You forgot the #1 reason why there are no 'dumb TVs'. It's because a dumb TV cannot collect and aggregate your information and watching habits and sell that data to the highest bidder. Years ago, this was called "subsidizing" - where, for example, the actual cost of a Roku box was subsidized by advertising, data selling and even selling the shortcut buttons. They all do it now. In addition, by selling you a "smart" TV, when something comes out, a new TV streamer or app, that requires more processing power than the TV has (which will be designed to take the cheapest chip possible for the content it's designed for) then you're hosed and have to buy a whole new TV instead of a new streaming box or stick. "Dumb TVs" are now basically "Computer monitors" - which was the old definition of a TV minus the over-the-air tuner.
Hisense has a streaming OS port on their projectors now and had a demo with it on a TV. There is hope, but it is unlikely without legislation banning the sale of collected data. Right now most of the data is illegally collected, but there is no enforcement mechanism to stop it.
Even if they weren't selling your data for the small price of some extra added cheap hardware they can sell advertisements and streaming services probably pay them to have their service on the TV by default. Since most users actually want a smart TV it's basically a win for everyone, at least until they start to get fed up with all the advertisements and possible data collection.
You name it, pal. Which is why I never again let any TV connect to the internet. All my watching goes through computers of some kind. Which also makes it annoying, that I can only buy smart TVs anymore for having the large monitor I need (big dumb computer monitors cost more than a way larger TV, WTF?). Basically paying extra for all the crap I don't want. For those things then to harass me with stupid messages I do not want at all.........
you touched on an option, and that's a computer monitor. I can guess that there are high quality professional monitors and projectors going into large sizes. all of these will be of limited use to most consumers. we have to just live with the included "smarts" to get the best deal on the display you want. in tvs these tend to be the cheapest crappiest chips so you'll be bypassing them anyways for the source equipment of your choice 😎
You were a lot kinder than I would have been to that aspect ratio question. It's painful how he was literally annoyed that he WASN'T missing part of the movie he was watching, and was actually arguing that he didn't want to see all of the content he was watching (ignorance is quite something, huh?) He was more concerned about his TV "not being used to the fullest" than he was about the actual content he was watching. That's difficult for me to wrap my brain around. I frankly can't understand why some people don't put any effort at all into thinking about WHY black bars might be there. He embarrassed himself dramatically and I respect your restraint in avoiding pointing out that fact. People like him are how shows like Goof Troop get ruined for no reason.
That's honestly really weird that nobody upvoted or commented on this. Nobody has any complaints or anything? It's very unlikely that I'm the only one who feels a bit of pain hearing that aspect ratio question.
Nobody remember VHS? Back then everything was cropped to 4:3, even the widest movies that lost a lot of details. Imagine a western movie, a duel with a person at each side of the screen. You saw nothing on a VHS because the sides of the picture was cropped. Early DVD releases did that too but fortunately when it became mainstream, most releases preserved the original aspect ratio. Most TVs has a zoom feature if you want full screen instead, my 20 years old CRT has it. Only used once when a TV broadcasted a 4:3 content in 16:9 with animated stuff at the sides so it looked awful on a 4:3 TV. I didn't lost any meaningful detail but the picture quality suffered. If you're watching a movie filmed in cinemascope, you'll lose details and picture quality in the progress. So deal with the black bars and watch movies and series in the way the director imagined it.
Clinging on to my Kuro not only because it's still a great TV but because it's dumb. Not an app in sight to go wrong, to grab my data, to throw ads at me, it's wonderful.
I do wish the big companies like LG, Samsung, Sony, etc. would make Cinephile TV's without apps, without sound, without artificial processing, and factory calibrated for perfect picture.
If they did that, then TVs wouldn’t continue to get cheaper. They add all those features because that’s what a lot of consumers want and because being able to collect all the data they can from people using their TVs is a second source of revenue.
I can understand the feeling but I have the TCL QM850 and QM851 running GoogleTV and they have an option in the settings to just switch to the last input whenever it’s powered on. I just reset the TV and don’t set up GTV, flip that option on, and it’s like GTV never existed. That’s a good enough compromise for me at least.
Try explaining to you 83 year old Dad how to simply turn on the tv and just get it to the point where he can start watching tv and then hopefully the the soundbar is still connected and doesn't need to be unplugged and then plugged back in to get it to work.
Business/commercial displays and larger PC monitors (see PCPartPicker and filter for monitors that are 40"+). Projectors are also an option as the ones worth buying ($700+) don't have any smart crap in them.
I disabled all the smart stuff on my 2019 Vizio because the apps have become excruciatingly slow and buggy. I reset the TV and dismissed all permissions making it dumb. Now I use my 4K firestick and will eventually get the Google streaming box(for better Atmos support). I also just purchased a new Pioneer 7.2 AV receiver and purposely avoided the overpriced ones with built-in apps and wifi to avoid the same problem. Strange how that seems to future proof it MORE.
Still a way better experience than in the old days with 4:3 TVs. Some channels would stretch the widescreen movie to the 4:3 aspect ratio, losing a LOT of the picture, sometimes having entire actors disappear or stuff happening off screen. I even hated that back as a kid, when I barely had any knowledge about anything.
Top Gun 2 was filmed with iMAX scenes that use a different aspect ratio then the scenes that are not in iMAX. Some movies and shows are filmed using the 1:85:1 ratio that fills a 16x9 tv where other movies are filmed using a 2:40:1 ratio that’s wider so you get black bars. The tv is displaying the ratios correctly if you see black bars. If you don’t see black bars and the image looks zoomed in then they cropped the image to fit the full scale of your tv screen. If you buy a movie and look on the back of the case it’ll tell you what ratio the movie is present in. I always recommend for movies to buy physical because there’s no cropping of the image it’s shown how it was filmed at least with Blu Rays that is. Tv shows all use the 1:85:1 ratio to fill the screen same with video games so you don’t have to worry there but movies might be cropped on streaming platforms so be aware.
Cable TV used to crop every widescreen movie to fit the old tube tv 4:3 and now 16:9. Most movies on Prime Video or Netflix are shown in the original aspect ratio though.
This dates me, but I remember in the 90s when TNT brought back letterbox viewing for B-movies with tacky monsters. It was such a hit AMC started doing it.
Fun fact regarding the movies and aspect ratio stuff: back in the 90s and 2000s, Pixar wanted to make sure everyone had a good viewing experience when watching their movies. So what they did was after the initial run of the movie in theaters, they would go back into their computers and re-rendered the entire movie in 4:3 and 16:9 for the home video and DVD release. Doing this allowed them to alter scenes so that nothing would be missed from cropping. In some cases they even reanimated and moved things around to fit the screen better!
I declined the "Terms & Conditions" prompt on my Vizio, and blocked it on my network. All of the Smart TV stuff is disabled, but I can still access settings and switch inputs. It's only complained once and asked me to review the T&C again... which I refused again, and it's been fine. About as dumb a TV as I can make it, and it works great.
Best way to do it. I just connect a laptop running Linux to my TV & totally do not sail the high seas for blue-ray level rips of content that massively outperforms the quality of streaming services.
Fot those that don't know TV manufacturers don't make a lot on TV's so they will want as much revenue as possible like from selling advertsing space on Smart TV's and collecting your data to sell to advertisers. The best option is what Caleb mentioned get the best TV can afford and if it's a Smart TV then so be it, and simply never use the smart features of your TV, don't even give it access to your WIFI and instead use another streaming device and/or set top box as your source of TV/Movies etc...
If that was true, how did they make a profit before the advent of these smart TVs? I am still using my 2010 52" Samsung Plasma. If it goes out, I would rather buy a large dumb monitor than buying one of these new TVs that spy on you and sell your data.
I am quite happy to report that I am physically incapable of shedding a tear for multi-million, probably law-breaking corporations. They brought an "innovation" (it's not an innovation) so they can sell data so that some line-item data-bro can make inoffensive content that isn't good. They can get bent. No one really wants that crap. Caleb is being an ivory tower, this-is-for-your-own-good, arrogant twit about this.
