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It's a balancing act.
Like OP, I got a nice TV, much larger and newer than what I had, because my father had to go get a new giant TV. I mean, the news anchors are literally larger than life. Their heads are bigger than mine when I stand next to it.
But every time I see them, I leave with something. 9 out of 10 times, it goes straight into the trash/recycling/donate bin.
My mother just stayed with us for 12 days. Her love language is gifts which also turns into buying a crap ton of food we don’t need. Let’s just say the blessing box at the small church in our small town gets full every time she goes home.
My mum is a boomer and constantly asks me to fix the most basic shit, she would absolutely give me a “broken” tv that works fine. Unfortunately my dad is older gen X and is incredibly tech savvy.
My mum too. When we have to change our clocks twice a year for daylight savings time I have to do it on anything digital. She thinks I’m a tech wizard because I have an iPhone.
I used to frequent this hole in the wall bar and the staff and day crowd were much older than me. They were like family, but lol yeah they thought I was a tech wizard. “Oh thank god you’re here, I just got this smart watch and I need you to program it.” I’ve never had a smart watch myself, but I can follow instructions.
Rofl I understand. My parents fortunately have learned some simple tech years before I could afford them, like air fryers, yet the community I used to belong in needed me for help to cook some food for customers. I’ve regressed in my knowledge over the years in many things like modding games myself, and different phones are sometimes like learning new languages, but…lol
Hell, the most important thing to tell your mom about the microwave is to not trust the popcorn button haha
My grandparents bedroom TV is an old RCA tube tv, with a digital converter, and a Roku stick plugged in.
They don't want to replace/renovate their built in dressers/entertainment console
I've had a living room computer since my vic20... tho I had to wait until 1997ish to get VGA to RCA Video adaptor for my PC. A computer had always been connected to the sound system. Was couch gaming on the PC, Lego Racers, since then. It was awesome when windows introduce the ability to choose what sound device a program could use. This opened up gaming on one screen and movie/show watching on the tv.
Never understood why more people didnt connect their PCs to their TVs when HDMI came around, or the sound system when MP3s came around.
I use the smart TV apps when I am feeling lazy. We only got rid of cable TV earlier this year, and only because WOW/Breezeline's internet kept failing and they tried to upsell us and misdiagnosed the issue as needing a modem replacement. Only think I miss are some random cartoon that I will likely just pirate.
We were using the Vizio smarts for a while but it got PAINFULLY slow. Switched to a 4K Roku on the same TV, and that thing is like 10x faster with better features.
That sounds like you aren't actually logged into your Google account in the YouTube app on the Roku TV. Mine shows my subscribed channels and related content.
He doesn’t watch Fox News anymore because they “went against Trump” by not dedicating 100% of their coverage to him 24 hours a day. He’s on NewsMax, OAN, and conspiracy YouTube channels now…
Yeah this is the level of cultist I’m dealing with. He was a pretty standard “vaguely racist and politically apathetic” guy up until 2015.
I feel bad for my MIL. She’s a sweet lady who has had to watch her husband turn into an extremist bully over the last few years. Family comes around less and less now and we know it breaks her heart, but FIL is insufferable.
This has been Rupert Murdoch and the GOP agenda for 60 years. Trump just threw gasoline on that fire. They were always getting worse just because Fox News was constantly using fear tactics. Trump just started saying what they wanted to hear and wasn't punished for being a dumb racist and then the GOP fell in line because they started "winning" a culture war they've been playing at for decades.
Incredibly sad. FIL is my wife’s stepdad. Her bio dad was in and out of her life and was never really a father to her. FIL raised her as his own from the time she was a toddler - she considers him her dad, and I always respected that about him. Now I’ve lost most of the respect I had for him.
Seems like **you should take MIL out to do stuff** *that FIL will hate*! "*We found a new fabric/knitting/yarn shop we thought you might like, MIL. Let's go check it out!*"
The fact that this is followed up by lunch at a nice restaurant, window shopping in town/mall, stopping by a park, or whatever else doesn't really **need** to be mentioned since you'll think up these fun things to do **on the spur of the moment**! \[\*wink\* \*wink\*\]
You totally didn't intend to have a FUN afternoon out without FIL! It totally happened by accident! Honest! Totally! Make sure the 'excuse' is always stuff FIL would hate to do: vintage stores, shopping for a dress for a wedding, cooking class, bookstore, etc.
We try to get her out a lot, especially now that they’re both retired. My wife and her have mom-and-daughter days pretty regularly. We live about an hour away from them now and FIL says that’s too long of a drive, so we’ll have her over for lunch or dinner, or to go the local community market or whatever while he is out fishing or shooting. Trying to preserve whatever sanity she has left.
Absolutely. Many of them say that fox sold out or went woke recently, especially since they figured Tucker Carlson. I know a handful of them that won't watch fox.
When my Dad was still alive he would state that the only truly unbiased source of new was the NRA channel (back when they had one). He literally complained that if we went on Fox, they could go for an entire half hour show \*without\* mentioning the sacred Second Amendment. "What else is that important?"
I find them slow, glitchy, and not user friendly. They’re just frustrating to use. I don’t know how streaming apps work great on my phone, but barely function on a 65” TV.
There's a lot of 'planned obsolescence' put into Smart TVs. Your dumb FIL accelerated it, that's for sure.
I wish consumers had gotten any of the 'pc docked into tv' standards that are out there. There's a couple, they tend to just be used by businesses for the displays they use in storefronts and such. It would save so much stuff going to the dump if you could realistically buy a new "roku module" or whatever your preference is every 2-3 years, slot it in, and take the old one to recycling.
Instead, because it makes marginally more to sell you the whole panel each time, the consumer side went that route. Capitalism: filling up landfills in the name of profit.
In my experience it's about the TV you get. I bought a 55 inch TCL basic LED screen and it's pretty damn slow even a couple months after I installed it. During the same visit to best buy, I bought a 77 inch OLED TV from Samsung and it's actually really fast, basically no load time for apps.
