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Comment by darksaints | Hacker News Reader

I don't really see any criticisms inherent to the idea of a smart TV, although some might like them to be simpler for simplicity's sake. But I would imagine most people would love their smart TVs if they were not just one more convoluted layer of ads to generate continuous revenue and spy on you to harvest data.

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It's inherent inasmuch as that if companies are able to profit by using 'smartness', they will do it, absolutely. I've yet to see one company large enough to sell TVs with a proven track record of not selling data for ads if able.

I just wish you could buy TVs with either Apple TV or Chromecast built in like we have for Android Auto or CarPlay.

(some, usually lower end, TVs do have chromecasts but they’re not super common)

I’d never voluntarily buy one. Tech ages much more quickly than TV panels and I don’t want to have to replace my entire TV unit just to upgrade the computing part. Also, you just know that the quality of the computing bits would be tied to the quality of the screen: you wouldn’t be able to get a high-end Apple TV paired with a reasonably priced screen.

I think the current combination of dumb or defanged screen plus an easily replaceable settop box is just about perfect. I’d vastly rather mix and match components than be saddled with some awful chimera.

I agree with you completely but since it seems like we’re already in a future where basically every TV is smart this seems like the least bad option. At least Apple TVs ans Chromecasts get updates for a decent amount of time.

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