TVs

LG’s $1,800 TV for seniors makes misguided assumptions

lg, Tech, TVs / DJ Henderson / September 27, 2025

LG is looking to create a new market: TVs for senior citizens. However, I can’t help thinking that the answer for a TV that truly prioritizes the needs of older people is much simpler—and cheaper.

On Thursday, LG announced the Easy TV in South Korea, aiming it at the “senior TV market,” according to a Google translation of the press release. One of the features that LG has included in attempts to appeal to this demographic is a remote control with numbers. Many remotes for smart TVs, streaming sticks, and boxes don’t have numbered buttons, with much of the controller’s real estate dedicated to other inputs.

The Easy TV's remote. — The Easy TV’s remote. Credit: LG

LG released a new version of its Magic Remote in January with a particularly limited button selection that is likely to confuse or frustrate newcomers. In addition to not having keys for individual numbers, there are no buttons for switching inputs, play/pause, or fast forward/rewind.

LG AI remote — LG’s 2025 Magic Remote. Credit: Tom’s Guide/YouTube

The Easy TV’s remote has all of those buttons, plus mute, zoom, and bigger labels. The translated press release also highlights a button that sounds like “back” and says that seniors can push it to quickly return to the previous broadcast. The company framed it as a way for users to return to what they were watching after something unexpected occurs, such as an app launching accidentally or a screen going dark after another device is plugged into the TV.

You’ll also find the same sort of buttons that you typically find with new smart TV remotes these days, including buttons for launching specific streaming services.

Beyond the remote, LG tweaked its operating system for TVs, webOS, to focus on “five senior-focused features and favorite apps” and use a larger font, the translated announcement said.

Some Easy TV features are similar to those available on LG’s other TVs, but tailored to use cases that LG believes seniors are interested in. For instance, LG says seniors can use a reminder feature for medication alerts, set up integrated video calling features to quickly connect with family members who can assist with TV problems or an emergency, and play built-in games aimed at brain health.

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Video player looks like a 1-inch TV from the ’60s and is wondrous, pointless fun

Reviews, Tech, TVs / Beth Washington / August 29, 2025

TV static and remote included.

The TinyTV 2 powering off. Credit: Scharon Harding

If a family of anthropomorphic mice were to meet around a TV, I imagine they’d gather around something like TinyCircuits’ TinyTV 2. The gadget sits on four slender, angled legs with its dials and classic, brown shell beckoning viewers toward its warm, bright stories. The TinyTV’s screen is only 1.14 inches diagonally, but the device exudes vintage energy.

In simple terms, the TinyTV is a portable, rechargeable gadget that plays stored videos and was designed to look and function like a vintage TV. The details go down to the dials, one for controlling the volume and another for scrolling through the stored video playlist. Both rotary knobs make an assuring click when twisted.

Musing on fantastical uses for the TinyTV seems appropriate because the device feels like it’s built around fun. At a time when TVs are getting more powerful, software-driven, AI-stuffed, and, of course, bigger, the TinyTV is a delightful, comforting tribute to a simpler time for TVs.

Retro replica

Tom Cruise on the TinyTV 2. — The TinyTV’s remote and backside next to a lighter for size comparisons. Credit: Scharon Harding

TinyCircuits makes other tiny, open source gadgets to “serve creativity in the maker community, build fun STEAM learning, and spark joy,” according to the Ohio-based company’s website. TinyCircuits’ first product was the Arduino-based TinyDuino Platform, which it crowdfunded through Kickstarter in 2012.

The TinyTV 2 is the descendant of the $75 (as of this writing) TinyTV DIY Kit that came out three years prior. TinyCircuits crowdfunded the TinyTV 2 on Kickstarter and Indiegogo in 2022 (along with a somehow even smaller alternative, the 0.6-inch TinyTV Mini). Now, TinyCircuits sells the TinyTV alongside other small electronics—like Thumby, a “playable, programmable keychain” that looks like a Game Boy—on its website for $60.

“This idea actually came from one of our customers in Japan,” Ken Burns, TinyCircuits’ founder, told Ars via email. “Our original product line was a number of different stackable boards [that] work like little electronic LEGOs to allow people to create all sorts of projects. We had a small screen as part of this platform, which this customer used to create a small TV set that was very cute …”

Even when powered off, the TinyTV sparks intrigue, with a vintage aesthetic replicating some of the earliest TV sets.

The TinyTV was inspired by vintage TV sets. Scharon Harding

Nostalgia hit me when I pressed the power button on top of the TinyTV. When the gadget powers on or off or switches between videos, it shows snow and makes a TV static noise that I haven’t heard in years.

TV toned down

Without a tuner, the TinyTV isn’t really a TV. It also can’t connect to the Internet, so it’s not a streaming device. I was able to successfully stream videos from a connected computer over USB-C using this link, but audio isn’t supported.

With many TV owners relying on flat buttons and their voice to control TVs, turning a knob or pressing a button to flip through content feels novel. It also makes me wonder if today’s youth understand the meaning of phrases like “flipping channels” and “channel surfing.” Emulating a live TV, the TinyTV syncs timestamps, so that if you return to a “channel,” the video will play from a middle point, as if the content had been playing the whole time you were watching something else.

When the TinyTV powers off, the display briefly shows snow that is quickly eaten up by black, making the static look like a shrinking circle before the screen is completely black.

The TinyTV comes with an infrared remote, a small, black, 3D-printed thing with a power button and buttons for controlling the volume and switching videos.

The TinyTV with its remote. Credit: Scharon Harding

But the remote didn’t work reliably, even when I held it the recommended 12 to 18 inches away from the TinyTV. That’s a shame because using the knobs requires two hands to prevent the TinyTV from toppling.

Adding video to TinyTV is simple because TinyCircuits has a free tool for converting MP4 files into the necessary AVI format. Afterward, conversion you add files to the TinyTV by connecting it to a computer via its USB-C port. My system read the TinyTV as a USB D drive.

Image quality is better than you might expect from a 1.14-inch panel. It’s an IPS screen with 16-bit color and a 30 Hz refresh rate, per Burns. CRT would be more accurate, but in addition to the display tech being bulkier and more expensive, it’s hard to find CRT tech this size. (The smallest CRT TV was Panasonic’s Travelvision CT-101, which came out in 1984 with a 1.5-inch screen and is rare today.)

One of my biggest challenges was finding a way to watch the TinyTV at eye level. However, even when the device was positioned below eye level, I could still make out images in bright scenes. Seeing the details in dark images was hard, though, even with the TinyTV at a proper distance.

I uploaded a trailer for this summer’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning movie onto the TinyTV, and with 223.4 pixels per inch, its screen was sharp enough to show details like a document with text, the edges of a small airplane’s wing, and the miniscule space between Tom Cruise and the floor in that vault from the first Mission: Impossible.

A video of white text on a black background that TinyCircuits preloaded was legible, despite some blooming and the scrolling words appearing jerky. Everything I uploaded also appeared grainier on TinyTV, making details harder to see.

The 0.6×4-inch, front-facing speaker, however, isn’t nearly loud enough to hear if almost anything else in the room is making noise. Soft dialogue was hard to make out, even in a quiet room.

A simpler time for TVs

We’ve come a long way since the early days of TV. Screens are bigger, brighter, faster, and more colorful and advanced. We’ve moved from input dials to slim remotes with ads for streaming services. TV legs have been replaced with wall mounts, and the screens are no longer filled with white noise but are driven by software and tracking.

I imagine the TinyTV serving a humble mouse family when I’m not looking. I’ve seen TinyCircuits market the gadget as dollhouse furniture. People online have also pointed to using TinyTVs at marketing events, like trade shows, to draw people in.

“People use this for a number of things, like office desk toys, loading videos on it for the holidays to send to Grandma, or just for fun,” Burns told me.

I’ve mostly settled on using the TinyTV in my home office to show iPhone-shot footage of my dog playing, as if it’s an old home video, plus a loop of a video of one of my favorite waterfalls.

TinyTV 2 — The TinyTV’s 8GB microSD card is supposed to hold “about” 10 hours of video. Burns told me that it’s “possible” to swap the storage. You’d have to take the gadget apart, though. Credit: Scharon Harding

As TVs morph into ad machines and new display tech forces us to learn new acronyms regularly, TinyTV’s virtually pointless fun is refreshing. It’s not a real TV, but it gets at the true spirit of TVs: electronic screens that invite people to gather ’round, so they can detach from the real world and be entertained.

Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She’s been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.

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Samsung’s “Micro RGB” TV proves the value of RGB backlights for premium displays

Micro LED, oled, samsung, Tech, TVs / 9u50fv / August 22, 2025

The $30,000 TV brings a new, colorful conversation to home theaters.

Samsung’s 115-inch “Micro RGB” TV. Credit: Scharon Harding

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, New Jersey—Micro LED is still years away, but the next best thing is taking shape right now. A $30,000 price tag and 114.5-inch diagonal size makes the Samsung “Micro RGB” TV that I demoed this week unattainable for most. But the unique RGB backlight and Micro LED-sized diodes it employs represent a groundbreaking middle ground between high-end Mini LED and true Micro LED, expanding the possibilities for future premium displays beyond the acronyms we know today.