I’m not sure how so many that gripe about “smart” tvs and how they won’t buy them are missing this. Don’t want the shitty apps they pack onto the tv? It’s super easy; don’t use them and don’t hook them up to WiFi. This isn’t rocket science.
@@syscruncher The problem is, many people will still keep doing it - and then complain about the performance of the App; compared to a $50/streaming device.
@ the manufacturers are actually counting on that type of behavior. Those built-in apps as well at the tv software itself is little more than spyware designed to harvest data for the manufacturer to sell off to third parties. Anyone dumb enough to hook a smart tv up to their WiFi and leave it there deserves what they get.
@@syscruncherThat works... until TV manufacturers start forcing buyers to connect their TV to the internet and install updates and all that nonsense before you can even switch to the HDMI input.
Streaming services cropping and stretching movies, not to mention editing them, is one of the reasons I prefer to just own my discs so I can view them correctly.
SmartTVs being everywhere is why I haven't replaced my 2014 Samsung.59". Its got some extra features I never used, hasn't received an update in years, but still looks fine. I bought a 36" for the bedroom and spent lots of time just turning off all the tracking and ad options. I can't imagine doing it again with a bigger TV.
Marvel movies on Disney+ offer the iMax Enhanced versions which means it's the ONLY way to see the full, unaltered aspect ratio. The discs are cropped to widescreen, which sucks.
I have the 2016 Ghostbusters movie and one interesting thing about it, is that while it has black bars, when the girls fire the proton packs, the beams actually go into the black bars.
Dumb tv's do not show you ads subsidizing the price of the TV. Consumers have repeatedly shown they would rather watch ads than spend 5 dollars to not watch ads.
I just bought a Samsung es8000 2014 model and I'm in love...still in the box I couldn't believe it!...and I could still play my analog content..ps2 ect.
And this is also why one should buy as big of a screen as possible. We rarely end up seeing the most of it when watching films. Games on the other hand, are pleasant because of this as they mostly use the 16:9 aspect ratio and are still following the creator's intent.
@@MadViking82 I actually play a lot of my games in 21:9 with black bars on a 16:9 screen. Assassin's Creed games and Red Dead Redemption 2 especially look pretty epic in 21:9. But that's why I got a 65" 8K display as my PC monitor
@@badpuppy3That’s pretty interesting and cool. Some games have cinematic sequences as well in different aspect ratios, but I can see how certain games may benefit from wider aspect ratio (with black bars) in gameplay as well.
Just upgraded both the main TVs in my home. Got a 77” LG G4 & a 55” Hisense U7N. Have Roku Ultras and cable boxes on both as well as blu-ray players. In my experience with many TV brands, a separate streaming device is always the way to go. I Love that Google TV has an option at set-up for a “dumb TV” mode that only has the apps on the dedicated remote buttons for marketing agreement purposes I’m sure. Although the “last input on start” option on the LG hasn’t failed me yet. Almost forgot the tv even had WebOS😂🙏🏼
Also, the apps running on streaming devices are much faster and have less lag compared to using the app on the Smart TV itself. I have an Apple TV 4K plug to my LG CX 55" TV and it works wonders for me.
I bought the 55" 4K HiSense H9G four years ago and have never connected it to my home network. When I turn it on it defaults to my Roku and if I want to watch digital rabbit ear content, I press the input button and change over. Been a Roku user since 2013 and that's never going to change.
These companies can keep the same interface just without the apps and data collecting. Let’s be real. If the resources of the processor can be relieved by it not running apps or connecting to the Internet at all, lots of consumers would be happy imo
A number of manufacturers make large LCD and OLED monitors without any "smart" functionality. I'm looking at a 48" LG OLED monitor right now. It serves the function of a "dumb TV" quite well.
Your comments re: TV interfaces did not consider the type of consumer buying the TV. Savvy consumers can bypass the interface with another box, but try getting your elderly parents, who do not like ads, to opt for an extra box + remote + cable + perceived complexity, and it's another ball game. Based on your reviews, I opted to steer them to a LG C4 over the Panasonic equivalent, and I'm very glad I did because while webOS is depressingly clunky (but no worse than Samsung), they would not have accepted the Amazon adware on the Panasonic.
The idea of a smart and dumb TV is a false comparison many people have. I have LCD tv's and plasma alike that have no apps aside from the operating system with a simple digital file viewer. That in itself is a smart feature. A true dumb TV is the old manual TV tuner sets of old. If a TV has an operating system, it is technically smart. That includes late model crt's. In my view, most all modern tv's with bloat apps are still nothing more than a glorified tablet without a touchscreen. There is nothing really smart about them. Even if I had no choice ,but to obtain a modern app bloated TV. I would still prefer to use a linux based PC for the media player, because media apps; although convenient, just suck in my view. I will take the fully powered web browser for the win.
Smart TV in this parlance is not referring to it having software at all (like the file viewer presumably for looking at vacation photos) but rather it being capable of connecting to the internet. Like a smart vs dumb phone
@@russianbear0027 That brings up some obscure things. I have a very early cellphone as a history specimen that could not connect to the internet in the modern sense, but it did have simple games from the palm pilot era. That could have been a smart phone, but my plain cordless that has menus can also be smart in some way. Then there is my PC it obviously has an OS and software that is what makes it smart, not the internet connection. I would go for the more accurate terms like mobile computer phone, internet enabled "device", and Media Player TV. Smart is just to universally descriptive and is overused. I am a sarcastic person.
@@kjrchannel1480 fair enough. Smart is mostly a marketing term anyway and thus evolves and is vague. But the current use is "internet enabled" for the most part. For what its worth I didn't refer to any phones as smart phones until around 2005-7. The palm pilot was just a palm pilot and the phone I or my parents had had small games but irrc no web browsing. Though the later Nokia brick might have had a very basic browser built in, I don't recall.
I wonder if you can still buy a pro plasma monitor. We use to always use a Panasonic professional plasma in the color suites for post production. That would be amazing.
I set my Sony TV to open to the HDMI input, and leave it unplugged from my network because I don't like the smart features. I logged in to my Google account and it 1:: overrode my startup input preference, and 2: wouldn't let me log out. Had to do a factory reset to turn it dumb again.
LG makes a line of professional/business displays that have no smart/streaming features built into them. I don’t think they would work well for gaming situations, but I believe they would still be outstanding for light controlled rooms that want a home theater display. The bonus is, they are way overbuilt compared to normal home TVs. My work just put in 98” displays that are warrantied for 24/7 operation for 7 years! No home TV warranty would cover something like that.
@ they are more expensive than a comparably sized normal TV, but that is how they are able to keep the costs down of normal TVs these days. They get money from those streaming services, especially to have a button directly on the remote. Remove all smart TV functions, and the money TV manufacturers get from that subsidy, and they are going to charge you more regardless of the better warranty.
what you are reffering to are what are known as Commercial/ Digital Signage Displays, they are the closest thing we can get to Dumb TVs in 2025 but they have thier own Quirks and Downsides, another option could be to get a Big PC monitor and run everything through an AV Reciever
Having a Samsung TV makes you want a dumb TV. The sluggish menu is forced on you every time you connect a new input, and the two other ways of swapping input feel so slow too. I just want to press a single button, or press input then a number, but instead you press input, wait a second, then hope it doesn't lag when you slowly scroll to the input. That also means automations are out of the question, unless you use "smart things", which always breaks after a few days. This is a flagship miniLED TV from a year or two ago (QN95B), but it feels so slow and unresponsive. I also really wish modern TVs supported the monitor standard for sleep/wake instead of just CEC. Even with CEC devices, it never wants to auto power off with the device you're using. I really wonder how much brands are paid to have streaming services on their remotes instead of input buttons. Hell, half the buttons on my Samsung remotes aren't useful to me at all! I have to press a button combo on one of them just to get to the inputs, but I have a dedicated button for voice input, split screen, prime video, Disney+, etc that I never use. The channel select button won't even swap inputs, even if you have Samsung TV plus disabled. If I could have bought a "dumb" monitor with the same panel, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but now even Samsungs high end monitors have the crappy smart interface. So many users just want to connect a streaming box and a console, and quickly switch between those two inputs, but manufacturers seem to purposely prevent this to shove adverts down your throat when you switch inputs. I had to drive over to my grandmothers because she got a new LG TV and was lost trying to find the input on the menu screen she brought up by accident. I genuinely wonder if these devices get any actual user testing from the brands. If Sony made their x90 miniLEDs in 42", I would have paid genuinely $500+ extra just to escape the awful menus on the Samsung.
