It's no longer possible to buy any non-low-end TV that is not smart. "Vote with your wallet" doesn't help you much if there aren't any good candidates to vote for.

A few years ago I got an "Ok" TV, sold in Germany, house-brand of Saturn/Mediamarkt.

It was the only model in the store that wasn't smart.

My next purchase is gonna be a projector, so I hope those also don't get infested.

> A few years ago I got an "Ok" TV, sold in Germany, house-brand of Saturn/Mediamarkt.

I'm guessing this is probably on par with Sceptre TVs in the US.

> My next purchase is gonna be a projector, so I hope those also don't get infested.

Many of those are very sensibly going the route of saying "we assume you want some kind of separate smart-TV stick, so here's a compartment for it with power and HDMI". Not all of them, but many.

Do smart TVs require an app? Or do they have a self-hosted setup process?

I know at one point Vizio TVs required you to install the app and enable location to be able to setup a new TV out of the box.

Yuck. I still fancy my chances buying an app-free toilet seat for a while.