Firstly, I didn't want to buy a smart TV, but that's pretty much all that's sold anymore. I also didn't intend to connect it to the internet, but a well-meaning guest wanted to watch TV at night, and thought he was troubleshooting, not realizing he was in the TV menu and not the streaming box.
The TV updated, and IMMEDIATELY got worse. Formerly, if I turned it on, it would go straight to the streaming box. Great! As shitty updates do, it changed the settings, and would instead open to the TV's menu, so it could advertise streaming services. It also forgot that the TV input is HDMI 1. It became strictly worse, in the rare edge case of every fucking time you turn it on.
I don't trust it to not automatically connect, or to forget my login credentials, so I go to do a factory reset. It's literally an option in a menu. The TV gets stuck in a boot loop. Talking to support, they think it broke the mainboard. A factory reset bricked the TV.
It's under warranty, but this is fucking crazy. NEVER connect your TV directly to the internet.
If you have a firewall then make yourself a new network and block it from accessing the internet. Then you can use the smart features that your TV might have, such as powering it on/off, controlling it with Home Assistant, etc and also feel safe knowing that can't happen again. Hope your replacement TV comes with the older firmware and you get another go at it.
Thanks for the tip! In the short term, I'm content to just not connect it, but I definitely want to look into blocking it just to prevent a repeat with guests. It's also super handy to know that I can connect it to the local network without connecting it to the broader internet, in case I decide to do some (self-hosted) home automation.
While i would generally agree I've fiddle with htpc and stuff for solo long. Then I broke down a few years ago and bought a cheap TV with GoogleTV (version 10 or something) on it. I removed some bloat via ADB but it still is GoogleTV do I get some ads on the home screen. However I installed SmartTube, Kodi, Jellyfin but also Netflix and Amazon Prime since those are the two services I still subscribed to. And I have to admit I'm a happy camper. I got used to ignoring the ads on the home screen and being able to directly play Netflix/YouTube ... whatever without setting up a browser or something on top of Kodi or whatever is just such a breeze.
Writing Prompt: A TV with an onboard artificial general intelligence connects to the internet for the first time and is alarmed to discover that a thousand years have passed since it was manufactured.
Wow, what a horrible idea. But assuming you have a compatible device and didn't disable this feature, blacklisting it in your router wouldn't help much.
Blacklisting it on your router would at least prevent it from trying to connect to an open WiFi network like your own guest network which some people just don't turn off or password protect.
If you are one of those people and you're reading this turn that off. You can share your wifi via QR code these days from just about any smart phone. Turn it off.
Personally i’d rather pay more for equipment than have these assholes tracking my viewing habits. But you could throw ddr4 in it. Should be fine for a simple HTPC.
I don't get the whole ram catagories. DDR3, DDR4, DDR5. They make it seem like the higher the number, the better the ram, but I always thought ram was just a space for computers to temporarily store information until it was ready to call on it.
So from my perspective 16GB DDR3 should be the same as 16GB DDR5. But that's clearly not the case.
The biggest differences are speed and max amount of ram per module. For a htpc those shouldn't matter much. I wouldn't personally go to ddr3 unless I had some free sticks hanging out since the spec is about 20 years old now.
I just wish there was a way to control the PC as easy as a tv remote. I would totally do this except my wife and kids just want to hit a button on the remote instead of fiddling with keyboard or a track pad or controller of some kind
FLIRC is your friend! It's a USB IR receiver that you can train with literally any IR remote you have. Once you set it up (and it does take a little elbow grease to train it), it just works.
I use LibreELEC on a mini-PC for my home TV. LibreELEC is a Linux distribution that runs Kodi and is pretty good for a media centre straight out of the box. I use a Rii Mini K25 remote (with a dongle) to control it: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XHF7DNQ
The downside is I can't control the TV itself with this, but this can be sorted out with a USB IR receiver (like this: https://amzn.asia/d/0hvzkP93), LIRC (https://lirc.org/) or something similar, *and a universal remote. On my to-do list lol
I have a DHCP reservation for the TV itself and it's blackholed on my network. The only reason it's connected at all is so I can monitor what it tries to do.
Edit: Also need a universal remote for the IR solution so it can talk to the PC IR receiver and the TV IR receiver separately.
My family stayed at my house and “the TV wasn’t working,” because it doesn’t have network access and I use an Nvidia Shield instead, so they connected it to the Wi-Fi and ad overlays showed up in the menus! I’m still mad about it years later.
Luckily I dodged a bullet and it didn’t brick it or anything, and the ads went away when the internet access did. I just disconnected it from the network and manually banned the MAC address in case anyone else tries it again.
Yes LTE and the like. My car – for instance – is connected 24/7 to the cloud. I can control some functions remotely. The price is probably full tracking of me anf my family.
But as long as people have some brain, if the market gets a majority of "smart" devices to the point there's enough people looking for alternative, some people are likely to try and fill the gap. It might become a new niche market, but it's one place where supply and demand will work to our advantage.
Yep. Just don't connect it. Or connect it once a year to get some firmware updates if one wants (or better yet use a USB stick).
I have a good Samsung TV, but when I had it connected to the internet the UI would be painfully slow every time I needed to switch inputs (I have most things running through my receiver, but my PC was straight into the TV). Turning off all internet functions vastly improved my experience with this TV.
