My degree is in mechanical engineering, but I work in software development. Software is eating the world for good reasons.
How many gates would it take to have a pure hardware decoder for ATSC?
A microcontroller-based dishwasher timer is much cheaper to design and manufacture, and wears out more slowly under many conditions, than a mechanical timer.
I wouldn't be surprised if a micontroller could wring another 1% efficiency out of your refrigerator vs. an analog or mechanical controller.
A microcontroller inside the speaker could perform some digital signal processing to account for the speaker's frequency response, so that the receiver doesn't have to know any details about the speakers.
Now, I do see little reason to make any of the non-TV appliances you mention reliant upon network connectivity or anything outside themselves apart from power and physical consumables (soap, water, etc.). Ideally, the television itself would be split into a screen with only HDMI in, and a small box or dongle that performs ATSC reception, decoding, and any smart TV functionality. The television itself should be something like a Chromecast.
The "Smart" in the post you replied to stands for something else than your examples (which are absolutely valid uses cases!).
We could summarize it as "needlessly Internet connected, reporting to some endpoint in the cloud outside of your control, which is now a point of failure".
Indeed my dishwasher is likely more reliable, and my fridge can get more efficient with a microcontroller. But the 2017 version is likely to suddenly stop working is someone in Korea forgets to renew a certificate (or worse, become part of a botnet, or act as an breach in the security of your network like the aquarium in Vegas I read about lately). Most of the times, the "added value" of this new dependency is harvesting your data for profit (which won't get passed down to you as a better price, don't worry).
I should have quoted the portion I was responding to. I was responding to "I have yet to hear any compelling reason to make these devices dependent on software."
Yes, you have possibly valid use cases. I should have clarified that my objection is to Internet connectivity specifically, although I am not yet persuaded that a 1% efficiency gain for my refrigerator or other appliance (regardless of connectivity) justifies the additional expense and complexity of using a microprocessor.
"Smart" does not mean computer-controlled, as opposed to mechanical. "Smart" implies that it talks to and is controlled and updated via the internet and usually cell phone apps. Offline non-smart devices are still wholeheartedly welcome to use computers for internal and local control.
How many gates would it take to have a pure hardware decoder for ATSC?
A microcontroller-based dishwasher timer is much cheaper to design and manufacture, and wears out more slowly under many conditions, than a mechanical timer.
I wouldn't be surprised if a micontroller could wring another 1% efficiency out of your refrigerator vs. an analog or mechanical controller.
A microcontroller inside the speaker could perform some digital signal processing to account for the speaker's frequency response, so that the receiver doesn't have to know any details about the speakers.
Now, I do see little reason to make any of the non-TV appliances you mention reliant upon network connectivity or anything outside themselves apart from power and physical consumables (soap, water, etc.). Ideally, the television itself would be split into a screen with only HDMI in, and a small box or dongle that performs ATSC reception, decoding, and any smart TV functionality. The television itself should be something like a Chromecast.