It's more than that. Ultimately at a certain point TVs are blank slates, and become identical. At that point it's a race to the bottom on price, as opposed to features. TVs might have multiple inputs and outputs - but if they don't, honestly that's a $10 problem so there's a lack of reasonable differentiation.

Enter "Smart TVs". Consumers can theoretically choose one based on built-in applications, versions of Android (in theory). At the very least there is differentiation. The frustrating part is that at least here, it seems like these TVs are starting to lose features like optical outputs and multiple inputs.

I literally just want a dumb slate with >2 HDMI inputs and an optical output. That's no longer an option in Israel. In calls to 16 different stores based on what's available in the country (zap.co.il) your order is always "out of stock" and the call devolves to upgrade to a newer TV that yay has Android XXX on it. Inter-connectivity is becoming difficult to purchase.