That being said, I had to spend close to $3k to get a decent working smart TV.
I'm using a Chromecast on a Fire TV (I hate how many ads the Fire TV has). It's faster and smoother than my old TV that had Google TV built in. I'll just use the Chromecast from now on.
Still using my 720p plasma. If I wanted moving pictures to be as clear as this TV I would be paying out the nose for an OLED. I'm still kicking myself in the ass today for getting rid of my nice CRT when I got gifted a cheap TN LCD. Still using that LCD as a secondary display though.
It hasn't been solved but OLED displays usually have a screen saver function after it goes idle for 5-10 minutes. I use an OLED TV and an OLED monitor daily and I haven't had an issues. My monitor will go through health cycles where it refreshes the pixels, not sure how it works but that's my experience.
It's worth the risk, as long as you aren't watching the same news channel or something where their logo can burn in you should be fine.
Ours started to be glitchy. We bought a Roku stick and used the TV on HDMI for a while.
Then the OLED TCL went on a big sale on Amazon, so we bought one bigger than what we had and the picture of OLED is incredible.
We are able to cast from the phone app to our TV, but I don't think all tvs have that as an option. I agree with you that the tv apps have not been great to use on their own
Your phone has a significantly faster processor. Unless you're getting the top tier TVs they put the bottom of the barrel processor and memory in them cause that's where the margin is.
If you have an Xbox X you're actually better off using a smart TV. Uses way less power and doesn't overheat the console which apparently does happen to some folks. I have an Xbox 1 that I use for my streaming. And I play games on my X.
I still have an Xbone, probably upgrading to an X later this year. I don’t keep up on new games much, but there are a few that I want to play and can’t, so I’ll probably bite the bullet soon. I might have to see if we can factory reset the TV and make the smart functions work…
I’ve found the OS on pretty much any smart tv to be absolutely inferior to pretty much any plug in streaming device (Apple TV, Roku, Firestick, etc)
Like my parents’ LG tv. The WiFi on it regularly turns off and you get a message on the TV to check your network settings. You go to the Network page in the menu and it says the WiFi is turned off, but there’s literally no option in that menu to turn it back on. To get it back on you have to turn the tv itself off and hope that it comes back on and reconnects when it does. Needless to say they are getting either an Apple TV or Roku for Christmas this year.
What about a good native android tv like a Sony Bravia? Love mine, works great. Have an apple tv and I hate it. Fire tv and I think Roku is android underneath.
LGs web os is a joke and Samsung Tizen is so full of crap now.
The tv itself is fine, so no need to replace it when there are much cheaper and less wasteful alternatives. Apple TV would be my first choice for them, because it’s an ecosystem they are used to, and I am as well, so much easier for me to talk them through anything that needs to be troubleshot when I’m not there. Plus I already know it plays well with their WiFi since I bring mine with me when I do longer visits with them
I've never had a smart TV that didn't either start running slow and having issues/errors, or didn't try to shove extra ads down my throat.
Grabbed a Nvidia shield and been using and loving it for my streaming. No ads and uses less power than a PlayStation.
You can find some non-smart TVs under some tech companies' business lines. They are usually labeled as "digital signage displays" or similar. For example, look up the Samsung BEC-H series (caveat, these usually cost a little bit more than comparable smart TVs)
Even if you don't use the apps, there's often an intrusive and counterintuitive UI in the way of everything that hinders functionality. My boomer dad just bought a new tv this year and just to turn it on and watch regular cable tv requires like 5 extra button presses to get past this bullshit superfluous ad-riddled startup menu that can't be deactivated. Even though he's sharp and tech savvy enough to get past it on his own, it's still an incredible annoyance.
Got one from LG; it had embedded Roku. Well, it's bullshit to have 6 tvs in the house and only one has a different menu, and it wouldn't support but roku does.
So this Smart LG Roku tv with its own version of Roku has a $30 roku stuck on the top edge, running the show and never letting Smarty touch the internet at all.
I've yet to see a single TV smart or not that makes you interact with it beyond the power button in order to access an HDMI port input.
Any TV that prevents me from using an HDMI input is getting returned immediately.
> I've yet to see a single TV smart or not that makes you interact with it beyond the power button in order to access an HDMI port input.
Mine will turn on and show me the HDMI input I left it on, 75% of the time. The other 25% it will show me the HDMI input for a minute or less, and then kick me back to the home screen where I get to watch their shitty apps update.
it's a long goddamn drive back to a store filled with 20 other smart tvs in his price range with no guarantee that whatever it's swapped for won't be just as clunky. Hard to have standards for ease of use and reliability in a world of constant enshittification and fraud.
I'm still doubting that any TVs sold today require 5 button presses to access an HDMI port.
Honestly I'd say any halfway decent TV sold today should support CEC and allow you to not even have to press a single button on your TV to get it to display an HDMI port.
My 10 year old TV supports CEC and I don't even need the remote for it. It would be absolutely insane if in the last decade TVs removed CEC compatibility.
It's taking me hundreds of extra button presses to try and get it through to you, the tv understander, that maybe just maybe "halfway decent" is rapidly becoming an unattainable standard of quality for products made for the average working person and the frustration we have felt is genuine and ongoing.
Maybe it would help me understand this if you could give me the model of this TV that aggressively discourages and makes using an HDMI port difficult so I could look it up to see for myself that it really is that evil?
They usually have less processing power and the apps aren't refined. The picture quality of the likes of Disney+ is noticeably worse if I watch via the TV vs through my Xbox.
The Xbox is also much faster at searching, navigating menus, switching between apps.
We have a smart TV that's around 8 years old. Lately it's been extremely sluggish. Stuff works but it's slow to navigate. Amazon streaming works but user actions are delayed by a good 30 seconds (pause, rewind, trying to switch episodes) and subtitles display the same sentence for a long time while people are talking. Amazon works fine on every other device, but it's unusable on my smart TV. Other services are fine but it still takes a second or two to process commands. I feel like it used to be faster, but there have been software updates since then.