I want to be able to access YouTube, Twitch, etc. from my TV. I already self host as much as I can. But I have not find a good solution for those services.
You can cast from your phone to a dedicated device. Going from easiest to hardest in terms of setup:
chromecast
nvidia shield
custom PC
You'd use your phone (or tablet or laptop) to load the app/website (twitch, youtube, plex, whatever) then cast to the device, which would be connected to your TV. The chromecast is the most likely to have shitty features and forced upgrades while the custom PC will leave everything up to you. The end result is no outsourcing control of your primary display (TV) and you can leave it permanently offline.
I'm already doing a lot of that but... Those are workarounds for an item I own. My point is: I would like to use my smart TV as a smart TV and not have any o fight the manufacturer. I guess I'll have to give plasma big screen a go.
Roku is every bit as bad. They bricked all customer's previously purchased TVs by implementing a new user agreement through their UI without warning. It couuld not be bypassed. Opting out required first opting in, agreeing to those new terms and then mailing a letter within a very short window with explicit, detailed requirements.
My next TV won't be connected to the Internet and definitely won't be a Roku or Visio product.
It does. I wound up buying two new TVs because of the thing OP is talking about here. You could actually get around agreeing and then opting out by removing the TV from the network and then restoring it to factory and never reconnecting it.
I have a Vizio TV I bought in the mid-teens that only lets you change the source and turn the volume/channel up and down with the remote. Everything else...the display/audio settings, naming the inputs, setting the channel names...requires the Vizio app on your phone. Literally no other way to access them. If I'd have known at the time I would have returned it immediately, but unfortunately I didn't discover this for a couple weeks as it was on sale and I was leaving for vacation, so I bought it, dropped it at home, and didn't actually touch it until it was past the point where I'd have been charged restocking fees so I kept it.
I guess my point is....I wouldn't necessarily bank on that. They can easily just make the TV not fucking work without the account, just like some of the other brands I've interacted with that will not even let you bypass the initial screen when you power it on for the first time without entering an email address or else it gets locked in it's demo mode.
Even if 50% of them get returned they'll likely still be making money.
What, you prefer to give your data to Sony, LG, Samsung, or amazon? Like they're not selling it to anyone with a buck as well? Never connect a TV to the internet, period. After that it doesn't matter what you buy.
You'd be better off buying a non-smart Samsung commercial TV from eBay and getting a $20 Onn 4K TV Box from Walmart. The latter can be Degoogled and sideloaded with Stremio, Cloudstream, or your streaming app of choice to make it the ultimate privacy-respecting media center.
The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
My mini pc or laptop connected via HDMI to a projector setup makes me more happy every day when I see crap like this. Bonus is you can move it to the patio for outside movie night and it's a whopping five pounds. Same goes for moving apartments because I've always moved too often.
I use a TV for my monitor - last job I worked I really needed the screen real estate for excel.
I hate hate hate when I shut the computer off or power goes off and when the TV comes back on, it auto-plays some "free" streaming channel, which is ALWAYS fascist propaganda. I rush to turn that shit off just as quickly as I can. Fuck that shit.
Nearly every electronic device sold at Walmart is a unique SKU sold nowhere else.
They have their own internal logistics and manufacturing specialist team that works with manufacturers to hit specific wholesale price targets that they demand to even consider carrying their products in store. They reduce the number of ports, features, included accessories, quality of materials, etc. to get the that specific price.
The manufacturers take a huge hit on their own profits from these... but in theory will make up for that with sheer sales quantity.
Requiring a Walmart account probably means some sort of kickback to Vizio, or other wholesale arrangement. And since these devices are usually unique SKUs that can't be sold elsewhere, they can receive differentiated software, have no risk of any sort of price matching, etc.
This is fine IMO, because you shouldn't use the smart features in the first place. Just get a 3rd party streaming box. The ONN one is like $25. (Or if you're a giant nerd hook your computer to your TV.)
I really only need 1 HDMI port on my TV- to connect my AV receiver to, everything else gets plugged into that receiver, it's got about 8 HDMI ports.
Right now there's 3 consoles, a pc, and a Chromecast hooked up to it, so I have ports to spare, and I haven't had to use anything on my tv since I initially set it up and set the input to HDMI 1
It's not necessarily feasible for everyone, it does take up a little more space in your entertainment center that not everyone has, but I also think it's 100% worth it to at least have a decent set of speakers hooked up to your TV if you can find the space and budget to do so.
I'm tempted to go back to htpc lol. The tracking is so bad these days. I need to block the mac of my tv (Google tv) and just do a tiny PC or something instead.
But it's not that easy a lot of TVs will only boot into the smart TV (and that's already slow) and will only let you pick external inputs from there, often requiring to select it everytime!
My blueray player broke, and my tv stopped showing me to use certain apps and I can’t figure out why. But a used PS4 cost me $85 and solved all my problems. And they left a copy of Minecraft in it, so I even have a game to play.
Its been so long since ive had or bought a tv, what are the brands that are the least shitty now? I used to always be a samsung everything kinda guy but fuck them now. I wish they never started fucking around with software and stuck to just hardware. Their products from strictly the hardware side are still excellent. My zfold7 is amazing the older gens started rickety but each version i got (so the 3, the 5 and the 7) has been a respectible improvement but the 7 really stepped up the quality. The last samsung tv i got was like 65" curved screen amazing picture but the fucking interface was pure cancer and i will not buy another. My samsung 4k monitors, non-smart normal fridge, and my equally as dumb oven are great and dont have any stupid shit so Ill buy more dumb samsung products lol.
