Will we ever get a "framework" TV or Car Head unit?

[cloneman]

Within 1-2 years every car multimedia system and every smart TV becomes lag-tastic piece of crap.

Will we ever get products in this space that come with a replaceable cpu/soc ?
It's insane that a 5,000$ TV or a car that costs 50,000$ does not have an option to put in a high performance Snapdragon 8  or Apple M1 CPU equivalent. They ship with chips that have 1/10th the performance. 

It's getting to be harder and harder to replace head units in cars due to all the integrations. Even teslas have a crappy Atom CPU and only recently moved to AMD.

You could sell this option as a overpriced upgrade and lots of luxury buyers would pay for it. 

[seanondemand]

Who's going to buy it? TV enthusiasts mostly care about picture quality and normies only care about price, and manufacturers would rather just sell you a new TV. Plus, the TV market is insanely competitive, so it's basically impossible to start up a new TV brand. The "luxury" buyers are a tiny part of the market - manufacturers make money on the Costco buyer market.

 

With cars, it's even worse - the infotainment is just a part of the product, and most buyers are price sensitive, so it's one of the first places to save some cash. This is how you get subscription heated seats. And again, most buyers are just going to buy whatever they get the best deal on - where's the manufacturer's incentive?

I do honestly think this is something that has been getting better - most manufacturers' infotainment has gotten pretty good, and pretty well everybody supports Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, which is all I really care about anymore.

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, cloneman said:

Within 1-2 years every car multimedia system and every smart TV becomes lag-tastic piece of crap.

Will we ever get products in this space that come with a replaceable cpu/soc ?
It's insane that a 5,000$ TV or a car that costs 50,000$ does not have an option to put in a high performance Snapdragon 8  or Apple M1 CPU equivalent. They ship with chips that have 1/10th the performance. 

It's getting to be harder and harder to replace head units in cars due to all the integrations. Even teslas have a crappy Atom CPU and only recently moved to AMD.

You could sell this option as a overpriced upgrade and lots of luxury buyers would pay for it. 

Doubt it.

 

Yes, it sucks that your TV or car may be stuck with obsolete tech for years, but the number of people for which this is a make-or-break feature isn't high. It's generally easier to just buy a dedicated media device for your TV, or to use phone-to-car tech like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

 

As enthusiasts, we have to resist the urge to assume we represent a large-enough chunk of any given market to warrant special treatment. Like the folks who insist that gamers dictate the PC market, or that most phone makers will eventually "see the light" and bring back headphone jacks. The truth is that most people not only don't care about enthusiast features, but don't need to care. That's why the TV market tends to be dominated by cheap sets, why most PCs have only integrated graphics and why Apple and Samsung continue to sell hundreds of millions of phones each year.

[rikitikitavi]

In addition to the comments above...

 

The 'multimedia part' of modern TVs and cars is not the criterion that will make them obsolete and undesirable one day.

 

Of course in the case of a car, you can't just add an apple tv and new speakers as easily, but the aftermarket is full of solutions: better audio, ability to play from a specific audio source, hands-free calls.

 

Also, I assume, a built-in audiojack/usb or simple streaming over BT solves concerns for most drivers. However, if you are craving for the big-screen upgrades on your dash and the ability to play videos/games... then... you should not be driving while paying attention to that or just get an iPad for your passengers.

 

On 3/17/2023 at 3:58 AM, cloneman said:

Within 1-2 years every car multimedia system and every smart TV becomes lag-tastic piece of crap.

I'm not sure of your experience, but these products aren't famous for their frequent (or any) software updates, so I don't know where the 1-2y lag comes from

 

On 3/17/2023 at 3:58 AM, cloneman said:

Even teslas have a crappy Atom CPU and only recently moved to AMD.

Teslas aren't cars - they are cellphones on wheels (gadgets/toys, or whatever consumer-entertainment device title you want to use) lmao

[Donut417]

On 3/17/2023 at 6:58 AM, cloneman said:

every smart TV becomes lag-tastic piece of crap.

Which is why you do like I do and connect a computer to your TV and do everything that way. Since connecting my MacBook Pro to my TV, its been a great experience, compared to the Amazon Fire stick I was using.