Inventory of useless features of smart TVs

Looking back on the past, the days when television first appeared were undoubtedly not pleasant. The joy that television has brought us has had a different experience since the 1980s. Looking back on those innovations and inventions on television, it is worth talking about. Today we will talk about those short-lived innovations and those "chicken ribs" functions that have shed a short-term sweat in the history of television. The chicken ribs are tasteless and a pity to throw away. It is absolutely appropriate to use them here to describe the various "innovative functions" in LCD TVs with serious homogeneity and noisy functional concept marketing.

In the decades since the advent of television, the most rapid development stage was in the 1980s and 1990s. my country introduced the first color TV production line in 1978, which opened the iron gate for the rapid development of color TV in China. Then various types of TVs, mini TVs, and portable TVs appeared, opening up TV manufacturing production lines with better sound quality. Various entertainment content was added later.

After all, each era has its own pursuits, and each era has different demands for products. Looking back at the rapid development of television in my country over the past 30 years, if you think about it carefully, whether it is the overseas big brands entering the domestic market or the domestic fine products that still stick to it, they have introduced different changes and innovations at different times, but why have these functions not been retained until now, or they still exist in today's televisions, but the frequency of use is very small and gradually forgotten. So today we will sort out the top 5 "useless" functions that exist in TV products.

Useless: Picture-in-picture is boring and multi-screen display is a pain

First of all, let's talk about the picture-in-picture function that was popular around 2000. It was a great innovation at the time. Just imagine, two sets of pictures on one screen, what a new invention worth showing off at that time. First, let's briefly introduce it. Picture-in-picture uses digital technology to display two sets of programs on the same screen. That is, one or more compressed sub-pictures are inserted into the main picture for normal viewing, so that other channels can be monitored while enjoying the main picture. Picture-in-picture is to place the sub-picture inside the main picture, usually 4:3 color TV has picture-in-picture; while picture-out-picture is to place the sub-picture outside the main picture, usually 16:9 color TV has picture-out-picture. But in promotional advertisements, picture-in-picture and picture-out-picture are collectively called picture-in-picture.

Picture-in-picture: one screen large and one screen small

In fact, when the picture-in-picture function first appeared, every TV manufacturer used this function as the main selling feature. Being able to watch two channels on one screen was a very pleasant thing at the time. For example, if there is a program and a TV series broadcast at the same time, but you want to watch both programs but don’t have time, the advantage of picture-in-picture is fully demonstrated. It is very pleasant to be able to watch two programs at the same time.

Early picture-in-picture television

The picture-in-picture function is just a small microcosm of the development and evolution of television. We can see that this function has a very short existence period. For a long period of time in the development of television, this function has not appeared again. The reason is that it is applicable to very few people, and no one will separate their eyes and brains for two TV series that are hard to give up. Because the picture-in-picture is a large screen and a small screen, the preview interface is actually very small, so it is also necessary for the times to be eliminated. Have you ever experienced this "useless" function that will not be used again after using it twice?

One screen for two purposes

After the "useless" function of picture-in-picture was eliminated, a function called "single screen dual display" appeared. This function is to deal with the competition for the TV in the living room. You like to watch TV series, and I like to watch variety shows. The process of fighting for the remote control will hurt the harmony. OK! Now I will give you two pictures on one screen. You go your way and I go mine. We don't interfere with each other. This function really attracted the attention of many users after it was launched. After all, many older people still like to watch TV, so it was popular for a while.

Dual display using glasses

Although this technology is very creative, there are many practical application problems. For example, when two people watch TV at the same time, the width of the TV is a fixed value, and the TV content is distorted, and sometimes it is not fully displayed. When two people face the same TV, the person on the left can easily see the content on the right, and vice versa, the person on the right can easily see the content on the left, just like a ghost. In terms of audio, one person has to wear a pair of headphones to output mono sound, and the effect is really not very good. Therefore, this "useless" function was forgotten in the short period of time after it was launched.

Useless: 3D makes people dizzy and the three-dimensional sense of immersion is poor

Nowadays, more and more TVs are equipped with 3D functions, but the realization of 3D functions has become ill-fated. The 3D movies we watch in the cinema all require a pair of dark glasses, so the brightness of the entire picture becomes very low. There is still a lot to say about the entry of 3D functions into the field of TV.

It is difficult to achieve cinematic effect with 3D

Let's talk about 3D glasses first. The first 3D glasses we had were made of plastic paper with one side red and the other side green. This kind of 3D technology that uses overlapping images to achieve a three-dimensional effect is called chromatic aberration 3D technology. This 3D effect is poor and the edges of the image are prone to color cast. It was the most common method of using 3D technology in the early days.

Thick 3D glasses

The second is very light 3D glasses. The 3D technology corresponding to this type of glasses is called passive polarized light 3D technology, also known as flicker-free 3D technology. This type of imaging uses an ultra-high refresh rate of 240Hz-480Hz to shake two sets of images back and forth to achieve a high degree of eye movement overlap to form 3D technology. This 3D technology is used in many TVs such as LG.