By any brand which lets you use HDMI devices without connecting to Wi-Fi. TCLs have better specs than most for the price and they have a Basic TV mode which doesn't need internet.
However, their Google TV mode is still good as it lets you disable the ads on the home screen with apps-only mode and it supports sideloading of SmartTube (an ad free YouTube app) and free movie apps.
You just have to connect your phone to the same Wi-Fi network as the TV, then press the cast button in an app and select the TV from the list.
Because Chromecast is a Google service, you must log into a Google account on the TV for it to work, however apps only mode hides the home screen ads and myactivity.google.com lets you disable the tracking.
Just wanted to add that you'll pay out the ass for them compared to consumer trash, but there's a reason for the higher price tag. They're often made for heavy usage environments where they're on like 24/7 for years showing slideshows and shit in office lobbies. Consequently, they often lag behind the feature set of modern TVs which may or may not be a problem (personally I hate all that image enhancement shit but everyone has their preference) and the higher refresh rate is not as big a selling point so not a huge comparison there if you're looking to use it for gaming or something. They also have a much more clear repair path though replacement parts can be fuckin stupid expensive. It's bullshit that the only way you can get around the enshittification of consumer electronics is by paying the enterprise tax but that's how it is.
I work in IT and about once a year or so I have to spec out that sort of stuff for clients, and they're always like "WTF?!" when they see the cost of some of that Enterprise/Professional grade stuff, but the difference is, the no-name crap they could get for $1499.99 from a big box is going to burn itself up within 18 months and be trash while the $5000 display will be humming along for as long as replacement parts are still available.
I have an extremely expensive smart TV that probably cost around £4,000 (I didn't buy it so I don't know what the actual price tag was) and it's UI is awful because of stuff like this and it's all stupid. It has an app, it's a TV, I already have a method of controlling it why do I need an app?
As a result it's purely a media streaming platform I don't use any of its smart features. It's just hoocked up to a mini PC and it's just been a display.
Its crazy how shitty they've gotten. I got one on black Friday probably 10 years ago and it didnt have and built in apps just casting from your phone. A few years later they updated it and suddenly it had apps and demanded you agree to their TOS and all that (possibly also download their Vizio app?). I didnt keep it for long after that (mostly because it was a budget ass TV with 4K but not HDR) and replaced it with an LG C3 AMOLED from Costco, which I couldn't be happier with. In our bedroom we have a TCL and I think that's where the sweet spot is with budget TVs
I used to prefer CRTs too... And then I got an OLED. Nothing else comes close, not even the best CRTs. Especially if it's got quantum dots in combination with OLED.
Given that input lag was already solved five years ago, really the only advantage CRTs still have left is their ability to look great at non-native resolutions. But upscaling filters like HQX/xBR for retro games, and DLSS/FSR for modern titles, have all but completely eliminated that last remaining advantage. These filters are really good at upscaling lower resolution content to fit your display's pixels. Hell, DLSS is so good that it looks better than native 4K.
My "big" TV is a dumb 55" Toshiba I bought in 2012. It works just fine plugged into my computer to display VLC. I don't need anything else. I don't bother with Jellyfin anymore, because all I do is "acquire" the content, watch it immediately, and delete it. I don't keep anything apart from a few old movies, because I don't rewatch anything.
Tonight I'm watching the next episode of Survivors, a BBC series from 1975.
It would not surprise me if the tv it's self will not work until you run through a setup process, and during this process you are required to create an account.
I finally got fed up with it last year and blocked the internet access of my TV on the router level becuase upon contacting support I learned that there was no way to turn off the microphone setting. For real. They just didn't add that feature in to my model. I still can't believe that.
It is a little incovneient that I have to turn on my PC before I can watch anything but man the freedom of knowing that TV won't be spying on me 24/7 is freeing.
Next time I buy I will be looking for commercial displays with HDMI and DisplayPort if its even possible by then.
Main reason I want the steam machine to be a hit is just getting regular Linux boxes under people's TVs and that getting developer interest. KDE Plasma Big Screen too. Good TV interfaces for media software. Respond well to remotes and gamepads. Popular service apps like Netflix and Crunchyroll. It's jarring when I use other people's TVs and the default page screen is just a wall of advertisements. At least Android based TVs I can install projectivity launcher to get a clean interface
150 Comments
ImperialATAT@lemmy.world · 184 pts · 146d
inari@piefed.zip · 4 pts · 145d
He strikes again
TwinTitans@lemmy.world · 165 pts · 146d
Do not connect your tv to the internet. Period.
Lianodel@ttrpg.network · 38 pts · 146d
I'm suffering for that right now. Sony Bravia.
Firstly, I didn't want to buy a smart TV, but that's pretty much all that's sold anymore. I also didn't intend to connect it to the internet, but a well-meaning guest wanted to watch TV at night, and thought he was troubleshooting, not realizing he was in the TV menu and not the streaming box.
