this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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Does it act as a dumb monitor? Can all smart TV features be permanently disabled?
All smart TVs which let you go through the setup wizard without connecting to Wi-Fi can be.
Don't connect to any networks. There, it's "dumb".
not a permanent solution… some are experimenting with making a network connection mandatory to work at all
Don't buy those. TV doesn't get to decide what gets plugged into the video in.
Again, that's the issue… look how hard it is to get a dumb TV today…
I could choose today to skip the TV that requires network to work but soon they will all join the trend and it would be impossible to avoid
So if your input is HDMI from a small desktop computer, it still makes you connect to a network? If this is true, it sucks, I've never seen it. I always use a 3rd party media player like an Nvidia shield. My tv has never been on a network.
You can prolly just not connect it to Wi-Fi but I seriously doubt any TVs these days don't have this bullshit.
I’ve heard that the “smart” feature services actually help subsidize the overall cost of the TV, but if that’s true, I doubt any of those savings are being passed to the consumer.
TV's is one of the few things that have gotten cheaper of the years
they have mics to spy on you and unremovable ads all over the ui and apps
There are relatively few, but there are a couple. The Sceptre U515CV-UMC is probably the most well known one. It's easy to find a dumb TV in the sub 24" category, too, but that's probably not what most people are looking for and at that rate most nerds would probably just use a computer monitor instead anyway.
No DisplayPort on that Sceptre, obviously.
Scepter makes non-smart TVs . They aren't very high res.
I'm pretty happy with my samsung. No really, hear me out, if power cuts out, when it resumes, the tv auto starts on the same input.
I have it connected to a pc, and use a smart plug for turning on and off. Haven't seen a trace of the smarts for years :D