Why I’m Telling People to Stop Hunting for Dumb TVs

From the dawn of the era of smart TVs — internet-connected TVs with built-in streaming apps and other web services — there have been many people who wanted nothing to do with them. Some might think it would save them money, assuming the smart circuitry adds cost. Others might just hate the idea of everything requiring an internet connection. Still, others know that if it’s connected to the internet, it’s probably selling some of your personal data. Whatever the reason, there’s long been a desire for dumb TVs. 

It’s 2026, though, and smart TVs dominate the market in all categories, big and small. Does any company even make dumb TVs these days? Technically, and surprisingly, yes, you can buy a TV that’s not built around streaming apps and a web connection. However, you might not want to.

Smart TV features save you money

It’s a misconception that removing smart TV features will make a TV cheaper. The opposite is true. Companies like Google and Amazon actually pay TV manufacturers to put their streaming software into TVs. This is a win-win for manufacturers. They don’t need to spend money developing streaming (or in some cases, operating system) software, and they can sell their TVs for less. It’s hard to get specific numbers, but it’s likely that for many inexpensive TVs, the manufacturer is only making money because of that streaming software “subsidy.” 

Dumb TV options

If you’re looking for a reasonably sized (in other words, not tiny), name-brand TV without smart features, you’re out of luck. Dumb TVs in 2026 come in two varieties: small and no-name. If you don’t mind something 40 inches or smaller, you have options. All are inexpensive. None is going to have particularly good image quality. They’re all inexpensive LCDs with minimal, if any, local dimming. They’re often called “nonsmart” TVs to be polite. 

In larger sizes, one of the only options is Sceptre, most commonly found at Walmart and a few other retailers. They have two lines of nonsmart TVs in a variety of sizes. They’re inexpensive, sure, but not noticeably so compared to better-performing options like what you can find from TCL or Hisense. Take, for instance, Sceptre’s U515CV-U. It’s a 50-inch LCD that’s $230 and has a built-in tuner, three HDMI inputs, analog and digital audio outputs — plus, it even has an analog component input for older video gear. After reading user reviews online, the most common accolades I found are “it’s fine” and “I bought it for my kids, so I didn’t care.” Compare that to the Hisense QD7, one of our picks for best budget TV, which is only slightly more money, and it has full-array local dimming. 

Monitors

For something small, TV-sized computer monitors have been an option for many years. You can even find QD-OLED models, the same technology found in many of the best TVs. The biggest monitors tend to be more similar in size to small(ish) modern TVs, but if you’re not sitting too far away, that might be fine. Keep in mind that you’ll need something for sound, as many monitors lack speakers (and the audio is generally poor from the ones that do). A soundbar or receiver with speakers will work fine.

Commercial displays

You can buy stripped-down displays intended for commercial use, like digital signage, hospitality and so on. They’re not hard to find; even Best Buy has a selection, though not in stores. However, these models are often more expensive than comparable home models. For example, here’s a commercial model from Samsung that has no smart TV features. 

For similar money, you can get an OLED TV that’s basically the same size but will look significantly better. Oh, and the above commercial model is only 1080p. Theoretically, these are built to last longer, but most modern TVs are pretty reliable.

Older, used models

You can certainly find older TVs for sale on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace (but don’t ever ship a used TV). Buying used is typically fine, but all TVs wear out. OLED gets knocked for burn-in, but LED LCDs age as well. If you haven’t seen what the TV looks like in person, buyer beware. If it’s old enough not to have smart features, the starting price should be somewhere around “free with local pickup,” with a few exceptions. 

Knocking the digital dust off this oldie, you should be wary of buying a used plasma TV.

Older TVs might also have older versions of the HDMI standard. That might be OK if you’re just connecting a Blu-ray player or a game console, but some new devices might not want to connect to older devices. If you want to go really far back and get something with analog connections (component or, gasp, S-video or composite), that’s delightfully old school, but I hope you have a plan for what you’re connecting to it.

Make your TV dumb

Since you’re not saving money by ditching the smart TV features, maybe you just don’t want companies selling your data. Totally fair, though I have bad news for you about basically every device that connects to the internet. If you’re trying to minimize your data footprint, you can at least make your TV “dumb” just by not connecting it to the internet. 

This is easier said than done, however. Well, no, the act itself is super easy; it’s the consequences that aren’t. The TV will want to be connected to the internet and might regularly remind you that it’s disconnected. It might hassle you about this every time you go into the menus. Not connecting to the internet also means you’ll miss out on automatic firmware updates, but often these are security and stability improvements that probably won’t matter if the TV isn’t connected to the web. Also, with most TVs, you can download firmware from the manufacturer onto a USB drive and update the TV manually. 

All this assumes you can make it 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 start, it’s worth doing at least once to get the most recent firmware. Then just disconnect it from the Wi-Fi.

You could also just get a projector. While there are many projectors that use the same smart TV interface as many TVs, other models come with a streaming dongle that you can just not connect. The projector will just be a dumb display, with no streaming or other nonsense.

About the author: In addition to covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book, and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.