Micro RGB isn’t the same as Micro LED

To be clear, Samsung’s Micro RGB TV is not a Micro LED display. During Samsung’s presentation, a representative described the TV as sitting “squarely in between” Mini LED and Micro LED.

Unlike true Micro LED TVs, Samsung’s Micro RGB TV uses a backlight. The backlight is unique in that it can produce red, green, and/or blue light via tiny RGB LEDs. Most LCD-LED backlights create just blue or white backlighting, which is applied to color filters to create the different hues displayed on the screen.

And differing from a true Micro LED display, the pixels in the Samsung TV I demoed aren’t self-emissive and can’t be shut off individually for virtually limitless contrast. Like some of the best Mini LED TVs, this TV delivers enhanced contrast through the use of thousands of local dimming zones. Without getting specific, Samsung said the Micro RGB TV has roughly four times the number of dimming zones as its 115-inch QN90F TV, a $27,000 Mini LED TV that uses quantum dots. Samsung hasn’t confirmed how many dimming zones the 115-inch QN90F has, but the 75-inch version has 900 dimming zones, according to RTINGs.

The Micro RGB TV loses to Micro LED and OLED when it comes to light bleed and contrast. The new TV’s biggest draw is its large color gamut. The backlight’s “architecture enables precision control over each red, green, and blue LED,” according to Samsung’s announcement of the TV earlier this month. Samsung claims that the backlight tech enables the TV to cover 100 percent of the BT.2020 color space (also known as Rec.2020), which is a wider color space than DCI-P3. As is typical for Samsung, the company hasn’t disclosed any Delta E measurements but claims high color accuracy.

I’m still concerned about the Micro RGB name, which carries the risk of being confused with true Micro LED. In the past, Samsung has contributed to display-market confusion with terms like QLED (an acronym that looks awfully similar to OLED). The new display technology is impressive enough; its marketing doesn’t need to evoke associations with a markedly different display type.

Hands-on with Samsung’s Micro RGB TV

Seeing the Micro RGB TV in person confirmed the great potential RGB backlight tech represents. The image quality didn’t quite match what you’d see with a similar OLED or Micro LED display, but what I saw in my short time with the TV surpassed what I’d expect from the best LCD-LED TVs.

I demoed the TV in a mildly lit room, where the screen’s lively colors quickly leaped out at me. I mostly watched pre-selected, polychromatic videos on the TV, making it hard to discern color accuracy. But during the brief demo, I saw colors that are rare to see on even the most expensive TVs.

For example, part of the demo reel (shown below) featured a building in a shade of teal that I can’t recall ever seeing on a TV. It was a greener-leaning teal that had just the right amount of blue to distinguish it from true green. Many displays would fail to capture that subtle distinction.

The demo video also showed a particular shade of pinkish-red. Again, this was the first time I had seen this video, making me wonder if a purer red would be more accurate. But I also saw strong, bright, bloody reds during my demo, suggesting that this unfamiliar pinkish-red was the result of the Micro RGB TV’s broad color gamut.

Samsung's Micro RGB TV — Unsurprisingly, the TV packs in AI, including a feature that’s supposed to automatically recognize scenes with dull lighting and make them look more lively. Credit: Scharon Harding

Another top standout from my demo was the smooth gradient effects that the TV showed. I could detect no banding in a sunset-like background, for instance, as deep oranges effortlessly transitioned to paler shades before seamlessly evolving into white. Nuanced shades also appeared to enable unique textures on the TV. When the TV was set to display a painting, the screen seemed to mimic the rough texture of canvas or the subtle strokes of paintbrushes. Of course, the TV’s massive size helped emphasize these details, too.

Because it lacks self-emissive pixels, the Micro RGB should have poorer contrast than a good Micro LED (or OLED) TV. The differing prices between Samsung’s 115-inch Micro RGB TV and 114-inch Micro LED TV ($30,000 versus $150,000) hint at the expected performance discrepancy between the display technologies. You won’t get pure blacks with an RGB LED TV, but Samsung’s TV makes a strong effort; some may not notice the difference.

Unlike OLED TVs, the Samsung TV also has potential for the halo effect (also known as blooming). In instances when the TV was showing bright, near-white colors near dark colors, it was hard to notice any halos or gradation. But I didn’t see enough of the right type of content on Samsung’s TV to determine how much of a potential blooming problem it has. Light bleed did seem to be kept to a minimum, though.

The TV also appeared to handle the details of darker images well. A representative from Sony, which is working on a somewhat different RGB LED backlight technology, told Wired that the use of RGB LED backlights could enable displays to show an “expression of colors with moderate brightness and saturation” better than today’s OLED screens can, meaning that RGB LED TVs could be more color-accurate, including in dark scenes. Generally speaking, anything that helps LCD-LED remain competitive against OLED is good news for further development of LED-based displays, like Micro LED.

Samsung specs the Micro RGB TV with a 120 Hz standard rate. The company didn’t disclose how bright the TV can get. Bright highlights enable improved contrast and a better experience for people whose TVs reside in rooms that get bright (yes, these people exist). Display experts also associate properly managed brightness levels with improved color accuracy. And advanced mastering monitors can enable content with brightness levels of up to 4,000 nits, making ultra-bright TVs worth long-term consideration for display enthusiasts.

More RGB LED to come

Samsung is ahead of the curve with RGB backlights and is expected to be one of the first companies to sell a TV like this one. A Samsung spokesperson outside of the event told Ars Technica, “Samsung created an entirely new technology to control and drive each LED, which has different characteristics, to provide more accurate and uniform picture quality. We also worked to precisely mount these ultra-small LEDs in the tens of microns on a board.”

As mentioned above, other companies are working on similar designs. Sony showed off a prototype in February that Wired tested; it should be released in 2026. And Hisense in January teased the 116-inch “TriChrome LED TV” with an RGB LED backlight. It’s releasing in South Korea for KRW 44.9 million (approximately $32,325), SamMobile reported.

Notably, Hisense and Sony both refer to their TVs as Mini LED displays, but the LEDs used in the Hisense and Sony designs are larger than the LEDs in Samsung’s RGB-backlit TV.

Good news for display enthusiasts

Samsung’s TV isn’t the Micro LED TV that display enthusiasts have long hoped for, but it does mark an interesting development. During the event, a third Samsung representative told me it’s “likely” that there’s overlap between the manufacturing equipment used for Micro LED and RGB-backlit displays. But again, the company wouldn’t get into specifics.

Still, the development is good news for the LED-LCD industry and people who are interested in premium sets that don’t use OLED displays, which are expensive and susceptible to burn-in and brightness limitations (these issues are improving, though). It’s likely that RGB-backlit TVs will eventually become a better value than pricier types of premium displays, as most people won’t notice the downsides.

The Samsung rep I spoke with outside of the event told me the company believes there’s room in the market for RGB Micro TVs, QLEDs, OLEDs, Mini LEDs, and Micro LEDs.

According to the press release of the Micro RGB TV, Samsung has “future plans for a global rollout featuring a variety of sizes.” For now, though, the company has successfully employed a new type of display technology, creating the possibility of more options for display enthusiasts.

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The curious rise of giant tablets on wheels

android, Features, lg, Monitors, Reviews, tablet, Tech, TVs / DJ Henderson / July 5, 2025

Not quite a TV, not your average tablet

Hands-on with KTC’s 32-inch Android tablet on a rolling pedestal, the A32Q7 Pro.

KTC’s MegPad 32-inch Android Tablet (A32Q7 Pro). Credit: Scharon Harding

Over the past few years, LG has set off a strange tech trend that’s been rolling onto devices sold across Amazon and other online electronics retailers.

In 2022, the company launched the StanbyME, which is essentially a $1,000 27-inch tablet running LG’s smart TV operating system (OS), webOS, but lacking a tuner. LG’s press release announcing the device described it as a “wireless private TV screen with a built-in battery” that is easily portable and ideal for watching shows and movies, in addition to “video conferencing with family and coworkers and viewing online lectures.”

Today, the StanbyME competes against a slew of similar devices, including some from Samsung, but mostly from smaller brands and running Android.

I’ve had one of these devices, the KTC MegPad 32-inch Android Tablet (A32Q7 Pro), rolling around my home for a few weeks, and I’m left curious about what’s driving the growth of StanbyME-like devices, which are noticeably niche and expensive. I’m also uncertain whether these hybrid devices have an ongoing place in a consumer tech world already inundated with big-screen TVs, small-screen tablets, and beloved laptops.

Hands-on

Unlike LG’s StanbyME, KTC’s device doesn’t run a smart TV OS. Instead, it’s a 32-inch Android 13 tablet. Still, KTC heavily markets the MegPad’s ability to serve as streaming hardware, and that’s one of the best uses I found for it.

A big ol’ tablet on wheels. Scharon Harding

Treating the MegPad like a smart TV on wheels meant I could have a living-room-like experience in more places throughout my home. I could watch TV in bed with a more visible screen set at a more comfortable distance than what I’d achieve with a laptop or tablet. It also meant flexibility. I don’t like having a permanent TV in my room (how would I ever get out of bed?), so I appreciated the ability to roll the MegPad out of my room or twist it so that the screen faced away from me.

