
The perfect TV - tvtechnology
http://technology.siekerman.nl/post/133644449664/the-perfect-tv
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pmontra
I agree to most of the points of the post but this

> It does not need a traditional TV tuner, cable or antenna connector or any
> other remnants of a previous era in TV technology. They drive up the cost,
> increase the complexity and bulk up the form factor, while serving no modern
> purpose. It’s time to throw them out.

Even the USA still has free to air TV channels. They are the norm everywhere
else. I'm watching news right now on a TV through the antenna connector and
the built in DVTB decoder. That's what marks the difference between a TV and a
monitor to me.

Edit: spelling.

~~~
Qerub
In Sweden we have a silly law requiring all citizens owning TV equipment to
pay a special fee. I for one would like a large "TV-like" display without a TV
tuner just to avoid having to pay that fee. More about this silliness:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_Sweden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_Sweden)

~~~
mercora
In Germany it is even worse. You have to pay the fee regardless of you having
any devices capable of receiving. It is a flat per household fee. It used to
be like you said it is in Sweden now but they changed 3 year ago to a pseudo
tax.

~~~
Qerub
I think I'd rather see it as pseudo tax than requiring its own administration
apparatus that costs ~18 million USD a year to run.

~~~
mercora
I would agree but the running costs[0] did not change much since that switch
for reasons not clear to me.

[0]
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARD_ZDF_Deutschlandradio_Beitr...](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARD_ZDF_Deutschlandradio_Beitragsservice#Geb.C3.BChrenertr.C3.A4ge_und_Verwaltungskosten)
(German content)

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kyriakos
A company made such a TV. Xiaomi latest 60 inch TV in China is just that. They
took the smart parts out of the TV set and added it to a separately bought and
optional soundbar which only costs 99usd, meaning you can keep replacing it
when it becomes obsolete without having to replace the whole panel.

What the author of this article doesn't understand though is that TV
manufacturers want you to replace your TV as often as possible so they can
continue to make money.

~~~
Qerub
More information about the Xiaomi TV for the curious:
[http://en.miui.com/thread-173353-1-1.html](http://en.miui.com/thread-173353-1-1.html)

~~~
kyriakos
I was a bit off with the Soundbar's price (it costs 157 according to your
link) but I guess still cheap enough to replace every 1-2 years rather than
buying a new TV

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berryg
I like it. A lean TV/Monitor with HDMI. Add a decent AV receiver and a set of
decent speakers. All devices connect to the AV receiver and just one HDMI
cable to TV/Monitor. You can attach your favourite OS thingy. Mine would be an
Apple TV 4. Next a cable TV app on Apple TV so I can get rid of my TV decoder
(and its crappy OS).

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RobertoG
I though that, what the article says, was obvious and I always assumed that
this was also obvious for the manufacturers, but that they are not interested,
even it would be the more convenient thing for consumers.

I don't know well the market but my impression is that if they follow that
path they will become commodities producers.

They don't want to be only displays manufacturers because then a TV would be
only an accessory. They want to capture a market. They want to be "the
platform".

In other words, everybody wants to be Apple.

Crowfounding would be a nice idea but I imagine that the technology for good
screens is only in the hands of, precisely, the ones that are trying to make
TV a platform.

~~~
Excavator
Then they should just sell their monitor with a HDMI/USB stick. That way they
might also be able to increase sales by selling "upgrade sticks"/"special
edition sticks".

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TeMPOraL
They won't do that, because they'll earn more by selling you a whole new TV
instead of an "upgrade stick". And they don't want a secondary market of TV
extensions, because at this point they'll have to admit they're commodity
producers.

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Excavator
So something like BenQ ST550K then?

[http://www.benq.se/product/DigitalSignage/st550k/specificati...](http://www.benq.se/product/DigitalSignage/st550k/specifications)

Or the Philips BDM4065UC but with more HDMI ports?

[http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/philips_bdm4065uc.htm](http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/philips_bdm4065uc.htm)

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mgraczyk
The BenQ you linked to runs Android. Not quite what the article described.

~~~
Excavator
True, I missed that. But then I wouldn't expect a monitor targeted at being
used as an in-store display to be heavy on apps or slow to switch input. There
might be an issue in the boot-up though.

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defenestration
I like this vision, that's a TV I would want. Lean, minimum amount of
software, instant on / off, no worries about privacy and future proof.

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pbreit
I found my myself sort of agreeing but sort of not. The last TV I bought was a
nice, thin Samsung. I just hung it on my wall and was done. Sure, the
"platform" is terrible but it works.

The thing that aggravates me are how "dumb" TVs are at handling HDMI inputs.
Like, only cycle through the inputs that are receiving signal, for starters
(or hit them first, at least).

