Make a dumb tv and I’ll be a buyer
Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL
Submitted 2 days ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theverge.com/news/864263/sony-tcl-tv-business-partnership-takeover-announcement
Comments
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
iopq@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I just want one DP input and I’ll decide how to split my inputs with an outside box. The TV should only decide how to show the picture. I don’t need your YouTube app
azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yeah, a dream: dumb TV with awesome modern panel and range of connectivity ports like HDMI, DP, DP over USB-C, composite, scart
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Look for “commercial display panels.” They’re 3-4 times the price of a smart TV, but they are just basic TVs. If you find a bank, hospital, clinic, or any other privacy focused business that’s going out of business you can generally pick those used displays up pretty cheap.
krash@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
However, the image quality of those displays is usually worse compared to home displays. This is from a technical who works with these products.
whaleross@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Can’t you just use any modem TV and not hook it up to the interwebs?
northendtrooper@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
I believe more and more TVs require network connection for setup.
macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world 2 days ago
They will still have those garbage “smart” menus.
lama@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I usually do this but would still prefer a dumb TV, mainly to reduce the possible points of failure
Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
ive heard: buy one made for business
there’s a lot more options there, that dont have ads, etc
TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I had a TCL phone for a bit about 10 years ago and it was the hottest piece of garbage I had ever touched in my life
mushroommunk@lemmy.today 2 days ago
They’ve really worked to turn that around with their TVs. They’re entry level still sure, but for the price it’s hard to beat and their quantity control on them has taken a big step up.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Their tvs are cheap because of all the ad and Spyware.
Broken_Window@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
I bought a TCL TV a while ago. After a year, backlight died. So they sent me a new one. 6 months later, backlight died. Thankfully I got my money back this time and went with a different brand.
Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 2 days ago
I used to have a TCL soundbar.
In addition to being extremely mediocre, it promised to integrate with my WiFi so that music could be airplayed through it. After adding it to my WiFi, it still broadcast the open ‘setup’ WiFi network.
If you joined the setup network, you could SSH into the soundbar as root without a password and dump the dhcp.conf file, which would give anyone access to my home WiFi network. Other TCL models also allowed for root via SSH, but used 12345678 as the password. A skilled hacker could just bot these via wardriving and turn them into network listeners.
It may have still broadcast the setup network because I blocked the device from accessing the internet. I only ever went poking around on it because I noticed that the setup network kept getting set to the same channels as my home network and it was causing interference. I eventually just factory reset the device so it had no information on it at all.
After the umpteenth time of not being found by my TV, a hard reset killed it. Just got stuck booting and never recovered.Anyway - crap brand. Sad day for Sony TV fans.
LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world 2 days ago
TCL might not make a good sound bar,but I’ve never seen a bad TCL tv. Are they as nice as Sony? Hell no.
Do they cost 1/4 the price? Yep.
forks@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Playstation is nowhere near the only profit maker for Sony www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/…/25q2_sony.pdf (from www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/…/archive.html)
123@programming.dev 1 day ago
Read about that boot issue and how it starts as a “full storage” message. Also how it was outside the warranty period for most cases, so you end up with a literal brick. I’d be pissed if my TV died just a few years in.
Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Crazy. I have a Sony XBR 46” lcd that’s almost 20 years old. It still looks great for what it is (1080p and all). It was a top of the line tv back in the day that’s held its own for a very long time. It’s sad to see great companies/products fail.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
Yes, but about 5 years or so ago sony started cheaping out on quality. You used to pay more for a Sony but the TV was better and more reliable than other brands. As of late, they still charged more, but they were just as likely to break or have problems than any other cheaper TV.
worhui@lemmy.world 2 days ago
20 years ago is when LCD’s got good enough compared to CRTs and plasma.
Not as good but I still have my $1k 40” Sony tv. It’s good enough I don’t think about how much better my OLED is when watching it.
ieGod@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
In 2010 the pioneer and Panasonic plasmas had no rival in the tv space. LEDs were far from comparable. LEDs were cheaper mostly, which helped their adoption.
kokomo@lemmy.kokomo.cloud 2 days ago
Non-paywalled link: archive.ph/noqtk
fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org 2 days ago
Thanks.
I don't really know why it is so hard for people to post things like this in the beginning. It's just a way to annoy us because they should know we all don't intend to pay some subscription to read news.
Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 2 days ago
Because it’s even easier to just set up the right filters in uBlock and never have to think about it again
Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
People dont go read an article then frantically look for the same article on another website before sharing it
i suggest, the link posted on lemmy, is translated to archive.ph, if one is available. But that requires work …
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s a shame. I’ve had very good experiences with Sony upper mid range/lower high end TVs. Their image processing is second to none IMO, they seem to use more powerful CPUs than a lot of other android TV makers, and their use of AndroidTV means I can trivially customise my TV in a way that I can’t with lots of other brands.
