Electronics Thread (Television and Sound Recommendations)

I have a Samsung 55" TV from a few years ago (UN55MU630D). Reasonably sure I got it from Costco in person (as opposed to online). I have it connected to my cable box, an Apple TV, and my Wi-Fi network. However, I set the network to not allow the TV to connect. This lets me not have to deal with software updates, corporate spying on what I watch, or any of their apps. And for apps I have the Apple TV, so that's not an issue. So yes, I do have a smart TV, but I don't let it talk to the world.
 
FWIW, I have an LG 65" (not sure which model). Picture is great. I don't use the smart features. Just switched from Roku to Apple because of how slow and glitchy Roku was. Find the switch over from HDMI1 (TV) to HDMI3 (AppleTV) to be really slow. Minor complaint for an approximately 10 year old TV.
 
ZYanksRule said:
TCL Roku TVs have very good smart TV interfaces. Extremely easy to use, much moreso than other TVs I've seen.
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I come out on the other end of the TCL Roku experience. They've been recommended by the Wirecutter for years, and I got one a while back. It's very glitchy and buffers or crashes quite often (among other issues).

I finally threw in the towel and got an AppleTV to use instead of the built in software. That's solved the problem with buffering or crashing. It's still not a perfect solution, however. The TCL TV prevents the Apple remote from turning the screen on and off. It also will interrupt my use of the AppleTV with a message on the bottom of the screen saying "You can watch this program from additional sources, click * to find out." Basically, it's pressuring me to use the built in Roku software instead of the AppleTV I bought because the Roku software is so shitty. Is it also monitoring what I am streaming through my AppleTV box? It certainly gives that impression.
 
What I'd really like to have is a Dumb TV instead of a Smart TV.

To begin with, none of the Smart TV's are all that smart. Even the Samsung I have in another room, which I generally like, has its issues. Every now and then, the TV turns on its interface, which will then sit on top of the show we've loaded through the AppleTV. The remote stopped working, so there's no way to turn that off.

I just want a dumb screen that never tries to get me to use its shitty interface, so I can just run everything through my AppleTV with no problems.
 
Gotham Gator said:
The TCL TV prevents the Apple remote from turning the screen on and off. It also will interrupt my use of the AppleTV with a message on the bottom of the screen saying "You can watch this program from additional sources, click * to find out." Basically, it's pressuring me to use the built in Roku software instead of the AppleTV I bought because the Roku software is so shitty. Is it also monitoring what I am streaming through my AppleTV box? It certainly gives that impression.
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I fear that hardware that forces the use of proprietary software will just become more prevalent. Our rental this weekend was a Cadillac that either didn't have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto or successfully hid them (GM is phasing both out but not yet). The proprietary navigation was utter crap. Your TCL TV experience would drive me batty.
 
mgarbowski said:
I fear that hardware that forces the use of proprietary software will just become more prevalent. Our rental this weekend was a Cadillac that either didn't have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto or successfully hid them (GM is phasing both out but not yet). The proprietary navigation was utter crap. Your TCL TV experience would drive me batty.
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It's Roku that's the problem. I had good experiences initially, but I eventually replaced all but one with an AppleTV.

One thing not widely known about Roku is that they charge streaming services for the privilege of being accessible on a Roku device. A couple of years ago, one of our services was briefly unavailable as they bickered over the fee.
 
Gotham Gator said:
It's Roku that's the problem. I had good experiences initially, but I eventually replaced all but one with an AppleTV.

One thing not widely known about Roku is that they charge streaming services for the privilege of being accessible on a Roku device. A couple of years ago, one of our services was briefly unavailable as they bickered over the fee.
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I finally replaced my (admittedly several year old) slow and glitchy roku with AppleTV. Total pleasure to use by comparison.

Now if only I could get my TV to switch HDMI ports in under 3 minutes ...
 
Gotham Gator said:
I come out on the other end of the TCL Roku experience. They've been recommended by the Wirecutter for years, and I got one a while back. It's very glitchy and buffers or crashes quite often (among other issues).

I finally threw in the towel and got an AppleTV to use instead of the built in software. That's solved the problem with buffering or crashing. It's still not a perfect solution, however. The TCL TV prevents the Apple remote from turning the screen on and off. It also will interrupt my use of the AppleTV with a message on the bottom of the screen saying "You can watch this program from additional sources, click * to find out." Basically, it's pressuring me to use the built in Roku software instead of the AppleTV I bought because the Roku software is so shitty. Is it also monitoring what I am streaming through my AppleTV box? It certainly gives that impression.
Click to expand...

I've had the exact opposite experience with my TV. It's my first TV that had internet capability, and every time I go to someone else's house and try to watch streaming TV, it's so much harder than it is on my unit. I did have to use an ethernet cable for the best results, but I've never had an issue with mine aside from that.
 
Gotham Gator said:
What I'd really like to have is a Dumb TV instead of a Smart TV.

To begin with, none of the Smart TV's are all that smart. Even the Samsung I have in another room, which I generally like, has its issues. Every now and then, the TV turns on its interface, which will then sit on top of the show we've loaded through the AppleTV. The remote stopped working, so there's no way to turn that off.

I just want a dumb screen that never tries to get me to use its shitty interface, so I can just run everything through my AppleTV with no problems.
Click to expand...
Or just a TV made by Apple. Which will likely never happen sadly.
 
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