More consumers are becoming worried about how their information is being used by manufacturers. “There are increasing privacy concerns around to what degree TVs are essentially scraping your data,” says Parsons. “TVs these days are full of sensors, including microphones, and that can make people nervous.”
But according to Parsons, despite interest in “dumber” models from some buyers, most shoppers want their TVs to be catch-all entertainment systems. The result is that the dumb TV market is almost nonexistent.
6 months ago I ditched my TV and bought a projector instead because I was tired of so much space being taken up by a black rectangle. The projector is still GoogleTV enabled, so that I can easily stream jellyfin, but it spends 95% of the day unplugged in the closet. And I have its access locked down via firewall. Maybe I’m growing into an old grouch, but it suits me I guess.