The MegPad is also a diplomatic solution for homes with limited TVs or computers. This could be helpful for homes with kids with varied interests or in my home, where a speedy, 55-inch TV in the living room is the best screen available by far. I was able to let my partner take the big screen for gaming and still hang out nearby while streaming on the MegPad. I don’t have a central coffee table in my living room, but the mobile tablet enabled me to watch shows without a device weighing down my lap or making me connect a wireless speaker for better volume.

KTC’s device also has a helpful leg-up over LG’s StanbyME via its HDMI port, which makes the MegPad work like a regular monitor. Determining where to safely rest a device tethered to this mobile machine is something you’ll have to figure out on your own, though.

KTC MegPad 32-inch Android Tablet (A32Q7 Pro) — The port selection on the panel’s backside. Credit: Scharon Harding

Compared to the TV mounted on my living room wall, the MegPad is much easier to move from room to room, but it’s easy to overestimate how seamless transporting it is. Yes, it’s on a set of five 360-degree wheels, but the wheels don’t lock, and the device weighs 40.3 pounds, per its Amazon listing. That means I had to exert a decent amount of effort to move it over floor transition strips, across uneven floors, and from hardwood to carpet.

A fully rotating screen, however, makes up for some of my mobility complaints and diversifies the MegPad’s potential uses. Besides streaming, for example, the MegPad was great for watching yoga videos online, (which calls for viewing the screen from different heights and positions). It also proved to be an ideal setup for creating a large, print-out collage, which included a lot of dragging, dropping, and cropping of images.

Not a real TV

You can do a lot with a sizeable Android tablet. But with TV and movie watching being some of the most obvious uses, it’s important to note that neither the MegPad nor any of its rollable rivals are real TVs.

For one, there’s no tuner, though in the streaming world, that matters less to many of today’s TV viewers.

Further, the MegPad, like many StanbyME-like devices, uses Android 13, which doesn’t require paying vendor licensing fees like built-for smart TV OSes, such as Android TV/Google TV and webOS, would. There are some benefits to that, though.

To start, Android 13 doesn’t have the integrated ads that Android TV or the Google TV interface does. Google claims that the Google TV platform doesn’t use automatic content recognition (ACR), but as Consumer Reports has noted, Google collects “data from TVs that use its smart TV platform—and there’s no opting out of Google’s policies during setup if you want smart TV functionality.” Further, Google may combine that data with user data from third parties for advertising purposes. A spokesperson for KTC confirmed to me that the MegPad doesn’t use ACR.

As a tablet, the MegPad is compatible with more apps, many of which aren’t supported by Google TVs, like Google Sheets, Microsoft Word, Reddit, and Signal.

Android tablets are also more appropriate for storing documents, photos, and other files than smart TVs are. Although it’s likely less roomy than your PC, the MegPad has 128GB of internal storage.

But since this is an Android tablet and not a Google TV, there are no integrated channels and no live-TV-only option, which stops the device from collecting diagnostic information. Google TV would also include a more streaming-friendly user interface and the ability to watch content from different streaming providers without switching apps.

Further differing from LG’s StanbyME and real TVs, the MegPad doesn’t include a traditional remote. The tablet comes with a basic Bluetooth mouse, but due to the tablet’s portability, I frequently used the tablet without a flat surface within arm’s reach available for comfortable mouse control. The touchscreen is reliable, but gestures can be cumbersome on a tablet this large, and the display was often out of my hand’s reach.

The new portable TV?

With TVs getting larger and people turning to portable gadgets like phones and laptops for TV watching, true portable TVs have become a rarity. Demand for a small device dedicated to on-the-go TV viewing has dropped significantly since the last century. Meanwhile, fabs and supply chains are built around monitor and TV-sized displays, making it difficult to incorporate some of the most desirable display technologies, like OLED, into smaller-sized panels with competitive prices.

As a result, devices like the MegPad and Amazon’s Echo Show have become the new de facto stand-ins for portable TVs, even though they’re not true TV sets. Even LG’s StanbyME Go, a 27-inch webOS-powered display packed into a briefcase, is a far cry from what most of us would traditionally consider a portable TV.

LG StanByMe Go at a picnic — LG’s StanbyMe GO. Credit: LG

Again, these tablets have more versatility than the small, telescoping-antenna-equipped boxes you used to stick on your kitchen counter or hand to a hyper kid during road trips. But they also require a reliance on Big Tech software and all the privacy and ethical implications that come with that.

You don’t see many of these anymore. From left to right: Casio EV 570, Sony Watchman, and Casio EV 660. Credit: Richard Derk/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

KTC also sees the MegPad’s appeal as a pseudo-TV. The MegPad’s product page emphasizes users’ ability to “watch favorite shows/movies directly—no PC needed” and to “stream Netflix [and] YouTube… more effortlessly on your smart TV.” Its Amazon product page also promotes the keywords “portable TV,” “rolling TV,” “mobile TV,” and “standing TV.” This is all despite the MegPad not technically being a true TV.

“KTC defines the MegPad A32Q7Pro as a portable, smart, touchscreen monitor,” KTC’s spokesperson told me. “It combines key traits of a smart display and a large-screen tablet. While it shares some features with smart TVs, tablets, and monitors, it doesn’t fully belong to any single traditional category. It’s a hybrid device designed to bridge those use cases.”

Android tablets on wheels

Many devices like the MegPad represent a push for more Android-powered, non-Google devices that has been buoyed by a program that Google launched in 2022, the Enterprise Devices Licensing Agreement (EDLA).

As explained by partners like BenQ, EDLA is a way for third parties to incorporate Google Mobile Services (GMS), which are Google’s most commonly used apps and APIs bundled for use across different types of devices. GMS apps include popular software like Google Drive, Gmail, the Google Play Store, and YouTube.

“Previously, GMS was only officially available for smartphones, tablets, TVs, and wearables. Under the new EDLA, the list of devices eligible for GMS certification has now been expanded to include enterprise solutions such as smart boards,” a blog from BenQ, which has EDLA-certified smart displays, reads.

Since 2022, (the year LG’s StanbyME launched), there has been an uptick in non-Google devices with this EDLA certification. One of the categories taking advantage of the newer program is tablets on wheels, like the MegPad and similar options from Kefeya, Apolosign, Innocn, and DuraPro.

Demonstrating the marketing value of EDLA certification, the MegPad’s product page reads: “Google EDLA certification provides secure, direct access to Google services and the Google Play Store with regular updates, offering greater stability and data protection than open app ecosystems with unverified apps.”

Most EDLA-certified devices seem to be interactive displays used for education. With EDLA certification, devices like the MegPad may also draw the attention of educators or even businesses. Meanwhile, Google is happy to hand out EDLA certifications, as they can drive Android adoption, giving Google more data and access to customers outside of the typical Android devices, such as phones. Products like the MegPad can also be easier to shop with (Google loves when people use its offerings to shop) than Android devices with smaller screens.

Who’s this for?

I’ve been fascinated by the MegPad and similar devices because they introduce a unique approach to streaming, web browsing, and productivity. But ultimately, they’re hard to recommend when there are other personal gadgets that are more affordable and often take up less space.

I had fun with the MegPad and appreciated the flexibility it offered, especially in my smaller NYC home. There are some specific use cases where products like this could excel, like if you want to bring a computer or screen into a room that doesn’t always need one. It was also helpful as an entertainment center for my father post-surgery, when he primarily had to lie on one side in bed.

Overall, the growing presence of devices like the MegPad underscores a confluence occurring between smart TVs, tablets, monitors, and smart displays. With software being forced into more types of displays, often in the interest of gathering more user data, it’s an interesting time to consider what you want from your next screen—be it computing power, a certain size, the omission or inclusion of web connectivity, and mobility.

It appears that the MegPad and similar tablets are trying to take advantage of the attention that LG garners when launching distinctive devices like its StanbyME line. Besides a StanbyME lookalike, Apolosign also makes a device similar to the StanbyME Go.

Apolosign's 27 — Apolosign’s PackGo is very similar to LG’s StanbyME Go. Credit: Apolosign

Three years after LG made TV-esque devices on wheels a talking point, more brands are trying to roll into the market. That includes LG’s best TV frenemy, Samsung, which has been using the form factor in limited geographies to drive sales of “smart monitors.”

Tech brands have ulterior motives for pushing this newer form factor that go beyond filling a gap in consumer gadgets. But if a large tablet or small smart display with wheels fits your needs, the options are there, and they should meet most expectations.

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Smart TV OS owners face “constant conflict” between privacy, advertiser demands

ads, privacy, samsung, Software, streaming, Tech, TVs / DJ Henderson / June 19, 2025

DENVER—Most smart TV operating system (OS) owners are in the ad sales business now. Software providers for budget and premium TVs are honing their ad skills, which requires advancing their ability to collect user data. This is creating an “inherent conflict” within the industry, Takashi Nakano, VP of content and programming at Samsung TV Plus, said at the StreamTV Show in Denver last week.

During a panel at StreamTV Insider’s conference entitled “CTV OS Leader Roundtable: From Drivers to Engagement and Content Strategy,” Nakano acknowledged the opposing needs of advertisers and smart TV users, who are calling for a reasonable amount of data privacy.

“Do you want your data sold out there and everyone to know exactly what you’ve been watching … the answer is generally no,” the Samsung executive said. “Yet, advertisers want all of this data. They wanna know exactly what you ate for breakfast.”

