For now. Until they start including embedding SIM cards or receiving updates OTA.

That’s a theoretical problem, not a reason to buy something at a higher premium.

The sales pitch can’t be “sure that TV is the same as ours for double the price, but wait until nexts years model!”

Well, better reason to buy the cheap one today.

I use a game console for streaming. Works great.

One problem is the TV nags you to enter set it up every time you turn it on. We have to keep the TV remote around just to use the power on/off button.

Not the end of the world, but I'd rather have the product that fits my application.

> I use a game console for streaming. Works great.

I strongly suspect most game consoles are spying on you just as much as a smart TV would and all of them currently seem to be pushing ads in your face pretty aggressively too. Still probably better than roku which records and sends home multiple screenshots of whatever you're watching every second, but if my PS5 isn't doing some form of ACR already I suspect it's only a matter of time.

Game console is at least actively updated, has insane horsepower, and can be upgraded. Not the same is true for a TV’s built in interface.

The firmware in TV's can and often do get updated, and smart TVs are increasingly capable of updates and upgrades, but you're right in that now that consoles are basically locked down gaming PCs there's still really no comparison.

They are.

I did some minor ps3 hacking a decade or so back, and dumped the network activity. Every boot it would send some XMPP traffic containing a log of your recent activities back to Sony. What you watched over Dlna, what dvds/Bly-rays you played, which games, for how long and when.

I imagine things have only got more detailed since then in newer consoles.

Modern Samsung TVs don’t even let you change any settings if you don’t provide Internet access and accept the TOS. Only thing possible is changing channels and volume.

(Yes, that restriction includes changing the HDMI source for your Apple TV. Simply not possible without.)