What's frustrating for widescreen movies, like all the Marvel films, is that I watch on a 21:9 ultrawide monitor. So these films WOULD look amazing and fill up the screen...but they don't. Instead, they're a smaller rectangle in the center of the screen surrounded on all sides by black bars. Streaming devices don't support 21:9 (without horizontal stretching), and streaming services seemingly bake in the pillar and letter boxes. So it actually ends up using less of the screen (relatively) than a normal 16:9. Except when the IMAX scenes kick in, where the image increases and only the pillars are left. I wish the companies would just put a little extra effort in to support wider aspect ratios in screens, even if they're still a niche in the market. Or at least give us a setting to manually stretch the screen to fit.
Also sometimes the mix of IMAX and anamorphic ratios in one movie is because back in the day IMAX cameras were very loud so they avoided using them in dialog scenes, especially if they don’t want to re-record the dialog, like Chris Nolan. They have gotten quieter which is why later Chris Nolan movies have more and more IMAX. ◡̈
Hey, Caleb. I hate to do this, but I need to point out that you should change the clips you used when talking about movies that are cropped/zoomed on streaming services. You used footage from "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". The footage in question was not zoomed/cropped but actually open matte, taken from the IMAX Enhanced versions of said films on Disney+.
They should introduce a video format that saves the full video and the boxes for different aspect ratios that follow content between shots, or maybe something like SRT for title but for just the latter
@2:00 this would have a been a great time to cover what "4k" actually means (base 2 width.) Since tvs use UHD and are "3840x2160" and not "4096x2160" they have to resize and cut the content even if they keep the aspect ratio. They have redo lots of effects and re-render the film's special effects to not have weird artifacts. It would be nice if we had proper 2k and 4k screens/content, but I do not think I have seen one for consumers since Vizio tried it like 12 years ago. That one failed since upscaling from a cropped picture from 1920x800 to 2048x1080 looked really bad, and you cannot get native 2k footage as a consumer.
I love my Plasma dumb TV from Panasonic, I don't need to upgrade but the idea of new tech is always cool. Just don't want a smart TV spying on me, especially since that even if you don't connect it to WiFi, Amazon TV's with FireOS will connect to your neighbours devices to broadcast your data through the Amazon Sidewalk mesh network. I'm sure Google has their own version of that or will have their own version coming out eventually. Also governments have hacked Samsung TV's in the past & used the speaker as a microphone to essentially bug peoples homes & spy on them.
To add to the dumb tv question... A lot of manufacturers will offset the cost of their tv by adding a netflix button on their remotes for exemple. They will get paid a lot of money for it therefore they want to make sure the tv can provide a solid-ish experience.
It does look strange but, on the other hand, cropping the top and bottom of a 4:3 image to fit a 16:9 ratio cuts 25% of the original image. So I prefer keeping the black bars on the side even if it feels weird.
Black bars on the top and bottom shrink the size of the image. Black bars on the sides don't reduce the size of the image. I got a 21:9 ultra wide screen monitor, so I don't get black bars on the top and bottom. But I will have black bars on the sides when watching 16:9 or 4:3 TV shows. I can zoom in the image and stretch it a little bit, but the zoom to fill the whole screen option, will cut off peoples heads, as it crops too much of the image. Black bars on the top and bottom = small image. Black bars on the sides = full height image, with no cropping.
The reason Smart TVs are the default and only TVs left despite them being more expensive and difficult to produce is because they get paid to pre-install apps or put buttons on the remote or sell data
I remember when Star Wars was first aired in the UK, when all TV's were 4X3. People who had seen it at the cinema thought a lot had been edited out. It was infact that they had lost a lot of the action that took place on the sides of the image that was lost due to the Pan & Scan. Give me the black bars any day. Also, when a scene has sub-titles, why not put them in the dead space (it has been done) and not on the screen when it is sometimes lost on light backgrounds.
I bought a Best Buy Insignia brand 40” or thereabouts “dumb” tv for the patio. Didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a tv that’s not regularly watched. Excellent tv for that purpose when friends are over!
The thing that most people have with smart tv is the fact that there is a software in between the user and the hardware that control the device in a manner in which we have no control over. Much like fully electric cars, when you press on the gaz pedal, it send a signal to the software of the on board computer, which then interact with the Escc (electronic speed controler circuitry ) While a dumb car or interface, the software will not intefere with the user and the hardware as much as with "smart" things. Big buisness prefer "smart" because they brick your hardware with a single firmware update.
I’m fortunate to have one of the last plasma monitors, the Pioneer KRP-600m. Calibrated for isf night, it’s still great for 1080p SDR. I only use my Bravia 9 remote for settings and firmware updates. I’m sure there’s not enough of a market to produce monitor versions of today’s top TV’s. That’s the world we live in.
Dumb TVs will always be preferable. Not only are "smart" TVs privacy nightmares, their underpowered processors are criminal. Use a monitor, feed it whatever program signal you like, from antenna to computer output, and enjoy.
I wish we could get TVs that are dumb again. I can't stand when TVs have to "think" about what they're displaying instead of just displaying the image..
A smart TV becomes obsolete as its features eventually lose support and get shut down - inevitably removing functionality you paid for when you bought the TV. A dumb TV was a lot more likely to be far better designed, especially if you got it for the same price as an equivalent smart TV, and never had to worry about any of it being taken away in a future "update" or lack there of.
I wish manufacturers would sell stripped-down TVs without speakers, amps, 'smart' controls, and all that nonsense. Just give me a dedicated TV. I mean, if someone is dropping 5k on a TV, why would they ever use the built-in speakers or apps?
That's pretty much what computer monitors are now. The only disadvantages of one compared to a TV now are the lack of inputs (usually only having one or two HDMI inputs) and size (You can find bigger monitors but they tend to be smaller than TVs in general).
All I wanted was a 100" 4k HDR 120hz dumb, speakerless monitor for my HDTV. The quality could be outstanding and the price could be reduced by removing unnecessary cruft. Yeah, dream on haha
I have 5 Vizio tv's in my home on a network. Recently, Vizio did an update, and now all my TVs are usless. I live right across the border in Tijuana. The new uograde blocks all San Diego TV stations because it is out of the US. Streaming is blocked on many services now because of this update. I basically have only moniters for HDMI.
Hey C! Any TV tests in terms of what they collected and sending and where to (cybersecurity)? Any traffic analysis, what servers, hidden mics on boards… you got the point…
Seriously everyone subscribe to the channel if you love CES and are as excited as I am. Caleb is more often than not the first to get sneak peeks And behind the scene footage of the latest and greatest.. Happy holidays everyone into all a good New Year..
i don't want a smart tv that tells me that even after I paid for the device, I can't use it unless I agree to a EULA with a report back to home privacy breaking scheme and tied to features I care not about (built in streaming services and metrics). I just need a great quality dumb tv to hook my existing (pc / console) to and let the agreed content flow from them to a picture box. It's bad enough when a game on the console refuses to play if it thinks the internet is down (on my solo game with no other participants but it's a game with that component of treating my game as a server). I hate that, and any tv that tells me what to do to keep it illuminated.
