I do think you should open your mind a bit. Smart TVs are pretty terrific, I can just cast whatever I want across the room and bam, it's on the TV. Friends can come over and share the input. I can lay in bed with nothing but a remote and browse my plex library.

I used to go along this line of thinking, and had a "dumb" TV for a long time. I would spend hundreds of hours trying to get a PC/xbmc/kodi setup with a remote control to be comfortable, but always required a keyboard and mouse next to the TV. In the end it was a waste of time and I wasn't enjoying my TV as an entertainment device.

When I finish work, I want to sit down and just have everything work. I don't want to have to keep getting up and pressing buttons and messing around to get a myriad of supplemental devices of varying quality to work. I just want one single device, on the wall, with a remote.

What you didn't include: the data gathering and the ads. tons of ads. I interacted with smart TVs before, but when i pay for it and it displays me ads in the UI, its an instant return. I'll have none of that shit.

And don't get me started on weird bugs that i can't even fix myself. Stuff like my dad's TV randomly outputting 1-2 seconds of audio of the last selected sender /while being turned off/. Audio only, with the screen turned off. Just a few moments. Nightmare fuel when its dark and you are sleeping in the same room.

I don't experience ads with my TV. I don't understand why this is an often repeated point. I've had three so far (due to moving countries), and never experienced this "tons and tons of ads" thing I see people complain about. It's always just been a UI and some apps.

Regarding data collection, who cares? Just get a pi hole if you really care about that.

Also you are describing a fault that can occur with a dumb tv.

EDIT: okay. I found this https://external-preview.redd.it/DcKcaASCdFkfM-eK5pOiu6DIOZb...

I have a samsung TV and I do not see this. Perhaps this is a region thing. I've lived in The Netherlands and the UK and not experienced this.

Dumb TV + Streaming stick is the way to go. Bundling your TV (hardware) with your smart TV (software) is a recipe for disappointment and frustration 2-3 years down the road when the tech evolved and your TV manufacturer has lost interest in supporting your model (looking at you LG)