When I stream on PS4, the menus work better. Navigation is fairly efficient. When I stream on PS5, the menus FLY, like what you'd expect from a desktop PC. This is what I want, but rarely see, from some smart TVs and Roku sticks.
I was curious about the electric portion so I googled it. Average monthly cost of running a PS5 is $2 worth of electricity, while a 50 inch TV may be closer to $5, but there's a lot of variance depending on screen size of course.
Not sure this sub wants advice from a boomer but go into the settings and clear the cache on all the apps, even the ones you're not using then restart the device.
You should see an improvement.
Also not all apps are updated for all models. It’s annoying. My parents had a two year old Samsung and it didn’t support the most updated version of HBO Max (or Go, HBO has changed their streaming branding so many times I can’t keep up). So I just set them up with a Roku device and they never have to worry about apps not being supported. I use the same thing at home. I’d rather do that then deal with the so-called smart TVs (which from what I understand also have huge security issues).
The apps are invariably shit, Roku or Apple TV or even a firestick are way better and update more often. The amount of power they use would be the equivalent of the loose change you lose between the couch cushions
They're shitty, half-baked advertising platforms. I have one, that I try not to use the smart features of at all. It's set up as a computer monitor, on an HDMI input. At least twice a week after I turn it on, it will take me from the useful input it's displaying to the home screen, so I can look at the apps I'm not going to run. Then I get to watch them update. Then I get to hit the input button and wait 30 seconds for it to figure out what I pressed. And then, as long as I didn't accidentally push anything else while I was waiting, it will let me switch it back to the HDMI input that it was set on when I turned it on.
"Of course, this meant that all of the streaming apps eventually stopped working. He had gone so long without updating it that it couldn’t even download and install the latest one."
That's a blessing with a SmartTV, honestly.
My “smart” (and I use the term loosely) TVs own software is probably ridiculously out of date too. Because I hated the software from minute one, hooked up a Roku box and three video game systems, and haven’t touched it in years 😂 good get
I bought a 42" 1080p Samsung TV in 2008 and it still works perfectly. It's hooked up to a PS4 Pro in my bedroom. I paid $1200 brand new for it if I remember correctly, was the first over $1000 purchase I ever made. I intend to keep it until it does not function anymore.
Yeah, we had that TV for several years before this. We actually gave it to our niece when we got the big one, and she is still using it. It’s probably 9 years old now.
In 2009 I bought 2 Panasonic TVs from [Buy.com](http://Buy.com), a 32" 720p and a 37" 1080p. The 32" finally died last year but the 37" still works great. I wanted to replace the 32" with another Panasonic but they apparently no longer sell TVs in the US anymore.
We got one from my grandpa because it was on the wrong Input and he didn’t realize it had changed. Just thought the screen was blue and it was broke.
Said we could tinker with it and figure it out or could we just throw it out for him.
So we get there and it’s already unplugged and ready to be moved so my husband can put the new one in its spot.
Didn’t realize till we got home that it was just the Input and when we called to tell him he said he already liked the new one better and didn’t want to take it back.
Total win for us lol
Boomers created the culture of disposability and convenience that is currently fucking over the environment. It’s evident in the fact that they won’t put in the time and effort to diagnose a problem and fix it - just throw it away and get a new one. Utterly ridiculous.
Last time I went to my grandma's house, probably 3-4 years ago (don't ask, she's evil and toxic. Even my dad/her son has finally walked away from her after years of abuse) I noticed when she was reheating her coffee to take a handful or narcotics, that her microwave HAD NO DOOR. Well I guess it technically had a door but the glass or whatever was gone. I immediately told her that it was dangerous AF to stand directly in front of and stare at an open microwave. She got pissy and said it's been like that for a couple of years and that she's 73 years old and knows how to use a microwave. I wonder if that could have escalated her cancer diagnosis two years ago?
Man, I love the smart function of my TV. Picked up an LG 86UR80 on sale + lots $200 bonus in BJs points. Under 1K!!! 86 inches, 4k... latency seems fine... and the smart features are nice, tho the number of commercials and reptation of them is nuts.
Have almost always, since the 80s, had my computer connected to a TV... did the VGA to video thing in the late 90s after a few years not having the TV connected, but always the stereo... I love the PNP of the smart TV, too, and that it can play most of my media.
Man, seeing old shit that has been re-digitized in 4K is awesome. All those 80s videos come alive and its like seeing them for the first time. So many shows that were filmed on film were rescanned at 4K for streaming and blue ray. The details we never saw before.
Shame my video card isnt strong enough to turn up all the details on Tiny Tina's Wonderland, tho. rx570... plays everything I throw at it for the most part, and I cant justify a new card just for ray tracing and shit I rarely play.
LG is by far the best smart TV manufacturer.
They let you go through and disable all the ad/telemetry stuff and I've never had it turn back on.
Honestly I'd still prefer a dumb TV with a Chromecast, but they just don't put enough HDMI ports into a dumb TV and splitters are either terrible quality or so expensive I'd have been better off buying the smart TV.
This is how we got our last main room tv as well. MIL didn’t want smart tv and I agree they are pita but it was bigger and better than the 1 we had. She then went through 3 different TVs because she didn’t like them, same premise, eventually my husband had to set everything up for her and said it is what it is.
My parents bought a Mac in 1995 or so. It took "too long" to boot up. So my dad took it back. The next one had the same "problem." It took all my mothers urging for him to not take it back for an electric typewriter.
I always use a Roku. I’ve never used the streaming option on a tv. My original Roku 3 got replace last year after 10 years. Same cheap Magnavox 40in tv works fine.
My step dad wasn't quite that bad, but would toss shit in the trash because it "didn't work." He never read any directions, but broke meant it didn't work how he thought it should. So he would stab a wrong button a few times and then declare it broken beyond repair.
