Are you still able to use it like a normal tv? I'm looking forward to buy a new TV. My idea was to buy a standard (non smart) tv and buy a streaming box like Nvidia shield.
But it looks there are no standard 4K TVs anymore. I'm sceptical of buying a smart TV. What if the tv stops getting support after 3 years? TVs are not phones, they last at least a decade.
Then you buy a Nvidia Shield. Or Firestick. Or Roku, whatever works for you.
But yeah, Smart TV's are dumb. I wish I could buy a TV with no OS.
TVs are not phones, they last at least a decade.
That's debatable (on both sides). TVs don't seem to last as long now-a-days as they used to and phones could last longer, but software advances (OS and apps) drive them into premature obsolescence.
The TV tuner, the display and the ports are not going to be affected by the Smart TV eventually not getting anymore software updates. Just buy whatever TV meets your non smart TV qualifications and ignore the Smart features of it (unless you actually like some of them). Get a Shield or another box like you were planning on doing and just treat the TV like a TV.
Smart TVs after a long period basically get neglected and stop getting app updates. I have a 2015 Samsung smart TV and yes a good majority of the apps still work but they haven't been updated in years. Plex for example, latest app was from 2018. Granted I still get firmware updates but I don't know what the update was about. But regardless, ignore the smart portion of the tv and stick whatever streaming device you want and depend on that.
Yeah I wouldn't care or worry about the TV's system. I would always use the Shield TV anyways because it provides a far superior experience/functionality. I have 3 Shield TV's. Some Smart TV's have decent systems, others are just kinda "dumb".
I would probably recommend buying a good TV (LG's 4K OLED come to mind) on sale. Pretty much any reasonable TV will end up being "smart" just because it doesn't take much for manufacturers to tack it on the TV, and it's worth it to attract customers.
I struggled with that last fall. I lost the struggle. I wanted just a plain 65" or 75" TV to connect a Roku, etc. I only found Sceptre made what looked like a decent NON-smart TV. However, I was overruled, because the significant other had never heard of Sceptre, and I ended up with a 65" Sony Android TV instead.
With Android TV it really matters how long your apps will keep updating for, updates for those will be needed and surpass os support. People who have Nexus Players can still use them, for the slow things they are. The apps all still login and work fine and get updated.
Dumb TVs aren't really a thing anymore because the market of people looking for them just isn't that big (even though a dedicated streaming device almost always provides a better experience.) It also costs manufacturers next to nothing to make a TV smart these days. Processors get faster and cheaper every year and they already have to put halfway decent processors in these things to handle the crazy upscaling capabilities of new TVs.
But to answer your question... Nothing. If your TV stops getting updates to the point that it becomes problematic, just get a cheap streaming device and ignore the TV's smart features altogether. Some smart TV interfaces (Vizio) are easier to ignore than others (LG), but ultimately they all can be ignored pretty easily.
It still works as a tv