This is sad news.
zebidiah@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
The verge is a garbage paywall site now
biggerbogboy@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The worst thing about ‘smart TVs’ is that they advertise so many ‘cool’ features but most of them have less performant processors and less ram than my 2019 budget galaxy a series phone, and that’s very telling, you can’t even use their dog shit built in web browsers since everything becomes outdated after like a week, and the performance is so bad that the expensive Hisense tv my dad bought back in 2020 can’t even load Google properly.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 days ago
It’s like when IBM left its PC manufacturing to Lenovo. And, probably a ton of other examples I’ve never paid any attention to.
It’s starting to feel like only old people look at a screen bigger than six inches. That, combined with displays becoming a commodity item, leads to the manufacturing being abandoned to commodity manufacturers. If Sony could bring anything of value that would justify the cost of holding on to this, they would. Sony’s name hasn’t been synonymous with quality for decades now, that’s partly their own doing through poor choices, but also the quality of cheap displays is perfectly adequate for most people.
verdi@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 2 days ago
Dafuq are you on about, Sony’s image processing and colour reproduction is one of if not the best in the entire display industry.
worhui@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Sony’s main tech was in manufacturing. TCL will be getting a HUGE upgrade.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Sony’s modern OLEDs are sick. There are a few between my family, and they have the best processing I’ve seen, they decode massive blu1ray rips no problem, and native options for a clean ad-free UI.
Why TF aren’t people buying them?
fif-t@fedia.io 2 days ago
Probably because they're quite expensive
REDACTED@infosec.pub 2 days ago
TV
2026
Honestly, don’t remember the last time I watched TV
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Do you think the only thing TVs are used for is watching traditional terrestrial TV? Lol
whitecollarcry@lemmy.world 1 day ago
is your cell phone battery mostly consumed supporting phone calls
commander@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I went from Sony, Samsung, and LG to now buying TCL. At under $1000 for a 65", they’re the best option.
Anything under $1500 I’d bet on TCL. Keep in mind TCL manufacturers a great chunk of the worlds LCDs that aren’t just for TCL. Pretty sure they bought LGs LCD plants. Maybe Samsung too.
Their TVs have a lot of dimming zones. Sony I don’t think makes LCDs or OLED panels themselves. At least one line of their TVs use TCL panels already. They buy from others
Here’s a review for the model that came out last year. At this point where’s it’s regularly on “sale” for $1000. TVs are MSRP for like half a year and then the discounts always seem to me to be happening
www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/qm8k
1,680 dimming zones in the 65" model and from what I’ve read, the global models are usually one year behind China. So in 2025 China had TCL TVs with even more dimming zones. 8 years ago sub $1000 65" with array LED backlight zones were like 100-200 zones. OLED were incredibly better and would kill off LCDs when prices came down. The density of dimming zones I think progressed faster than people expected
So TCL has solid image processing while Sony has great image processing but not so much better for me to think it’s worth it. Same with the $1000-2000 mini-led backlit LCDs vs OLED. Yes OLED looks better. Don’t feel like it’s large enough for me to go much higher than a $1000 TV. That’s a reality for home theater brands today. TVs, speakers, receivers/amplifiers, headphones, mics, etc - there’s good stuff at low prices.
Everyone’s competing on value now. There used to always be rumors about a Apple TV (actual TV) and Apple EVs. Never hear about rumors for those anymore. Don’t think the quality difference possibility and profit margins exist to make those appealing anymore for Apple. Sony like Apple is increasingly a services/media company.
Samsung - Tizen sucks. I don’t recall how LG and WebOS looks, but to me Tizen is leagues above Android and Roku in making your TV into a loud billboard. At least Android you can install a different launcher.
mrnobody@reddthat.com 2 days ago
Makes sense, bc idk anybody with a Sony TV anymore. Even loyalist fans friends of mine from the CRT days switched.
darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
I own a sony TV. The hdtvtest guy is my goto for staying updated on TV tech and sony regularly comes out as his best of the year. Yes, they’re pricey but you’re getting something for that premium.
This is a sad day in my books now that TCL will be able to enshittify the Sony brand.
plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
When 4k/120 TVs came out, their Bravia was the best midrange you could get. Price doubled to get anything better.
Teal@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
I also have a Sony TV and watch Vincent on HDTVtest.
The TCL news is shocking. Time will tell but it doesn’t seem good to me.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Sony TVs are absolute garbage devices designed by actual morons, with the worst customer support in the industry.