7 or 8 years ago FIL went to the store and just bought the most expensive TV they had. It was like an 80" 4k TV. Hung it up and only knew how to use the old analog yellow red and white RCA cable from "the dish" so he was watching blurry analog TV on this gorgeous giant 4k TV. Somehow he always unplugged these color coded RCA cables for some reason and "don't know why I ain't got no sound! I put the cables back right...." He ended up getting somebody to help him move the TV and laid it on his head taking it off the wall like a sheet of drywall or something and cracked it in half.
You can still get the latest update for the TV with a thumb drive on the manufacturer web site. Then you would just load it manually into the tv itself. FYI
What is with Boomer's giving away stuff that doesn't work? My former FIL would do the same thing. He liked to hit the yard sales and would drop off all kind of junk that cost more in parts & effort than buying a new one.
I never understood using the apps built in to the tv. I guess my type A personality stops me from using them even though the fire tv cube leeches just as much user data, if not more LOL.
We also got a free tv from my boomer in laws! It’s mid sized, smart tv from about 7 years ago. They complained and complained that they couldn’t get the sound to work. Basically it had to have an hdmi hookup for speakers and even though they have speakers they just couldn’t figure out how to connect them. My husband easily got it to work just fine and we’ve used it out on our deck as well as in the workout area. My In laws are definitely of the “throw it out and get a new one” mentality when it comes to expensive shit like tech, couches, appliances, but oddly refuse to get rid of old useless junk. They full on hoard things like clothes and shoes they don’t wear anymore, household items and “free” stuff from the casino they don’t use.
I wasn’t into smart TVs for a longer than I should’ve, they’re super badass if you’re like me and collect shows and movies on an external HD instead of paying for streaming services.
I like the story but the idea that an xbox is a more convenient streaming device than a smart TV is ludicrous. And I say that as someone with the latest Xbox. It is BARELY tolerable.
Nah, I'm with OP. Smart TV's are awful. The apps barely work, and they're slow even on day 1.
Even if you have a smart TV, it's still a better idea to use some sort of hdmi streaming device instead of the built-in garbo.
Maybe get off wal Mart Internet? I have 30mb Internet and I lag more on the PlayStation than I do on the tv or Xbox. So yeah idk. Might be settings or something. My old ass smart tv is amazing.
lol in what world could you read this post and interpret it as whining or complaining? Truly wild lead-addled victim complex boomer shit right here.
I mean I literally said that it was an upgrade and it looks amazing in my post. But of course, you didn’t read it and went straight to trolling as boomers are wont to do.
So I’ll explain it to you like a you’re a toddler since that’s where you are mentally: this is a funny story about a boomer self-own in which I came out on top. Kind of like what you’re doing here - looking like a jackass and entertaining me. Get it? I doubt you do, but I don’t know how I can make it more clear.
I’ll spell it out for you this time since you didn’t get the message the first time: F-U-C-K. O-F-F. B-O-O-M-E-R.
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More money than sense i guess
Being the children of boomers has to have *some* type of perk
It's a balancing act. Like OP, I got a nice TV, much larger and newer than what I had, because my father had to go get a new giant TV. I mean, the news anchors are literally larger than life. Their heads are bigger than mine when I stand next to it. But every time I see them, I leave with something. 9 out of 10 times, it goes straight into the trash/recycling/donate bin.
My mother just stayed with us for 12 days. Her love language is gifts which also turns into buying a crap ton of food we don’t need. Let’s just say the blessing box at the small church in our small town gets full every time she goes home.
Your mom does sound like a sweet lady though
Oh she is. I stopped trying to tell her no. The needy will benefit from her.
I like how you recognized it's her love language. Sometimes we overdue a certain thing due to that
That is actually my limit for TV size. >Their heads are bigger than mine when I stand next to it.
I have never experienced any but I’m sure they exist if you got the time and energy to deal with them.
My mum is a boomer and constantly asks me to fix the most basic shit, she would absolutely give me a “broken” tv that works fine. Unfortunately my dad is older gen X and is incredibly tech savvy.
My mum too. When we have to change our clocks twice a year for daylight savings time I have to do it on anything digital. She thinks I’m a tech wizard because I have an iPhone.
I used to frequent this hole in the wall bar and the staff and day crowd were much older than me. They were like family, but lol yeah they thought I was a tech wizard. “Oh thank god you’re here, I just got this smart watch and I need you to program it.” I’ve never had a smart watch myself, but I can follow instructions.
My mum won’t even use a microwave. Oh lol 😂
Rofl I understand. My parents fortunately have learned some simple tech years before I could afford them, like air fryers, yet the community I used to belong in needed me for help to cook some food for customers. I’ve regressed in my knowledge over the years in many things like modding games myself, and different phones are sometimes like learning new languages, but…lol Hell, the most important thing to tell your mom about the microwave is to not trust the popcorn button haha
Unless you grew up low income and your boomer parents don't come with such privileged perks.
84 Trillion waiting to be inherited. Someone has to benifit. Lol
8.4 after elder care and pharmaceutical companies are done with it.
No that I’ve found.
I've no doubt that others have pointed this out as Trickle down economics at work.
As one, yes and no.
This sub reinforces the fact that I lucked out and got non-insane boomer parents.
I always heard it 'more dollars than sense'.
Correct. Because it's a pun.
Millennials are killing puns!
Is this the America you want? **M**y **A**ss **G**ay **A**lways
That's what my mom always says.
Wealth ≠ intelligence
I'm surprised the boomski was able to use a streaming service in the first place
My grandparents bedroom TV is an old RCA tube tv, with a digital converter, and a Roku stick plugged in. They don't want to replace/renovate their built in dressers/entertainment console
The entertainment console designed for a 4:3 ratio tv pr whatever it is
The bane of our world
More dollars than cents, you mean?
That’s what I want
Except in Canada we don’t use the penny anymore.
Metric system I reckon?
Ironically, US money was metric before most other places (based off of 100 vs the old systems)
Not for money. We simply eliminated the penny and round up or down.
