It only has a 100Mbps Ethernet jack, yes, but so do both of my TVs.
I don’t have any HEVC media so I’m not sure there, but the lack of 4K output would be a big stopper for me.
I’m also not sure about the streaming services it would support, but chances are if your running off of a Pi2, you’re sailing the seven seas for media. Will that thing even play YouTube in a browser at this point?
Nah, I used to have a YouTube plugin that worked years ago but don't any more. I don't use it for "TV" purposes, though, it's more of a home cinema device. I don't have background screens in my house.
But my point wasn't literally to use a Raspberry Pi 2, just that you can get cheap low power devices that beat "smart TV" crap. You can of course get much more recent ARM-based boards that support all the latest HD standards etc. I don't do the hedonic treadmill, though, so I'm still happy with 1080p Blu-ray.
Can't disagree with that. If it's still fulfilling it's purpose, why change?
Smart TVs really aren't very smart and a nicely ripped 1080p Blu-ray often looks better than what the streaming services will stream you anyway.
I don't think I'd even have a TV if it were just me. Wife and kids seem to need one though, so simplicity counts. What would they do if they couldn't watch people who watch people play games?
Isn't that the one with the network speed capped at 100MB/s and no capability to stream HEVC files?