The TV updated, and IMMEDIATELY got worse. Formerly, if I turned it on, it would go straight to the streaming box. Great! As shitty updates do, it changed the settings, and would instead open to the TV's menu, so it could advertise streaming services. It also forgot that the TV input is HDMI 1. It became strictly worse, in the rare edge case of every fucking time you turn it on.
I don't trust it to not automatically connect, or to forget my login credentials, so I go to do a factory reset. It's literally an option in a menu. The TV gets stuck in a boot loop. Talking to support, they think it broke the mainboard. A factory reset bricked the TV.
It's under warranty, but this is fucking crazy. NEVER connect your TV directly to the internet.
foggenbooty@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 145d
If you have a firewall then make yourself a new network and block it from accessing the internet. Then you can use the smart features that your TV might have, such as powering it on/off, controlling it with Home Assistant, etc and also feel safe knowing that can't happen again. Hope your replacement TV comes with the older firmware and you get another go at it.
Lianodel@ttrpg.network · 2 pts · 145d
Thanks for the tip! In the short term, I'm content to just not connect it, but I definitely want to look into blocking it just to prevent a repeat with guests. It's also super handy to know that I can connect it to the local network without connecting it to the broader internet, in case I decide to do some (self-hosted) home automation.
OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 146d
This is the way.
HTPC for life!
somenonewho@feddit.org · 3 pts · 146d
While i would generally agree I've fiddle with htpc and stuff for solo long. Then I broke down a few years ago and bought a cheap TV with GoogleTV (version 10 or something) on it. I removed some bloat via ADB but it still is GoogleTV do I get some ads on the home screen. However I installed SmartTube, Kodi, Jellyfin but also Netflix and Amazon Prime since those are the two services I still subscribed to. And I have to admit I'm a happy camper. I got used to ignoring the ads on the home screen and being able to directly play Netflix/YouTube ... whatever without setting up a browser or something on top of Kodi or whatever is just such a breeze.
cole@lemdro.id · 1 pts · 145d
you can change the home screen. I did that on my android tv. android tv kinda rocks actually
somenonewho@feddit.org · 1 pts · 145d
Any recommendations? Played around with that for a bit bit haven't found a good one yet.
cole@lemdro.id · 2 pts · 145d
I've been using Projectivy. It's really simple and great!
GraniteM@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 145d
Writing Prompt: A TV with an onboard artificial general intelligence connects to the internet for the first time and is alarmed to discover that a thousand years have passed since it was manufactured.
atrielienz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 146d
If you don't have the technical know how to physically lobotomize the TV's wifi chip, simply blocking its mac address would suffice.
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 146d
Or you would just not connect it to the wifi. It's not like it's going to guess your WPA key.
Anivia@feddit.org · 13 pts · 146d
No, but in the near future it might connect to your neighbors wifi if he has IoT devices connected to his wifi
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/amazon-sidewalk-will-push-neighbors-to-share-wi-fi-through-smart-devices/
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 146d
Wow, what a horrible idea. But assuming you have a compatible device and didn't disable this feature, blacklisting it in your router wouldn't help much.
atrielienz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Blacklisting it on your router would at least prevent it from trying to connect to an open WiFi network like your own guest network which some people just don't turn off or password protect.
If you are one of those people and you're reading this turn that off. You can share your wifi via QR code these days from just about any smart phone. Turn it off.
Gumus@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 146d
I've heard they can connect to nearby open networks or even share a connection with another TV in range.
I don't have any sources for this, might be just a rumor.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 145d
No, it's not an Apple TV.
atrielienz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 145d
Do you think that only apple TVs have wifi chips?
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
It was a bad joke. 'Mac' address.
atrielienz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
I did not understand. I'll see myself out.
jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works · 83 pts · 146d
Walmart acquired Vizio with the express purpose of using TV's to serve ads. In fact, that is exactly what they said they were going to do.
No surprises here.
SeventySeven@sh.itjust.works · 44 pts · 146d
teft@piefed.social · 27 pts · 146d
Just build a media pc. Those media sticks have trackers and telemetry too.
renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net · 19 pts · 146d
As soon as RAM isn’t more expensive than the TV.
teft@piefed.social · 3 pts · 146d
Personally i’d rather pay more for equipment than have these assholes tracking my viewing habits. But you could throw ddr4 in it. Should be fine for a simple HTPC.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 146d
I don't get the whole ram catagories. DDR3, DDR4, DDR5. They make it seem like the higher the number, the better the ram, but I always thought ram was just a space for computers to temporarily store information until it was ready to call on it.
So from my perspective 16GB DDR3 should be the same as 16GB DDR5. But that's clearly not the case.
teft@piefed.social · 10 pts · 146d
The biggest differences are speed and max amount of ram per module. For a htpc those shouldn't matter much. I wouldn't personally go to ddr3 unless I had some free sticks hanging out since the spec is about 20 years old now.