That case of film’s aspect ratio differs from film to film. Older films from like 2008-ish and before were mostly shot in widescreen. Films from the previous century were even more madness. Cinnescope, extreme wides, multiprojector-showings, I think even 3:1 existed one time 🤔 anyway most of them were cropped with the pan and scan method. That’s the method Caleb described. Most films from 2009 and onwards were highly probably shot in multiple ratios. But these films might be cropped to fit a widescreen viewing. Doesn’t make sense to me. Most Marvel films do that nowadays. Also please don’t start about Transformers 4 and 5 in IMAX. Michael Bay used every aspect ratio he could find and mixed them all together in the final cut. Nowadays. Most films that are available in IMAX should be watched in IMAX because that’s probably what the makers intended to show. And btw IMAX has multiple aspect ratios. Digital IMAX is indeed 1.9:1 but oldschool film IMAX is roughly 1.33:1 Basically if a film has black bars then it’s the entire frame you’re watching. But if the film is maxed out to 16:9 but it is also shown in other aspect ratios then you’re probably missing parts of the frame. And I hate them nowadays. Regular 2D, IMAX (has more screen real estate and equipped with DTS Audio), Dolby Cinema (has more vibrant colours and better sound but not more screen real estate) 🤦 I just want an IMAX viewing with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos projected by lasers. Basically I don’t think you can’t have the best of all worlds.
I for one hate smart TVs. I have three of them in my home and none of them are connected to the Internet whatsoever. And when I initially powered them up, I skipped all of the GOOGLE/LG nonsense and set the TV's up almost like a standalone display. I connected a Apple TV, Roku, and one of them a Mac Mini M4. No nag, no interruptions. This setup reminds me of the Panasonic Plasma, but that was a couple days ago.
I have a 32" Samsung dumb TV that I use only for watching over-the-air TV and although I have owned it for more than a decade its still going great (and supports every resolution that over-the-air TV transmits in here in Australia). I will not be replacing it unless it dies and is no longer usable. All my other watching (Disney+, TH-cam etc) is done on my PC where I have more control.
Okay, so like... smart TVs. I mean, they sound smart, right? But... are they? I don’t know. Seems like a lot of buttons and apps and... thinking. I just want to watch my shows. Like, why does the TV need to know *me*? That’s creepy. I don’t even know *me* sometimes. So, Caleb says all TVs are smart now. That’s... fine, I guess. But what if I want a dumb TV? Like, a Kevin TV. Simple. You turn it on, it works. No logging in. No passwords. No pop-ups telling me I need to update or that I should watch *The Queen's Gambit* again. Also, if I have to use another remote, that’s too many remotes. I already lose the one. If I have to juggle like... three remotes? Forget it. That’s a *Kevin disaster.* Anyway, I think the solution is clear: just get a TV that does its job. Like me. When I’m not eating M&Ms or spilling chili, I do my job. I’m reliable. I’m *like* the dumb TV of accountants. That’s what you want. Reliable. Dumb. Classic. Smart TVs... too much drama. Just give me my shows and my snacks, and I’m good.
The first thing I did when I got my new TV was NOT connect it to the internet lol. Best to keep it as a TV only so they don't force an update on it in the future that will make it slow or destroy the picture quality.
Most tvs can be setup sans smarts by denying it a connection to the internet and setting it to start last input on power on. I use mine as a 'monitor' by running a windows pc as my entertainment box. It's faster, smarter and easier to make do things like plex.
Bought my mom a new TV for Christmas, it has Fire TV, it goes straight to the Fire TV interface when turned on, even if you had it on a different input when turned off. I HATE that. My 8 year old Samsung Smart TV always turns on using the last input I used. The Smart features of the TV sucks, but I Use my PS4 as my streaming device anyway. Smart TVs are fine, but the smart interface should only appear when I prompt it to.
Most new TVs have picture settings that allow you to turn on or off the Auto format, why is this not mentioned by Caleb, I don't understand? You can zoom, fill, stretch, or auto, and as I understand it, auto does what the show/movie was filmed in, no?
I think my biggest gripes with Smart TVs are twofold... The first issue I have is that many of them are buggy as all get out, especially the cheaper ones. I have had units that refuse to stay connected to Wi-Fi without having to unplug it from the wall twice a week to do a full power cycle. Or sound just randomly stop working for a few hours for seeminly no reason, etc... I am an IT professional who has a not so tech literate family. That last thing I want to do when coming home from work every day is spend ny time troubleshooting a stupid television... I have found that Samsung and LG models are less prone to software problems, but be prone to hardware issues... My biggest issue though, is that it seems like every brand on the market today is selling absolute junk quality TVs... Not from a feature set or picture quality perspective, mind you, but from a longevity perspective. My failure rates on these stupid things have been insane. My dumb TVs have lasted a decade. While most of my Smart TVs have made it past my 1 year warranty period, about 80% of my units have experienced hardware failure prior to the 2 year mark... Ive had dead motherboards, failed back lights, IR sensors for the remotes fail, etc... Does not seem to be related to brand. I've had these issues across Samsung, LG, and Visio. And in most of thrse instances the repair costs become just as expensive to just replace the TV... I just want want to buy a TV that works... And so far, I am not impressed with any of these Smart TVs, I think they are all junk, and are not built to last outside of the 1 year manufacturer warranty period...
You forgot the #1 reason why there are no 'dumb TVs'. It's because a dumb TV cannot collect and aggregate your information and watching habits and sell that data to the highest bidder. Years ago, this was called "subsidizing" - where, for example, the actual cost of a Roku box was subsidized by advertising, data selling and even selling the shortcut buttons. They all do it now. In addition, by selling you a "smart" TV, when something comes out, a new TV streamer or app, that requires more processing power than the TV has (which will be designed to take the cheapest chip possible for the content it's designed for) then you're hosed and have to buy a whole new TV instead of a new streaming box or stick.
"Dumb TVs" are now basically "Computer monitors" - which was the old definition of a TV minus the over-the-air tuner.
Hisense has a streaming OS port on their projectors now and had a demo with it on a TV. There is hope, but it is unlikely without legislation banning the sale of collected data. Right now most of the data is illegally collected, but there is no enforcement mechanism to stop it.
Just depressing
Even if they weren't selling your data for the small price of some extra added cheap hardware they can sell advertisements and streaming services probably pay them to have their service on the TV by default. Since most users actually want a smart TV it's basically a win for everyone, at least until they start to get fed up with all the advertisements and possible data collection.
You name it, pal. Which is why I never again let any TV connect to the internet. All my watching goes through computers of some kind. Which also makes it annoying, that I can only buy smart TVs anymore for having the large monitor I need (big dumb computer monitors cost more than a way larger TV, WTF?). Basically paying extra for all the crap I don't want. For those things then to harass me with stupid messages I do not want at all.........
you touched on an option, and that's a computer monitor. I can guess that there are high quality professional monitors and projectors going into large sizes. all of these will be of limited use to most consumers. we have to just live with the included "smarts" to get the best deal on the display you want. in tvs these tend to be the cheapest crappiest chips so you'll be bypassing them anyways for the source equipment of your choice 😎
You were a lot kinder than I would have been to that aspect ratio question. It's painful how he was literally annoyed that he WASN'T missing part of the movie he was watching, and was actually arguing that he didn't want to see all of the content he was watching (ignorance is quite something, huh?) He was more concerned about his TV "not being used to the fullest" than he was about the actual content he was watching. That's difficult for me to wrap my brain around. I frankly can't understand why some people don't put any effort at all into thinking about WHY black bars might be there. He embarrassed himself dramatically and I respect your restraint in avoiding pointing out that fact. People like him are how shows like Goof Troop get ruined for no reason.
That's honestly really weird that nobody upvoted or commented on this. Nobody has any complaints or anything? It's very unlikely that I'm the only one who feels a bit of pain hearing that aspect ratio question.
