They're also cheaper because they're subsidized. I did the same thing with a FireTV but understood the extra crap they want to boot and use is part of why they're so cheap, they're hoping for information to sell or puchases they can monetize.

Yeah, I don't connect my TV to WiFi at all; as long as TVs have HDMI ports I'll just use an Nvidia Shield TV (or something similar). If I do that I have access to more apps, a snappier interface, and it's easier to upgrade if I need to later.

I've looked into flashing it to use a dumber firmware, but it got into technical documentation that I don't really understand really quickly. I haven't looked into it since I got a Claude Code membership though, so it might be worth revisiting with AI assistance.

I've got a Sony TV with Google TV (not connected to internet) that turns on pretty quickly.

If it's going from a cold boot e.g. where it was unplugged or if it's doing a full reboot it takes a bit longer and shows a splash screen, but if it's turning on from a regular "off" state it takes about the same amount of time as the rest of my dumb screens and goes directly to the last used input.

> I never connect my smart TVs to the network, I just plug in my Apple TV and move on.

You're not alone.

Some TVs have an “instant on” feature that uses some more watts but only ever turns the backlight/screen off.

My google dongle got progressively worse and worse. Frequent disconnects, I found out you had to like orientate it a special way, youtube kept having issues. Dumped it and switched to my built in LG OS (WebOS based I think). Works fine, does basically the same thing as my Google dongle did without the slow degradation march

Same here! none of my home Tvs, most LG and Samsung, have ever seen w Wifi password. Always putting firestick on it and call it a day. At least firestick I can unplug throw away, God only knows what updates TV does that I obviously cannot revert.

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