40" to 50" Modern TV That You Can Turn Off the Smart Functions?

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Prospero

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  • #1
    My father is living with us now and at 82 can get confused at times. He bought a 43" Vizio that has a good picture, but the smart crap is driving him nuts. It constantly tries to steer you back to the TVs built in Vizio smart functions when what he is trying to do is use a Google TV dongle on HDMI 1. It always defaults to the Vizio branded smart stuff when turned on and he has trouble getting it to what he wants to watch. Is there a TV out there with a good picture, in the 40 to 50" size range, that you can turn off the smart functions? I thought about getting him a monitor that size, but most of the ones I have seen aren't that great. So for dad's and my sanity, can someone recommend me a solution? He needs this as close to turning on a TV and using a cable remote as possible, without having a cable subscription. We use Hulu Live and Youtube Premium for content mostly.

    Edit: Anyone had any dealings with a brand called INNOCN? This appears to be the closest to what I want.
     
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    dmsilev

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  • #3
    Prospero said:
    He needs this as close to turning on a TV and using a cable remote as possible, without having a cable subscription. We use Hulu Live and Youtube Premium for content mostly.
    Click to expand...
    I know Logitech sadly stopped making them, but maybe find a used/refurb Harmony remote and program it to switch over to the HDMI port for his streaming stick as part of the "watch TV" activity?
     
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    BigLan

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  • #5
    There might be an option buried in settings for "on power on use <x> source." My cheap Roku TV has that, but it's probably different for each manufacturer.

    If you've got CEC set up on the Google box you should also be able to make the TV switch to the right input by leasing the home button (you might need to wait for the TV to fully wake up for that to work.) I've got an ancient Vizio that does that with an Android TV stick, so it's been round a long time.
     
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    FinallyAnAccount

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  • #6
    BigLan said:
    There might be an option buried in settings for "on power on use <x> source." My cheap Roku TV has that, but it's probably different for each manufacturer.

    If you've got CEC set up on the Google box you should also be able to make the TV switch to the right input by leasing the home button (you might need to wait for the TV to fully wake up for that to work.) I've got an ancient Vizio that does that with an Android TV stick, so it's been round a long time.
    Click to expand...
    Now that you mention it when I press the home button on my fire stick my LG oleds change to the right input as well. So maybe CEC is the way to go.
     
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  • #7
    Prospero said:
    Is there a TV out there with a good picture, in the 40 to 50" size range, that you can turn off the smart functions?
    Click to expand...
    You can't actually turn off WebOS, but the LG OLEDs can be set to an HDMI port, and then they more or less function like a monitor. You have to hit a specific button on the remote to bring up the built-in stuff. Otherwise, it just functions mostly like a dumb screen.

    At least, that's how it works with my C2. I think they're up to the C5 now (one increment per year) but I think they work the same way. It's still a smart TV, with the associated drawbacks like advertising, but it's a lot less offensive.

    Plus, I don't connect it to a network. Keeping TVs offline seems to be best practice nowadays.

    Oh, also: the screen quality is fantastic, being an OLED. The C5 is their midrange. LG typically has a quality split on size in the C-series. The 42" and 48" screens are often not as good as the 55" and up sizes. I'd definitely check it out on rtings.com to make sure it's still okay.

    Their G series (G5 this year) is usually brighter and better in general, as well as substantially more expensive, but they start at 55".

    edit to add: the framing on the C-series is usually quite minimal, so you can sometimes fit a 55" where a 50" TV used to go. There's something funny with the G5s like they're only wall-mountable or something. Be sure to verify whether it has a stand if you're interested. It might not come with one. (They're out of my price range, so I don't track them closely.)

    another edit: also, WebOS looks substantially different than the Android stick will, so that may also help your father's confusion. If he ends up in WebOS, it should be obvious to him that he's in the wrong place, even at 82. If you teach him to press the Input button until he gets to HDMI 1, he should be okay.
     
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    mpat

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  • #8
    Mental Gear Reduction said:
    You can't actually turn off WebOS, but the LG OLEDs can be set to an HDMI port, and then they more or less function like a monitor. You have to hit a specific button on the remote to bring up the built-in stuff. Otherwise, it just functions mostly like a dumb screen.

    At least, that's how it works with my C2. I think they're up to the C5 now (one increment per year) but I think they work the same way. It's still a smart TV, with the associated drawbacks like advertising, but it's a lot less offensive.

    Plus, I don't connect it to a network. Keeping TVs offline seems to be best practice nowadays.

    Oh, also: the screen quality is fantastic, being an OLED. The C5 is their midrange. LG typically has a quality split on size in the C-series. The 42" and 48" screens are often not as good as the 55" and up sizes. I'd definitely check it out on rtings.com to make sure it's still okay.