Nakano also suggested that the owners of OSes targeting smart TVs and other streaming hardware, like streaming sticks, are inundated with user data that may not actually be that useful or imperative to collect:

I think that there’s inherent conflict in the ad ecosystem supplying so much data. … We’re fortunate to have all that data, but we’re also like, ‘Do we really want to give it all, and hand it all out?’ There’s a constant conflict around that, right? So how do we create an ecosystem where we can serve ads that are pretty good? Maybe it’s not perfect …

Today, connected TV (CTV) OSes are largely built around not just gathering user data, but also creating ways to collect new types of information about viewers in order to deliver more relevant, impactful ads. LG, for example, recently announced that its smart TV OS, webOS, will use a new AI model that informs ad placement based on viewers’ emotions and personal beliefs.

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Breaking down why Apple TVs are privacy advocates’ go-to streaming device

ads, Apple, Apple TV, Apple TV Plus, Features, privacy, streaming, Tech, TVs / 9u50fv / June 1, 2025

Using the Apple TV app or an Apple account means giving Apple more data, though.

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

Every time I write an article about the escalating advertising and tracking on today’s TVs, someone brings up Apple TV boxes. Among smart TVs, streaming sticks, and other streaming devices, Apple TVs are largely viewed as a safe haven.

“Just disconnect your TV from the Internet and use an Apple TV box.”

That’s the common guidance you’ll hear from Ars readers for those seeking the joys of streaming without giving up too much privacy. Based on our research and the experts we’ve consulted, that advice is pretty solid, as Apple TVs offer significantly more privacy than other streaming hardware providers.

But how private are Apple TV boxes, really? Apple TVs don’t use automatic content recognition (ACR, a user-tracking technology leveraged by nearly all smart TVs and streaming devices), but could that change? And what about the software that Apple TV users do use—could those apps provide information about you to advertisers or Apple?

In this article, we’ll delve into what makes the Apple TV’s privacy stand out and examine whether users should expect the limited ads and enhanced privacy to last forever.

Apple TV boxes limit tracking out of the box

One of the simplest ways Apple TVs ensure better privacy is through their setup process, during which you can disable Siri, location tracking, and sending analytics data to Apple. During setup, users also receive several opportunities to review Apple’s data and privacy policies. Also off by default is the boxes’ ability to send voice input data to Apple.

Most other streaming devices require users to navigate through pages of settings to disable similar tracking capabilities, which most people are unlikely to do. Apple’s approach creates a line of defense against snooping, even for those unaware of how invasive smart devices can be.

Apple TVs running tvOS 14.5 and later also make third-party app tracking more difficult by requiring such apps to request permission before they can track users.

“If you choose Ask App Not to Track, the app developer can’t access the system advertising identifier (IDFA), which is often used to track,” Apple says. “The app is also not permitted to track your activity using other information that identifies you or your device, like your email address.”

Users can access the Apple TV settings and disable the ability of third-party apps to ask permission for tracking. However, Apple could further enhance privacy by enabling this setting by default.

The Apple TV also lets users control which apps can access the set-top box’s Bluetooth functionality, photos, music, and HomeKit data (if applicable), and the remote’s microphone.

“Apple’s primary business model isn’t dependent on selling targeted ads, so it has somewhat less incentive to harvest and monetize incredible amounts of your data,” said RJ Cross, director of the consumer privacy program at the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). “I personally trust them more with my data than other tech companies.”

What if you share analytics data?

If you allow your Apple TV to share analytics data with Apple or app developers, that data won’t be personally identifiable, Apple says. Any collected personal data is “not logged at all, removed from reports before they’re sent to Apple, or protected by techniques, such as differential privacy,” Apple says.

Differential privacy, which injects noise into collected data, is one of the most common methods used for anonymizing data. In support documentation (PDF), Apple details its use of differential privacy:

The first step we take is to privatize the information using local differential privacy on the user’s device. The purpose of privatization is to assure that Apple’s servers don’t receive clear data. Device identifiers are removed from the data, and it is transmitted to Apple over an encrypted channel. The Apple analysis system ingests the differentially private contributions, dropping IP addresses and other metadata. The final stage is aggregation, where the privatized records are processed to compute the relevant statistics, and the aggregate statistics are then shared with relevant Apple teams. Both the ingestion and aggregation stages are performed in a restricted access environment so even the privatized data isn’t broadly accessible to Apple employees.

What if you use an Apple account with your Apple TV?

Another factor to consider is Apple’s privacy policy regarding Apple accounts, formerly Apple IDs.

Apple support documentation says you “need” an Apple account to use an Apple TV, but you can use the hardware without one. Still, it’s common for people to log into Apple accounts on their Apple TV boxes because it makes it easier to link with other Apple products. Another reason someone might link an Apple TV box with an Apple account is to use the Apple TV app, a common way to stream on Apple TV boxes.

So what type of data does Apple harvest from Apple accounts? According to its privacy policy, the company gathers usage data, such as “data about your activity on and use of” Apple offerings, including “app launches within our services…; browsing history; search history; [and] product interaction.”

Other types of data Apple may collect from Apple accounts include transaction information (Apple says this is “data about purchases of Apple products and services or transactions facilitated by Apple, including purchases on Apple platforms”), account information (“including email address, devices registered, account status, and age”), device information (including serial number and browser type), contact information (including physical address and phone number), and payment information (including bank details). None of that is surprising considering the type of data needed to make an Apple account work.

Many Apple TV users can expect Apple to gather more data from their Apple account usage on other devices, such as iPhones or Macs. However, if you use the same Apple account across multiple devices, Apple recognizes that all the data it has collected from, for example, your iPhone activity, also applies to you as an Apple TV user.

A potential workaround could be maintaining multiple Apple accounts. With an Apple account solely dedicated to your Apple TV box and Apple TV hardware and software tracking disabled as much as possible, Apple would have minimal data to ascribe to you as an Apple TV owner. You can also use your Apple TV box without an Apple account, but then you won’t be able to use the Apple TV app, one of the device’s key features.

Data collection via the Apple TV app

You can download third-party apps like Netflix and Hulu onto an Apple TV box, but most TV and movie watching on Apple TV boxes likely occurs via the Apple TV app. The app is necessary for watching content on the Apple TV+ streaming service, but it also drives usage by providing access to the libraries of many (but not all) popular streaming apps in one location. So understanding the Apple TV app’s privacy policy is critical to evaluating how private Apple TV activity truly is.

As expected, some of the data the app gathers is necessary for the software to work. That includes, according to the app’s privacy policy, “information about your purchases, downloads, activity in the Apple TV app, the content you watch, and where you watch it in the Apple TV app and in connected apps on any of your supported devices.” That all makes sense for ensuring that the app remembers things like which episode of Severance you’re on across devices.

Apple collects other data, though, that isn’t necessary for functionality. It says it gathers data on things like the “features you use (for example, Continue Watching or Library),” content pages you view, how you interact with notifications, and approximate location information (that Apple says doesn’t identify users) to help improve the app.

Additionally, Apple tracks the terms you search for within the app, per its policy:

We use Apple TV search data to improve models that power Apple TV. For example, aggregate Apple TV search queries are used to fine-tune the Apple TV search model.

This data usage is less intrusive than that of other streaming devices, which might track your activity and then sell that data to third-party advertisers. But some people may be hesitant about having any of their activities tracked to benefit a multi-trillion-dollar conglomerate.

Data collected from the Apple TV app used for ads

By default, the Apple TV app also tracks “what you watch, your purchases, subscriptions, downloads, browsing, and other activities in the Apple TV app” to make personalized content recommendations. Content recommendations aren’t ads in the traditional sense but instead provide a way for Apple to push you toward products by analyzing data it has on you.

You can disable the Apple TV app’s personalized recommendations, but it’s a little harder than you might expect since you can’t do it through the app. Instead, you need to go to the Apple TV settings and then select Apps > TV > Use Play History > Off.

The most privacy-conscious users may wish that personalized recommendations were off by default. Darío Maestro, senior legal fellow at the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), noted to Ars that even though Apple TV users can opt out of personalized content recommendations, “many will not realize they can.”

Apple can also use data it gathers on you from the Apple TV app to serve traditional ads. If you allow your Apple TV box to track your location, the Apple TV app can also track your location. That data can “be used to serve geographically relevant ads,” according to the Apple TV app privacy policy. Location tracking, however, is off by default on Apple TV boxes.

Apple’s tvOS doesn’t have integrated ads. For comparison, some TV OSes, like Roku OS and LG’s webOS, show ads on the OS’s home screen and/or when showing screensavers.

But data gathered from the Apple TV app can still help Apple’s advertising efforts. This can happen if you allow personalized ads in other Apple apps serving targeted apps, such as Apple News, the App Store, or Stocks. In such cases, Apple may apply data gathered from the Apple TV app, “including information about the movies and TV shows you purchase from Apple, to serve ads in those apps that are more relevant to you,” the Apple TV app privacy policy says.

Apple also provides third-party advertisers and strategic partners with “non-personal data” gathered from the Apple TV app:

We provide some non-personal data to our advertisers and strategic partners that work with Apple to provide our products and services, help Apple market to customers, and sell ads on Apple’s behalf to display on the App Store and Apple News and Stocks.