Nobody remember VHS? Back then everything was cropped to 4:3, even the widest movies that lost a lot of details. Imagine a western movie, a duel with a person at each side of the screen. You saw nothing on a VHS because the sides of the picture was cropped. Early DVD releases did that too but fortunately when it became mainstream, most releases preserved the original aspect ratio. Most TVs has a zoom feature if you want full screen instead, my 20 years old CRT has it. Only used once when a TV broadcasted a 4:3 content in 16:9 with animated stuff at the sides so it looked awful on a 4:3 TV. I didn't lost any meaningful detail but the picture quality suffered. If you're watching a movie filmed in cinemascope, you'll lose details and picture quality in the progress. So deal with the black bars and watch movies and series in the way the director imagined it.
My brother loves the old pan and scan of Godzilla versus mothra @@DezsikeDevil1
Clinging on to my Kuro not only because it's still a great TV but because it's dumb. Not an app in sight to go wrong, to grab my data, to throw ads at me, it's wonderful.
I do wish the big companies like LG, Samsung, Sony, etc. would make Cinephile TV's without apps, without sound, without artificial processing, and factory calibrated for perfect picture.
100%, I wish they just stopped putting speakers in TVs
@@mikolv21get a projector
If they did that, then TVs wouldn’t continue to get cheaper. They add all those features because that’s what a lot of consumers want and because being able to collect all the data they can from people using their TVs is a second source of revenue.
I can understand the feeling but I have the TCL QM850 and QM851 running GoogleTV and they have an option in the settings to just switch to the last input whenever it’s powered on.
I just reset the TV and don’t set up GTV, flip that option on, and it’s like GTV never existed. That’s a good enough compromise for me at least.
They are called profesional video monitors...very expensive
Try explaining to you 83 year old Dad how to simply turn on the tv and just get it to the point where he can start watching tv and then hopefully the the soundbar is still connected and doesn't need to be unplugged and then plugged back in to get it to work.
YES, 100%!!!!
Dumb TVs should make a comeback.
They make money selling your viewing habit data, built-in ads, and pre-installed apps.. I doubt they would ever stop that...
It will never, too much capitalism is on the line
@@middleagebrotips3454 it's not capitalism... it's shareholder greed..
@@FJB2020 Shareholders' greed is part of capitalism
Business/commercial displays and larger PC monitors (see PCPartPicker and filter for monitors that are 40"+). Projectors are also an option as the ones worth buying ($700+) don't have any smart crap in them.
Hate that I have to have "smart" features I have no intention of using since they don't keep the TVs updated and I would much rather use an Apple TV.
What's worse is when your smart tv has software issues or dies prematurely due to bugs in software that you don't even use.
And if they provide updates, they just find more spaces to have ads in the menus.
I disabled all the smart stuff on my 2019 Vizio because the apps have become excruciatingly slow and buggy. I reset the TV and dismissed all permissions making it dumb. Now I use my 4K firestick and will eventually get the Google streaming box(for better Atmos support). I also just purchased a new Pioneer 7.2 AV receiver and purposely avoided the overpriced ones with built-in apps and wifi to avoid the same problem. Strange how that seems to future proof it MORE.
U is big brain
I hate it when streaming services alter the aspect ratio. They should provide user control.
Still a way better experience than in the old days with 4:3 TVs. Some channels would stretch the widescreen movie to the 4:3 aspect ratio, losing a LOT of the picture, sometimes having entire actors disappear or stuff happening off screen. I even hated that back as a kid, when I barely had any knowledge about anything.
Top Gun 2 was filmed with iMAX scenes that use a different aspect ratio then the scenes that are not in iMAX. Some movies and shows are filmed using the 1:85:1 ratio that fills a 16x9 tv where other movies are filmed using a 2:40:1 ratio that’s wider so you get black bars. The tv is displaying the ratios correctly if you see black bars. If you don’t see black bars and the image looks zoomed in then they cropped the image to fit the full scale of your tv screen. If you buy a movie and look on the back of the case it’ll tell you what ratio the movie is present in. I always recommend for movies to buy physical because there’s no cropping of the image it’s shown how it was filmed at least with Blu Rays that is. Tv shows all use the 1:85:1 ratio to fill the screen same with video games so you don’t have to worry there but movies might be cropped on streaming platforms so be aware.
Only getting the imax scenes on Disney plus is such a dick move
Cable TV used to crop every widescreen movie to fit the old tube tv 4:3 and now 16:9. Most movies on Prime Video or Netflix are shown in the original aspect ratio though.
This dates me, but I remember in the 90s when TNT brought back letterbox viewing for B-movies with tacky monsters. It was such a hit AMC started doing it.
"I want my dumb TV...." *cue Dire Straits guitar riff*
Fun fact regarding the movies and aspect ratio stuff: back in the 90s and 2000s, Pixar wanted to make sure everyone had a good viewing experience when watching their movies. So what they did was after the initial run of the movie in theaters, they would go back into their computers and re-rendered the entire movie in 4:3 and 16:9 for the home video and DVD release. Doing this allowed them to alter scenes so that nothing would be missed from cropping. In some cases they even reanimated and moved things around to fit the screen better!
I declined the "Terms & Conditions" prompt on my Vizio, and blocked it on my network. All of the Smart TV stuff is disabled, but I can still access settings and switch inputs. It's only complained once and asked me to review the T&C again... which I refused again, and it's been fine. About as dumb a TV as I can make it, and it works great.
I have a smart TV, but I don't watch Commercial Television. I watch Blu-ray for two reasons: higher bit rate and lack of degenerate commercials.
Best way to do it.
I just connect a laptop running Linux to my TV & totally do not sail the high seas for blue-ray level rips of content that massively outperforms the quality of streaming services.
@@virtualpilgrim8645 some of my Blu rays have ads older Disney movies do it all the time
Fot those that don't know TV manufacturers don't make a lot on TV's so they will want as much revenue as possible like from selling advertsing space on Smart TV's and collecting your data to sell to advertisers. The best option is what Caleb mentioned get the best TV can afford and if it's a Smart TV then so be it, and simply never use the smart features of your TV, don't even give it access to your WIFI and instead use another streaming device and/or set top box as your source of TV/Movies etc...
If that was true, how did they make a profit before the advent of these smart TVs? I am still using my 2010 52" Samsung Plasma. If it goes out, I would rather buy a large dumb monitor than buying one of these new TVs that spy on you and sell your data.
I am quite happy to report that I am physically incapable of shedding a tear for multi-million, probably law-breaking corporations.
They brought an "innovation" (it's not an innovation) so they can sell data so that some line-item data-bro can make inoffensive content that isn't good.
They can get bent. No one really wants that crap. Caleb is being an ivory tower, this-is-for-your-own-good, arrogant twit about this.
"They take out the spicy bits," lol
"Enough is enough, I have had it with these monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane"
the best way to make a tv dumb is to turn off the wifi and use the input button like an old tv
Exactly! Plus it's harder fpr the TV to spy on you!
I’m not sure how so many that gripe about “smart” tvs and how they won’t buy them are missing this.
Don’t want the shitty apps they pack onto the tv? It’s super easy; don’t use them and don’t hook them up to WiFi. This isn’t rocket science.
@@syscruncher The problem is, many people will still keep doing it - and then complain about the performance of the App; compared to a $50/streaming device.
@ the manufacturers are actually counting on that type of behavior. Those built-in apps as well at the tv software itself is little more than spyware designed to harvest data for the manufacturer to sell off to third parties.
Anyone dumb enough to hook a smart tv up to their WiFi and leave it there deserves what they get.
@@syscruncherThat works... until TV manufacturers start forcing buyers to connect their TV to the internet and install updates and all that nonsense before you can even switch to the HDMI input.
Streaming services cropping and stretching movies, not to mention editing them, is one of the reasons I prefer to just own my discs so I can view them correctly.
NAS Life is the best life
SmartTVs being everywhere is why I haven't replaced my 2014 Samsung.59". Its got some extra features I never used, hasn't received an update in years, but still looks fine. I bought a 36" for the bedroom and spent lots of time just turning off all the tracking and ad options. I can't imagine doing it again with a bigger TV.
