we live in hell
I don’t even understand the pitch? you have the disc playing, in your hands, your ownership, no buffering, no subscription required. and they’re saying…hey do you want a worse experience?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you own something and it either gets taken away or it gets tarnished in some way, you are fully justified to pirate it…
⛵🏴☠️
Ah yes I want to watch the exact same thing I am watching but from another provider, definitely just take my money, hypercapitalist
How? Did you got your dvd player hacked?
I rooted my 2013 Samsung TV and overclocked it from 800 to 1200Mhz (the whole system is actually build for 1200Mhz but only the Highend-Ones are qualified for it). To my surprise the amount of data it send to Samsung was quite reasonable but still I removed most of it. Full removal of Internet is not an option because then I lose HbbTV and Prime TV which is like 50% of what I use that device for. And since I rooted it I also use it for BS and the public broadcasting mediatheks. Also, it now runs Quake2 in 1920x1080 in ~20fps.
Even if you must own a smart TV (because it’s impossible to buy a large-ish TV anymore that isn’t), I see no reason to actually connect it to any network. But! I notice recent models will bitch at you on every single power on if you leave them disconnected. So you’re not even safe from being annoyed then.
I agree with you for the most part that there’s no reason to connect them to the internet, however:
Most modern TVs have Bluetooth and WiFi radios, therefore they’re never truly isolated, and consequently that means if there’s a security flaw, it can potentially be exploited without physical access.
Now your priorities (and frankly, hardware) will obviously differ from mine, but that risk alone is enough of a reason for me to connect things up in order to receive software updates. Of course, the privilege of getting software updates for your telly is not ubiquitous, but most manufacturers can issue updates if there is a good enough reason to do so
Another option for the even more security-minded is to physically disable the radios.
If its never been connected to the internet…wtf are they gonna do if they hack it? what are they going to get? it will have no credit card information, no personal information of any kind.
There’s microphones and even cameras in many of these TVs.
The problem is that because the hardware is there, a determined person with physical access can change the settings to join a network you don’t control.
Ideally, you can open the TV and remove the wifi modules but I suspect that might be beyond the skills of most TV owners.
Tbh, I stopped owning a TV since college. I watch everything on my computer or phone now.
Wait…so the fear here is that they will take my tv, that i don’t have connected to the internet and…connect it to a network i don’t have? Whats the point of going through that trouble? Whats the gain?
Connectivity!
Those radios may have a flaw that allows someone to connect to them without direct physical access, wardriving is a similar idea. Particularly the Bluetooth stack, since modern TVs often use Bluetooth for their remotes, so it’s always going to be powered and active.
Then you’ve got to remember a lot of TVs have shit like cameras and mics now days. Even without that, if an attacker can take control of something with a WiFi radio, it can become a jumping point to exploit other devices near your TV. I mean it doesn’t even need to be an exploit, e.g. if your phone disappears from WiFi range, maybe you’ve gone out—that’s a good time to rob you.
Sure it’s all pretty unlikely, but it’s a non zero threat. Particularly when you consider that TV OS software is often like swiss cheese when it comes to security.
They could connect it to the Internet, I guess.
Yeah, that’s why I’ve come to just pay the premium for professional displays instead of consumer TVs.
How much more is it?
Wonder how much an 83" OLED would cost me for a premium professional display.
That’s a great way to go. There are also still some budget options (Sceptre comes to mind) that don’t have any smart features in some models. My buddy just picked one up.
It’s an absolutely terrible TV, but for his use case it’s perfect. He’s using it as a karaoke monitor for parties at his house. It’s mounted in a covered patio and is dumb as hell.
This article is a year old, but it’s still possible to buy dumb tvs.
Some people get big computer monitors instead of a TV, because of shit like this.
I did a projector. Pretty close in price and I have a very modest, but serviceable 135" screen and no ads.
Where am I gonna get an 85" monitor for under $1k?
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Under the heading: “Digital Signage Display”
For under $1,000?
That’s the route I took. I recently bought a 48" 4K monitor, hooked a mini PC up to it, and now I stream my movie and TV show collection through Plex. I still have Internet access on my “TV,” but I’m in control of what pops up (I block all ads on my home network). I just use a small wireless keyboard and mouse instead of a remote.
I haven’t actually owned a TV since about 2008. I have better media options through computers, and the technology just keeps getting better. Cable and public access television are a pain because you’re constantly bombarded with ads. With my own computer, I can circumvent ads and get a solid viewing experience.