Back when the PS5 came out, they advertised their Bravia TVs specifically for its support for the PS5 and its feature set. I spent something like $1,200 for a Bravia x900H which at the time was very highly reviewed. When the PS5 released shortly after, we had to wait months for Sony to actually release drivers to support the PS5 features promised like VRR and 4k/120hz, and when they finally did the monkeys paw finger curled. If you turn VRR on, it disables local dimming. This is important because those panels look like dogshit without local dimming. So right off the bat you have to choose between a smooth picture, and a good looking picture.
As for 4k/120, they cheaped out on the MediaTek processor so it can’t actually do native 4k/120. Turning it on halves the horizontal resolution to 1080, and then it crudely upscales it back up causing a now infamous blurry mess to the picture.
Those are just the problems that affect everyone due to design flaws and false advertising. But on a more luck-of-the-draw level, when I bought mine brand new, it had significant backlight bleed. I was upgrading from a $150 Costco LCD and I swear to you the picture on the Sony was actually worse. 25% of the screen was permanently tinted blue the bleed was so bad. No problem I thought, I just bought the thing brand new, these things happen with LED panels from time to time, I’ll call Sony and RMA the thing. But after a week of arguing with Sony’s outsourced support, they refused to honor the warranty. According to them backlight bleed is expected and no matter how bad it is, they don’t cover it under warranty. So whether or not your Sony TV is even functional as a TV is simply luck of the draw.
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 2 days ago
Ive got a Bravia. They’re good like upper midrange TVs, like the top end before you really start spending crazy cash
mrnobody@reddthat.com 2 days ago
I’m not meaning nobody owns them, just a lot of the people I knew back in the day who were die-hard Sony fans, have moved on due to price or quality or both. My dad was one of them with a full high end Sony TV (36" CRT Trinitron series) and receiver, dual cassette deck, CD player, etc lol. Yes, this was the 90s, but still.
markz@suppo.fi 2 days ago
I do, and it’s great. It isn’t OLED, but the image is still decent. It has thin bezels, lots of inputs, it’s 4K, and most importantly, it’s just old enough to not run android. I’ll take this thing to my grave.
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 days ago
My 4k/120 one just started getting a few dead pixels. It’s on almost everyday for a hours between me and the kids.
nao@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
What did they switch to?
mrnobody@reddthat.com 1 day ago
Initially, in the late 00s, Samsung was up-and-coming for LED/LCD so they started to quickly catch on. Then in 2010s, LG started to leap ahead before the price caught up. Now, TCL is that for me, great prices with great quality. Hisense is probably next
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
They started making shit TV’s (for their price) is why. They kept charging premium prices, but their quality of buying a TV that wouldn’t break like all the others dropped off a cliff.
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Every friend or acquaintance that has asked me “What TV should I get if I want a really nice LCD TV?” was always told Sony, so I know lots of people with them. I guess I have no good answer for these people now, every brand other than Sony had become enshittified.
mrnobody@reddthat.com 2 days ago
I honestly don’t mind TCL, they’ve really come a long way, especially for the price! I have the 2022 TCL 85R655 that was rated extremely well, and supported all the Series X features (ALLM, VRR, 4K/120, HDR10 +DV gaming, etc for $1800) and that only replaced my 2016 LG 65UH8500 because, well, way better specs (minus no 3D anymore lol).
I had an issue with the PCB 12 months into warranty (literal days left) and I got a full refund because they had already replaced that model with the next Gen and didn’t have the proper parts available or something to fix.
The picture quality, when calibrated, is pretty damn good despite not being OLED.
TemplaerDude@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
TCL TVs are fine for the price, but you use a TV with more processing power than whatever hamster wheel TCL uses and you get real lusty real fast. Painfully slow, unresponsive UI.
fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org 2 days ago
Paywall...
sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 2 days ago
Indeed, article makes it sound like both brands are putting their TV business into a new joint venture. Hardly the same as exiting the market.
sturmblast@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I remember when Sony was THE brand, not? Meh
J52@lemmy.nz 1 day ago
The only negative thing about my TCL tv is that it’s running Google tv launcher. I replaced that with Projectivy.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
We need Graphene for tv!
mlg@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Its funny because all these grand Japanese OEMs like Sony and Panasonic got undercut by Korean rivals like LG and Samsung in the 2000s, which forced Sony to move further into exclusively high priced devices and for many other OEMs to leave the US or global market.
Now TCL and HiSense are undercutting the grand Korean OEMs, which is slowly forcing them out of the low-middle end market.
I upgraded from a 20+ year old Phillips LCD to TCL’s QM8K, and the display technology for being a QLED panel is astounding. It looks 95% like a high quality OLED for a fraction of the cost.