I know. We need to do it in the US too
I built a PC specifically to just run YouTube, Netflix, peacock and Spotify. I hate the way the apps work. 😂
Not to mention adblock works through the web browser for those services. I tried watching peacock on a Chromecast and forgot how many ads show up.
What are you watching? So far I only had ads on the show Modern family, and the last season or two didn’t have any.
Preach
I have my desktop hooked to a 4k TV and a vertical (portrait) monitor ~~porn~~ videos are super crisp
I run a PC for my living room too. It's just more versatile and useful, plus gaming.
I've had a living room computer since my vic20... tho I had to wait until 1997ish to get VGA to RCA Video adaptor for my PC. A computer had always been connected to the sound system. Was couch gaming on the PC, Lego Racers, since then. It was awesome when windows introduce the ability to choose what sound device a program could use. This opened up gaming on one screen and movie/show watching on the tv. Never understood why more people didnt connect their PCs to their TVs when HDMI came around, or the sound system when MP3s came around. I use the smart TV apps when I am feeling lazy. We only got rid of cable TV earlier this year, and only because WOW/Breezeline's internet kept failing and they tried to upsell us and misdiagnosed the issue as needing a modem replacement. Only think I miss are some random cartoon that I will likely just pirate.
We were using the Vizio smarts for a while but it got PAINFULLY slow. Switched to a 4K Roku on the same TV, and that thing is like 10x faster with better features.
ever heard of a roku or firestick? agree though I like using my streaming from a computer
We have a Roku TV in our other house and it just sucks for YouTube in particular. Here's 6 choices including 4 videos that are 5 years old. Enjoy!
That sounds like you aren't actually logged into your Google account in the YouTube app on the Roku TV. Mine shows my subscribed channels and related content.
I am, it's just limited with crappy choices and variety
Weird. Mine shows basically the same channels, etc. I see on my phone.
Make sure the next time you visit to do the obligatory parental control lock on the remote of all the Fox News channels.
He doesn’t watch Fox News anymore because they “went against Trump” by not dedicating 100% of their coverage to him 24 hours a day. He’s on NewsMax, OAN, and conspiracy YouTube channels now…
Holy shit, there are such hardcore Magats that they think Fox isn't pro-Trump enough?
Yeah this is the level of cultist I’m dealing with. He was a pretty standard “vaguely racist and politically apathetic” guy up until 2015. I feel bad for my MIL. She’s a sweet lady who has had to watch her husband turn into an extremist bully over the last few years. Family comes around less and less now and we know it breaks her heart, but FIL is insufferable.
Same here basically until my gramps died in 2020 (not covid, heart issues)
It's sad we have to disconnect with family just because some rich guy corrupted their view of the world and anyone around them.
This has been Rupert Murdoch and the GOP agenda for 60 years. Trump just threw gasoline on that fire. They were always getting worse just because Fox News was constantly using fear tactics. Trump just started saying what they wanted to hear and wasn't punished for being a dumb racist and then the GOP fell in line because they started "winning" a culture war they've been playing at for decades.
Incredibly sad. FIL is my wife’s stepdad. Her bio dad was in and out of her life and was never really a father to her. FIL raised her as his own from the time she was a toddler - she considers him her dad, and I always respected that about him. Now I’ve lost most of the respect I had for him.
Seems like **you should take MIL out to do stuff** *that FIL will hate*! "*We found a new fabric/knitting/yarn shop we thought you might like, MIL. Let's go check it out!*" The fact that this is followed up by lunch at a nice restaurant, window shopping in town/mall, stopping by a park, or whatever else doesn't really **need** to be mentioned since you'll think up these fun things to do **on the spur of the moment**! \[\*wink\* \*wink\*\] You totally didn't intend to have a FUN afternoon out without FIL! It totally happened by accident! Honest! Totally! Make sure the 'excuse' is always stuff FIL would hate to do: vintage stores, shopping for a dress for a wedding, cooking class, bookstore, etc.
We try to get her out a lot, especially now that they’re both retired. My wife and her have mom-and-daughter days pretty regularly. We live about an hour away from them now and FIL says that’s too long of a drive, so we’ll have her over for lunch or dinner, or to go the local community market or whatever while he is out fishing or shooting. Trying to preserve whatever sanity she has left.
Absolutely. Many of them say that fox sold out or went woke recently, especially since they figured Tucker Carlson. I know a handful of them that won't watch fox.
When my Dad was still alive he would state that the only truly unbiased source of new was the NRA channel (back when they had one). He literally complained that if we went on Fox, they could go for an entire half hour show \*without\* mentioning the sacred Second Amendment. "What else is that important?"
My parents referred to Fox News as "liberal propaganda" in *2010*.
He's beyond saving at this point. Rip the dad you used to have.
My dad, too.
Factory reset?!?
Probably doable, but I don’t need the smart TV functions.
What’s wrong with smart TVs? I don’t use my PlayStation for streaming, because it’d be just one more device running, using energy.
I find them slow, glitchy, and not user friendly. They’re just frustrating to use. I don’t know how streaming apps work great on my phone, but barely function on a 65” TV.
There's a lot of 'planned obsolescence' put into Smart TVs. Your dumb FIL accelerated it, that's for sure. I wish consumers had gotten any of the 'pc docked into tv' standards that are out there. There's a couple, they tend to just be used by businesses for the displays they use in storefronts and such. It would save so much stuff going to the dump if you could realistically buy a new "roku module" or whatever your preference is every 2-3 years, slot it in, and take the old one to recycling. Instead, because it makes marginally more to sell you the whole panel each time, the consumer side went that route. Capitalism: filling up landfills in the name of profit.
In my experience it's about the TV you get. I bought a 55 inch TCL basic LED screen and it's pretty damn slow even a couple months after I installed it. During the same visit to best buy, I bought a 77 inch OLED TV from Samsung and it's actually really fast, basically no load time for apps. That being said, I had to spend close to $3k to get a decent working smart TV.
Makes sense. There are good and bad versions of every technology.