Apple also shares non-personal data from the Apple TV with third parties, such as content owners, so they can pay royalties, gauge how much people are watching their shows or movies, “and improve their associated products and services,” Apple says.

Apple’s policy notes:

For example, we may share non-personal data about your transactions, viewing activity, and region, as well as aggregated user demographics[,] such as age group and gender (which may be inferred from information such as your name and salutation in your Apple Account), to Apple TV strategic partners, such as content owners, so that they can measure the performance of their creative work [and] meet royalty and accounting requirements.

When reached for comment, an Apple spokesperson told Ars that Apple TV users can clear their play history from the app.

All that said, the Apple TV app still shares far less data with third parties than other streaming apps. Netflix, for example, says it discloses some personal information to advertising companies “in order to select Advertisements shown on Netflix, to facilitate interaction with Advertisements, and to measure and improve effectiveness of Advertisements.”

Warner Bros. Discovery says it discloses information about Max viewers “with advertisers, ad agencies, ad networks and platforms, and other companies to provide advertising to you based on your interests.” And Disney+ users have Nielsen tracking on by default.

What if you use Siri?

You can easily deactivate Siri when setting up an Apple TV. But those who opt to keep the voice assistant and the ability to control Apple TV with their voice take somewhat of a privacy hit.

According to the privacy policy accessible in Apple TV boxes’ settings, Apple boxes automatically send all Siri requests to Apple’s servers. If you opt into using Siri data to “Improve Siri and Dictation,” Apple will store your audio data. If you opt out, audio data won’t be stored, but per the policy:

In all cases, transcripts of your interactions will be sent to Apple to process your requests and may be stored by Apple.

Apple TV boxes also send audio and transcriptions of dictation input to Apple servers for processing. Apple says it doesn’t store the audio but may store transcriptions of the audio.

If you opt to “Improve Siri and Dictation,” Apple says your history of voice requests isn’t tied to your Apple account or email. But Apple is vague about how long it may store data related to voice input performed with the Apple TV if you choose this option.

The policy states:

Your request history, which includes transcripts and any related request data, is associated with a random identifier for up to six months and is not tied to your Apple Account or email address. After six months, you request history is disassociated from the random identifier and may be retained for up to two years. Apple may use this data to develop and improve Siri, Dictation, Search, and limited other language processing functionality in Apple products …

Apple may also review a subset of the transcripts of your interactions and this … may be kept beyond two years for the ongoing improvements of products and services.

Apple promises not to use Siri and voice data to build marketing profiles or sell them to third parties, but it hasn’t always adhered to that commitment. In January, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing Siri of recording private conversations and sharing them with third parties for targeted ads. In 2019, contractors reported hearing private conversations and recorded sex via Siri-gathered audio.

Outside of Apple, we’ve seen voice request data used questionably, including in criminal trials and by corporate employees. Siri and dictation data also represent additional ways a person’s Apple TV usage might be unexpectedly analyzed to fuel Apple’s business.

Automatic content recognition

Apple TVs aren’t preloaded with automatic content recognition (ACR), an Apple spokesperson confirmed to Ars, another plus for privacy advocates. But ACR is software, so Apple could technically add it to Apple TV boxes via a software update at some point.

Sherman Li, the founder of Enswers, the company that first put ACR in Samsung TVs, confirmed to Ars that it’s technically possible for Apple to add ACR to already-purchased Apple boxes. Years ago, Enswers retroactively added ACR to other types of streaming hardware, including Samsung and LG smart TVs. (Enswers was acquired by Gracenote, which Nielsen now owns.)

In general, though, there are challenges to adding ACR to hardware that people already own, Li explained:

Everyone believes, in theory, you can add ACR anywhere you want at any time because it’s software, but because of the way [hardware is] architected… the interplay between the chipsets, like the SoCs, and the firmware is different in a lot of situations.

Li pointed to numerous variables that could prevent ACR from being retroactively added to any type of streaming hardware, “including access to video frame buffers, audio streams, networking connectivity, security protocols, OSes, and app interface communication layers, especially at different levels of the stack in these devices, depending on the implementation.”

Due to the complexity of Apple TV boxes, Li suspects it would be difficult to add ACR to already-purchased Apple TVs. It would likely be simpler for Apple to release a new box with ACR if it ever decided to go down that route.

If Apple were to add ACR to old or new Apple TV boxes, the devices would be far less private, and the move would be highly unpopular and eliminate one of the Apple TV’s biggest draws.

However, Apple reportedly has a growing interest in advertising to streaming subscribers. The Apple TV+ streaming service doesn’t currently show commercials, but the company is rumored to be exploring a potential ad tier. The suspicions stem from a reported meeting between Apple and the United Kingdom’s ratings body, Barb, to discuss how it might track ads on Apple TV+, according to a July report from The Telegraph.

Since 2023, Apple has also hired several prominent names in advertising, including a former head of advertising at NBCUniversal and a new head of video ad sales. Further, Apple TV+ is one of the few streaming services to remain ad-free, and it’s reported to be losing Apple $1 billion per year since its launch.

One day soon, Apple may have much more reason to care about advertising in streaming and being able to track the activities of people who use its streaming offerings. That has implications for Apple TV box users.

“The more Apple creeps into the targeted ads space, the less I’ll trust them to uphold their privacy promises. You can imagine Apple TV being a natural progression for selling ads,” PIRG’s Cross said.

Somewhat ironically, Apple has marketed its approach to privacy as a positive for advertisers.

“Apple’s commitment to privacy and personal relevancy builds trust amongst readers, driving a willingness to engage with content and ads alike,” Apple’s advertising guide for buying ads on Apple News and Stocks reads.

The most private streaming gadget

It remains technologically possible for Apple to introduce intrusive tracking or ads to Apple TV boxes, but for now, the streaming devices are more private than the vast majority of alternatives, save for dumb TVs (which are incredibly hard to find these days). And if Apple follows its own policies, much of the data it gathers should be kept in-house.

However, those with strong privacy concerns should be aware that Apple does track certain tvOS activities, especially those that happen through Apple accounts, voice interaction, or the Apple TV app. And while most of Apple’s streaming hardware and software settings prioritize privacy by default, some advocates believe there’s room for improvement.

For example, STOP’s Maestro said:

Unlike in the [European Union], where the upcoming Data Act will set clearer rules on transfers of data generated by smart devices, the US has no real legislation governing what happens with your data once it reaches Apple’s servers. Users are left with little way to verify those privacy promises.

Maestro suggested that Apple could address these concerns by making it easier for people to conduct security research on smart device software. “Allowing the development of alternative or modified software that can evaluate privacy settings could also increase user trust and better uphold Apple’s public commitment to privacy,” Maestro said.

There are ways to limit the amount of data that advertisers can get from your Apple TV. But if you use the Apple TV app, Apple can use your activity to help make business decisions—and therefore money.

As you might expect from a device that connects to the Internet and lets you stream shows and movies, Apple TV boxes aren’t totally incapable of tracking you. But they’re still the best recommendation for streaming users seeking hardware with more privacy and fewer ads.

Breaking down why Apple TVs are privacy advocates’ go-to streaming device Read More »

Software update makes HDR content “unwatchable” on Roku TVs

Roku, Software, Tech, TVs / DJ Henderson / May 5, 2025

An update to Roku OS has resulted in colors looking washed out in HDR content viewed on Roku apps, like Disney+.

Complaints started surfacing on Roku’s community forum a week ago. On May 1, a company representative posted that Roku was “investigating the Disney Plus HDR content that was washed out after the recent update.” However, based on user feedback, it seems that HDR on additional Roku apps, including Apple TV+ and Netflix, are also affected. Roku’s representative has been asking users to share their experiences so that Roku can dig deeper into the problem.

One user, going by “Squinky” on the forum, reported having a TCL TV with the problem and shared the following photo comparison:

Users have reported that both shows and movies viewed in HDR via a Roku OS app are affected.

Roku hasn’t provided a list of affected devices, but users have named multiple TCL TV models, at least one Hisense, and one Sharp TV as being impacted.

We haven’t seen any reports of Roku streaming sticks being affected. One forum user claimed that plugging a Roku streaming stick into a Roku TV circumvented the problem.

Forum user Squinky said the washed-out colors were only on Disney+. However, other users have reported seeing the problem across other apps, including Max and Fandango.

“I’m surprised more people aren’t complaining because it makes a ton of shows simply unwatchable. Was looking forward to Andor, and Tuesday [was] night ruined,” posted forum user noob99999, who said the problem was happening on “multiple apps,” including Amazon Prime Video. “I hope the post about imminent app updates are correct because in the past, Roku has taken forever to correct issues.”

Software update makes HDR content “unwatchable” on Roku TVs Read More »

Roku tech, patents prove its potential for delivering “interruptive” ads

ads, Roku, streaming, Tech, TVs / Mike M. / April 25, 2025

Roku, owner of one of the most popular connected TV operating systems in the country, walks a fine line when it comes to advertising. Roku’s OS lives on low-priced smart TVs, streaming sticks, and projectors. To make up the losses from cheaply priced hardware, Roku is dependent on selling advertisements throughout its OS, including screensavers and its home screen.

