The time has come for me to get a new TV. I've been dreading this because I keep hearing how shit modern smart TV's are with the ad situation.

Anyone got any recommendations? Even the best of the bad would be a step up from nothing.

I should also note: I'm not looking for any kind of complicated self hosted thing. This needs to be usable by your grandma. ๐Ÿ˜„

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[โ€“] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

Anecdote:

Our Sony OLED is Google TV based (aka Android), so it works with every app out there.

It's default homescreen is awful and ad ridden, but it recently got an 'app only mode' that gets rid of EVERYTHING. I kid you not, the home screen is utterly barren except for a grid of the apps you installed; it's glorious. It's even cleaner than a relative's old Nvidia Shield, or old 'dumb' TVs.

...No idea how such reverse enshittification happened. My only guess is that Sony put a gun to their head and made Google do it, though the option is well hidden.


Looks great. You can look up Rtings for specs.

But that aside, it's internal ASIC is excellent. It decodes ridiculously high bitrate BD rips with zero stutters. The upscaling is good, the motion smoothing is legit good; the best I've seen. It has stutter compensation by default, and BFI if your eyes can take it. Both of ours were decently calibrated out of the box.

...And none of them have busted, not even the old one.


I swear, I am not a bot or shill. And this is a sample size of one family...

...But yeah. Having experience them with friends/family, I would not touch Samsung TV with a ten foot pole. LG would be my second choice, but I'd still assume I'm going to hook it up to a streaming box.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    This sounds very promising. Do you have a model number?

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 11 months ago* (2 children)

    It's a k-65Xr80c. Can't remember what the much older one is.

    https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-oled-tvs-android-/k-65xr80c/specifications

    https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/bravia-8-oled

    RTings is right, it's not super bright. If you watch HDR stuff, it's better for rooms that at least block some sun (though lit SDR is fine).

    As of 30 seconds ago, this is the screen when you press the power button:

    But let me emphasize, this is not default. If you're setting it up for a grandma, you or they will have to find the toggle.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 3 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I'll find it ๐Ÿ™‚

    I'm setting it up, I just won't be the primary user, and I don't want to be running tech support. Appreciate the suggestion! I also didnt know about that review site.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

    You're welcome! Yeah, RTings is incredible. While I'm here, I'd also recommend notebookcheck.net for anything they happen to review (which is more than laptops these days).

    One caveat: like another user said, I don't know which TVs have this option, and there is no guarantee it will stay, unless you turn auto updates off somehow. YMMV.

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 11 months ago

    If getting a Sony Bravia, check carefully that it actually has the Apps Only option. My 4yr old one doesn't and it's horrendously laggy, gets easily confused or locked up if you push remote buttons too fast, has to be power cycled several time per week, and takes a crazy amount of time after tirning it on before it will respond to the remote. An absolute POS. Removed all excess apps, went through the settings, turned off anything fancy, to very little improvement. Never again.

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