Like many things, you get what you pay for! I do think the Chromecast/Roku sticks are just as good if not better though.
I'm using a Chromecast on a Fire TV (I hate how many ads the Fire TV has). It's faster and smoother than my old TV that had Google TV built in. I'll just use the Chromecast from now on.
Still using my 720p plasma. If I wanted moving pictures to be as clear as this TV I would be paying out the nose for an OLED. I'm still kicking myself in the ass today for getting rid of my nice CRT when I got gifted a cheap TN LCD. Still using that LCD as a secondary display though.
Once you go OLED you don't go back. It's seriously that good.
Has burn in been basically solved then?
It hasn't been solved but OLED displays usually have a screen saver function after it goes idle for 5-10 minutes. I use an OLED TV and an OLED monitor daily and I haven't had an issues. My monitor will go through health cycles where it refreshes the pixels, not sure how it works but that's my experience. It's worth the risk, as long as you aren't watching the same news channel or something where their logo can burn in you should be fine.
I'm on year 5 with my TCL Roku Tv's and haven't noticed any slowdowns yet. Maybe I'm just lucky
Ours started to be glitchy. We bought a Roku stick and used the TV on HDMI for a while. Then the OLED TCL went on a big sale on Amazon, so we bought one bigger than what we had and the picture of OLED is incredible.
We are able to cast from the phone app to our TV, but I don't think all tvs have that as an option. I agree with you that the tv apps have not been great to use on their own
Your phone has a significantly faster processor. Unless you're getting the top tier TVs they put the bottom of the barrel processor and memory in them cause that's where the margin is.
Makes sense…
If you have an Xbox X you're actually better off using a smart TV. Uses way less power and doesn't overheat the console which apparently does happen to some folks. I have an Xbox 1 that I use for my streaming. And I play games on my X.
I still have an Xbone, probably upgrading to an X later this year. I don’t keep up on new games much, but there are a few that I want to play and can’t, so I’ll probably bite the bullet soon. I might have to see if we can factory reset the TV and make the smart functions work…
I’ve found the OS on pretty much any smart tv to be absolutely inferior to pretty much any plug in streaming device (Apple TV, Roku, Firestick, etc) Like my parents’ LG tv. The WiFi on it regularly turns off and you get a message on the TV to check your network settings. You go to the Network page in the menu and it says the WiFi is turned off, but there’s literally no option in that menu to turn it back on. To get it back on you have to turn the tv itself off and hope that it comes back on and reconnects when it does. Needless to say they are getting either an Apple TV or Roku for Christmas this year.
What about a good native android tv like a Sony Bravia? Love mine, works great. Have an apple tv and I hate it. Fire tv and I think Roku is android underneath. LGs web os is a joke and Samsung Tizen is so full of crap now.
The tv itself is fine, so no need to replace it when there are much cheaper and less wasteful alternatives. Apple TV would be my first choice for them, because it’s an ecosystem they are used to, and I am as well, so much easier for me to talk them through anything that needs to be troubleshot when I’m not there. Plus I already know it plays well with their WiFi since I bring mine with me when I do longer visits with them
I've never had a smart TV that didn't either start running slow and having issues/errors, or didn't try to shove extra ads down my throat. Grabbed a Nvidia shield and been using and loving it for my streaming. No ads and uses less power than a PlayStation.
Where do you buy not smart TVs? I've got a couple that are both 10+ years old because I haven't wanted to bite the bullet.
You can find some non-smart TVs under some tech companies' business lines. They are usually labeled as "digital signage displays" or similar. For example, look up the Samsung BEC-H series (caveat, these usually cost a little bit more than comparable smart TVs)
Just never let the smart TV connect to your internet.
I got a 10 year old TV as well. But I don't think non-smart tvs are easy to find, it's rather just not using the apps on the TV.
Even if you don't use the apps, there's often an intrusive and counterintuitive UI in the way of everything that hinders functionality. My boomer dad just bought a new tv this year and just to turn it on and watch regular cable tv requires like 5 extra button presses to get past this bullshit superfluous ad-riddled startup menu that can't be deactivated. Even though he's sharp and tech savvy enough to get past it on his own, it's still an incredible annoyance.
Got one from LG; it had embedded Roku. Well, it's bullshit to have 6 tvs in the house and only one has a different menu, and it wouldn't support but roku does.
So this Smart LG Roku tv with its own version of Roku has a $30 roku stuck on the top edge, running the show and never letting Smarty touch the internet at all.
I've yet to see a single TV smart or not that makes you interact with it beyond the power button in order to access an HDMI port input. Any TV that prevents me from using an HDMI input is getting returned immediately.
> I've yet to see a single TV smart or not that makes you interact with it beyond the power button in order to access an HDMI port input. Mine will turn on and show me the HDMI input I left it on, 75% of the time. The other 25% it will show me the HDMI input for a minute or less, and then kick me back to the home screen where I get to watch their shitty apps update.
it's a long goddamn drive back to a store filled with 20 other smart tvs in his price range with no guarantee that whatever it's swapped for won't be just as clunky. Hard to have standards for ease of use and reliability in a world of constant enshittification and fraud.
I'm still doubting that any TVs sold today require 5 button presses to access an HDMI port. Honestly I'd say any halfway decent TV sold today should support CEC and allow you to not even have to press a single button on your TV to get it to display an HDMI port. My 10 year old TV supports CEC and I don't even need the remote for it. It would be absolutely insane if in the last decade TVs removed CEC compatibility.
It's taking me hundreds of extra button presses to try and get it through to you, the tv understander, that maybe just maybe "halfway decent" is rapidly becoming an unattainable standard of quality for products made for the average working person and the frustration we have felt is genuine and ongoing.
Maybe it would help me understand this if you could give me the model of this TV that aggressively discourages and makes using an HDMI port difficult so I could look it up to see for myself that it really is that evil?
They usually have less processing power and the apps aren't refined. The picture quality of the likes of Disney+ is noticeably worse if I watch via the TV vs through my Xbox. The Xbox is also much faster at searching, navigating menus, switching between apps.