That business model has pushed Roku to experiment with new ways of showing ads that test users’ tolerance. The company claims that it doesn’t want ads on its platform to be considered intrusive, but there are reasons to be skeptical about Roku’s pledge.

Non-“interruptive” ads

In an interview with The Verge this week, Jordan Rost, Roku’s head of ad marketing, emphasized that Roku tries to only deliver ads that don’t interrupt viewers.

“Advertisers want to be part of a good experience. They don’t want to be interruptive,” he told The Verge.

Rost noted that Roku is always testing new ad formats. Those tests include doing “all of our own A/B testing on the platform” and listening to customer feedback, he added.

“We’re constantly tweaking and trying to figure out what’s going to be helpful for the user experience,” Rost said.

For many streamers, however, ads and a better user experience are contradictory. In fact, for many, the simplest way to improve streaming is fewer ads and a more streamlined access to content. That’s why Apple TV boxes, which doesn’t have integrated ads and is good at combining content from multiple streaming subscriptions, is popular among Ars Technica staff and readers. An aversion to ads is also why millions pay extra for ad-free streaming subscriptions.

Roku tech, patents prove its potential for delivering “interruptive” ads Read More »

LG TVs’ integrated ads get more personal with tech that analyzes viewer emotions

ads, lg, Tech, TVs / DJ Henderson / April 17, 2025

With all this information, ZenVision will group LG TV viewers into highly specified market segments, such as “goal-driven achievers,” “social connectors,” or “emotionally engaged planners,” an LG spokesperson told StreamTV Insider. Zenapse’s website for ZenVision points to other potential market segments, including “digital adopters,” “wellness seekers,” “positive impact & environment,” and “money matters.”

Companies paying to advertise on LG TVs can then target viewers based on the ZenVision-specified market segments and deliver an “emotionally intelligent ad,” as Zenapse’s website puts it.

This type of targeted advertising aims to bring advertisers more in-depth information about TV viewers than demographic data or even contextual advertising (which shows ads based on what the viewer is watching) via psychographic data. Demographic data gives advertisers viewer information, like location, age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and income. Psychographic data is supposed to go deeper and allow advertisers to target people based on so-called psychological factors, like personal beliefs, values, and attitudes. As Salesforce explains, “psychographic segmentation delves deeper into their psyche” than relying on demographic data.

“As viewers engage with content, ZenVision’s understanding of a consumer grows deeper, and our… segmentation continually evolves to optimize predictions,” the ZenVision website says.

Getting emotional

LG’s partnership comes as advertisers struggle to appeal to TV viewers’ emotions. Google, for example, attempted to tug at parents’ heartstrings with the now-infamous Dear Sydney ad aired during the 2024 Summer Olympics. Looking to push Gemini, Google hit all the wrong chords with parents, and, after much backlash, pulled the ad.

The partnership also comes as TV OS operators seek new ways to use smart TVs to grow their own advertising businesses and to get people to use TVs to buy stuff.

LG TVs’ integrated ads get more personal with tech that analyzes viewer emotions Read More »

Overblown quantum dot conspiracy theories make important points about QLED TVs

Features, Hisense, oled, samsung, tcl, Tech, TVs / Kelly Newman / March 31, 2025

Lawsuits and allegations are creating doubt around quantum dot TVs’ use of QDs.

QLED TV manufacturers have dug themselves into a hole.

After years of companies promising that their quantum dot light-emitting diode TVs use quantum dots (QDs) to boost color, some industry watchers and consumers have recently started questioning whether QLED TVs use QDs at all. Lawsuits have been filed, accusing companies like TCL of using misleading language about whether their QLED TVs actually use QDs.

In this article, we’ll break down why new conspiracy theories about QLED TVs are probably overblown. We’ll also explore why misleading marketing from TV brands is responsible for customer doubt and how it all sets a bad precedent for the future of high-end displays, including OLED TVs and monitors.

What QLED TVs are supposed to do

TVs that use QDs are supposed to offer wider color gamuts and improved brightness over their QD-less LCD-LED counterparts. Just ask Samsung, which says that QLED displays deliver “a wider range of colors,” “better color coverage,” and “a brighter picture.” TCL will tell you that its QLED TVs use “billions of Quantum Dot nanocrystals” and deliver “industry-leading color palette and brightness.”

To be clear, properly manufactured QD TVs that use a sufficient quantity of QDs are legit. Excellent examples, which command higher prices than QD-free rivals, successfully deliver bright pictures with wide color gamuts and impressive color volume (the number of colors a TV displays at various levels of brightness). A TV with strong color volume can depict many light and dark shades of green, for example.

Technology reviews site RTINGS, which is known for its in-depth display testing, explains that a TV with good color volume makes “content look more realistic,” while “TVs with poor color volume don’t show as many details.” This is QLED’s big selling point. A proper QLED TV can be brighter than an OLED TV and have markedly better color volume than some high-end, non-QD LCD-LED displays.

Let’s take a look at some quality QLED TVs for an idea of where the color performance bar should be.

The 2024 Sony Bravia 9, for example, is a $2,500 Mini LED TV with QDs. That’s expensive for a non-OLED TV, but the Bravia 9 covers an impressive 92.35 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, per RTINGS’ testing. RTINGS tests color volume by comparing a screen’s Rec. 2020 coverage to a TV with a peak brightness of 10,000 nits. A “good value,” the publication says, is over 30 percent. The Bravia 9 scored 54.4 percent.

Another well-performing QLED TV is the 2024 Hisense U8. The Mini LED TV has 96.27 percent DCI-P3 coverage and 51.9 percent color volume, according to RTINGS.

Even older QLED TVs can impress. The Vizio M Series Quantum from 2020, for example, has 99.18 percent DCI-P3 coverage and 34 percent color volume, per RTINGS’ standards.

These days, TV marketing most frequently mentions QDs to suggest enhanced color, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that some TVs marketed as using QDs aren’t as colorful as their QLED labels might suggest.

“QLED generally implies superior colors, but some QLED models have been reported to cover less than 90 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut,” Guillaume Chansin, associate director of displays and XR at Counterpoint Research, told Ars Technica.

QD TVs accused of not having QDs

Recently, Samsung shared with Ars testing results from three TVs that TCL markets as QLEDs in the US: the 65Q651G, 65Q681G, and 75Q651G. The TVs have respective MSRPs of $370, $480, and $550 as of this writing.

Again, TCL defines QLED TVs as a “type of LED/LCD that uses quantum dots to create its display.”

“These quantum dots are nano-sized molecules that emit a distinct colored light of their own when exposed to a light source,” TCL says. But the test results shared by Samsung suggest that the TVs in question don’t use cadmium or indium, two types of chemicals employed in QD TVs. (You don’t need both cadmium and indium for a set to be considered a QD TV, and some QD TVs use a combination of cadmium and indium.)

However, per the testing provided by Samsung and conducted by Intertek, a London-headquartered testing and certification company, none of the tested TVs had enough cadmium to be detected at a minimum detection standard of 0.5 mg/kg. They also reportedly lacked sufficient indium for detection at a minimum standard of 2 mg/kg. Intertek is said to have tested each TV set’s optical sheet, diffuser plate, and LED modules, with testing occurring in the US.

When reached for comment about these results, a TCL spokesperson said TCL “cannot comment on specifics due to current litigation” but that it “stands behind [its] high-performance lineup, which provides uncompromised color accuracy.” TCL is facing a class-action complaint about its QLED TVs’ performance and use of QDs.

TCL’s spokesperson added:

TCL has definitive substantiation for the claims made regarding its QLED televisions and will respond to the litigation in due course. We remain committed to our customers and believe in the premium quality and superior value of our products. In the context of the ongoing litigation, TCL will validate that our industry-leading technologies meet or exceed the high bar that TV viewers have come to expect from us.

“This is not good for the industry”

A manufacturer not telling the truth about QDs in its TVs could be ruinous to its reputation. But a scheme requiring the creation of fake, QD-less films would be expensive—almost as costly as making real QD films, Eric Virey, principal displays analyst at Yole Intelligence, previously told Ars.

What’s most likely happening is that the TVs in question do use QDs for color—but they employ cheaper phosphors to do a lot of the heavy lifting, too. However, even that explanation raises questions around the ethics of classifying these TVs as QLED.

Counterpoint’s Chansin said that the TCL TV test results that Samsung shared with Ars point to the three TVs using phosphors for color conversion “instead of quantum dots.”

He added:

While products that have trace amounts could be said to “contain” quantum dots, it would be misleading to state that these TVs are enhanced by quantum dot technology. The use of the term “QLED” is somewhat more flexible, as it is a marketing term with no clear definition. In fact, it is not uncommon for a QLED TV to use a combination of quantum dots and phosphors.

Analysts that I spoke with agreed that QD TVs that combine QDs and phosphors are more common among lower-priced TVs with low margins.

“Manufacturers have been trying to lower the concentration of quantum dots to cut costs, but we have now reached undetectable levels of quantum dots,” Chansin said. “This is not good for the industry as a whole, and it will undermine consumers’ confidence in the products.”

