Cheap TVs: "you are the product", forum user warns

Cheap TVs: the price is your account

Can you buy a TV for under 100 euros? According to a post in the thread, a manufacturer has put devices on sale at cost price below that threshold, and the immediate reaction was not enthusiasm but suspicion: when something like this hits the market, what you are paying for is not the device. It is the gateway to everything else.

The first explanation that comes up is the oldest one in the book: you are the product. A connected TV that requires you to log in to work is not selling hardware, it is selling a channel. And that channel is monetized later, with data, with advertising, and with a catalog you do not control.

What happens if you don't log in on the TV

The pattern repeats across the big brands. Some describe the specific case of devices sold in large US retail chains: if you don't create an account and accept the terms, the TV is reduced to little more than an expensive monitor. The cheap smart TV is not a gift, it is a take-it-or-leave-it contract with a screen.

Hence the most repeated and most radical recommendation: never enter your network credentials or plug in the Ethernet cable. The TV loses automatic updates, yes, but also the rest of the package. It is the household version of the precautionary principle: if the firmware only serves to make the device worse, better not to leave the door open.

The DVD paradox: better picture on a worse panel

Here comes the contradiction nobody expects. Several of the most insightful posts point out that modern technology is not designed to make what you already have look better, but to sell you what comes next. A DVD, a Blu-ray, or even a VHS can look reasonably good on a current panel, but the device is designed to push you toward streaming, 4K, and subscriptions. Picture quality stopped being the goal a long time ago; now it is the sales pitch.

The comparison with 1980s tube TVs comes up immediately, along with the rebuttal: blaming 46-year-old technology is dodging the issue. The problem is not that things looked better before, but that today the device does things you never asked for.

The background noise: propaganda and consoles

Toward the end, the cultural reading emerges: the idea that a cheap, always-connected TV is the best loudspeaker for the message of the day. The argument is that the goal is to keep people entertained so they don't think too much. It is the bread and circuses theory applied to the living room, and it should be taken for what it is: a hypothesis thrown out without proof, not a demonstrated fact.

Meanwhile, the actual use of the device remains the same as ever. Late-night sports, afternoon movies, an 8- or 16-bit console rescued from the closet. The cheap TV does the job, if you accept the deal.

In the end, the question is not whether the TV is cheap. It is how much everything that comes with it really costs. And the answer, as almost always, is not on the price tag.