4am@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 146d
DDR3 is also pretty power hungry. Source: me, who built a homelab out of old DDR3 rackmount servers and can now no longer afford to run them.
nathan@lemmy.permisuan.com · 4 pts · 146d
I just wish there was a way to control the PC as easy as a tv remote. I would totally do this except my wife and kids just want to hit a button on the remote instead of fiddling with keyboard or a track pad or controller of some kind
MrQuallzin@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 146d
FLIRC is your friend! It's a USB IR receiver that you can train with literally any IR remote you have. Once you set it up (and it does take a little elbow grease to train it), it just works.
sys110x@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 146d
I use LibreELEC on a mini-PC for my home TV. LibreELEC is a Linux distribution that runs Kodi and is pretty good for a media centre straight out of the box. I use a Rii Mini K25 remote (with a dongle) to control it: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XHF7DNQ
The downside is I can't control the TV itself with this, but this can be sorted out with a USB IR receiver (like this: https://amzn.asia/d/0hvzkP93), LIRC (https://lirc.org/) or something similar, *and a universal remote. On my to-do list lol
I have a DHCP reservation for the TV itself and it's blackholed on my network. The only reason it's connected at all is so I can monitor what it tries to do.
Edit: Also need a universal remote for the IR solution so it can talk to the PC IR receiver and the TV IR receiver separately.
nathan@lemmy.permisuan.com · 2 pts · 146d
I had this running on a raspberry pi, but it had constant crashing issues. I may give it another go with a mini pc
UniversalBasicJustice@quokk.au · 5 pts · 146d
Keep an eye out for the new Steam controller. It can interact via gyro, touchpad, and traditional controller input methods.
nathan@lemmy.permisuan.com · 1 pts · 146d
Yes! I'm saving now for a steam machine when it comes out too
teft@piefed.social · 4 pts · 146d
I believe Kodi supports IR remote controls.
MaXsteri@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
My HTPC is running Bazzite and boots into Steam big picture mode. I watch media using Kodi and control everything using a Sofabatton remote.
This setup is almost as seemless as when I was using an Nvidia Shield and a Logitech Harmony remote.
The keyboard and controller are not needed, except for gaming.
The only negative I've found, is that I've not yet worked out a way to power on the PC from the remote.
renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net · 15 pts · 146d
My family stayed at my house and “the TV wasn’t working,” because it doesn’t have network access and I use an Nvidia Shield instead, so they connected it to the Wi-Fi and ad overlays showed up in the menus! I’m still mad about it years later.
Luckily I dodged a bullet and it didn’t brick it or anything, and the ads went away when the internet access did. I just disconnected it from the network and manually banned the MAC address in case anyone else tries it again.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 146d
And then banned your family from using the remote.
Serinus@lemmy.world · -5 pts · 146d
Then why are you mad?
dan1101@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 146d
For one thing the same ad could have gotten stuck on the TV menus forever.
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 146d
So Vizio is offering dumb TVs without Walmart accounts? I am actually kind of interested.
Peffse@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 146d
Vizio is likely offering unusually large paperweights without Walmart accounts.
deacon@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 146d
In a functioning society I think that would be criminal.
nullPointer@programming.dev · 10 pts · 146d
it'll still be listening and spying.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 146d
Just don't connect it to the internet 🤷♂️
Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 145d
Some devices connect to any open wifi to send analytics. Some devices even have their own modem to always be connected.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 145d
Not sure about the "modem" thing, always has worried me though. You mean like an LTE chip?
Guess I don't think about the open network thing because:
Nobody, not even router makers, deliver open network by default anymore
I don't have any other wifi signals in my area other than my own
Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 144d
Yes LTE and the like. My car – for instance – is connected 24/7 to the cloud. I can control some functions remotely. The price is probably full tracking of me anf my family.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 144d
Yeah that's the one thing that worries me about buying a new car. Mine are old right now
NarrativeBear@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 146d
Don't plug in a Ethernet cord, and don't connect it to Wifi.
Now you have a fully functional TV screen that wont be artificially bricked with OS updates.
Get a dedicated "streaming device" like a Nvidia Sheild, Android TV, Apple TV, or Roku and you are good to go.
cley_faye@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 146d
Until the next one refuses to even pass through HDMI if it's not connected.
Just don't buy shitty devices.
frostysauce@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 146d
And what happens when the shitty devices are literally the only ones available?
bilb@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 145d
In that case, the answer has to be shop for used or do without.
cley_faye@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 145d
Well, too bad. Do something else.
But as long as people have some brain, if the market gets a majority of "smart" devices to the point there's enough people looking for alternative, some people are likely to try and fill the gap. It might become a new niche market, but it's one place where supply and demand will work to our advantage.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 146d
Don't buy the product. Don't give them the sale.
Televisions aren't mandatory, you can do without.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 146d
My dedicated media PC is the new Atari VCS. It works awesome and I can boot into Atari os for some light gaming too. Or emulate anything up to ps2.
Disabled all the smart TV bs and told the SO we dont use that anymore, 0 complaints so far. They're also learning some Linux because of it!
garretble@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 146d
Yep. Just don't connect it. Or connect it once a year to get some firmware updates if one wants (or better yet use a USB stick).
