I hate smart TVs. Why put all the functionality in one device when a small part of it is going to become obsolete real soon while the TV part will continue to work for a decade or more. I buy dumb TVs and a separate "smart" component like Roku that can be replaced as easily as a shoelace.
My strategy is to buy cheapest TV on the market (which is usually an ad loaded Crapware like hisense) and then never ever connect it to the internet but use HDMI to plug into a dedicated computer.
Basically all I need in a TV apart from the display is an HDMi. It works amazing, been using like this over 10 years now.
Unfortunately if you're a stickler for image quality this isn't an option. You can still not connect it to the internet of course, but if you're buying a high end TV there's no way to avoid all the other modern TV bullshit.
Namely needing to change the settings on every input for every source type. The first few days of a new TV is a regular trip into five layers of menus as you watch a new source combination for the first time (HDR Blu-Ray, Dolby Vision streaming movie, high framerate game) and have to turn off motion smoothing, turn off sharpening, turn the whites back down from basically blue to 6500K. I mean christ, there are still TVs out there shipping today that turn on overscan by default. Analogue TV broadcasts ended in 2012 here!
Yes I’m always very surprised that people deal with the awful software that are on the TVs.
I use an Apple TV which, while a relatively expensive solution, has a clean interface and integrates well with the rest of my hardware. Plus rarely are there ads being shoved in your face in the OS/Home Screen. Apps can still do as they like of course.
I go for smart tv's that can be dumb. As long as it reliably uses my input each time it starts and doesn't try to overlay anything, that's all I need.
Once or twice a year I'll go trough firmware update notes, connect it to the internet if there's things that can improve my "dumb" usage (fixes/improvements to refresh rate, Dolby xyz, etc.), then disconnect it from the internet again.
I lump modern TV bullshit (crappy "smart" features, motion smoothing, horrible default settings) in with modern car bullshit (huge touchscreens everywhere, the near total death of real physical controls).
Everyone you speak to at best is ambivalent and at worst vehemently hates it. And yet there's no sign of it slowing down. It's baffling.
