part. Better use something like a Fire TV Stick.
This is the answer, dongle love all the way!
My newish Sony has a basic mode where it just functions as a tv. No smart bs. Picked that at setup and never looked back.
Nice! Which model is that?
A80J. The “cheaper” oled model. Watch for sales next week during prime day.
Walmart sells a brand called Sceptre that I've been using for years now. Cheap dumb TV and use a Chromecast for all my streaming needs, works like a charm. And, I can always plug a real computer into it if I need it to be "smart"
Sony Bravia running Android TV (Google TV, whatever they're calling it these days). I refuse to buy any other kind of TV based on how clean, ad free, and easy to use I've found my Bravia to be. They have a variety of LED options and sizes
Are they still trash in terms of performance (I know that all smart tvs have weak hardware but my experience with Sony was even worse than average)?
I couldn't avoid a smart TV without overpaying or compromising on features. I bought an LG but I blocked it from communicating over the WAN when it was clear there was no way to disable occasional 'notifications' advertising features or content I had no interest in.
Now I just turn it on/off with wake on LAN and get all my content through external hardware hooked up to an AVR.
Recently LinusTechTips posted a video vouching for Roku TVs. It seems they have a really snappy UI with no ads.
Roku TV owner here: Yes, mostly.
The main screen does show one "banner ad" (which you can briefly see in the LTT video), usually for some show that is streaming on some platform.
But that's the only one, and I appreciate that it's microphone is built into the remote and only activated when pressing a button on said remote.
Otherwise it stays out of your way, and the app selection is quite good, if you need them - otherwise just a really solid, budget friendly TV.
My 5 year old Roku which I used to block it from internet a access as it is so chatting talking to Roku all the time, even when itin use suddenly would not work at all unless I gave it access to the internet. So be wary of Roku tvs if you plan to not let them use the internet. In fact is is the second most block domain on my network.
If I could figure out how to post an image I could show the almost 11k requests it blocked over the last 7 days. And I don’t use any of its smart features as I have an Apple TV connected to it that I use.
Roku does have ads but they are pretty minimal and not invasive. I've had roku since almost the start and have had a roku tv for several years and love it
I don't know if it's in your budget, but my wife and I went with an ultra short throw projector and ALR screen. No smart features at all, and a better and larger picture in our living room. We'll never go back to TVs again.
I'm inherently skeptical that any kind of projector can match a modern OLED. What are your thoughts?
The ALR screen (which was admittedly a bit of a shock at $600 for the 134" we bought) makes a WORLD of difference, even with our cheap wall mount laser projector. Yes, OLED technically is better, but we can control lighting in our living room with blackout curtains, so we can't really tell. When we upgraded to the UST4K, we both said never again to TV's. Other bonus was if we need to move them around, much less risk of accidental damage as compared to a heavy TV panel.
Depends on the projector. Good ones can get close, but of course not exactly as good as OLED. Haven't got much experience with UST-s; a Xiaomi one I have tested was OK, except for HDR content which had some problems. But the conventional JVC D-ILA ones are jaw-droppingly good, not too far off from OLED.
I have a Samsung smart tv and I block most of the bullshit ads using a pi-hole. It’s not that hard to setup really and it also provides ad blocking for anything else on the network.
The one tiny issue is if I want to update an app on the tv I have to disable the pi-hole for a few minutes and restart the tv so it can hit the servers for app updates. And let me tell ya, that tv sucks without the ad blocking
Bought a cheap smart tv that works good. Then I put a Pi-Hole on my home lan. Wow that was a nescessary step! 10/10 better than using a dumb tv / appletv or firestick combo since it blocks the telemetry of all the machines on my network. Can recommend.
Maybe you can consider using a computer monitor as a tv if you can find one large enough.
I got an LG TV but it will never be connected to the internet. I use an Apple TV for content because Apple is the most privacy focused platform available for this, and even then, I still use NextDNS to disable any possible tracking/telemetry that has.
Did it work right out if the box or did you have to connect to update it first? I haven't bought a tv for some years but I just use a laptop connected to my tv to stream anything, so all the smart features are pretty useless to me. I was wondering if it was possible to keep it a "dumb" tv by simply never connecting it to the internet or updating it.
Yeah I could not live without NextDNS!
Best $20/year I spend, hands down.
Pretty hard to come by, imo just disconnect the TV from internet entirely and don't use its garbage smart TV functions.
I have an older smart TV but I am just using an old Steam Link to stream a desktop with adblockers.
A few years ago I got a Sceptre UTV 55" U558CV-UMC on Amazon. It was about $250 and has been pretty good! Probably out of stock now but there may be a similar one available.
I think lg was quite good. It's full of ads but if you don't sign in you don't get them. Lose some functionality but it's not terrible. Not sure about anything else
I got a Vizio a few years ago because they don’t require you to connect it to the internet at all. I just use a separate set-top box with it.
Plug a computer into it. There are little machines that you can hide behind the TV, if that's what you want. Not only will you not get ads, but you also won't get ads with stuff like YouTube if you use an ad blocker.
Yes just a NonSmart TV they are usually cheap or very expensive or old
Just buy a tv that has the features which within your budget. Don’t connect it to the internet if you don’t need that. Get an Apple TV or other desired streaming stick if you do but some or most will some form of ads or tacking.
You could look at setting up pihole or adguard home server to help minimise internet based ads & tracking but it may not stop all.
There are third party launchers you can download for many non-roku smart TVs. I have an android tv that has a god awful interface by default, but I installed FLauncher and haven't seen a single ad since.
I've had a TCL Roku tv for a while and I love it. There's really only one ad and it's off to the side of the list of apps, so really non-intrusive.
We're looking to get our first TV in years, the current one is about 10-12 years old. We don't watch normal 'tv', everything is streamed through another device.
What kind of adverts can I expect in a modern current-gen TV?
Mine just pushed streaming services and shows I'm not interested in, and makes it waaaaay easier to accidentally get advertised at than to find the input select menu to get out of that.
The UI also lags hard while trying to stream video because the embedded computer is terrible
The less you pay for the TV, the more adverts and worse experience you'll get.
Ignore the smart features completely. Focus on the display quality and get the best you can afford.
Then get a streaming device. I recommend Chromecast with Google TV, only adverts I get are for shows (same recommendations the apps give me). Fire TV is also good, but more general adverts for Apps that aren't installed. I've heard good things about Apple TV, but I don't have any experience with it.
Get the latest streaming device and power using a socket, not the TV usb, and you can't really go wrong.
Oh OK, so when we're talking about adverts, are we talking about only when using the native smart apps like Netflix or Prime?
Sorry I know this seems like such a dumb question now I'm writing it out, I just feel so out of the loop now.
I generally run everything through my PC onto the TV, it's basically a glorified media centre, so I've never had any need for a smart TV. Problem is its got all sorts of screen burn now though, so I badly need to upgrade. I was planning to spend about 1.5k on a good new one with decent visual quality, low response time for gaming, etc.
Buy a projector instead. Most don't have any of the "smart" spyware that TVs do yet. Plus you get like a 4x bigger screen for for half the price
Projector quality is garbage compared to TVs. Even in movie theaters, my OLED TV looks so much better than any theater.
No one forces you to use that stuff. I don't think I've ever used my TV menus. I have a chromestick and I just cast everything from my phone. I could have the smartest TV in the world for all I know, I don't care.
The most recent Samsung TV we got has built in adds on the home screen, i do not want to see ads when ive used hundreds of euros to buy the TV already. Not much I can do to avoid that.