Marvel movies on Disney+ offer the iMax Enhanced versions which means it's the ONLY way to see the full, unaltered aspect ratio. The discs are cropped to widescreen, which sucks.
I have the 2016 Ghostbusters movie and one interesting thing about it, is that while it has black bars, when the girls fire the proton packs, the beams actually go into the black bars.
Dumb tv's do not show you ads subsidizing the price of the TV. Consumers have repeatedly shown they would rather watch ads than spend 5 dollars to not watch ads.
I just bought a Samsung es8000 2014 model and I'm in love...still in the box I couldn't believe it!...and I could still play my analog content..ps2 ect.
What are going to be the benefits of HDMI 2.2? Will the 2025 TV's be equipped with HDMI 2,2?
I'll take letter block all day vs. cropped. Film makers are artists and I prefer to see a movie the way the artist that made it intended.
And this is also why one should buy as big of a screen as possible. We rarely end up seeing the most of it when watching films. Games on the other hand, are pleasant because of this as they mostly use the 16:9 aspect ratio and are still following the creator's intent.
@ Excellent point! I dabble in photography and 16:9 is my go to ratio. To me it’s just the most pleasant to the eye.
@@MadViking82 I actually play a lot of my games in 21:9 with black bars on a 16:9 screen. Assassin's Creed games and Red Dead Redemption 2 especially look pretty epic in 21:9. But that's why I got a 65" 8K display as my PC monitor
@@badpuppy3That’s pretty interesting and cool.
Some games have cinematic sequences as well in different aspect ratios, but I can see how certain games may benefit from wider aspect ratio (with black bars) in gameplay as well.
Just upgraded both the main TVs in my home. Got a 77” LG G4 & a 55” Hisense U7N. Have Roku Ultras and cable boxes on both as well as blu-ray players. In my experience with many TV brands, a separate streaming device is always the way to go. I Love that Google TV has an option at set-up for a “dumb TV” mode that only has the apps on the dedicated remote buttons for marketing agreement purposes I’m sure. Although the “last input on start” option on the LG hasn’t failed me yet. Almost forgot the tv even had WebOS😂🙏🏼
Also, the apps running on streaming devices are much faster and have less lag compared to using the app on the Smart TV itself. I have an Apple TV 4K plug to my LG CX 55" TV and it works wonders for me.
I bought the 55" 4K HiSense H9G four years ago and have never connected it to my home network. When I turn it on it defaults to my Roku and if I want to watch digital rabbit ear content, I press the input button and change over. Been a Roku user since 2013 and that's never going to change.
These companies can keep the same interface just without the apps and data collecting. Let’s be real. If the resources of the processor can be relieved by it not running apps or connecting to the Internet at all, lots of consumers would be happy imo
I thought virtual mode meant a 2-channel soundbar with virtual mode engaged would simulate the non-existent surround speakers.
A number of manufacturers make large LCD and OLED monitors without any "smart" functionality. I'm looking at a 48" LG OLED monitor right now. It serves the function of a "dumb TV" quite well.
Your comments re: TV interfaces did not consider the type of consumer buying the TV. Savvy consumers can bypass the interface with another box, but try getting your elderly parents, who do not like ads, to opt for an extra box + remote + cable + perceived complexity, and it's another ball game. Based on your reviews, I opted to steer them to a LG C4 over the Panasonic equivalent, and I'm very glad I did because while webOS is depressingly clunky (but no worse than Samsung), they would not have accepted the Amazon adware on the Panasonic.
The idea of a smart and dumb TV is a false comparison many people have. I have LCD tv's and plasma alike that have no apps aside from the operating system with a simple digital file viewer. That in itself is a smart feature. A true dumb TV is the old manual TV tuner sets of old. If a TV has an operating system, it is technically smart. That includes late model crt's. In my view, most all modern tv's with bloat apps are still nothing more than a glorified tablet without a touchscreen. There is nothing really smart about them. Even if I had no choice ,but to obtain a modern app bloated TV. I would still prefer to use a linux based PC for the media player, because media apps; although convenient, just suck in my view. I will take the fully powered web browser for the win.
Smart TV in this parlance is not referring to it having software at all (like the file viewer presumably for looking at vacation photos) but rather it being capable of connecting to the internet. Like a smart vs dumb phone
Smart TVs are TVs that are connected to the internet.
@@russianbear0027 That brings up some obscure things. I have a very early cellphone as a history specimen that could not connect to the internet in the modern sense, but it did have simple games from the palm pilot era. That could have been a smart phone, but my plain cordless that has menus can also be smart in some way. Then there is my PC it obviously has an OS and software that is what makes it smart, not the internet connection. I would go for the more accurate terms like mobile computer phone, internet enabled "device", and Media Player TV. Smart is just to universally descriptive and is overused. I am a sarcastic person.
@@kjrchannel1480 fair enough. Smart is mostly a marketing term anyway and thus evolves and is vague. But the current use is "internet enabled" for the most part. For what its worth I didn't refer to any phones as smart phones until around 2005-7. The palm pilot was just a palm pilot and the phone I or my parents had had small games but irrc no web browsing. Though the later Nokia brick might have had a very basic browser built in, I don't recall.
I wonder if you can still buy a pro plasma monitor. We use to always use a Panasonic professional plasma in the color suites for post production. That would be amazing.
I set my Sony TV to open to the HDMI input, and leave it unplugged from my network because I don't like the smart features. I logged in to my Google account and it 1:: overrode my startup input preference, and 2: wouldn't let me log out. Had to do a factory reset to turn it dumb again.
a dumb tv is just a computer monitor now.
LG makes a line of professional/business displays that have no smart/streaming features built into them. I don’t think they would work well for gaming situations, but I believe they would still be outstanding for light controlled rooms that want a home theater display. The bonus is, they are way overbuilt compared to normal home TVs. My work just put in 98” displays that are warrantied for 24/7 operation for 7 years! No home TV warranty would cover something like that.
@ they are more expensive than a comparably sized normal TV, but that is how they are able to keep the costs down of normal TVs these days. They get money from those streaming services, especially to have a button directly on the remote. Remove all smart TV functions, and the money TV manufacturers get from that subsidy, and they are going to charge you more regardless of the better warranty.
what you are reffering to are what are known as Commercial/ Digital Signage Displays, they are the closest thing we can get to Dumb TVs in 2025 but they have thier own Quirks and Downsides, another option could be to get a Big PC monitor and run everything through an AV Reciever
I prefer the original aspect ratio the creator used. Not altered. Good topic!
I don't even notice the changes.
Having a Samsung TV makes you want a dumb TV.
The sluggish menu is forced on you every time you connect a new input, and the two other ways of swapping input feel so slow too. I just want to press a single button, or press input then a number, but instead you press input, wait a second, then hope it doesn't lag when you slowly scroll to the input. That also means automations are out of the question, unless you use "smart things", which always breaks after a few days. This is a flagship miniLED TV from a year or two ago (QN95B), but it feels so slow and unresponsive. I also really wish modern TVs supported the monitor standard for sleep/wake instead of just CEC. Even with CEC devices, it never wants to auto power off with the device you're using.
I really wonder how much brands are paid to have streaming services on their remotes instead of input buttons. Hell, half the buttons on my Samsung remotes aren't useful to me at all! I have to press a button combo on one of them just to get to the inputs, but I have a dedicated button for voice input, split screen, prime video, Disney+, etc that I never use. The channel select button won't even swap inputs, even if you have Samsung TV plus disabled.
If I could have bought a "dumb" monitor with the same panel, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but now even Samsungs high end monitors have the crappy smart interface.
So many users just want to connect a streaming box and a console, and quickly switch between those two inputs, but manufacturers seem to purposely prevent this to shove adverts down your throat when you switch inputs.
I had to drive over to my grandmothers because she got a new LG TV and was lost trying to find the input on the menu screen she brought up by accident. I genuinely wonder if these devices get any actual user testing from the brands.