I went the other way. My 75" TV is my PC monitor.
I fucking love it.
Are you serious?
My LG you had to scroll down (with no scroll indicator) below the screen to find the hidden option to not connect it to the internet on set up.
If I the TV nagged me every start up I’d get rid of it.
At least the LG TVs don’t try to pull any shit like OP posted about. At least mine hasn’t.
Mine hadn’t, built it’s a few years old and the enshittification has only increased each year.
If I found out a TV required internet access to function, I’d return it to wherever I bought it next day.
Luckily I have a old-ish flatscreen that doesn’t require internet but does have a netflix and other channels I can setup if I want. The Netflix client is so old it won’t connect to their servers any more. That’s OK. My Roku still works.
The TVs I’ve seen that do this have been smart enough to not get naggy about a lack of Internet until 30+ days after first power on. Then you get popups or autoplay videos begging you to connect it.
My Hisense has been pretty decent, surprisingly. But for my next TV I’m honestly thinking of going with a commercial display.
I bought a 65" HiSense last month. I was psyched the first time I set it up, and it gave me the option to configure it as a dumb TV without the Android TV experience or a network connection.
I’m tempted to do a master reset on mine to see if I got that option. I have the Roku edition and I know that I can specify what source it defaults to on power on. I can also turn off content recognition, which is what’s going on in OP’s case. But using it as just a dumb TV would be awesome.
Theres definitely a setting for turning off content recognition… but… even if I say “no”, I don’t trust my dogs not to eat food I leave within reach.
These companies want the data, they profit from the data, they probably won’t get caught if they take the data, and even if they do they won’t get punished, and even if they do it’ll still be worth it. You have to turn off the network or block the traffic to be sure.
Right after you can’t return it anymore?? Evil
I have yet to see one that won’t eventually let you use it as a dumb display after you dismiss one (or more) nags first. But I’m sure that’s coming eventually. The worst offender I found yet is the “cheap” Black Friday sale Amazon Fire TV my boss got to use as a security monitor in one of our satellite locations. That fucking thing won’t even show a picture until you dismiss its network nag, and then its sign-in-with-Amazon nag. At least I found you can disable the Amazon account nag in the options. The network connection one you can’t.
We’ve just resolved never to turn it off. You can’t dismiss the nag screen with the bezel buttons, either. You have to use the remote, so that’s now permanently double-stick taped to the desk the TV is on.
Next time he’ll just buy a fucking computer monitor like I told him to.
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Thankfully mine (about two yrs old now) only whined for the first couple weeks then gave up on me.
Now the only issue I have is the time it takes for android to boot. It’s like having to wait for your tv to warm up all over again except without the high pitched noise old tv sets had.
I think newish tvs offer advanced image quality features like HDR and Dolby Vision through their own apps rather than through web browser; if you don’t have a new generation console in your house and wanna enjoy your new TV full capabilities you will need to connect the damn thing to the internet
Wait, what? I’m thinking about getting the LG C2/3, and wasn’t going to connect it to the internet.
Guess I’ll have to get myself a PiHole and figure out how to block tracking.
I have an LG C3 and that thing is amazing; the issue with HDR/Dolby Vision/etc is not because LG, but rather that you need a system that has an app that supports those capabilities, like if you have a subscription to Apple TV and don’t wanna connect your TV to the internet you need an Nvidia Shield/Apple TV/PS5/Xbox series X because just a HTPC won’t do it because the web browsing app doesn’t offers HDR and the Apple TV Windows app is trash
Ok, so I won’t lose any HDR/other image settings with a PS5 and Google TV?
I have mine connected so I can control it from Home Assistant. It’s blocked from WAN though.
Dumb tv with the latest panel tech is too much to ask for these days too.
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As Professor Farnsworth once said, “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore”.
Of course! How else are you supposed to rent things you already own? Of course ownership is no cure for renting out these days.
And this is why we buy dumb TVs
Hey! How dare you only pay once for a lifetime of viewing, you should be paying monthly… No daily, for the right to view pieces of cultural history.
30$ monthly subscription rate + 5$ to rent each movie + 2$/hour for 4K. gotta make the business model as profitable as possible, otherwise the shareholders will start selling shares.
publicly traded companies are stupid.
Stop giving them ideas. I demand that you delete this, or I’ll report you!
