Our TV is close enough to dead that it's time to replace it. I'm looking for a quality panel and will use a Roku box. I specifically do not want to use the smart features that come built into TVs these days. The reason is apparent with our current TV. The panel is still in great shape, but the built in Roku is taking forever to boot, sometimes doesn't, and now it's freezing while trying to watch stuff. Not to mention the voice capturing and screen content that some brands have started to ship back to the company.

I'm fully aware that the only dumb TVs on the market today are just not good quality, or are not big enough for a living room. The option most common nowadays seems to be just getting a smart TV and not connecting it.

What setups do people here have that you've been happy with, or not happy with?

Current Sony Bravia TVs offer you the choice at the start of setup whether to turn on smart features, if you select no you get a simple menu with a list of inputs.

Choose "Basic TV Mode".

TVs are so cheap these days that even if my integral Roku tv dies every couple of years, I'm fine just buying a new one. External Roku have never been as satisfying to me. They're slower and you can't necessarily control everything with a single remote.

Can't you just not use the smart features? Even if you don't specifically turn them off?

I have never used them on my Samsung living room TV (use a Firestick.) Never updated them or messed with them at all. Does not seem to have effected performance at all. Has to be going on about 10 years old.

Will also add that I have a Sony Bravia in my office that was the living room tv before the Samsung and it still looks great (except for one little black pixel that developed this year.) Again, don't use the smart features.

Absolute said:

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Can't you just not use the smart features? Even if you don't specifically turn them off?

I have never used them on my Samsung living room TV (use a Firestick.) Never updated them or messed with them at all. Does not seem to have effected performance at all. Has to be going on about 10 years old.

Will also add that I have a Sony Bravia in my office that was the living room tv before the Samsung and it still looks great (except for one little black pixel that developed this year.) Again, don't use the smart features.

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The plan is to not connect it to internet, and just use the Roku device. I wish the dumb panels were better, but its just not realistic. I have two TVs that use a Roku device, and 1 with the Roku built in, and aside from the single remote, the standalone devices perform much better than the embedded OS.

I'm more curious if people have done it and had a good experience. The recent news of LG TVs in particular is especially egregious, but hardly an isolated case. Thanks for the feedback

mortal_kumquat said:

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Current Sony Bravia TVs offer you the choice at the start of setup whether to turn on smart features, if you select no you get a simple menu with a list of inputs.

Choose "Basic TV Mode".

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I'll do some exploring on this, thank you. I fear at some point the TVs just won't function if they don't have internet, nice to know that Sony still makes it optional.

FightinTAC08 said:

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You dont need a dumb tv, just not connect it to the internt.

Just get an Apple TV 4k and any TV you like from a picture/quality perspective. I have a 75inch OLED LG TV - never once turned on its platform. You can use the appletV remote to turn off/on the TV and never have to use the LG remote or platform.

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That's the plan, though Roku rather than apple TV. Is it a good experience, or does the UI fall apart without internet on the TV itself? Does it boot up pretty quickly or does it take some extra time to timeout? Thanks for the feedback

If the panel is still fine, just get a new streaming device like an Apple TV 4K or Roku ultra. No point in buying a new tv if there's zero issues with the screen.

kb2001 said:

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FightinTAC08 said:

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You dont need a dumb tv, just not connect it to the internt.

Just get an Apple TV 4k and any TV you like from a picture/quality perspective. I have a 75inch OLED LG TV - never once turned on its platform. You can use the appletV remote to turn off/on the TV and never have to use the LG remote or platform.

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That's the plan, though Roku rather than apple TV. Is it a good experience, or does the UI fall apart without internet on the TV itself? Does it boot up pretty quickly or does it take some extra time to timeout? Thanks for the feedback

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no issues with the TV. bootup and shutdown are basically instantaneous - bootup time is for the screen to turn on and appletv to come out of rest state. same goes for my PS5

kb2001 said:

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Our TV is close enough to dead that it's time to replace it. I'm looking for a quality panel and will use a Roku box. I specifically do not want to use the smart features that come built into TVs these days. The reason is apparent with our current TV. The panel is still in great shape, but the built in Roku is taking forever to boot, sometimes doesn't, and now it's freezing while trying to watch stuff. Not to mention the voice capturing and screen content that some brands have started to ship back to the company.

I'm fully aware that the only dumb TVs on the market today are just not good quality, or are not big enough for a living room. The option most common nowadays seems to be just getting a smart TV and not connecting it.

What setups do people here have that you've been happy with, or not happy with?

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Any smart TV will work for you if you follow a few steps.

1. Don't enable its Wifi or give it an ethernet connection - Zero Phone Homes ever with your data. Only ever allow your ROKU or other devices online.
2. Never agree to the TOS when it pops up at start, Deny it, TV should still function as normal. If you ever need to reset this, factory reset the TV as that resets the TOS agreement.

Esteban du Plantier said:

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TVs are so cheap these days that even if my integral Roku tv dies every couple of years, I'm fine just buying a new one. External Roku have never been as satisfying to me. They're slower and you can't necessarily control everything with a single remote.

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Don't know exactly what you had set up, but I've never encountered an external box that was slower than the on tv software.

I don't understand the question. Disconnect your current tv from the internet. Connect an external Roku. If your problems with slowness go away, you're good. If not, buy a smart tv and don't connect it to the internet. Connect the external Roku to the new tv.

You don't need a "dumb" tv for this. The setup above is literally what millions of people do without issue.