If Sony made their x90 miniLEDs in 42", I would have paid genuinely $500+ extra just to escape the awful menus on the Samsung.
SAME! I want a dumb TV too.
What's frustrating for widescreen movies, like all the Marvel films, is that I watch on a 21:9 ultrawide monitor. So these films WOULD look amazing and fill up the screen...but they don't. Instead, they're a smaller rectangle in the center of the screen surrounded on all sides by black bars. Streaming devices don't support 21:9 (without horizontal stretching), and streaming services seemingly bake in the pillar and letter boxes.
So it actually ends up using less of the screen (relatively) than a normal 16:9. Except when the IMAX scenes kick in, where the image increases and only the pillars are left.
I wish the companies would just put a little extra effort in to support wider aspect ratios in screens, even if they're still a niche in the market. Or at least give us a setting to manually stretch the screen to fit.
Also sometimes the mix of IMAX and anamorphic ratios in one movie is because back in the day IMAX cameras were very loud so they avoided using them in dialog scenes, especially if they don’t want to re-record the dialog, like Chris Nolan. They have gotten quieter which is why later Chris Nolan movies have more and more IMAX. ◡̈
“Learn to live with it.” No. I don’t think I will.
Hey, Caleb. I hate to do this, but I need to point out that you should change the clips you used when talking about movies that are cropped/zoomed on streaming services. You used footage from "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". The footage in question was not zoomed/cropped but actually open matte, taken from the IMAX Enhanced versions of said films on Disney+.
They should introduce a video format that saves the full video and the boxes for different aspect ratios that follow content between shots, or maybe something like SRT for title but for just the latter
I wish that they would offer giant media screens without tuners, OS, speakers and we could just connect tuners, streamers, speakers etc
@2:00 this would have a been a great time to cover what "4k" actually means (base 2 width.) Since tvs use UHD and are "3840x2160" and not "4096x2160" they have to resize and cut the content even if they keep the aspect ratio. They have redo lots of effects and re-render the film's special effects to not have weird artifacts. It would be nice if we had proper 2k and 4k screens/content, but I do not think I have seen one for consumers since Vizio tried it like 12 years ago. That one failed since upscaling from a cropped picture from 1920x800 to 2048x1080 looked really bad, and you cannot get native 2k footage as a consumer.
It's a shame they still make tv's with smart features, I will never use them I prefer a streaming device i can control to some extent.
I love my Plasma dumb TV from Panasonic, I don't need to upgrade but the idea of new tech is always cool. Just don't want a smart TV spying on me, especially since that even if you don't connect it to WiFi, Amazon TV's with FireOS will connect to your neighbours devices to broadcast your data through the Amazon Sidewalk mesh network. I'm sure Google has their own version of that or will have their own version coming out eventually.
Also governments have hacked Samsung TV's in the past & used the speaker as a microphone to essentially bug peoples homes & spy on them.
What if you manually remove the wi-fi and Sidewalk spy modules?
It seems like nowadays, the only way to get a dumb TV (non-spy TV) with a great panel is to get a reference monitor
thanks a lot Caleb, that was very good 👍👍
To add to the dumb tv question... A lot of manufacturers will offset the cost of their tv by adding a netflix button on their remotes for exemple. They will get paid a lot of money for it therefore they want to make sure the tv can provide a solid-ish experience.
I don't mind black bars on the top and bottom. But I hate in on the sides.
Or worse, get all 4 bars when watching on an ultra wide monitor, that would actually fill up perfectly if the services supported them at all.
It does look strange but, on the other hand, cropping the top and bottom of a 4:3 image to fit a 16:9 ratio cuts 25% of the original image. So I prefer keeping the black bars on the side even if it feels weird.
Black bars on the top and bottom shrink the size of the image. Black bars on the sides don't reduce the size of the image.
I got a 21:9 ultra wide screen monitor, so I don't get black bars on the top and bottom. But I will have black bars on the sides when watching 16:9 or 4:3 TV shows.
I can zoom in the image and stretch it a little bit, but the zoom to fill the whole screen option, will cut off peoples heads, as it crops too much of the image.
Black bars on the top and bottom = small image.
Black bars on the sides = full height image, with no cropping.
The reason Smart TVs are the default and only TVs left despite them being more expensive and difficult to produce is because they get paid to pre-install apps or put buttons on the remote or sell data
I remember when Star Wars was first aired in the UK, when all TV's were 4X3. People who had seen it at the cinema thought a lot had been edited out. It was infact that they had lost a lot of the action that took place on the sides of the image that was lost due to the Pan & Scan. Give me the black bars any day.
Also, when a scene has sub-titles, why not put them in the dead space (it has been done) and not on the screen when it is sometimes lost on light backgrounds.
Great video , you have been massive inspiration to us smaller creators 👌👌👌
I bought a Best Buy Insignia brand 40” or thereabouts “dumb” tv for the patio. Didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a tv that’s not regularly watched. Excellent tv for that purpose when friends are over!
The thing that most people have with smart tv is the fact that there is a software in between the user and the hardware that control the device in a manner in which we have no control over.
Much like fully electric cars, when you press on the gaz pedal, it send a signal to the software of the on board computer, which then interact with the Escc (electronic speed controler circuitry )
While a dumb car or interface, the software will not intefere with the user and the hardware as much as with "smart" things.
Big buisness prefer "smart" because they brick your hardware with a single firmware update.
I have never used the smart features of my tv’s. I prefer using an Apple TV box because it just works with my phone, AirPods Max and tablet.
I’m fortunate to have one of the last plasma monitors, the Pioneer KRP-600m. Calibrated for isf night, it’s still great for 1080p SDR. I only use my Bravia 9 remote for settings and firmware updates. I’m sure there’s not enough of a market to produce monitor versions of today’s top TV’s. That’s the world we live in.
My plasma TV died a few months ago. I still don't know what to replace it with
Dumb TVs will always be preferable. Not only are "smart" TVs privacy nightmares, their underpowered processors are criminal. Use a monitor, feed it whatever program signal you like, from antenna to computer output, and enjoy.
Honestly, I would prefer a fully dumb TV - no receiver at all. I use an AppleTV anyway ....
All new Sony TVs do not allow you to change the aspect ratio just in case that's a deal breaker
I've been looking for a TV that's not smart... But still in 4K but somehow they aren't available and the ones that are, are freaking expensive.
I wish mom got me a dumb TV instead of a smart one.
I wish we could get TVs that are dumb again. I can't stand when TVs have to "think" about what they're displaying instead of just displaying the image..
A smart TV becomes obsolete as its features eventually lose support and get shut down - inevitably removing functionality you paid for when you bought the TV. A dumb TV was a lot more likely to be far better designed, especially if you got it for the same price as an equivalent smart TV, and never had to worry about any of it being taken away in a future "update" or lack there of.
I wish manufacturers would sell stripped-down TVs without speakers, amps, 'smart' controls, and all that nonsense. Just give me a dedicated TV. I mean, if someone is dropping 5k on a TV, why would they ever use the built-in speakers or apps?
That's pretty much what computer monitors are now. The only disadvantages of one compared to a TV now are the lack of inputs (usually only having one or two HDMI inputs) and size (You can find bigger monitors but they tend to be smaller than TVs in general).
All I wanted was a 100" 4k HDR 120hz dumb, speakerless monitor for my HDTV. The quality could be outstanding and the price could be reduced by removing unnecessary cruft. Yeah, dream on haha
The fact we can’t just specifically order something like this outright from the manufacturer sucks.
@@brentus6043 You can. It's called a projector.
I have 5 Vizio tv's in my home on a network. Recently, Vizio did an update, and now all my TVs are usless. I live right across the border in Tijuana. The new uograde blocks all San Diego TV stations because it is out of the US. Streaming is blocked on many services now because of this update. I basically have only moniters for HDMI.
