Re: Easily solved.
> Buy a traditional, dumb model instead.
Easier said than done
...
A brief shindig through the listings at John Lewis tells me that if I want something of roughly equivalent spec (basically a screen with an HDMI connection to be plugged into more capable devices), only 6 out of 28 didn't have wifi or smart features built in
Just disable the WiFi and don't plug in the Ethernet cable?(*)
Or do what I may well do and buy a large(**) computer monitor or "commercial display". Sound comes from the HiFi, TV from the external receiver. The monitor never needs to be anything more than a monitor. This is the way I'm using my Sony Trinitron, and will do until it dies as I've yet to meet an LCD display that can do the same job.
Separate components means, a: I'm not bereft of entertainment if one dies, and b: I can replace or upgrade a component at a time as funds allow
Examples: NEC or SONY.
Actually, not sure about that Sony as it seems to be a smart TV with the tuner taken out! Nevertheless, you get the point.
There are other caveats - computer monitors often can't do aspect ratio switching (handy if, like me, you have a library of old VHS or Laserdiscs that you don't want to lose), occasionally they can't do 50Hz/25Hz (and rarely 24Hz), they usually have a limited number of inputs (but many tuners will be able to do HDMI switching anyway) and you'll either have to get out of your chair to hit the power switch or just rely on it going to "sleep" when the tuner goes into standby. Computer monitors rarely have composite or s-video inputs but those called "commercial displays" usually do, and often also do most of the "TV-like" stuff that computer monitors can't.
Other than that, you can actually get a better picture, particularly on those displays which are designed for public advertising or the like which can have much better viewing angles than domestic TVs, especially those which can operate in "portrait" as well as "landscape" mode.
M.
(*)Though I do have a cheap smart Philips TV in the kitchen and I'm convinced that the reason it takes - literally - a whole minute to start up sometimes is because it's looking desperately for a network and not finding one. The Trinitron is slower to start up than when it was new, but there's a usable picture on screen after about 10 seconds, and I've yet to meet an LCD computer monitor that takes more than 5 or 6 seconds to get from "off" to "picture", some are a lot quicker.
(**)By "large" I mean anything over about 26". My Trinitron is 23" and just about big enough for the living room (it was the smallest widescreen available when I bought it) and I really can't see the point of anything bigger than 40" in most living rooms.