Most (not all, but most) smart TVs can be used as a dumb monitor. I used a Visio for years without ever connecting it to the internet or accepting the TOS. Yes, you’re paying for functionality you won’t use, but given that the TOS often involves selling your data, it’s kinda a wash.
Yeah I know it’s possible, it’s just the kind of overall annoyance that everything is going this direction. I don’t want my appliances to require firmware updates lol
Yeah the winning strategy with TVs is just to ignore all the smart stuff and use an Apple TV. All that really matters is picture quality and IO
The good news is I’ve never seen a firmware update required for basic functionality. But yeah the lack of simple versions of things is def annoying.