Only downside is Google TV (Junk Android that you have to debloat a bit) and for some reason the TV can’t passthrough Dolby Atmos from app players like Kodi, even though it can do DTS-X just fine. I’m pretty sure the second issue is just a software bug, but TCL has been taking ages to respond. Pass through from an external source works perfectly fine though.
If you’re in the market, I highly recommend seeing it in person at a hardware/electronics store. The side by side comparison is insane.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 days ago
This is good news as far as I’m concerned. I was burned by a Bravia TV with a lack of promised support, and unfixable design flaws that make several prominent features unusable.
TCL on the other hand might have always been a budget brand, but their TVs are very well made considering their price point. They are much more competently made TVs and if they commit to making the Bravia series at its current price point, as opposed to just turning the Bravia line into budget TVs, I’m reasonably confident they can deliver.
JaneQ@szmer.info 2 days ago
So… on the customer market only PlayStation needs to flop and Sony is gone forever
thallamabond@lemmy.world 2 days ago
GEEXiES@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Those long lists are mostly full of everything but consumer electronics: semiconductors, gaming studios, movie studios, TV networks, music labels… heck even real estate is on there. So they kinda have a point when it comes to consumer electronics (which is what I think they meant with “customer market”).
The current Sony has little to do with the one from the 80s, 90s or even early 2000s… In addition to the PlayStation they are strong in imaging (photo and video cameras) I think, but little else, and those products no longer have mass appeal (they are getting high-end- and pro-focused). Vaio, Xperia, Bravia, Walkman… gone or on life support. Browse their site and there’s a handful of products left, as good as they might be (which I don’t know).
scttgard@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Absolutly nothing Sony, TCL or any of that garbage will ever be in my home. Or any of the advertising supported TV’s. Nope.
if_only@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
What brand do you use of you don’t mind sharing?
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Right? That leaves no TVs. I can’t really think of any TVs that are ad-free, or are guaranteed to be ad free in future.
Personally I’ve been getting android TV boxes and installing a custom (and free) launcher on it, and using SmartTube for ad-free YouTube.
btsax@reddthat.com 1 day ago
Not OP but I bought a 45" LG UltraGear gaming “monitor” a while back that’s basically just a TV, no smart anything etc. Right now the only ones I see after a quick search are curved though, mine is flat.
melfie@lemy.lol 2 days ago
I first read it as TLC. You mean the TVs will play nothing but low-grade reality shows?
Daveyborn@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Honestly sounds like nothing is really changing except branding and maybe where panels are sourced from.
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
You sound like a person that hasn’t had the pleasure of owning a TCL TV (hint: it sucks).
This is Sony checking out and letting the remaining good will of one of their few reputable product be wrung out for cash. As another commenter said, this is Sony becoming the new RCA.
kek@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
Higher end TCL TVs are actually pretty good. All comes down to people buying entry model ones which are poor from most manufacturers and severely underpowered.
Daveyborn@lemmy.world 2 days ago
They already arent making panels now. They are just breaking the illusion. If anything this is honesty.
Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
For now
let’s not forget potential chinese spyware
rekabis@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Dammit. I’ve had an LG plasma for the last 15, and it looks like I’ll have to get that Sony well before I’m ready for it.
lechekaflan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Where I live, it’s mostly the Korean brands on top and middle-tier, but for the working class they have an insane number of choices from China.
skozzii@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
I avoid Sony purely because they push exclusives on consoles. Totally unrelated but I guess that’s one of the negatives of being a big brand.
bitchkat@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I haven’t bought anything from Sony since the root kit fiasco.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They bring a lot of “exclusives” to PC too.
Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 2 days ago
My TCL has been going strong for 8 years now. I’ll stand behind supporting That Cheap Life.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Sony has always been shit at supporting their TV line. I certainly don’t slthink this means things will get any worse per se. Maybe some hope for improvement.
worhui@lemmy.world 2 days ago
So Sony is now the new RCA. This is a new low for the company. I can’t believe that they are gone just like that.
entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 days ago
Well, their TV brand is gone. Their headphones are still the top tier of consumer stuff and price-performance king for studio headphones
Ugurcan@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Being the best doesn’t mean they’re selling well… I assume you’re meaning 7506s? So yeah they’re awesome yet dirt cheap, I highly doubt they will keep Sony floating in the long term.
Num10ck@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Playstation5?
notthebees@reddthat.com 2 days ago
Idk if I used a really bad set of wh1000xm4s but they sucked. Too bassy and muddy. Like more than they should have. I hope their studio headphones are much better in that regard.