I would suggest to get a cheap local brand from South Korea which uses good panel and decent enough compute power to render your desired quality without any smart TV features and use external means for apps/content.
I was coincidentally looking for exactly this through the stores (online or otherwise) in Australia that should in theory stock this, and the only one that was remotely close was Kogan's rebranded bargain-basement LCDs that had middling reviews.
Are there any particular brands I should be looking for?
I currently have a 3 or 4 year old 55" 1080p Kogan panel, and it's decent, albeit a bit laggy at times. I assume they've got better processors in them now these days!
I want a 4K dumb panel, with HDR10 support. I saw the Kogan 55" JU8200, which from my browsing appears to be the latest model, and from my crude understanding of the specs would be decent?
Should I send an email through to support about it? To be honest, Kogan as a brand is so low-touch I didn't even think to contact them haha.
I honestly haven't seen many other Dumb™® TVs to even choose from, so I am sort of leaning towards either picking up the JU8200, or maybe just biting the bullet and getting a Hisense Series X for about twice the price, but with OLED panel.
The "smart" stuff in the Hisense isn't particularly smart from what I read and watched today, and can be mostly disabled, as its less intrusive than Samsung et al. I'd love to know if I'm wrong on that conclusion though!
EDIT: Oh, and I have a Yamaha 2-channel amp that I run the TV into, so no worries on the crappy built in audio of the Kogan TVs haha. Amazingly tinny, my current one!
Honestly, I think I'll pick it up. It's basically exactly a 4K replacement for my Kogan 55" 1080p "dumb" panel, so its looking like a winner. Found some decent reviews with colour settings and so on to get the most out of it, found a review of a similar AU Optronics panel (they make the actual LCD panel/controller for the JU8200) and it got top marks, so it's worth a gamble.
Worst case I'll put it in my garage electronics/chemistry lab lol
We were originally using it to put a screen up for our business but then shifted office and it wasn’t necessary so I inherited it - works great as a 4K Monitor
About the only thing I'm not sure about is the input lag -- the KU8000 and KU8100 models have approx 40ms input lag according to Kogan's support team (found in a Whingepool thread); this is a different series (JU) and generation (8200), so fingers crossed. The similar panel from AU Optronics had the lowest of the three panels they tested (LG and Samsung), so I'll see I guess!
I agree, however the problem is that it's becoming increasingly difficult to purchase a "non-smart" tv. At my local stores here in Canada I don't think any exist!
Another issue is that many ISPs are building WiFi network. For example Spectrum has a lot of access points in my area, if Samsung would make deal with them the result would be equivalent.
At that point I'm pulling the thing apart and wrecking traces as needed. I saw a Youtube video today of someone putting a shorted out ethernet plug, placed into the jack. It disabled the wifi (or, well, appeared to. Without RF analysis I guess you're trusting the software) and stopped hassling him about missing network connections despite the fact it didn't have one!
