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Smarter than a Smart TV! (Raspberry Pi Inside)

Jeff Geerling
Demos
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this demo2 months2022–2023 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Brought up in smart TV complaint threads as a real-world 'dumb display' alternative.

Jeff Geerling looks at a Sharp NEC commercial display with a slot for a Raspberry Pi Compute Module. It is a large screen without built-in smart TV features or tracking.

“Jeff Geerling talks about how great a TV his non-TV is.” (HN, 2023)

2 recommendations · 4 citations · Demos · partly dated

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@ararar Jan 2023 Recommends
on HN thread The Cost of Cheap TVs
Just get a "display". See [this video] where Jeff Geerling talks about how great a TV his non-TV is. He has an NEC UHD Professional Display M551. He gets to control the software on the embedded Raspberry Pi. It's about $1700 but I think it's worth it. Product link [link]
Geerling uses a professional NEC display instead of a smart TV.
@modriano Mar 2023 Recommends
on HN thread Streaming company Roku to lay off 6% workforce
A recent Jeff Geerling video dug into this subject. [0]. Sharp NEC [1] makes and sells TVs without any "smart" junk (they're mainly aimed at being 24/7 monitors/displays in businesses). They're significantly more expensive than consumer TVs, but part of that is likely to accommodate 24/7 usage. [0] [this video] [1] [link]
Covers Sharp NEC business displays without smart features.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@saxonww Aug 2022 Cites it
on HN thread GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cadillac Models
Read more
This comes up over and over again. There is a brand that sells through Wal Mart in the US (Sceptre) which tends to not have smart features. They are not high end sets. You can also get 'commercial' sets intended for signage that are apparently OK too. Jeff Geerling did a video on an interesting one from Sharp/NEC that takes a smart module, which can be a raspberry pi, here: [this video] . There are some caveats, but it's something to keep an eye on IMO. It seems to be true that there are no high end/aspirational sets that don't have smart features. I haven't personally seen any OLEDs, for example (although I am not an authority on this).
Geerling reviews a commercial NEC display with an insertable Raspberry Pi.
@antongribok Sep 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Plasma Bigscreen
The fact that it actually comes with a Raspberry Pi is incredibly cool to me. Oh, and of course there's a review of it from Jeff Geerling: [this video] Actually, this thing has some pretty decent specs... my initial reaction was that it was overpriced, but now I'm thinking this is a decent deal for what you get.
Geerling's review of a TV with a built-in Raspberry Pi.

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