I have a good Samsung TV, but when I had it connected to the internet the UI would be painfully slow every time I needed to switch inputs (I have most things running through my receiver, but my PC was straight into the TV). Turning off all internet functions vastly improved my experience with this TV.
yabbadabaddon@lemmy.zip · -1 pts · 146d
Yeah except fuck all those devices. I want a degoogled smart TV.
ieGod@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 146d
You give up control this way. Dedicated devices are superior.
yabbadabaddon@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 146d
Like which one
possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 146d
mini pc with jellyfin/plex or a debrid service of your choice
yabbadabaddon@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 146d
I want to be able to access YouTube, Twitch, etc. from my TV. I already self host as much as I can. But I have not find a good solution for those services.
ieGod@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 146d
You can cast from your phone to a dedicated device. Going from easiest to hardest in terms of setup:
You'd use your phone (or tablet or laptop) to load the app/website (twitch, youtube, plex, whatever) then cast to the device, which would be connected to your TV. The chromecast is the most likely to have shitty features and forced upgrades while the custom PC will leave everything up to you. The end result is no outsourcing control of your primary display (TV) and you can leave it permanently offline.
yabbadabaddon@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 146d
I'm already doing a lot of that but... Those are workarounds for an item I own. My point is: I would like to use my smart TV as a smart TV and not have any o fight the manufacturer. I guess I'll have to give plasma big screen a go.
BurgerBaron@piefed.social · 32 pts · 146d
Welcome to Earth where using Smart features is Dumb.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 31 pts · 145d
Roku is every bit as bad. They bricked all customer's previously purchased TVs by implementing a new user agreement through their UI without warning. It couuld not be bypassed. Opting out required first opting in, agreeing to those new terms and then mailing a letter within a very short window with explicit, detailed requirements.
My next TV won't be connected to the Internet and definitely won't be a Roku or Visio product.
Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 145d
Does the TV work as a screen if you factory reset it then never reconnect it to the internet?
aesthelete@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 145d
It does. I wound up buying two new TVs because of the thing OP is talking about here. You could actually get around agreeing and then opting out by removing the TV from the network and then restoring it to factory and never reconnecting it.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 145d
Haven't tried that yet. For now I've blocked most of Roku's BS with Adguard Home.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 30 pts · 146d
And if I don't want to use their smart features?
this seems like it might be a win
Angrydeuce@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 146d
I have a Vizio TV I bought in the mid-teens that only lets you change the source and turn the volume/channel up and down with the remote. Everything else...the display/audio settings, naming the inputs, setting the channel names...requires the Vizio app on your phone. Literally no other way to access them. If I'd have known at the time I would have returned it immediately, but unfortunately I didn't discover this for a couple weeks as it was on sale and I was leaving for vacation, so I bought it, dropped it at home, and didn't actually touch it until it was past the point where I'd have been charged restocking fees so I kept it.
I guess my point is....I wouldn't necessarily bank on that. They can easily just make the TV not fucking work without the account, just like some of the other brands I've interacted with that will not even let you bypass the initial screen when you power it on for the first time without entering an email address or else it gets locked in it's demo mode.
Even if 50% of them get returned they'll likely still be making money.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 145d
Yeah, if they could keep you out of it, that would be different. Wonder what happens if you don't have internet.
kaotic@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 146d
This is how you get me to never buy a Vizio TV.
sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 146d
What, you prefer to give your data to Sony, LG, Samsung, or amazon? Like they're not selling it to anyone with a buck as well? Never connect a TV to the internet, period. After that it doesn't matter what you buy.
lemmyng@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 146d
You'd be better off buying a non-smart Samsung commercial TV from eBay and getting a $20 Onn 4K TV Box from Walmart. The latter can be Degoogled and sideloaded with Stremio, Cloudstream, or your streaming app of choice to make it the ultimate privacy-respecting media center.
sunnytimes@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 146d
side note . if you like stremio try nuvio . it works 10x better for me . looks like a fork.
lemmyng@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 146d
You da freaking GOAT! Thank you for introducing me to this!
brightandshinyobject@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 146d
What sources are you using?
sunnytimes@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 145d
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nuvio/comments/1rjq95b/repos_and_plugins_suggestions_for_nuvio/
i think i used 1 . add repoistory under settings not addons. ill check later on my tv which one i have. stremio addons work as well.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 146d
– George Orwell
Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 146d
My mini pc or laptop connected via HDMI to a projector setup makes me more happy every day when I see crap like this. Bonus is you can move it to the patio for outside movie night and it's a whopping five pounds. Same goes for moving apartments because I've always moved too often.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 146d
My CRTs make me happy in the same way. Except when i have to move them !! Oh well, all the more reason to get swol
Crackhappy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 146d
Make sure to lift this bad boy 20 times a day.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Now wheel it into a coffee shop with your laptop.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 146d
Like the pig from holes
daychilde@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 146d
I use a TV for my monitor - last job I worked I really needed the screen real estate for excel.
I hate hate hate when I shut the computer off or power goes off and when the TV comes back on, it auto-plays some "free" streaming channel, which is ALWAYS fascist propaganda. I rush to turn that shit off just as quickly as I can. Fuck that shit.
daannii@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 145d
I just use my PC through my TV.
Also don't buy tvs with voice activation.
That means they have mics on 24/7.
motruck@lemmy.zip · 16 pts · 146d
TVs are screens or privacy nightmares. You get to choose as the consumer.
db2@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 147d
So Vizio is a donmart brand? I wish they'd make up their minds.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 11 pts · 146d
Nearly every electronic device sold at Walmart is a unique SKU sold nowhere else.
They have their own internal logistics and manufacturing specialist team that works with manufacturers to hit specific wholesale price targets that they demand to even consider carrying their products in store. They reduce the number of ports, features, included accessories, quality of materials, etc. to get the that specific price.
