TVs as an HDMI monitor (only)

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#3471231 18-Mar-2026 07:43

If there is anyone of that ilk around here I have not found them. I did ask in several local Facebook groups with no useful success.

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#3471244 18-Mar-2026 08:46

wellygary:

As others have said you're trying to solve the problem backwards...

TVs are the cheapest large panels out there, (smart or not),

No one is making consumer grade 'cheap' 50"+ inch monitors, (let alone shipping them to NZ)

I +1'd on this, but I am typing this to give it a +1000!

Get a tv with a good display and size and use the fire tv, apple, Google solutions. You may need a mix to give you everything you want.

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nztim

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#3471246 18-Mar-2026 09:11

The lack of "dumb" TVs on the Market astounds me, a lot of people (myself included) have Apple TV/Firestick/Skybox/HTPC/Xbox/PlayStation and the TV just a dumb panel.

Newer TVs how have an operating system, take ages to "boot" and the interface is overly complicated for doing simple things like changing sources.

What's worse is you have to pay more for less, if you want a "Dumb Panel" you have to pay outrageous prices for a digital signage price

.....Thats my hump day rant over

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#3471261 18-Mar-2026 09:59

For what it's worth, here is my set-up: Main computer room now uses an Elitebook feeding HDMI to a big TV, which I prefer. Right now the TV happens to be an old Samson but previously it was a Veon. Doesn't really make a lot of difference just for the screen. I am not a gamer and don't need super hi def ultra quick refresh. It is just a monitor and works quite well for that. Audio is fed from the TV to an old stereo amp which greatly improves sound quality.

In the lounge I use a Nvidia Shield for streaming, along with Windows laptops for non-Android stuff. There the monitor is an old but still excellent Sony Bravia. My old Yamaha 5.1 amp handles the sound. Everything, like me, is old but it all works for my purposes.

Just a thought: Try a cheap Chinese HDMI splitter just to see what happens. They bypass older HDMI copy protection. Maybe it would also get around whatever is blocking your TV.

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#3471266 18-Mar-2026 10:16

nztim:

The lack of "dumb" TVs on the Market astounds me, a lot of people (myself included) have Apple TV/Firestick/Skybox/HTPC/Xbox/PlayStation and the TV just a dumb panel.

Newer TVs how have an operating system, take ages to "boot" and the interface is overly complicated for doing simple things like changing sources.

What's worse is you have to pay more for less, if you want a "Dumb Panel" you have to pay outrageous prices for a digital signage price

.....Thats my hump day rant over

They get paid for pre installing apps on them, they get paid to put labelled buttons on the supplied remote. They get money for the analytics they can pull from the TV about the usage of them.

Why would you give all that up for the sake of a CPU that you have to have anyway and a bit more flash memory to hold a bloated OS and apps?

Richard rich.ms

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#3471269 18-Mar-2026 10:23

nztim:

The lack of "dumb" TVs on the Market astounds me, a lot of people (myself included) have Apple TV/Firestick/Skybox/HTPC/Xbox/PlayStation and the TV just a dumb panel.

Newer TVs how have an operating system, take ages to "boot" and the interface is overly complicated for doing simple things like changing sources.

What's worse is you have to pay more for less, if you want a "Dumb Panel" you have to pay outrageous prices for a digital signage price

.....Thats my hump day rant over

Projectors are not yet typically infested. I have a 4K Epson projector, cost $3500 and professional installation on the ceiling was about another $500. Obviously they don't work in every lounge room - we happen to have an enormous window overlooking the valley, and the blind doubles as the projector screen. But we designed the house with that in mind...

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nztim

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#3471611 19-Mar-2026 08:54

richms:

They get paid for pre installing apps on them, they get paid to put labelled buttons on the supplied remote. They get money for the analytics they can pull from the TV about the usage of them.

Why would you give all that up for the sake of a CPU that you have to have anyway and a bit more flash memory to hold a bloated OS and apps?

That makes sense.... ah well, I think I am going to have to invest in a digital signage display to get rid of the B/S I don't want when my current TV dies

looking at a circa $300-$400 uplift in cost

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nitro

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#3471620 19-Mar-2026 09:37

richms:

nztim:

The lack of "dumb" TVs on the Market astounds me, a lot of people (myself included) have Apple TV/Firestick/Skybox/HTPC/Xbox/PlayStation and the TV just a dumb panel.

Newer TVs how have an operating system, take ages to "boot" and the interface is overly complicated for doing simple things like changing sources.

What's worse is you have to pay more for less, if you want a "Dumb Panel" you have to pay outrageous prices for a digital signage price

.....Thats my hump day rant over

They get paid for pre installing apps on them, they get paid to put labelled buttons on the supplied remote. They get money for the analytics they can pull from the TV about the usage of them.

