Don't tell that out loud, they may decide to block features of we don't connect it.

Yeah this is true. The TCL TV I have has an ad for Deadpool when I turn it on. It's a dumb TV in the sense of it's not connected to the Internet but it still has these from the brief period of time where it wasn't during setup. The ROKU tvs are even worse imo it has like weird scrolling banner ads as a TV screensaver. We have a Roku TV as well.

Honestly fuck all the manufacturers I don't even want a damn 'smart' TV and I'm also pissed at everyone else that enables this by not caring. I guess I helped perpetrate it also but I had no choice I would have bought differently if I could. A lot of people don't mind having non-stop ads jammed down their throats though even by objects they own. The only time I think my TV should be showing me ads is if it's literally free.

Ours had a really sluggish menu with ads until we disconnected it from the internet. Now it has zero ads and the menu to switch sources is as fast as it should be.

I wish I had never connected it to begin with though. I didn't know better. It used to default to whatever console was on, but it updated and no longer does that for some shitty reason. So I have to go through the menu and manually switch sources now. Probably to make sure I saw all the ads before using my playstation. Assholes.

I suppose that depends on what you mean by "shit". They're the same displays as in retail units. Maybe a generation older. But that's it. Samsung doesn't have special lines making different screens for a niche market like this. LG even has OLED Signage Displays.

Most still have the computer built in. But the software is complety different. They have some different features that would make sense for an always on screen in a shop, office, or airport. You can load up a thumb drive with images for the screen to rotate through. Upload new images through WiFi or Ethernet. Use that same network connection to setup, synchronize, and controll dozens of screens, making a video wall. Pretty cool stuff really.

Just none of the spyware. Since there is no individual or household to tie the data to, that part becomes pretty useless.

When scaled to mass production, the SBCs become dirt cheap. Then they can subsidise with sponsored/preloaded content, ads and usage data.

Not much options, there are mainly only two OS in the smart TV, Android and LG with WebOS. In both is always better to connect a dish or cable, than going online.

Some people prefer CRTs for gaming, there's much less input lag, and differences in the way images are displayed means that you can often run games at lower resolutions than pixel based displays without as much of a decrease in image quality. Here's a DF video talking about some of the advantages.

Also CRTs can be pushed to insanely high frame rates, although this can be limited by how much you reduce the resolution. For example, one guy got his to run at 700hz refresh rate (by dropping resolution to 120p).

Modern displays make my eyes hurt

I've never paid attention to that, and at those prices, while keeping more stuff from mining data, it's a steal.