    Their G series (G5 this year) is usually brighter and better in general, as well as substantially more expensive, but they start at 55".

    edit to add: the framing on the C-series is usually quite minimal, so you can sometimes fit a 55" where a 50" TV used to go. There's something funny with the G5s like they're only wall-mountable or something. Be sure to verify whether it has a stand if you're interested. It might not come with one. (They're out of my price range, so I don't track them closely.)

    another edit: also, WebOS looks substantially different than the Android stick will, so that may also help your father's confusion. If he ends up in WebOS, it should be obvious to him that he's in the wrong place, even at 82. If you teach him to press the Input button until he gets to HDMI 1, he should be okay.
    Click to expand...
    Came here to suggest LG as well. They are not as enshittified (yet?) and can still be made to work with just showing what comes from one HDMI.

    Also note, by the way, that you can effectively disable any advertising by going into the settings and select location “Other”.

    My parents also have a Philips in one area (because they wanted the Ambilight feature), and that one seems to stay on an HDMI port as well.
     
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    Prospero

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  • #11
    Mental Gear Reduction said:
    You can't actually turn off WebOS, but the LG OLEDs can be set to an HDMI port, and then they more or less function like a monitor. You have to hit a specific button on the remote to bring up the built-in stuff. Otherwise, it just functions mostly like a dumb screen.
    Click to expand...
    How do you set this? I didn't get any kind of manual with the set, I'm having to learn what the buttons do by trial and error.
     
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  • #12
    Prospero said:
    How do you set this?
    Click to expand...

    On my C2 remote, the button just to the upper right of the d-pad is the input selector. I'm not sure how to describe the icon, it's a plug attached to a wire, bent into a U-shape, facing right.

    Hit it once and a horizontal list of connected ports comes up. Keep hitting it and the TV will cycle through the inputs, and then will switch to whatever is highlighted if you don't press anything else for a few seconds. For faster response, you can use left/right/select on the d-pad.
     
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    Prospero

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  • #13
    Mental Gear Reduction said:
    On my C2 remote, the button just to the upper right of the d-pad is the input selector. I'm not sure how to describe the icon, it's a plug attached to a wire, bent into a U-shape, facing right.

    Hit it once and a horizontal list of connected ports comes up. Keep hitting it and the TV will cycle through the inputs, and then will switch to whatever is highlighted if you don't press anything else for a few seconds. For faster response, you can use left/right/select on the d-pad.
    Click to expand...
    On the C5 it appears to be just to the left and above the D-Pad and looks like a house with a circle over it. Takes you to a sort of home menu that has the inputs on the left side of the screen.
     
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  • #15
    Prospero said:
    On the C5 it appears to be just to the left and above the D-Pad and looks like a house with a circle over it. Takes you to a sort of home menu that has the inputs on the left side of the screen.
    Click to expand...
    My button in that position is just a house, no circle, and it brings up WebOS. You can change inputs from there, but it's faster to use the bent-wire button to the upper right, if you have that. WebOS gives you a bunch of other stuff (like app launches, and hypothetically ads if you haven't set your location to "Other" in settings [thanks @mpat]), so it's less efficient at just changing inputs.

    Of course, once you have the input set, the TV itself won't change it again, so you don't necessarily need to be efficient. Your dad's media player might switch, but normally it will just change inputs to itself.
     
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    Prospero

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  • #16
    Derp Derpus said:
    I have a few 43" & 50" 4K Vizio TV's. I use them as computer monitors (am on a 50" M-series Vizio at the moment). There's an input setting to automatically connect to the last used input. On the remote go to Menu>All Settings>System>Input at Power on and select Last Used TV Input.
    Click to expand...
    It was slightly different on the last system menu, but that did the trick. Thanks!

    chicken.gif
     
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    drnick1

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    drnick1

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  • #18
    Mental Gear Reduction said:
    At least, that's how it works with my C2. I think they're up to the C5 now (one increment per year) but I think they work the same way. It's still a smart TV, with the associated drawbacks like advertising, but it's a lot less offensive.

    Plus, I don't connect it to a network. Keeping TVs offline seems to be best practice nowadays.
    Click to expand...
    Out of curiosity, how are the ads served when the TV is offline? I would find this enraging, and immediately return (or destroy) the TV.
     
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  • #19
    drnick1 said:
    Out of curiosity, how are the ads served when the TV is offline? I would find this enraging, and immediately return (or destroy) the TV.
    Click to expand...
    I don't use WebOS, so I don't really know. I just use it as a monitor, and at least kept offline, I don't think I've ever seen an ad. I've seen other people complaining about it, though.
     
    Paladin

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    FinallyAnAccount

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  • #22
    I will rant about the new remote though. The old remote had a trick that is very useful... you could long press any number key and it would make it a long press hot-button for any Input or app. So I could launch Plex by long-pressing 1, HDMI2 by long pressing 2, etc. ALONG with a dedicated Input button, that I rarely use, because it's faster (one press) to use a hot key.

    (Unassigning the hotkey is harder though, I've only had to figure it out once.)
     
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