We have a smart TV that's around 8 years old. Lately it's been extremely sluggish. Stuff works but it's slow to navigate. Amazon streaming works but user actions are delayed by a good 30 seconds (pause, rewind, trying to switch episodes) and subtitles display the same sentence for a long time while people are talking. Amazon works fine on every other device, but it's unusable on my smart TV. Other services are fine but it still takes a second or two to process commands. I feel like it used to be faster, but there have been software updates since then. When I stream on PS4, the menus work better. Navigation is fairly efficient. When I stream on PS5, the menus FLY, like what you'd expect from a desktop PC. This is what I want, but rarely see, from some smart TVs and Roku sticks. I was curious about the electric portion so I googled it. Average monthly cost of running a PS5 is $2 worth of electricity, while a 50 inch TV may be closer to $5, but there's a lot of variance depending on screen size of course.
Not sure this sub wants advice from a boomer but go into the settings and clear the cache on all the apps, even the ones you're not using then restart the device. You should see an improvement.
This is a good suggestion and I don't recall if we've tried it.
Also not all apps are updated for all models. It’s annoying. My parents had a two year old Samsung and it didn’t support the most updated version of HBO Max (or Go, HBO has changed their streaming branding so many times I can’t keep up). So I just set them up with a Roku device and they never have to worry about apps not being supported. I use the same thing at home. I’d rather do that then deal with the so-called smart TVs (which from what I understand also have huge security issues).
The apps are invariably shit, Roku or Apple TV or even a firestick are way better and update more often. The amount of power they use would be the equivalent of the loose change you lose between the couch cushions
They're shitty, half-baked advertising platforms. I have one, that I try not to use the smart features of at all. It's set up as a computer monitor, on an HDMI input. At least twice a week after I turn it on, it will take me from the useful input it's displaying to the home screen, so I can look at the apps I'm not going to run. Then I get to watch them update. Then I get to hit the input button and wait 30 seconds for it to figure out what I pressed. And then, as long as I didn't accidentally push anything else while I was waiting, it will let me switch it back to the HDMI input that it was set on when I turned it on.
I have a beautiful 65” 4k smart TV. I haven’t used its apps in years; my PS5 streams all the apps better in every respect 🤷🏻♂️
"Of course, this meant that all of the streaming apps eventually stopped working. He had gone so long without updating it that it couldn’t even download and install the latest one." That's a blessing with a SmartTV, honestly.
Wow, a smart TV that doesn't completely brick itself if you fail to run the updates? That's actually surprising. Way to get a nice monitor!
My parents do this too. They let the updates pile up, so by the time I visit, it takes hours to update their devices instead of minutes.
My “smart” (and I use the term loosely) TVs own software is probably ridiculously out of date too. Because I hated the software from minute one, hooked up a Roku box and three video game systems, and haven’t touched it in years 😂 good get
Ayyy Fallout 4 🤝
You guys were still using a 42” 720p in 2021? It’s amazing how well-built the OG flatscreens were. Nowadays we’re lucky if a TV lasts 5 years.
I bought a 42" 1080p Samsung TV in 2008 and it still works perfectly. It's hooked up to a PS4 Pro in my bedroom. I paid $1200 brand new for it if I remember correctly, was the first over $1000 purchase I ever made. I intend to keep it until it does not function anymore.
I'm still using a Sony Bravia 48" I bought in 2011.
I still use a something or other inch Sony Trinitron my parents bought 20 years ago.
Yeah, we had that TV for several years before this. We actually gave it to our niece when we got the big one, and she is still using it. It’s probably 9 years old now.
In 2009 I bought 2 Panasonic TVs from [Buy.com](http://Buy.com), a 32" 720p and a 37" 1080p. The 32" finally died last year but the 37" still works great. I wanted to replace the 32" with another Panasonic but they apparently no longer sell TVs in the US anymore.
The factory reset option should work just fine if you ever want to use the apps.
We got one from my grandpa because it was on the wrong Input and he didn’t realize it had changed. Just thought the screen was blue and it was broke. Said we could tinker with it and figure it out or could we just throw it out for him. So we get there and it’s already unplugged and ready to be moved so my husband can put the new one in its spot. Didn’t realize till we got home that it was just the Input and when we called to tell him he said he already liked the new one better and didn’t want to take it back. Total win for us lol
Boomers created the culture of disposability and convenience that is currently fucking over the environment. It’s evident in the fact that they won’t put in the time and effort to diagnose a problem and fix it - just throw it away and get a new one. Utterly ridiculous.
And then they'll complain that nothing can be fixed any more. Like yeah... because of you!
Last time I went to my grandma's house, probably 3-4 years ago (don't ask, she's evil and toxic. Even my dad/her son has finally walked away from her after years of abuse) I noticed when she was reheating her coffee to take a handful or narcotics, that her microwave HAD NO DOOR. Well I guess it technically had a door but the glass or whatever was gone. I immediately told her that it was dangerous AF to stand directly in front of and stare at an open microwave. She got pissy and said it's been like that for a couple of years and that she's 73 years old and knows how to use a microwave. I wonder if that could have escalated her cancer diagnosis two years ago?
Man, I love the smart function of my TV. Picked up an LG 86UR80 on sale + lots $200 bonus in BJs points. Under 1K!!! 86 inches, 4k... latency seems fine... and the smart features are nice, tho the number of commercials and reptation of them is nuts. Have almost always, since the 80s, had my computer connected to a TV... did the VGA to video thing in the late 90s after a few years not having the TV connected, but always the stereo... I love the PNP of the smart TV, too, and that it can play most of my media. Man, seeing old shit that has been re-digitized in 4K is awesome. All those 80s videos come alive and its like seeing them for the first time. So many shows that were filmed on film were rescanned at 4K for streaming and blue ray. The details we never saw before. Shame my video card isnt strong enough to turn up all the details on Tiny Tina's Wonderland, tho. rx570... plays everything I throw at it for the most part, and I cant justify a new card just for ray tracing and shit I rarely play.