The last item is a pair of glasses that are very heavy to wear and require batteries to power. This is called shutter 3D technology. It uses slight differences between the left and right eyes to achieve a high-speed image refresh rate to see the 3D effect. It uses a close-up and a distant picture to refresh back and forth, and creates a 3D illusion by quickly shaking the screen. The most important representative is Samsung.

This effect is difficult to achieve

There are so many 3D technologies. Now, almost every TV is equipped with 3D technology, but is it easy to use? Let me tell you slowly. 3D technology is still a very popular function at present, but the difference between 3D and non-3D was very big three years ago. In fact, no matter what technology is used for 3D viewing, it is still far from the effect of the cinema. And through some experiments, I know that using 3D glasses to watch 3D programs will make the eyes tired faster. Whether using non-flash 3D or flash 3D technology, you can't get the effect of the cinema when watching. Besides, there are not many 3D movies that can be played on TV at present. It is useless to have a big hardware machine but suffer from not having a good weapon to play its strength, so this "chicken rib" function ranks on the TOP 5 list.

Useless: Gesture operation is too tiring and speaking operation is too much of a mouthful

I believe that many people have heard about using gestures to control the TV when they were imagining the future of television. That is, you can easily control it with your hands without waving the remote control in the air. The vision has finally come true. Many TV manufacturers have launched their own gesture-controlled TVs. Korean giants and some domestic giant TV companies are all involved.

This is definitely what you want.

However, during the demonstration, I always miss the right spot and have to move very slowly, just like doing Tai Chi. To be honest, this technology is really cool, but you will know how troublesome it is when you really use it. First of all, you have to make sure that the room is bright enough, otherwise the camera in front of the TV will not be able to recognize your movements.

This operation is actually difficult to control

Secondly, your movements should be slow and gentle when operating. If they are too fast, the TV will not recognize them. Finally, even if you do everything right, you will find that there are only a few functions that can be controlled, such as changing channels and adjusting the volume. In addition, your arms have to be waved in the air, which is very tiring after a long time. It is not as convenient and comfortable as holding the remote control and pressing a few times. Since gesture operation uses the front camera to capture the user's movements, it can sometimes be very inaccurate, resulting in control failure and errors. This technology was not very rigorous at the time, so it was soon abandoned. The "useless" function was immediately apparent.

There is also a voice control function using the voice control button on the remote control. More and more TVs are now using this function, and it is claimed that the operation with voice function will free your hands, bringing the ultimate TV operation experience, which can simplify the use of the TV remote control and reduce the use of buttons.

Most TVs come with voice control

When such a slogan comes out, many elderly people may be tempted when they hear it, because the speed of technological development is really too fast nowadays, and the increasingly advanced technology makes it difficult for them to quickly select the programs they want. They don’t know how to use the dazzling remote control. Isn’t simple voice control easy? However, when you say "turn on CCTV 1", the screen prompts you with "Please say it again", you will feel that it is not very easy to use.

These need to be improved if they want to be accurately controlled

Chinese characters are profound and the language is ever-changing. If you use a dialect from different places, voice control may not work. So although the voice function exists, it is rarely fully utilized. It is just used for fun and then left alone. It is useless.

Useless: Browsing the web on TV is hard on the eyes and inputting requires patience

Most of today's TVs are equipped with smart operating systems, whether it's the deeply optimized Android smart operating system or LG's own webOS smart operating system, which allows easy Internet surfing through a browser. However, the seemingly fashionable and impressive functions are actually extremely useless.

The webOS smart operating system's web browsing is a completely new design

TV manufacturers who claim that surfing the Internet on a large screen is a brand new Internet experience have definitely not done enough market research reports on user experience. Our eyes are not all like pilots who can fly fighter jets. Generally, there are a lot of text on web pages, and depending on the size of the browser, the text becomes quite small, so it is really difficult to find content.

It is tiring to read words on the TV

First of all, except for a few manufacturers who have developed systems and browsers for TV, most other TV browsers are ported from Android clients. The browser window, menu layout, mouse usage, and browser sliding screen all do not take into account the TV control mode, which is very limited. Secondly, most TV dramas still use multi-button remote controls, which call out the virtual keyboard on the screen for operation, which is very inconvenient to use. Without a full keyboard remote control, typing and searching is quite troublesome. Even if you want to enter www.zol.com.cn, you need to switch back and forth many times, which is really troublesome. Do you think such functions are "useless"?

postscript:

The development of television is very rapid. From black and white to color, from CRT to plasma and then to the current LCD screen, the iteration and replacement are very rapid, and the innovative functions are also obvious. Among them, mobile devices such as smart phones have also affected the development of television. The improvement of picture quality has also encountered a bottleneck. Therefore, when seeking certain changes elsewhere, many TV manufacturers are pursuing more usage functions.

The above are based on the current consumer opinions and the "weird" or "useless" functions that have appeared in the past. We are not complaining about the innovation of the TV industry, but we hope that TV manufacturers can stand from the perspective of the general public and understand in depth the functions that users want to use, rather than launching some gimmicky functions with no practical use. Talking about innovation and reform on the premise of bringing user experience and improvement will be the mature practice of TV manufacturers in the future.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.