Phosphors fostering confusion

TCL TVs’ use of phosphors in conjunction with QDs has been documented before. In a 2024 video, Pete Palomaki, owner and chief scientist at QD consultant Palomaki Consulting, pried open TCL’s 55S555, a budget QLED TV from 2022. Palomaki concluded that the TV had QDs incorporated within the diffuser rather than in the standalone optical film. He also determined that a red phosphor called KSF and a green phosphor known as beta sialon contributed to the TV’s color.

In his video, Palomaki said, “In the green spectrum, I get about less than 10 percent from the QD and the remaining 90-plus percent from the phosphor.” Palomaki said that about 75 percent of the TV’s red reproduction capabilities came from KSF, with the rest attributed to QDs. Palomaki emphasized, though, that his breakdowns don’t account for light recycling in the backlight unit, which would probably “boost up the contribution from the quantum dot.”

Palomaki didn’t clarify how much more QD contribution could be expected and declined to comment on this story.

Another video shows an example of a TCL QLED TV that Palomaki said has phosphors around its LEDs but still uses QDs for the majority of color conversion.

TCL isn’t the only TV brand that relies on phosphors to boost the color capabilities of its QLED TVs— and likely reduce manufacturing costs.

“There is an almost full continuum of TV designs, ranging from using only phosphors to using only QDs, with any type of mix in between,” Virey told Ars.

Even Samsung, the company crying foul over TCL’s lack of detectable QDs, has reportedly used phosphors to handle some of the color work handled entirely by QDs in full QD TVs. In 2023, Palomaki pulled apart a 2019 Samsung QN75Q7DRAF. He reported that the TV’s color conversion leverages a “very cheap” phosphor known as yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is “not very good for color gamut.”

A TV using QDs for color conversion should produce an optical spectrogram with narrow peak widths. As QD supplier Avantama explains, “narrower bandwidths translate to purer colors with higher levels of efficiency and vice versa.” In the QN75Q7DRAF’s optical spectrogram that Palomaki provided, you can see that the peaks are sharper and more narrow when measuring the full film stack with the phosphors versus the QD film alone. This helps illustrate the TV’s reliance on phosphors to boost color.

Ars asked Samsung to comment on the use of phosphors in its QD TVs, but we didn’t receive a response.

TV brands have become accustomed to slapping a QLED label on their TVs and thinking that’s sufficient to increase prices. It also appears that TV manufacturers are getting away with cutting back on QDs in exchange for phosphors of various levels of quality and with varied performance implications.

It’s a disappointing situation for shoppers who have invested in and relied on QLED TVs for upper-mid-range performance. But it’s important to emphasize that the use of phosphors in QD TVs isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

According to Virey:

There are a lot of reasons why display engineers might want to use phosphors in conjunction with QDs. Having phosphors in a QD TV doesn’t necessarily imply low performance. It can provide a little boost in brightness, improve homogeneity, etc. Various types of phosphors can be used for different purpose. Phosphors are found in many high-performance—even flagship—displays.

Virey noted that in cases where QLED TVs appear to have no detectable QD content and sit at the lower end of a manufacturer’s QD TV offerings, “cost is clearly the driver” for using phosphors.

Better testing, please

So why don’t TCL and Samsung provide optical spectrograms of the TVs in question to prove whether or not color conversion is occurring as the manufacturer claims? In September, TCL did provide a spectrogram, which it claimed proved the presence of QDs in its TVs. But it’s unclear which model was tested, and the results don’t seem to address red or green. You can view TCL’s spectrogram here.

The company declined to comment on why it hasn’t provided more testing results, including for its QLED TVs’ color gamut and accuracy. Samsung didn’t respond to Ars’ request for comment regarding additional testing.

Providing more informative test results would help shoppers better understand what they can expect from a “QLED TV.” But that level of detail is absent from recent accusations against—and defenses of—QLED TVs. The type of test results that have been shared, meanwhile, have succeeded in delivering greater shock value.

In the interest of understanding the actual performance of one of the TVs in question, let’s take another look at the TCL 65Q651G that Samsung had Intertek test. The $370 65Q651G is named in litigation accusing TCL of lying about its QLED TVs.

RTINGS measured the TV’s DCI-P3 coverage at 88.3 percent and its color volume at 26.3 percent (again, RTINGS considers anything above 30 percent on the latter “good”). Both numbers are steps down from the 99.2 percent DCI-P3 coverage and 34 percent color volume that RTINGS recorded for the 2020 Vizio M Series Quantum. It’s also less impressive than TCL’s QM8, a Mini LED QLED TV currently going for $900. That TV covers 94.59 percent of DCI-P3 and has a color volume of 49.2 percent, per RTINGS’ testing.

Growing suspicion

Perhaps somewhat due to the minimal availability of credible testing results, consumers are increasingly suspicious about their QLED TVs and are taking their concerns to court.

Samsung, seemingly looking to add fuel to the fire surrounding rivals like TCL, told Ars that it used Intertek to test TCL TVs because Intertek has been a “credible resource for quality assurance and testing services for the industry for more than a century.” But another likely reason is the fact that Intertek previously tested three other TCL TVs and concluded that they lacked materials required of QD TVs.

We covered those test results in September. Hansol Chemical, a Seoul-headquartered chemical manufacturer and distributor and Samsung supplier, commissioned the testing of three TCL TVs sold outside of the US: the C755, C655, and C655 Pro. Additionally, Hansol hired Geneva-headquartered testing and certification company SGS. SGS also failed to detect indium, even with a higher minimum detection standard of 5 mg/kg and cadmium in the sets.

It’s important to understand the potential here for bias. Considering its relationship with Samsung and its status as a chaebol, Hansol stands to benefit from discrediting TCL QD TVs. Further, the South Korean government has reportedly shown interest in the global TV market and pushed two other chaebols, Samsung and LG, to collaborate in order to maintain market leadership over increasingly competitive Chinese brands like TCL. Considering Hansol’s ties to Samsung, Samsung’s rivalry with TCL, and the unlikely notion of a company going through the effort of making fake QD films for TVs, it’s sensible to be skeptical about the Hansol-commissioned results, as well as the new ones that Samsung supplied.

Still, a lawsuit (PDF) filed on February 11 seeking class-action certification accuses TCL of “marketing its Q651G, Q672G, and A300W televisions as having quantum dot technology when testing of the foregoing models showed that either: (i) the televisions do not have QLED technology, or (ii) that if QLED technology is present, it is not meaningfully contributing to the performance or display of the televisions, meaning that they should not be advertised as QLED televisions.” The complaint is based on the Intertek and SGS testing results provided in September.

Similarly, Hisense is facing a lawsuit accusing it of marketing QD-less TVs as QLED (PDF). “These models include, but are not necessarily limited to, the QD5 series, the QD6 series, QD65 series, the QD7 series, the U7 series, and the U7N series,” the lawsuit, which is also seeking class-action certification, says.

Interestingly, the U7N named in the lawsuit is one of the most frequently recommended QLED TVs from reviews websites, including RTINGS, Digital Trends, Tom’s Guide, and Ars sister site Wired. Per RTINGS’ testing, the TV covers 94.14 percent of DCI-P3 and has a color volume of 37 percent. That’s good enough performance for it to be feasible that the U7N uses some QDs, but without further testing, we can’t know how much of its color capabilities are reliant on the technology.

Both of the lawsuits named above lack evidence to prove that the companies are lying about using QDs. But the litigation illustrates growing customer concern about getting duped by QD TV manufacturers. The complaints also bring to light important questions about what sort of performance a product should deliver before it can reasonably wear the QLED label.

A marketing-made mess

While some Arsians may relish digging into the different components and chemicals driving display performance, the average customer doesn’t really care about what’s inside their TV. What actually impacts TV viewers’ lives is image quality and whether or not the TV does what it claims.

LG gives us a good example of QD-related TV marketing that is likely to confuse shoppers and could lead them to buy a TV that doesn’t align with their needs. For years, LG has been promoting TVs that use QNED, which the company says stands for “quantum nano-emitting diode.” In marketing materials viewable online, LG says QNED TVs use “tiny particles called quantum dots to enhance colors and brightness on screens.”

It’s easy to see the potential for confusion as customers try to digest the TV industry’s alphabet soup, which includes deciphering the difference between the QNED and QLED marketing terms for QD TVs.

But LG made things even more confusing in January when it announced TVs that it calls QNED but which don’t use QDs. Per LG’s announcement of its 2025 QNED Evo lineup, the new TVs use a “new proprietary wide color gamut technology, Dynamic QNED Color Solution, which replaces quantum dots.”

LG claims its Dynamic QNED Color Solution “enables light from the backlight to be expressed in pure colors that are as realistic as they appear to the eye in general life” and that the TVs are “100 percent certified by global testing and certification organization Intertek for Color Volume, measuring a screen’s ability to display the rich colors of original images without distortion.”

But without benchmark results for individual TV models or a full understanding of what a “Dynamic QNED Color Solution” is, LG’s QNED marketing isn’t sufficient for setting realistic expectations for the TV’s performance. And with QNED representing LG’s QD TVs for years, it’s likely that someone will buy a 2025 QNED TV and think that it has QDs.

Performance matters most

What should really matter to a TV viewer is not how many quantum dots a TV has but how strong its image quality is in comparison to the manufacturer’s claims, the TV’s price, and the available alternatives. But the industry’s overuse of acronyms using the letter “Q” and terms like “quantum” has made it difficult to tell the performance potential of so-called QD TVs.