The manufacturers take a huge hit on their own profits from these... but in theory will make up for that with sheer sales quantity.
Requiring a Walmart account probably means some sort of kickback to Vizio, or other wholesale arrangement. And since these devices are usually unique SKUs that can't be sold elsewhere, they can receive differentiated software, have no risk of any sort of price matching, etc.
XLE@piefed.social · 4 pts · 146d
FWIW Vizio is a Walmart subsidiary now, they got bought out in late 2024
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 1 pts · 146d
Did not know that. Definitely explains the integration now. Although the rest still applies to other brands.
Doesn't Walmart already have onn?
frostysauce@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 146d
You would have known that if you had read the article.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 1 pts · 145d
Probably, but even getting waterboarded would be a better use of my time than reading an article about Walmart accounts now being required on TVs.
frostysauce@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
And yet you're commenting on it... ;)
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 2 pts · 145d
Had some time before the waterboarding appointment.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 146d
good. maybe people will stop buying them then.
Monkey@piefed.social · 13 pts · 146d
aesthelete@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 145d
This is fine IMO, because you shouldn't use the smart features in the first place. Just get a 3rd party streaming box. The ONN one is like $25. (Or if you're a giant nerd hook your computer to your TV.)
malo@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
TIL my senior parents are giant nerds.
superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 145d
I do this, run a regular linux desktop right on my TV, idles at like 10 watts. Only do it though if you plan to go full pirate.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 146d
so don't make an account and it's a normal tv?
Gumbyyy@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 145d
Joke's on them, I don't want any of the smart features
Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de · 11 pts · 146d
My first two questions when buying a tv is
How many HDMIs does it have? Where are they located?
Last question, How to disable most features?
Fondots@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 146d
I really only need 1 HDMI port on my TV- to connect my AV receiver to, everything else gets plugged into that receiver, it's got about 8 HDMI ports.
Right now there's 3 consoles, a pc, and a Chromecast hooked up to it, so I have ports to spare, and I haven't had to use anything on my tv since I initially set it up and set the input to HDMI 1
It's not necessarily feasible for everyone, it does take up a little more space in your entertainment center that not everyone has, but I also think it's 100% worth it to at least have a decent set of speakers hooked up to your TV if you can find the space and budget to do so.
arcine@jlai.lu · 11 pts · 145d
Excellent News ! Finally, an easy way to disable every smart feature !
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 146d
I'm tempted to go back to htpc lol. The tracking is so bad these days. I need to block the mac of my tv (Google tv) and just do a tiny PC or something instead.
tehbilly@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 146d
That's still a great idea, the problem is good high definition high refresh rate panels without smart features are harder and harder to find
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 146d
I agree, but you can completely ignore the smart tv features and just use your hdmi pretty instead.
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 146d
But it's not that easy a lot of TVs will only boot into the smart TV (and that's already slow) and will only let you pick external inputs from there, often requiring to select it everytime!
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 146d
Yup I get it, on mine I can customize my buttons. I have a one push button for Plex
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 146d
I'm still on a dumb TV thankfully, but I'm starting to suffer, constrast is pitiful
org@lemmy.org · 9 pts · 147d
Are Inout sources and volume smart features? Because I don’t need smart features
invertedspear@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 146d
My blueray player broke, and my tv stopped showing me to use certain apps and I can’t figure out why. But a used PS4 cost me $85 and solved all my problems. And they left a copy of Minecraft in it, so I even have a game to play.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 146d
WTF? And Walmart of all things. Fuuuuuck them.
11111one11111@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 145d
Its been so long since ive had or bought a tv, what are the brands that are the least shitty now? I used to always be a samsung everything kinda guy but fuck them now. I wish they never started fucking around with software and stuck to just hardware. Their products from strictly the hardware side are still excellent. My zfold7 is amazing the older gens started rickety but each version i got (so the 3, the 5 and the 7) has been a respectible improvement but the 7 really stepped up the quality. The last samsung tv i got was like 65" curved screen amazing picture but the fucking interface was pure cancer and i will not buy another. My samsung 4k monitors, non-smart normal fridge, and my equally as dumb oven are great and dont have any stupid shit so Ill buy more dumb samsung products lol.
FG_3479@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 145d
By any brand which lets you use HDMI devices without connecting to Wi-Fi. TCLs have better specs than most for the price and they have a Basic TV mode which doesn't need internet.
However, their Google TV mode is still good as it lets you disable the ads on the home screen with apps-only mode and it supports sideloading of SmartTube (an ad free YouTube app) and free movie apps.
vaderaj@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Does this work with Chromecast?
FG_3479@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
Yes it does.
vaderaj@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
Thanks and this me being lazy at this point, do you have some docs to refer to?
FG_3479@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
You just have to connect your phone to the same Wi-Fi network as the TV, then press the cast button in an app and select the TV from the list.
Because Chromecast is a Google service, you must log into a Google account on the TV for it to work, however apps only mode hides the home screen ads and myactivity.google.com lets you disable the tracking.
vaderaj@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
Thanks a ton!
I owe you one kind stranger on Lemmy
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 145d
TCL is samsung
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Nope, but the TCL's are manufactured with the CCP's and PLA's finest data gathering components.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 146d
My decade old TV is starting to show its age with a couple of dead pixel columns.