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Asbostos
Absolutely not! I can't stand TVs and projectors that try to be too smart with
inputs. If you're the TV, you don't know that I'm about to plug my computer in
and I've selected the input before connecting it. Otherwise I'll plug my
computer in first and it's also trying to be too smart and can't see any TV
connected so it doesn't set up the multimonitors properly. So no, they really
shouldn't try to ignore unconnected HDMI inputs. I used to have an old style
TV that ignored the RGB input it there was no audio signal with it. So to use
it as a computer monitor, I had to plug in an extra audio cable for no good
reason.

~~~
pbreit
I specifically include the bit about "hit them first" so as not to imply
ignoring. Here's my situation which I'm guessing is much more common than
yours: I watch ABC in the morning and Apple TV in the evening. So, every
single day, I have to press the input button 6 times in the morning and once
in the evening. I would never, ever prioritize you're rare situation over my
routine situation.

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SandB0x
_As a great real-life example, consider the the Flip camcorder, which kinda
came out of nowhere and "stole" 13% of the camcorder market (although I'd bet
good money that it actually created new market share). Does it dissolve dog
poop? Well, no, but it's still pretty cool:

1) it costs $150 or less. (A lot less, actually.)

2) it has no cables or wires. Just one flip-up USB connector.

3) it has one big red button: RECORD, plus a teeny one for playback.

4) it doesn't take cartridges or cassettes or discs or cards or anything

5) it doesn't have any controls or settings or anything

6) it stores one hour of video and has roughly one hour of battery life

7) it's about the size of a cell phone

8) it records videos that work well with YouTube

9) it comes in pretty colors

I mean, DAMN, those guys knew what they were doing._

[http://steve-yegge.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/business-
requireme...](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/business-requirements-
are-bullshit.html)

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yc1010
Recently bought a Samsung UHD large TV and completely agree, only useful
function of the smart tv i found was Netflix, but the media player connected
to it already has it (as well as consoles of course) and so does the connected
Chromecast, so yeah very redundant.

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ps4fanboy
Then they updated the software for the next years SKU and didnt update the
previous years software. Operating systems on TVs is a really one sided deal.

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BatFastard
Right on! Smart TVs are dumb!

Smart stereos are even dumber! What I REALLY want is a 21st century sound
system. Why do I need 5 hdmi ports on my TV and 5 on my stereo. Why do all
stereos have to be fricking huge. Why all the connections in the back? put
them on side!!

I don't need a gui on the stereo, a plain black box is perfect. Just have a
decent smartphone app and listen for the remote controls volume with a system
that does not take hours to config (hours of frustration trying to get these
to work). It should support apps like spotify and pandora It should support
streaming from your phone. Does anyone actually use USB anymore? 120 watts per
channel. Any good audio engineers what to cooperate to make one?

edit:Spelling

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PebblesHD
I think it really depends on the individual user's use case. For example, I
have a large Sony smart TV with all these extra bells and whistles, and in
reality I barely ever use any of the standard inputs other than playing games.
Quite a bit of the time I'm using the in-built Netflix or YouTube apps or some
other media app which works fantastically. My only complaint is that when I do
want to use a normal input (HDMI etc.) I have to wait 30 seconds for the thing
to boot to change inputs.

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SixSigma
> It does not need a traditional TV tuner, cable or antenna connector or any
> other remnants of a previous era in TV technology. They drive up the cost,
> increase the complexity and bulk up the form factor, while serving no modern
> purpose. It’s time to throw them out.

The UK still uses over-the-air broadcast tv, so this point is wrong for the
UK.

My TV has an integrated DVD player - that is a boon.

~~~
kyriakos
You can get TV tuner with HDMI out for 20pounds. It doesn't have to be in the
actual TV.

~~~
maccard
And now I've got another device sitting on my desk, not what I want..

~~~
chrisseaton
And worse than that - another thing to plug in.

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nrp
Aside from lacking a large number of HDMI ports, home theater projectors meet
basically all of the proposed requirements for the perfect TV. An inexpensive
A/V receiver gets you the requisite inputs as well.

It is somewhat odd that TVs and monitors have diverged so much while home
theater and PC focused projectors are so similar, feature-wise.

~~~
Shivetya
I am not sure how others have set theirs up but the number of HDMI ports on
the projector/TV were never really a concern to me. I need them on my receiver
which is the control point for all my attached devices.

Now remotes are one area where more work needs to be done, far too many are
just too complicated for their own good let alone large.

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ps4fanboy
If this existed I would buy it, people in comments are saying this is
basically what a monitor is, and to some extent they are right, but I havent
seen 60" 4K monitors on the market has anyone else?

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kevindeasis
A perfect T.V. in my perspective has to be virtual reality. A virtual reality
not limited to just the sense of sight. Also, allows my friends to experience
it with me concurrently.

The T.V. in my living room is just a furniture I don't even touch it. It's
main purpose is for decorations and is only used by old people visiting the
flat.

Btw, I watch sports mostly in the bar.

Do you guys still use your T.V. and will you guys still be using it in the
future?

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supercoder
(In my opinion)

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jbverschoor
It's not a tv. It's a display.

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jes5199
is it still common to have TVs at home? I watch TV on my laptop, and so does
everyone I know.

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075
Yes, if people want to watch sports, use gaming consoles, or just want a big
screen to watch movies on.

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mavhc
It should also have a matte bezel, the only reason I can think they used
glossy bezels for a few years was so they could sell you a new TV with a
smaller bezel in the near future.