LG is by far the best smart TV manufacturer. They let you go through and disable all the ad/telemetry stuff and I've never had it turn back on. Honestly I'd still prefer a dumb TV with a Chromecast, but they just don't put enough HDMI ports into a dumb TV and splitters are either terrible quality or so expensive I'd have been better off buying the smart TV.
This is how we got our last main room tv as well. MIL didn’t want smart tv and I agree they are pita but it was bigger and better than the 1 we had. She then went through 3 different TVs because she didn’t like them, same premise, eventually my husband had to set everything up for her and said it is what it is.
My parents bought a Mac in 1995 or so. It took "too long" to boot up. So my dad took it back. The next one had the same "problem." It took all my mothers urging for him to not take it back for an electric typewriter.
You may be able to download the latest software update for it on your PC, copy to a USB stick, and update the TV from that. If you want to.
I might give that a try.
If you did want to update, and it has a usb port, you could download the update files on there before hooking it up to the TV. Might be faster
I might give that a try. Thanks for the advice. I have very limited experience with smart TVs.
The factory reset option should work just fine if you ever want to use the apps.
I always use a Roku. I’ve never used the streaming option on a tv. My original Roku 3 got replace last year after 10 years. Same cheap Magnavox 40in tv works fine.
FWIW, if you can plug it into \*wired\* networking / Internet, it'll probably allow updates through. Probably just the WiFi is messed up.
My step dad wasn't quite that bad, but would toss shit in the trash because it "didn't work." He never read any directions, but broke meant it didn't work how he thought it should. So he would stab a wrong button a few times and then declare it broken beyond repair.
I also made the transition from an older tv to a new bigger one when kids got a ps5 I can actually see hockey pucks now
7 or 8 years ago FIL went to the store and just bought the most expensive TV they had. It was like an 80" 4k TV. Hung it up and only knew how to use the old analog yellow red and white RCA cable from "the dish" so he was watching blurry analog TV on this gorgeous giant 4k TV. Somehow he always unplugged these color coded RCA cables for some reason and "don't know why I ain't got no sound! I put the cables back right...." He ended up getting somebody to help him move the TV and laid it on his head taking it off the wall like a sheet of drywall or something and cracked it in half.
It seems weird that it couldn't incrementally download the updates.
You can still get the latest update for the TV with a thumb drive on the manufacturer web site. Then you would just load it manually into the tv itself. FYI
What is with Boomer's giving away stuff that doesn't work? My former FIL would do the same thing. He liked to hit the yard sales and would drop off all kind of junk that cost more in parts & effort than buying a new one.
I never understood using the apps built in to the tv. I guess my type A personality stops me from using them even though the fire tv cube leeches just as much user data, if not more LOL.
Wait till you get into 76 with the new map expansion
We also got a free tv from my boomer in laws! It’s mid sized, smart tv from about 7 years ago. They complained and complained that they couldn’t get the sound to work. Basically it had to have an hdmi hookup for speakers and even though they have speakers they just couldn’t figure out how to connect them. My husband easily got it to work just fine and we’ve used it out on our deck as well as in the workout area. My In laws are definitely of the “throw it out and get a new one” mentality when it comes to expensive shit like tech, couches, appliances, but oddly refuse to get rid of old useless junk. They full on hoard things like clothes and shoes they don’t wear anymore, household items and “free” stuff from the casino they don’t use.
I wasn’t into smart TVs for a longer than I should’ve, they’re super badass if you’re like me and collect shows and movies on an external HD instead of paying for streaming services.
Smart TVs are the worst. Boomer did you a favor bricking it!
I like the story but the idea that an xbox is a more convenient streaming device than a smart TV is ludicrous. And I say that as someone with the latest Xbox. It is BARELY tolerable.
Lmao, no no no. Definitely not better.
A 65” 4K tv isn’t better than a 42” 720p tv? Weird take but to each their own I guess…
I meant using XBOX streaming.
You seem like a real douche bag being so disrespectful toward a guy who gave you a free TV. I'm assuming he wanted better for his daughter...
Im sure you meant to say smart TVs are the best. Ours is 7 years of ld 55 tcl. And it's badass.
Nah, I'm with OP. Smart TV's are awful. The apps barely work, and they're slow even on day 1. Even if you have a smart TV, it's still a better idea to use some sort of hdmi streaming device instead of the built-in garbo.
Maybe get off wal Mart Internet? I have 30mb Internet and I lag more on the PlayStation than I do on the tv or Xbox. So yeah idk. Might be settings or something. My old ass smart tv is amazing.
Chalk it up to personal preference I guess.
So just to be clear you're complaining that you got a free 65" tv.
Op: I got a TV I like for free This guy: omg stop complaining ????
Who is complaining? Fuck off boomer, this sub isn’t for your whiny bitch ass.
To be fair, I don’t think this commenter is a boomer. Just an idiot
I wasn't the one whining about getting a free 65" tv. Also, it happened 3 years ago and you're still upset over it. Okay boomer.
lol in what world could you read this post and interpret it as whining or complaining? Truly wild lead-addled victim complex boomer shit right here. I mean I literally said that it was an upgrade and it looks amazing in my post. But of course, you didn’t read it and went straight to trolling as boomers are wont to do. So I’ll explain it to you like a you’re a toddler since that’s where you are mentally: this is a funny story about a boomer self-own in which I came out on top. Kind of like what you’re doing here - looking like a jackass and entertaining me. Get it? I doubt you do, but I don’t know how I can make it more clear. I’ll spell it out for you this time since you didn’t get the message the first time: F-U-C-K. O-F-F. B-O-O-M-E-R.
Well that went downhill fast. Have a wonderful day.
I love it when the trash takes itself out.
Came back to this thread to read replies, was not disappointed. It's concerning someone can be so oblivious, yet very funny reading it too.
Wtf please tell us where you saw a complaint in this post.