I love my smart TV. I use it every day, and it’s wonderful. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. In fact, it’s far from it, and I wish it had these features. Then it would be perfect.
1
Perfect Black Levels, Higher Brightness, and No OLED Burn-In Risk
Many consider OLED the best display technology. It has deeper blacks, better contrast ratios, faster response times (for gaming), and wider viewing angles than other display technologies. However, despite being considered the best, it isn’t perfect. One of the major concerns with OLED panels is the risk of burn-in, especially considering that most manufacturers don’t cover it under warranty.
While there are ways to fix or avoid OLED burn-in, they aren’t foolproof. As such, an improvement in OLED to eliminate burn-in risk and improve longevity while retaining all the advantages of the technology would be a real breakthrough. Additionally, imagine if OLED could offer the enviable peak brightness on LCD display panels. That way, we get all the benefits of OLED without the downsides.
2
Auto Calibration With Contextual Environmental Integration
When you buy a new TV, it typically isn’t optimized well for the best picture quality. That’s why some people seek help from professionals to calibrate their TVs. This process involves adjusting the brightness, contrast, black levels, gamma, temperature, tint, and so on. With so many variables to adjust, calibration isn’t easy, which is why experts exist.
The best move TV manufacturers could make to help everyday users is to offer auto-calibration. So when you get a new TV and set it in your living room, bedroom, or whichever place you’ll be watching it from, you only need to use the auto-calibration feature to adjust different variables for the best picture quality without heavy lifting.
With built-in light sensors, the TV can detect temperature and brightness throughout the day and automatically recalibrate for the best viewing experience. In fairness, Samsung Smart Calibration offers this feature, but I’d like to see it become a universal option on any TV. Then, no one has to suffer a terrible viewing experience.
3
Excellent Sound Quality—Without External Speakers
One of my most significant issues with current TVs is the built-in audio. You’ll often see manufacturers praise how the built-in audio has been made even better in the sales pitch of their new TVs by including speakers from reputable audio brands like Bose. But don’t be fooled. If you want excellent audio from that brand-new TV, regardless of the price tag, you’ll need to buy a dedicated audio system.
It isn’t a surprise that the same companies that make TVs also sell different audio systems like soundbars and speakers. Whether you buy a soundbar or speaker, it’ll offer superior quality than the TV’s built-in audio. But what if companies invest in improving built-in audio systems so that you wouldn’t need to buy a soundbar to get excellent audio?
Having excellent picture and sound quality in one package would be great. And suppose you’re an audiophile or a person with a high-end taste for sound. In that case, you can complement it with your external audio system because you want to—not because you need to.
4
Modular Upgradeable Hardware
You don’t upgrade your TV regularly, and for good reasons. TVs last longer, upgrades are incremental, and they have limited use outside of watching content, gaming, etc.. Therefore, upgrading your TV every few years just because of a few outdated hardware components like the processor and memory doesn’t make sense, especially considering that apps demand more storage space and processing power over time.
It would be perfect if companies made a modular, upgradeable hardware system with swappable components like memory, storage, and processor. Then, if you felt your TV becoming sluggish, you could add more memory or swap the processor to improve performance.
This would be miles better than relying on software tweaks to improve the performance of your Android TV. Upgradeable hardware will also help improve longevity, which is a win for the environment.
5
“Dumb TV Mode” to Disable Smart Features On-Demand
It’s hard to find a dumb TV these days. While there are a few places where you can shop for dumb TVs, there are far fewer models on the market than smart TVs. Worse, you likely won’t find any in large screen sizes like 55-inch and above. However, smart TVs have their downsides, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you share the same view that dumb TVs need to come back. However, they don’t necessarily need to.
Instead of companies making dumb and smart TVs, a better approach would be combining the two. For example, they could make a regular smart TV but give you an optional “dumb TV mode” that turns off all the smart features and turns the TV into a basic display without all the apps, data tracking, internet connectivity, and more.
This would make TVs more versatile and work best for both users who would like smart features and those who prefer to have a dumb TV instead.
