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https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/14/its-still-stupidly-ridiculously-difficult-to-buy-a-dumb-tv/
Historically, "smart" TVs aren't always particularly smart. They've routinely been shown to have lax security and privacy standards. They also routinely feature embedded OS systems that don't age well, aren't always well designed, don't perform particularly well over time, are slathered with ads, and are usually worse than most third-party game streaming devices or video game consoles.
Yet when if you go shopping for "dumb" televisions — as in just a high quality display with a bunch of HDMI ports and not much else, you're usually going to be out of luck. There are options, but guides on this front will usually shovel you toward computer monitors (too pricey at large sizes), or business-class displays (ditto).
[...] Of course it's challenging because TV manufacturers now make more money collecting and monetizing your personal data than they do selling the actual hardware. Last year Vizio noted it made $38.4 million in one quarter just from tracking and monetizing consumer viewing and usage data. It made $48.2 million on hardware (which also includes soundbars, and other products) in that same period.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Monday April 18 2022, @03:52AM
Yeah, I watch less and less TV. Nothing intently- it's on in the background when I'm eating and/or reading / browsing the web. Maybe a few bits here and there get my attention.
In fact, some YouTube vids are far more informative and/or entertaining (anything "fail", or "people are awesome", or "idiots at work"...) :)
Yes, I know WiFi can go far. I'm more than 200' from my closest neighbor and I used to be able to use free Xfinity WiFi from them. I have a legal login. I did use a particularly powerful USB WiFi adapter, and I had to orient it fairly carefully, but got good solid reception until ComunistCast shut it down. They're an elderly couple, I doubt they use much Internet, and I really never did- just light browsing, so it was invisible to their bandwidth. In fact, the distance made the signal weak enough that I maybe got 10 Mbit on a really good day, but usually 2-4, which is more than enough.
Just with phones and laptops I see at least 6 WiFi spots, and they're all more than 200' away.
And then you have the high-gain antennas... which a friend first made one (Yagi, fiberglass rod, copper elements), but then he bought a flat-panel array, maybe 6" square, and it blows the Yag away. Again, he has full permission and login to share from his neighbor.
Hmm, I kind of doubt daisy-chaining. But I don't know. Something would be working in repeater mode I guess. That or the system just stays locked once it gets lock, until the signal really drops off.