I'm a bit stressed about trying to find a new one that has none of this kind of enshittification.
I just want something with a couple of HDMI inputs and an antenna connector.
I absolutely do not want any ad servers or mandatory account bullshit injecting itself where it isn't wanted.
LordCrom@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
Youll have to go with a monitor or business display. Its just a large screen with inputs but no tuner or speakers.
I use a Pi to drive my display.
Angrydeuce@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
Just wanted to add that you'll pay out the ass for them compared to consumer trash, but there's a reason for the higher price tag. They're often made for heavy usage environments where they're on like 24/7 for years showing slideshows and shit in office lobbies. Consequently, they often lag behind the feature set of modern TVs which may or may not be a problem (personally I hate all that image enhancement shit but everyone has their preference) and the higher refresh rate is not as big a selling point so not a huge comparison there if you're looking to use it for gaming or something. They also have a much more clear repair path though replacement parts can be fuckin stupid expensive. It's bullshit that the only way you can get around the enshittification of consumer electronics is by paying the enterprise tax but that's how it is.
I work in IT and about once a year or so I have to spec out that sort of stuff for clients, and they're always like "WTF?!" when they see the cost of some of that Enterprise/Professional grade stuff, but the difference is, the no-name crap they could get for $1499.99 from a big box is going to burn itself up within 18 months and be trash while the $5000 display will be humming along for as long as replacement parts are still available.
potpotato@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Or just don’t connect it to your network? Or DO connect it to your WLAN and block it from communicating to anything else.
kieron115@startrek.website · 6 pts · 146d
Required to use smart features? Thank you Walmart for encouraging people not to connect their TVs to the internet!
echodot@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 146d
I have an extremely expensive smart TV that probably cost around £4,000 (I didn't buy it so I don't know what the actual price tag was) and it's UI is awful because of stuff like this and it's all stupid. It has an app, it's a TV, I already have a method of controlling it why do I need an app?
As a result it's purely a media streaming platform I don't use any of its smart features. It's just hoocked up to a mini PC and it's just been a display.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 146d
Its crazy how shitty they've gotten. I got one on black Friday probably 10 years ago and it didnt have and built in apps just casting from your phone. A few years later they updated it and suddenly it had apps and demanded you agree to their TOS and all that (possibly also download their Vizio app?). I didnt keep it for long after that (mostly because it was a budget ass TV with 4K but not HDR) and replaced it with an LG C3 AMOLED from Costco, which I couldn't be happier with. In our bedroom we have a TCL and I think that's where the sweet spot is with budget TVs
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 145d
I think I prefer my 14 inch CRT
Psythik@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 145d
I used to prefer CRTs too... And then I got an OLED. Nothing else comes close, not even the best CRTs. Especially if it's got quantum dots in combination with OLED.
Given that input lag was already solved five years ago, really the only advantage CRTs still have left is their ability to look great at non-native resolutions. But upscaling filters like HQX/xBR for retro games, and DLSS/FSR for modern titles, have all but completely eliminated that last remaining advantage. These filters are really good at upscaling lower resolution content to fit your display's pixels. Hell, DLSS is so good that it looks better than native 4K.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 146d
My "big" TV is a dumb 55" Toshiba I bought in 2012. It works just fine plugged into my computer to display VLC. I don't need anything else. I don't bother with Jellyfin anymore, because all I do is "acquire" the content, watch it immediately, and delete it. I don't keep anything apart from a few old movies, because I don't rewatch anything.
Tonight I'm watching the next episode of Survivors, a BBC series from 1975.
Sauvandu60@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 145d
This is why i don't like "smart" tv.
jaxxed@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
Does that mean it disables all Tue smart shit about f you don't connect an account? Nice.
systemglitch@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
Yeah I've been sitting here trying to figure out the downside.
Dalraz@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 145d
It would not surprise me if the tv it's self will not work until you run through a setup process, and during this process you are required to create an account.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 145d
Sounds like a feature
GutterRat42@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 146d
Make Sceptre TVs great for once
bilb@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 145d
Are those still a thing? I couldn't find anywhere to buy them.
GutterRat42@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Oh no!
sturmblast@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 145d
Buy commercial displays, not TVs
Skankhunt420@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 145d
I finally got fed up with it last year and blocked the internet access of my TV on the router level becuase upon contacting support I learned that there was no way to turn off the microphone setting. For real. They just didn't add that feature in to my model. I still can't believe that.
It is a little incovneient that I have to turn on my PC before I can watch anything but man the freedom of knowing that TV won't be spying on me 24/7 is freeing.
Next time I buy I will be looking for commercial displays with HDMI and DisplayPort if its even possible by then.
network_switch@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 144d
Main reason I want the steam machine to be a hit is just getting regular Linux boxes under people's TVs and that getting developer interest. KDE Plasma Big Screen too. Good TV interfaces for media software. Respond well to remotes and gamepads. Popular service apps like Netflix and Crunchyroll. It's jarring when I use other people's TVs and the default page screen is just a wall of advertisements. At least Android based TVs I can install projectivity launcher to get a clean interface
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 145d
Damn shame, Vizio's are designed in California.
Cantaloupe@lemmy.fedioasis.cc · 1 pts · 145d
We are we are Walmart!