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My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

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Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#21
post #5
post #4

to be honest, sony have a track record of doing this. bought a music CD or games? get a rootkit. if you still buy sony products, I can't be sory for you.

> if you still buy sony products, I can't be sory for you. Such condescension towards those not in the know, even though they are likely allies or soon will be, is pernicious and self-defeating.

I read the condescension as being toward those who /are/ in the know, yet still buy Sony products.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#22
post #6

This sort of crap makes me think a manufacturer should brand a dumb tv, and simply market: "it's just a high end tv without all the crap we know you hate and dont use anyways, also the CIA can't hack it" https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/25/15421326/smart-tv-hacking...

I am quite angry that my PS4 is full of ads. I paid money for that box. What I want is a law that requires a product to clearly indicate if it has ads or not in the software, and it cannot change at any point in the product's life. So I know what the price tag actually is. Edit: I want to be clear. I am not against advertising or the freedom for a manufacturer to decide that advertising is their business model. What…

The money you paid for your PS4 barely covers manufacturing costs.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#23

The meme of "if you're not paying, you are the product" is, of course, true, but it doesn't acknowledge the host of cases when you are the product even if you're paying . This guy basically paid to be spied on.

Which is why this meme is a half-truth. Other examples include old-world companies like magazines and banks selling our data despite us paying for the service.

Even in areas other than privacy, my bank mistreats me far worse than Internet companies like Google and Twitter.

Not to mention that in a multi-sided ecosystem, Internet companies need to keep both users and advertisers happy, so even if you're not paying, your desires still factor into the decision.

To be clear, I didn't say this meme is a lie, just that it's a half-truth. It makes sense to some extent.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#25
Yep, I used to use the Netflix app on my Sony TV (bravia W8) but after an update couple months ago it stopped working completely, Netflix just closes when I try to play anything. I actually have completely changed my opinion on OTA updates over the last few years - I don't want any updates. I want the software my phone/TV/car shipped with and I don't want to to change for the sake of updating, it's universally more pain than it's worth.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#27
> Ideally you run a TV on a different VLAN.

Why let it ‘run’ on your network or the internet at all? I’ve never connected my newest TV to my WiFi, and can’t ever foresee a reason to do so. All of the apps I want are running on a connected box I trust to maintain a degree of privacy that I’d never assume from Sony, Samsung, or the like.

It’s not as if Netflix or Hulu actually force you to use the embedded TV apps.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am quite angry that my PS4 is full of ads. I paid money for that box. What I want is a law that requires a product to clearly indicate if it has ads or not in the software, and it cannot change at any point in the product's life. So I know what the price tag actually is. Edit: I want to be clear. I am not against advertising or the freedom for a manufacturer to decide that advertising is their business model. What…

The money you paid for your PS4 barely covers manufacturing costs.

And that's our problem... how?

Sony makes money off every video game sale; attempting to get more from ads is just greedy. And how they present the ads as another game a very dark pattern.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#29
post #17

Since there doesn't exist a good panel without Smart TV capabilities, what I do is just don't give them access to the network. Everything runs through an Android Box connected to an HDMI or a PS4 when I want to use Netflix (I never managed to make it work on the Android box)

> Since there doesn't exist a good panel without Smart TV capabilities

Have a look at the Dell P4317Q, decent 4k 43" screen, less than 1k€.

I use it as a TV, very satisfied (and since it's got no tuner, I get to avoid the Irish TV tax (but IANAL) !)

Only caveat is no HDMI 2.0, you can only get 4k@60hz via DisplayPort so not fully compatible with ChromeCast 4k for example.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#30
My parents’ TV has various apps built in and one of them is Skype. They discontinued the Skype service so now every single time the TV turns on it displays a stupid error message about “a problem with an app” that can’t be uninstalled and that they never used.

Smart TVs are full of stuff like this. They need to go.

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