Hey C! Any TV tests in terms of what they collected and sending and where to (cybersecurity)? Any traffic analysis, what servers, hidden mics on boards… you got the point…
Seriously everyone subscribe to the channel if you love CES and are as excited as I am. Caleb is more often than not the first to get sneak peeks And behind the scene footage of the latest and greatest.. Happy holidays everyone into all a good New Year..
you can get good dumb tvs still. They call them Hospitality TV, and they are used for motels and bnb's where connectivity isnt needed.
personally i hate the roku tv interface as it wont just do just tv with the roku stuff being separate.
TV manufacturers can't serve ads on a dumb TV
In=m just glad theres no more 3D only TVs like a few years ago.
Smart TV's are great until they are not and you have to hook up a new Streaming device.
i don't want a smart tv that tells me that even after I paid for the device, I can't use it unless I agree to a EULA with a report back to home privacy breaking scheme and tied to features I care not about (built in streaming services and metrics). I just need a great quality dumb tv to hook my existing (pc / console) to and let the agreed content flow from them to a picture box.
It's bad enough when a game on the console refuses to play if it thinks the internet is down (on my solo game with no other participants but it's a game with that component of treating my game as a server). I hate that, and any tv that tells me what to do to keep it illuminated.
That case of film’s aspect ratio differs from film to film. Older films from like 2008-ish and before were mostly shot in widescreen. Films from the previous century were even more madness. Cinnescope, extreme wides, multiprojector-showings, I think even 3:1 existed one time 🤔 anyway most of them were cropped with the pan and scan method. That’s the method Caleb described.
Most films from 2009 and onwards were highly probably shot in multiple ratios. But these films might be cropped to fit a widescreen viewing. Doesn’t make sense to me. Most Marvel films do that nowadays. Also please don’t start about Transformers 4 and 5 in IMAX. Michael Bay used every aspect ratio he could find and mixed them all together in the final cut.
Nowadays. Most films that are available in IMAX should be watched in IMAX because that’s probably what the makers intended to show.
And btw IMAX has multiple aspect ratios. Digital IMAX is indeed 1.9:1 but oldschool film IMAX is roughly 1.33:1
Basically if a film has black bars then it’s the entire frame you’re watching. But if the film is maxed out to 16:9 but it is also shown in other aspect ratios then you’re probably missing parts of the frame. And I hate them nowadays. Regular 2D, IMAX (has more screen real estate and equipped with DTS Audio), Dolby Cinema (has more vibrant colours and better sound but not more screen real estate) 🤦 I just want an IMAX viewing with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos projected by lasers. Basically I don’t think you can’t have the best of all worlds.
I for one hate smart TVs. I have three of them in my home and none of them are connected to the Internet whatsoever. And when I initially powered them up, I skipped all of the GOOGLE/LG nonsense and set the TV's up almost like a standalone display. I connected a Apple TV, Roku, and one of them a Mac Mini M4. No nag, no interruptions. This setup reminds me of the Panasonic Plasma, but that was a couple days ago.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense for brands to have two different user interfaces!" Chough Hisense Chough
do you mean "cough" or are you referring to the Chough, a type of bird?
I have a 32" Samsung dumb TV that I use only for watching over-the-air TV and although I have owned it for more than a decade its still going great (and supports every resolution that over-the-air TV transmits in here in Australia). I will not be replacing it unless it dies and is no longer usable.
All my other watching (Disney+, TH-cam etc) is done on my PC where I have more control.
I had to leave my TV unconnected to the web so that it wouldn't splash inappropriate images at my kids.
Hey Caleb. Thanks for the detailed response. And no, you did not butcher my name😊
if you buy a dumb tv and a roku box, at the end of the day you still have a tv
I don't mind black bars. I like to see films and TV shows in the correct aspect ratio.
Joyeux Noël Et Bonne Année MMXXV 📺
Okay, so like... smart TVs. I mean, they sound smart, right? But... are they? I don’t know. Seems like a lot of buttons and apps and... thinking. I just want to watch my shows. Like, why does the TV need to know *me*? That’s creepy. I don’t even know *me* sometimes.
So, Caleb says all TVs are smart now. That’s... fine, I guess. But what if I want a dumb TV? Like, a Kevin TV. Simple. You turn it on, it works. No logging in. No passwords. No pop-ups telling me I need to update or that I should watch *The Queen's Gambit* again.
Also, if I have to use another remote, that’s too many remotes. I already lose the one. If I have to juggle like... three remotes? Forget it. That’s a *Kevin disaster.*
Anyway, I think the solution is clear: just get a TV that does its job. Like me. When I’m not eating M&Ms or spilling chili, I do my job. I’m reliable. I’m *like* the dumb TV of accountants. That’s what you want. Reliable. Dumb. Classic.
Smart TVs... too much drama. Just give me my shows and my snacks, and I’m good.
The first thing I did when I got my new TV was NOT connect it to the internet lol. Best to keep it as a TV only so they don't force an update on it in the future that will make it slow or destroy the picture quality.
Most tvs can be setup sans smarts by denying it a connection to the internet and setting it to start last input on power on.
I use mine as a 'monitor' by running a windows pc as my entertainment box. It's faster, smarter and easier to make do things like plex.
My Previous employer used Samsung commercial tv’s that were non smart
These TVs are impossible for dementia suffering people to use.
I still have my 1986 Samgsung tv monitor. It works great. Old movies/TV shows look best on an analog tv. 😊😊😊😊
I don't have a TV, I use a big PC monitor instead. Works fine with my computer and my set top box.
Bought my mom a new TV for Christmas, it has Fire TV, it goes straight to the Fire TV interface when turned on, even if you had it on a different input when turned off. I HATE that. My 8 year old Samsung Smart TV always turns on using the last input I used. The Smart features of the TV sucks, but I Use my PS4 as my streaming device anyway.
Smart TVs are fine, but the smart interface should only appear when I prompt it to.
and watching further into the video, he says he has a video about bypassing that..off to watch it
Most new TVs have picture settings that allow you to turn on or off the Auto format, why is this not mentioned by Caleb, I don't understand? You can zoom, fill, stretch, or auto, and as I understand it, auto does what the show/movie was filmed in, no?
Top gun had some scenes shot in imax, that why the aspect ratio changed
I think my biggest gripes with Smart TVs are twofold...
The first issue I have is that many of them are buggy as all get out, especially the cheaper ones. I have had units that refuse to stay connected to Wi-Fi without having to unplug it from the wall twice a week to do a full power cycle. Or sound just randomly stop working for a few hours for seeminly no reason, etc... I am an IT professional who has a not so tech literate family. That last thing I want to do when coming home from work every day is spend ny time troubleshooting a stupid television... I have found that Samsung and LG models are less prone to software problems, but be prone to hardware issues...
My biggest issue though, is that it seems like every brand on the market today is selling absolute junk quality TVs... Not from a feature set or picture quality perspective, mind you, but from a longevity perspective.
My failure rates on these stupid things have been insane. My dumb TVs have lasted a decade. While most of my Smart TVs have made it past my 1 year warranty period, about 80% of my units have experienced hardware failure prior to the 2 year mark... Ive had dead motherboards, failed back lights, IR sensors for the remotes fail, etc... Does not seem to be related to brand. I've had these issues across Samsung, LG, and Visio. And in most of thrse instances the repair costs become just as expensive to just replace the TV...
I just want want to buy a TV that works... And so far, I am not impressed with any of these Smart TVs, I think they are all junk, and are not built to last outside of the 1 year manufacturer warranty period...
I turn my smart tv into a dumb tv by not connecting it to the internet. 👍
Cheap "Dumb" tvs will still sell for years.
Lot of the smarts can be outputted just from phones.
Remember: Don't give the wifi password to your TV.
Can smart tv's do 24p playback from 24 fps Blu-ray/Ultra HD source?
High end TVs can
@@estusflask982Which ones?
@@beorcya LG, Sony, and Samsung TVs above $1000.
I don't notice the black bars in movies because I'm too busy watching the movie