I disagree, because I’m not talking about ‘picture quality settings’ in the sense that such a phrase seems to be used today. Colour TVs had Colour, Tint, and Hue adjustments decades before smartphones or personal computers. Most people, upon finding that the picture is a little blue, or red, or whatever, can make the adjustments without being ‘tech-savvy’.
In this instance. You don’t know where else vizio has cut this corner and not gotten bitten by it. And have they even been bitten here? I’m guessing the TV wasn’t sold at a remoteless discount. So they got you to pay for the TV and then another 8 bucks for the remote. Seems like everything is working out very capitalistically for Vizio.
The docking station I used to listen to my Ipod Classic (yes, I know, one step above a Victrola) wore out so I went shopping for a new one. For $80 I came home with a Sony “Bluetooth” speaker, which, for the convenience of hopeless Luddites, still sports an Ipod jack.
I like to turn the music down low at bedtime. Guess what? The “bluetooth” speaker cuts out entirely when you turn the volume down to a certain point! No sound at all. Guess what, you can download some bullshit that will allow you to bypass the “sound disappears entirely” “feature”…*** if and only if*** you have a “smart” phone. (Sorry for all the quotation marks, but they help to make my point.)
Took it back to the store and the (millennial?) sales girl expressed shock at such a stupid “feature.” She recommended the JBL “bluetooth” speaker so I took that one home instead. Guess what again? Yup, same “feature.” I gave up and ordered another one of the old lo-fi docking stations off of EvilBay. But I’m sure it won’t be long til their “dumb” technology is no longer available…
(signed)
–Frustrated by “Progress.”
I bought an inexpensive ‘burner phone’ when our company went to a VOIP system and the app had unreasonable permission requirements. I never even registered it, no minutes or data, wifi only. It’s been working well for about a year and a half.
I have a ten-year-old Sony TV. When I bought it, I put the factory remote away and only ever use the Comcast remote or a cheap generic Sony remote I bought for maybe twenty bucks. I’ve always been able to get deep into the menus of the TV just by pressing Menu on the remote and then moving left or right to select the right subject heading. Not sure why that didn’t work for the OP.
There is no Menu button on the remote.
These apps often come with tracking software too.
My point exactly! You MUST click “I agree” to install any app. When you do that, you give them access to your information, and permit themto do whatever they damn well please with it.
I tell you people, you sell your soul!
~VOW
OK, that’s ridiculous. One menu button makes a lot of features and options available.
Hey, I’m still sore about them taking all the controls off of the TV itself and putting them on the remote. Remotes get lost, or run out of batteries, or get chewed up by the dog, and when that happens, it’s a lot better to have the inconvenience of having to get off the couch than to have the inconvenience of not being able to use the TV at all.
And I was born in 1977, and the first time I heard the term “Millennial” was when my sister (born 1974) sent me an e-mail listing all the touchstones of our generation and identifying us as millennials. Guess who complains loudly about all “those millennials” now?
I recently rented a car in order to do some business travel. I was very pleased with the rental; service at the airport rental counter was quick and friendly, and there was no upselling to such things as a GPS or a toll package. The car was clean and ran well. The return was a breeze.
A few days after, I got an e-mail from the rental company asking if I’d complete a survey for them. Hey, like I said, I was quite pleased, and wanted to let them know. So I did the survey.
One of the questions was, “How easy was our smartphone app to use?” Well, I didn’t use their app, so I selected “Did not use the app.” The next question was, “Why did you not use our app?” followed by a freeform field for whatever answer I might provide.
I answered the only possible answer, in my case: “I don’t know how to download an app to my phone. Besides, since everything went so smoothly at the counter, with the car, and upon the return, I wonder why an app is necessary.” I wonder what they’ll make of that.
I saw something similar to this a lot when I worked in the high-tech industry as a technical writer.
Generally, developers and engineers would come up with an idea, usually some new feature. Through prototypes and other means, they would decide (or not) whether the idea was doable. If it was, they would push for its inclusion in the next release.
Then somebody, usually the Marketing department but sometimes Customer Support, would ask, “Do our users and potential users really want that feature? They’re not asking for it, nor are we hearing that they want anything like it.”
The response from the developers and engineers was often, “Who cares what they want? We’ve proven that we can implement this feature, so we’re going to.”
It seems to me that the “Who cares what users want? We can do this, so we’re going to do this” attitude, is why the OP encountered what he did.
Yes. This still pisses me off. I don’t think they even have a “power” button anymore. They still had them a while back… don’t know if they do now. I haven’t bought a TV in 25 years. I watch any video, whether broadcast TV or anything else, through my computer.
My big screen TV actually does have control buttons on it - on the right-side edge. Not terribly well labeled, but definitely there. We bought it in… 2005 I think?
2005! How archaic!
~VOW
When I was on the phone with Vizio support, they had me unplug the TV and then push a button on the back. I think I saw volume buttons, and the other button might have been power. (I don’t remember what the button they wanted me to push was.) I had no idea those buttons were there. Black buttons on a black case with black (raised) lettering, in the opposite place from my older flat-screen TVs.
I recently bought a camera gimbal. Not sure why an app is needed as a remote control for something that is handheld, which means I now need two hands to use it; one to hold the gimbal & one to hold the smartphone. :smack:
It has an app; the app requires all permissions that it asks for, including location. You can’t use the app unless you approve all permissions, & you can’t use the app if your “location services” is set to off. (My default unless I’m actively using mapping software.) I won’t use a product that requires to know when & where I’m using it if the where part is not a part of the product; a map program needs it, gimbal app or solitaire not so much.
I am not convinced that there is no way to enter the setup menu without a smartphone or aftermarket remote. From the story related in the OP, it seems to me that once he admitted to having a smartphone, that was the only solution the tech support droid was interested in pursuing (you should have told him you had a Blackberry!).
It wouldn’t surprise me that a specific combination of buttons on the TV would allow you to enter the settings menu (for example pressing the “+” and “-” buttons simultaneously–or something else). The guy on the phone did not go into this since it likely easier for them to get you to download the app, which has the added bonus of letting them know exactly what TV shows you watch, and when you watch them (I keed, I keed).
Don’t buy a Tesla Model 3, then. Although it’s possible to drive without a smartphone, the phone is your primary key and the interface for all external functionality (locking, flashing the lights, etc.). They do sell a fob separately, but the phone is IMO a superior solution. I hate carrying extra shit, but I always have my phone. There is a credit card backup in case your phone battery is dead and you don’t have any alternative.
At this point, I put “adults who don’t carry a smartphone at all times” in pretty much the same category as the Amish.
No, the guy said you had to use a smartphone. But they got enough complaints that they built a proper remote control and supplied it with later televisions.