They already know this, look at take two studios, their ceo thinks we don’t pay enough for games and we should be charged by the hours we play.
If they had their way all of our income would be theirs and we’d get a shiny token to watch one episode of a show you don’t like.
2 words people: Pihole and Unbound.
Learn them, use them, and promote them.
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Unbound is going to need some context.
Don’t buy cheap TVs subsidized from ads 🤷♂️
What do you expect when you buy a 43 inch TV for $150?
What brand? so I know NOT to buy it
I believe it’s Roku. That purple symbol in the bottom right is on the remote as well.
Very budget so this doesn’t surprise me.
Fuck Roku. Don’t buy these. They shove ads down your throat constantly, and they proactively, aggressively stop methods of circumvention.
Also beneath the purple asterisk is the words “Roku TV” in grey on the bezel
Wtf I thought roku TV were one of the good ones. I use a Roku thing that you plug in and I haven’t seen this yet.
I use a Roku as well and never have this happen so I dunno
The Roku box was one of the good ones… about ten years ago. Though maybe this is just a TV thing. TIL Roku makes actual screens.
In the past few years especially, I’ve seen so many unshakable “good ones” go bad. Some, in the worst possible way.
My Sharp TV runs Roku software. Suffice it to say I do not have it web connected and use an android box instead
The good ones go bad eventually :(
No. No, they are not one of the good ones.
The poster really needs to just turn off the Smart TV experience.
Name and shame!
It’s literally on the screen….
It says Roku TV
But not exactly obvious. Don’t be a jerk.
The little asterisk symbol on the screen is leading me to believe it’s a Roku.
I have two roku tvs. The day I see this is the day they get disconnected.
You can probably use a pi-hole to block those things.
No, you can’t. I’m running pihole and have a TCL Roku tv connected via HDMI to an Apple TV, and the ROKU APP RECOGNIZES CONTENT FROM IT and makes the suggestion, overlaying it OVER THE HDMI STREAM.
It’s the worst
Ew that’s approaching dystopian levels of grossness. My tv should not be watching along with me.
You can actually turn that off in the Roku settings. I did when I saw it demanding I watch my content from my PC on their shitty ad bloated sponsors.
I am now realizing it might be more work than it’s worth for Roku even though I used to prefer their systems being a bit more stable.
The amount of Roku stuff my PiHole blocks is asinine. I just recently added a blocklist for smart TVs and it ballooned the query counts like mad.
+1 for PiHole. Worth the ~$40 for the Pi Zero W and accessories alone.
I really need to get around to that on my pfsense
I fucking hate my Roku Tv. One of my roku TV became unusable after software update. Can’t be rolled back. I’m just stuck with a perfectly fine screen and shit software. And yes even connecting another device via HDMI is an issue because the TV restarts randomly for “updates” while watching external sources.
Hrm, that’s a pretty good argument for buying a tv and leaving the built in smart features without internet access. Sorry about your issues.
I’d there no way to factory reset it?
I can factory reset but not downgrade the firmware. The newer firmware is too demanding for the crappy chip in the TV.
That’s because they retry failed connections until they can phone home again. They aren’t normally making tens of thousands of requests.
It can scream into the void for as long as it wants.
What block list is that?
Pretty sure it’s the smart TV blocklist from Wally3k / Firebog. I’ll confirm and update later if I find out otherwise.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/master/SmartTV.txt
Which smart TV blocklist are you using? Should probably add that into my pihole.
Posted under Phar’s comment, but here’s the direct link
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/master/SmartTV.txt
Shoutout to the PiHole team. Love you guys and the work you do.
You can, but don’t forget to also block other outbound DNS connections in your firewall. Lots of “smart” devices are hard coded to use 8.8.8.8 regardless of what DHCP says. Pihole won’t stop those, so you have to block it at the firewall.
Or redirect them to the PiHole.
And don’t forget to block/redirect secure DNS on port 853.
Pi-hole FTW.
Or a private DNS service that allows filtering like nextdns
They put one too many ads on the home screen… then they made them larger…
fuck em. they get nothing now.
blocked their ad servers at the DNS level.
I have an old Roku Express or something similar and love it. It has an RF remote and a very responsive UI. But it is slowly becoming crappier with the infrequent updates.
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I guarantee you someone paid Roku to do this
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Those channels precisely. They get ad revenue when you watch it on their channels. If they can get Roku to bring them traffic, Roku would charge for that. No engineering effort goes unpaid.
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