I've got a typical Samsung, software-bloated smart TV, only I've never connected it to the internet so it's effectively just a dumb TV. With modern smart TVs, the price is effectively subsidized by advertisers that expect to turn you into a recurring revenue stream. That's why dumb TVs typically cost more (if you can find them anymore).

In my view, advertisers paid for part of my TV, which I happily connected to a mini PC that is ad-blocked to the fullest extent, and all of the shows/movies I watch come from my arr stack and Plex.

Only downside is the TV still has a ~10 second nag popup at the bottom telling me to connect to the internet every time I turn it on. In my book, that's still less annoying than a TV powering on to a system menu instead of an input source.

This is why I lean more toward pc monitors. TV speakers tend to suck anyway, so I like using basic wired pc speakers with them anyway.

I hadn't thought about projectors!

I have a dumb TV and two smart TV's, which never get connected to the web. One of those smart TVs is a second computer monitor.

I may need to get a projector though. That's a great idea.