Why would you give all that up for the sake of a CPU that you have to have anyway and a bit more flash memory to hold a bloated OS and apps?

beg to disagree. one does not "have to have" that CPU and more flash memory, for a dumb display. yes, i would need an excellent 4K, UHD, blah-blah-blah display panel, but all the media processing can be done in the media player. this be as powerful as you need it to be (XBOX, NUC, HTPC, etc.) and often cheaper to upgrade. the TV just has to be able to switch between source inputs. in fact, those with the right setup only need one input, as the AVR does the switching.

the biggest issue for me is that these smart TVs often get left behind after a major OS or even app update. when the apps stop working, you have a dumb display panel. worse, is that an OS update also severely hampers usability. i hope things have improved, but a few years ago there was a lot of noise about smart TVs becoming unbearable in 3 or 4 years.

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#3471632 19-Mar-2026 10:28

Interesting responses and thanks to all.

I am leaning towards an Apple TV 4K stick because the Amazon Fire Stick Max is reported to have more ads. All the content I watch is available through apps on both. I currently have an Iphone and in my experience Apple support their OSs for longer than others.

I will also be looking at UHD TVs, valuing display quality because all content will come through an HDMI port. I would go for an 8K TV but these seem to be way too expensive.

I welcome feedback from anyone on the sticks and budget-priced TVs.

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richms

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#3471633 19-Mar-2026 10:30

nitro:

beg to disagree. one does not "have to have" that CPU and more flash memory, for a dumb display. yes, i would need an excellent 4K, UHD, blah-blah-blah display panel, but all the media processing can be done in the media player. this be as powerful as you need it to be (XBOX, NUC, HTPC, etc.) and often cheaper to upgrade. the TV just has to be able to switch between source inputs. in fact, those with the right setup only need one input, as the AVR does the switching.

the biggest issue for me is that these smart TVs often get left behind after a major OS or even app update. when the apps stop working, you have a dumb display panel. worse, is that an OS update also severely hampers usability. i hope things have improved, but a few years ago there was a lot of noise about smart TVs becoming unbearable in 3 or 4 years.

The CPU is the thing that does all the HDMI processing, colourspace conversion, tone mapping to what the panel can handle etc. If that was not there and it was treated more like a normal PC monitor, the results would be horrible.

They are not going to spin up a chip that does all that 4k processing that cant run a primitive user interface and apps just for a very small market. The signage displays all have the same processing in them, just with software that does not much with them. In the case of the LG ones it has a cut down webos that runs signage and media apps, but not netflix or hulu etc.

Richard rich.ms

nitro

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#3471681 19-Mar-2026 13:35

richms:

The CPU is the thing that does all the HDMI processing, colourspace conversion, tone mapping to what the panel can handle etc. If that was not there and it was treated more like a normal PC monitor, the results would be horrible.

They are not going to spin up a chip that does all that 4k processing that cant run a primitive user interface and apps just for a very small market. The signage displays all have the same processing in them, just with software that does not much with them. In the case of the LG ones it has a cut down webos that runs signage and media apps, but not netflix or hulu etc.

apart from upscaling to the native resolution, the things you noted do not happen on the fly all the time. it is only when it's fed bad source material that it has to do most of that other work. so this is largely dependent on the input. once your display is calibrated for a source (4K UHD BDP / HTPC), it uses the same profile for that source - colour, gamma, white balance, etc. those apps and other features like multitasking (menu/option overlay on top of video display) demand more from the cpu than the actual display process.

easy enough to test, which one stops working first - displaying flawless video material (from an appropriate source), or the in-built apps?

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#3471828 19-Mar-2026 18:49

I just use my Apple TV box connected to an old flat panel tv. It has all the apps I need on it, and goes well with my ipad.

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ChrisNZL

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#3472845 23-Mar-2026 17:51

I recommend going for a non-Android, non-smart TV if you can.

We have Panasonic non-Android TV, works fine with Apple TV with HDMI, all good with zero issues.

Meanwhile, we also have a different Panasonic Android TV, which literally crashes ~20% of the time during its turn-on phase, have to hold a physical button to force a reboot (or unplug), wait for the TV to boot up, it's bad.

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#3472885 23-Mar-2026 20:09

I love our wall mounted mini pc (Windows 11) under our wall mounted tv controlled with a cheap wireless mouse.

It’s very versatile using the tv as a dumb but good looking screen and the PC to run everything. Read the news, watch TVNZ, stream whatever service including library movies etc

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#3472989 24-Mar-2026 10:19

JayADee:

I love our wall mounted mini pc (Windows 11) under our wall mounted tv controlled with a cheap wireless mouse.

It’s very versatile using the tv as a dumb but good looking screen and the PC to run everything. Read the news, watch TVNZ, stream whatever service including library movies etc

That used to be our solution too (although with a projector onto a large window blind). When I rebuilt a new NAS as a Linux box with a half-way decent AMD GPU built into the CPU I connected it up directly. Using a HTPC is the only way to fly.

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