Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Since the dawn of the afternoon Smart TVs – TVs connected to the Internet with Built-in streaming applications And other web services — there were a lot of people who wanted nothing to do with it. Some may think that this will save them money, assuming that smart circuits increase the cost. Others may hate the idea that everything requires an Internet connection. However, others know that if it is online, it will likely sell some of your personal data. Whatever the reason, there has long been a desire for dumb TVs.
However, it’s 2026, and smart TVs dominate the market in all categories, big and small. Does any company make dumb TVs these days? Technically, and surprisingly, yes, you can buy a TV that isn’t built on streaming apps and an Internet connection. However, you may not want to.
Smart TV features Save You get the money
It is a misconception that removing smart TV features will make the TV cheaper. The opposite is true. In fact, companies like Google and Amazon pay TV manufacturers to put their streaming programming into TVs. This is a win-win for manufacturers. They don’t need to spend money on developing streaming software (or in some cases, an operating system), and They can sell their TVs at a lower price. It’s hard to get specific numbers, but it’s likely that for many cheap TVs, the manufacturer is only making money by “subsidizing” streaming software.
Dumb TV options
If you’re looking for a name-brand TV that’s a reasonable size (in other words, not small) without smart features, you’re out of luck. Dumb TVs in 2026 come in two types: small and nameless. If you don’t mind buying something 40 inches or smaller, you have options. All are inexpensive. None of them will have particularly good image quality. They are all inexpensive LCD displays with minimal, if any, local dimming. They’re often called “non-smart” TVs, to be polite.
In larger sizes, one of the only options is Scepter, which is most common at Walmart and a few other retailers. They have two lines of non-smart TVs in different sizes. It’s certainly inexpensive, but not significantly so compared to better-performing options like what you can find from TCL or Hisense. Take for example, Mace U515CV-U. It’s a $230, 50-inch LCD monitor that has a built-in tuner, three HDMI inputs, and analog and digital audio outputs — plus it has an analog component input for older video equipment. After reading user reviews online, I found that the most common accolades were “it’s okay” and “I bought it for my kids, so I didn’t care for it.” Compare that with Hisense QD7one of our picks for Best budget tvwhich costs a little more money, and has full-array local dimming.
Screens
For something as small as a TV Computer screens It has been an option for many years. You can even find QD OLED models, the same technology found in many The best TVs. Larger screens tend to be more similar in size to small modern TVs, but if you’re not sitting too far back, that can be fine. Keep in mind that you’ll need something for audio, as many monitors lack speakers (and the sound is generally weak compared to speakers that do). A Speakers or receiver With speakers it will work fine.
Commercial displays
You can buy custom displays for commercial use, such as digital signage, hospitality, etc. It’s not hard to find; Even Best Buy has a selectionbut not in stores. However, these models are often more expensive than similar home models. For example, here’s a commercial model from Samsung that doesn’t have Smart TV features.
For similar money, you can get it An OLED TV is the same size but will look much better. Oh, and the commercial model above is 1080p only. In theory, these are designed to last longer, but most modern TVs are pretty reliable.
Old and used models
You can certainly find old TVs for sale on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace (but never consign a used TV). Buying used is usually a good thing, but all TVs wear out. OLED’s methods are done burnbut LED LCD displays are also aging. If you haven’t seen what a TV looks like in person, buyer beware. If it’s old enough that it doesn’t have smart features, the starting price should be somewhere around “Free with local pickup,” with a few exceptions.
We remove the digital dust from this old, You should be careful when buying a used plasma TV.
Older TVs may also have older versions of the HDMI standard. Which may That’s fine if you’re just connecting a Blu-ray player or game console, but some new devices may not want to connect to older devices. If you want to go back and get something using analogue connections (component, S-video or composite), that’s delightfully old school, but hopefully you have a plan for what to connect to.
Make your TV stupid
Since you’re not saving money by ditching smart TV features, you probably don’t want companies selling your data. Totally fair, though I have bad news for you about every device connected to the Internet. If you’re trying to reduce your data footprint, at least you can Make your TV “dumb” Just by not connecting it to the Internet.
However, this is easier said than done. Well, no, the act itself is very easy; It is the consequences that are not. The TV will need to be connected to the Internet and may regularly remind you that it is not connected to the Internet. This may bother you every time you access the menus. Being offline also means you’ll miss out on automatic firmware updates, but these are often security and stability improvements that probably wouldn’t matter if your TV wasn’t connected to the internet. Also, with most TVs, you can download firmware from the manufacturer to a USB drive and update the TV manually.
All of this assumes that you can get through the initial setup process without the TV requiring an Internet connection. Some models will let you choose “Basic TV” without streaming features, but that’s not universal. Whether or not it requires a connection to get started, it’s worth doing it at least once to get the latest firmware. Then just disconnect it from Wi-Fi.
You can also just Get a projector. Although there are many projectors that use the same Smart TV interface as many TVs, other models come with a streaming module that you can’t connect. The projector will just be a dumb screen, with no streaming or any other nonsense.
About the authorIn addition to covering audio and display technology, Jeff makes the photo tours From museums and amazing sites around the world, including Nuclear submarines, Aircraft carriers, Medieval castles,epic A 10,000 mile road trip And more.
Also, check out Budget travel for dummiesAnd his travel book, and his book Best-selling science fiction novel About submarines the size of a city. You can follow it Instagram and YouTube.
