Please recommend a TV that meets the following criteria:

  • Full HD resolution
  • Has a USB port
  • Has an HDMI port
  • Reliably turns on by itself after a power outage (either at all times or only if the outage happened when the TV was on)
  • Cuts power supply to its USB ports when it switches off
  • Can be mounted on a wall

Smartness is not important, neither is the sound quality. Light weight is a plus, but otherwise the cheapest wins.

UK market.


We would like to buy several identical TVs to mount on walls to show non interactive dashboards.

Each TV would have its own Raspberry Pi 3 Zero W connected to its USB port for the power (the Zero W is so lightweight that 500mA from a USB 2.0 is plenty to power it) and its HDMI port for the video signal.

Each TV would be connected to a power socket with a timer, that would cut the power off during certain times of day. When the socket brings the power back on, the TV should start automatically, that powers on its USB ports, which switches the Raspberry Pi on, which provides the HDMI output for the TV to show.

We have done a proof of concept, it works exactly as we want, but the TV won't start automatically when the power comes back, so need to use the remote each time.

Researching this question on the Internet, I mostly see people complaining that their TV starts by itself when the power comes back, and in neither case it is clear whether it's actually a problem that the manufacturer would look into fixing or the intentional behaviour.

  • 1
    I'm curious if there's a cleaner solution besides just cutting the power outright. Many TVs have an IR input jack; what about leaving the Pi on, wiring up some of the GPIO to something, and controlling the TV via the Pi? There may also be other solutions I'm not aware of that are possible with smart TVs. – JMY1000 Dec 4 '18 at 18:31
  • 1
    @JMY1000 Well, another solution is to power the Pi from a non-TV USB port (e.g. also coming from the smart socket; we want to avoid separate power bricks for the Pi) and then have the Pi issue CEC commands to turn the TV on or off. – GSerg Dec 4 '18 at 20:34
  • Yeah that's basically a better version of what I was thinking. – JMY1000 Dec 9 '18 at 22:05

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