The EMMC on my PC-TV finally broke down and I’d like to replace it with something that doesn’t run an OS or will predictably fail with a countdown. But dumb TVs are hard to come by and monitors come at a premium at that size. I want to run a PC (DP/HDMI) and an SBC (HDMI) with it. I also have an S2 satellite cable, but that’s secondary. I’d like to have ~43", 16:9, 4K but without an embedded smart-hub, ideally running of eeprom-firmware, or just anything independent of write-cycles. But I can’t find any good options online. Are there companies for this. Comments and recommendations welcome.
Edit: I’m EU, hence the DVB-S2 cable. Scepter would be great, but doesn’t run on EU power.
Edit: I’ve pretty much settled on a philips 439P1/00. I’ll give it another day, but it seems good. The PC over DP is my main focus and I can connect my own SBC for streaming. It lacks freesync but has adaptive sync and basic HDR. Being an office-monitor, it has no smarts and at ~600 bucks with consumer warranty and support it fits what I’m asking for well. Industry-signage wasn’t really an option.
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It’s possible a smart TV will use its wifi to connect to another device of the same brand on its own. I’d read an article about it a couple years ago.
If I’m reading about it, that means a company has been working on it, and frankly it makes sense. If I were in their shoes I’d look into making it happen. It’s pretty trivial to do when you think about it.
Not that I think it’s happening in the wild, just an idea to keep in mind.
Also, those devices are always capturing data. So if/when they ever connect, that data will get uploaded.
I’ll just connect it to my LAN only wifi network. No way in no way out.
I think what they were talking about is the TV actively scanning for similar models and connecting to those to reach the internet. I’ve read similar articles showing how smart TVs will even connect to an open WiFi network to try to get online.
All this would bypass your LAN restrictions of course.
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Many tvs have microphones built into them or their remotes.
Some are even sending screenshots of what they are displaying to their backend servers.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2449198-smart-tvs-take-snapshots-of-what-you-watch-multiple-times-per-second/
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This seems to be the key bit of the comment.
Outside of the examples listed, a more reasonable possibility is if someone else in your home (ex. A family member) connects it to the network. Also even if it doesn’t automatically connect to a public network, well placed popups can also lead to mistakes.
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Have you missed the other comments? It’s pretty well documented that the TV will either find a similar brand TV to connect to (and reach the internet) or as I’ve read, it’ll find an open WiFi network to do so.
Except that some of these devices are periodically “screenshotting” the screen and harvesting data from that.
Pair that with automatically connecting to open wifi networks and nothing is truly safe.
Username checks out. Your own article you linked dispels this.
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Some actively listen with a microphone though.
Not everywhere, like Europe
Are you sure?
This. I have a nice 4k 120hz ‘smart TV’ that is not connected to anything. I use it only as a display for PC with external speakers. I’m pretty sure you can even do firmware updates without connecting anything but USB drive. Even if you have to connect to get updates, you can just disconnect it afterwards.
I might resort to this. It’s mainly just the e-waste potential that has me bothered. The OS will inevitable break after EOL, and the hardware becomes inoperable without the “hdmi-app”. The computer parts are usually dirt cheap and eventually break themselves even on minimal use.
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