“why does this $2+k TV not include a tuner. if I buy a Samsung TV and spend $2+k on it, it includes a tuner.”
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They are calling these "Home Theater Displays" and dropping the tuner to save cost. They offer a USB dongle tuner that you can add to it. They likely looked at the fact that 80-90% of TV users do not use an antenna. I do use an antenna in my home, but it is not connected to my TV. I have a Tablo with 4 tuners that sits in a closet and connects to a USB hard drive, and to my Internet Router. I do not have cable or satellite, only the antenna, and DVR all the shows with the Tablo. I watch the shows on my TV through the Roku Tablo app. I can also watch live Antenna TV too, and it allows me to pause the live TV and go make a sandwich and when I get back, skip through the commercials. So even I would not need the built in tuner on the TV. This may be the future of TV tuners as when the broadcast industry makes the switch to ATSC 3.0, the tuner in your Samsung won't work for that anyway. So external ATSC 3.0 tuners with 4K HDMI outputs will be the way all people connect an antenna. Think of it as a converter box for 4K OTA(over the air) broadcasts. I am a Broadcast Engineer for an NBC affiliate.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Another way to keep the cost down, and since most people don't use it anyway (cable boxes, satellite, DVRs, dvd/blu-ray, PCs, Roku, etc...) it's seen as a waste. (I think you can buy one for $30 if you really need one)
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