The problem has implications beyond the upper-mid range price point of QLED TVs. QDs have become a major selling point in OLED TVs and monitors. QDs are also at the center of one of the most anticipated premium display technologies, QDEL, or quantum dot electroluminescent displays. Confusion around the application and benefits of QDs could detract from high-end displays that truly leverage QDs for impressive results. Worse, the current approach to QD TV marketing could set a precedent for manufacturers to mislead customers while exploiting the growing popularity of QDs in premium displays.

Companies don’t necessarily need to start telling us exactly how many QDs are in their QLED TVs. But it shouldn’t be too much to ask to get some clarity on the real-life performance we can expect from these devices. And now that the industry has muddied the definition of QLED, some are calling for a cohesive agreement on what a QD TV really is.

“Ultimately, if the industry wants to maintain some credibility behind that label, it will need to agree on some sort of standard and do some serious self-policing,” Yole’s Virey said.

For now, a reckoning could be coming for TV brands that are found to manipulate the truth about their TVs’ components and composition. The current lawsuits still need to play out in the courts, but the cases have brought attention to the need for TV brands to be honest about the capabilities of their QD TVs.

Things have escalated to the point where TV brands accuse one another of lying. The TV industry is responsible for creating uncertainty around QDs, and it’s starting to face the consequences.

Overblown quantum dot conspiracy theories make important points about QLED TVs Read More »

“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen

ads, Roku, streaming, Tech, TVs / Mike M. / March 18, 2025

Owners of smart TVs and streaming sticks running Roku OS are already subject to video advertisements on the home screen. Now, Roku is testing what it might look like if it took things a step further and forced people to watch a video ad play before getting to the Roku OS home screen.

Reports of Roku customers seeing video ads automatically play before they could view the OS’ home screen started appearing online this week. A Reddit user, for example, posted yesterday: “I just turned on my Roku and got an … ad for a movie, before I got to the regular Roku home screen.” Multiple apparent users reported seeing an ad for the movie Moana 2. The ads have a close option, but some users appear to have not seen it.

When reached for comment, a Roku spokesperson shared a company statement that confirms that the autoplaying ads are expected behavior but not a permanent part of Roku OS currently. Instead, Roku claimed, it was just trying the ad capability out.

Roku’s representative said that Roku’s business “has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products,” adding:

Our recent test is just the latest example, as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.

Roku didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether it has plans to make autoplaying ads permanent on Roku OS, which devices are affected, why Roku decided to use autoplaying ads, or customer backlash.

“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen Read More »

Sonos’ streaming box is reportedly canceled. Good riddance.

ads, audio, Sonos, streaming, Tech, TVs / Beth Washington / March 13, 2025

Opinion: The long-rumored Sonos streaming box wasn’t a good idea anyway.

Sonos has canceled plans to release a streaming box, The Verge reported today. The audio company never publicly confirmed that it was making a streaming set-top box, but rumors of its impending release have been floating around since November 2023. With everything that both Sonos and streaming users have going on right now, though, a Sonos-branded rival to the Apple TV 4K wasn’t a good idea anyway.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman was the first to report on Sonos’ purported streaming ambitions. He reported that Sonos’ device would be a black box that cost $150 to $200.

At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable idea. Sonos was facing increased competition for wireless speakers from big names like Apple and Bose. Meanwhile, Sonos speaker sales growth had slowed down, making portfolio diversification seem like a prudent way to protect business.

By 2025, however, the reported plans for Sonos’ streaming box sounded less reasonable and appealing, while the market for streaming devices had become significantly more competitive.

A saturated market

In February, The Verge, citing anonymous sources, reported that Sonos was now planning a streaming player that would “cost between $200 and $400.” That’s a lot to charge in a market where most people have already found their preferred platform. Those who want something cheap and don’t mind ads settle for something like Roku. People who hate ads opt for an Apple TV box. There are people who swear by their Fire Sticks and plenty who are happy with whatever operating system (OS) their smart TV arrives with. Sonos would have struggled to convince people who have successfully used some of those streaming devices for years that they suddenly need a new one that’s costlier than alternatives, including some smart TVs. In the US especially, the TV OS market is considered heavily saturated, presenting an uphill battle for newcomers.

Without Sonos ever confirming its streaming device, it’s hard to judge what the company would have offered to lure people to a new streaming platform. Perhaps the Sonos box could have worked better with Sonos devices than non-Sonos streaming devices. But vendor lock-in isn’t the best way to try to win new customers. That approach would also force Sonos to test if it has accrued the same type of customer loyalty as a company like Apple. Much of the goodwill needed for such customer loyalty was blatantly obliterated during Sonos’ botched app update last year.

According to The Verge, Sonos’ box didn’t even have a standout appearance. The publication said that by February 2025, the box was “deep into development,” and “about as nondescript as streaming hardware gets.”

“Viewed from the top, the device is a flattened black square and slightly thicker than a deck of trading cards,” The Verge reported at the time, citing images it reviewed.

Among the most appealing planned features was unified content from various streaming apps, like Netflix and Max, with “universal search across streaming accounts.” With the growing number of streaming services required to watch all your favorite content, this would be a good way to attract streamers but not necessarily a unique one. The ability to offer a more unified streaming experience is already being tackled by various smart TV OSes, including Samsung Tizen and Amazon Fire OS, as well as the Apple TV app and sister streaming services, like Disney+ and Hulu.

A potentially ad-riddled OS

There’s reason to suspect that the software that Sonos’ streaming box would have come out with would have been ad-coddling, user-tracking garbage.

In January, Janko Roettgers reported that ad giant The Trade Desk was supplying Sonos with its “core smart TV OS and facilitating deals with app publishers,” while Sonos worked on the streaming box’s hardware and user interface. The Trade Desk makes one of the world’s biggest demand-side platforms and hasn’t made streaming software or hardware before.

Sonos opting for The Trade Desk’s OS would have represented a boastful commitment to advertisers. Among the features that The Trade Desk markets its TV OS as having are a “cleaner supply chain for streaming TV advertising” and “cross-platform content discovery,” something that Sonos was reportedly targeting for its streaming hardware.

When reached for comment, a Sonos spokesperson confirmed that Sonos was working with The Trade Desk, saying: “We don’t comment on our roadmap, but as has been previously announced we have a long-standing relationship with The Trade Desk and that relationship continues.”

Sonos should take a moment to regroup

It’s also arguable that Sonos has much more important things to do than try to convince people that they need expensive, iterative improvements to their streaming software and hardware. Sonos’ bigger focus should be on convincing customers that it can still handle its bread and butter, which is audio devices.

In November 2023, when word first dropped about Sonos’ reported streaming plans, there was no doubt that Sonos understood how to make quality speakers. But last year, Sonos tarnished its reputation by rushing an app update to coincide with its first wireless headphones, the Sonos Ace. The app’s launch will go down as one of the biggest app failures in history. Sonos employees would go on to say that Sonos rushed the update with insufficient testing, resulting in Sonos device owners suddenly losing key features, like accessibility capabilities and the abilities to edit song queues and playlists and access local music libraries. Owners of older Sonos devices, aka long-time Sonos customers, were the most affected. Amid the fallout, hundreds of people were laid off, Sonos’ market value dropped by $600 million, and the company pegged initial remediation costs at $20 million to $30 million.

At this point, Sonos’ best hope at recovering losses is restoring the customer trust and brand reputation that it took years to build and months to deplete.

Sonos could also use time to recover and distill lessons from its most recent attempt at entering a new device category. Likely due to the app controversy associated with the cans, the Ace hasn’t been meeting sales expectations, per a February report from The Verge citing anonymous sources. If Sonos should learn anything from the Ace, it’s that breaking into a new field requires time, patience, and incredible attention to detail, including how long-time and incoming customers want to use their gear.

Of course, financial blowback from the app debacle could be more directly behind why Sonos isn’t releasing a streaming box. Additionally, Sonos saw numerous executive changes following the app fiasco, including the departure of the CEO who greenlit the streaming box, Patrick Spence. New executive leaders, including a new chief product officer and chief marketing officer, could have different views on the value of Sonos to enter the streaming market, too.

Sonos’ spokesperson didn’t answer Ars’ questions about Sonos’ reported plans to cancel the streaming box and whether the decision is related to the company’s app woes.

Sonos may have dodged a bullet

Ultimately, it didn’t sound like Sonos’ streaming box had the greatest potential to disrupt other TV streaming platforms already settled into people’s homes. It’s possible Sonos had other products that weren’t leaked. But the company would have had to come up with a unique and helpful feature in order to command a high price and compete with the likes of Apple’s TV 4K set-top box.

Even if Sonos came up with some killer feature or app for its streaming box, people are a lot less likely to gamble on a new product from the company now than they were before 2024’s app catastrophe. Sonos should prove that it can handle the basics before attempting to upcharge technologists for new streaming hardware.

Sonos’ streaming ambitions may only be off the table “for now,” new CEO Tom Conrad reportedly told employees today, per The Verge. But it’s probably best that Sonos focus its attention elsewhere for a while.

Sonos’ streaming box is reportedly canceled. Good riddance. Read More »