Crt tvs broke all the time.

I truly despise that we stopped innovating on CRTs when flat panels came along.

Having to update my remote before I can mute the TV is not a problem I ever expected to have

But here we are

The way CRTs work is absolutely amazing. You're basically watching a ray gun shoot you and it's so quick it looks like a picture. It's an absolutely wild marvel of engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube

First question I asked myself when I saw it was, "Why does my TV have an update?"

I bought a TV to watch videos, not the other way around. Promptly disconnected that shit from the internet and it will stay that way.

"your TV needs to install an update, please connect to the internet", it says

how did it know it needed an update?

I am 60% sure I have seen this happen IRL

The TV has already been fed/plugged in to electric socket. Don't listen to its BS

CRTs did break. And they did suffer from burning.

Just buy a non-smart modern TV, you won't need a replacement and it won't connect to the internet.

We had upgraded our tiny crt TV to an LG Flatron crt early in 2000s. That boy was a fucki g machine. Over years only few rcas got wonky but this guy was still working as if we bought it yesterday. Original remote had all buttons working but had all markings erased due to use.

Father changed it to a LED 32" since it was slightly bigger and wide screen. But it would probably outlive me.

I think that's some major rose-colored-glasses thinking. They did break. A child with a magnet could also cause issues, at least on older ones (I say having been said child).

Are there open source TVs?