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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

#61

This is the problem with putting logic into the TV. Keep it Unix-y. Do one thing, but do it right. A TV should be just a panel, nothing more. A $50 player box does everything better than the built-in player hardware and software.

A tv, by definition, goes against the unix philosophy because it's a display panel + tuner + speakers.

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

#62

> 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.

I plug my "smart" TV into ethernet now and then to get firmware updates, then unplug it the rest of the time.

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

#63

> 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.

I also have a smart TV that I have never connected to the internet, and I never foresee a reason to either. When I want to use apps on my TV, I use a separate streaming box. If in the future there is a software update for the TV with a cool feature I want (unlikely), I would connect it via ethernet temporarily, perform the update, and then disconnect ethernet.

I would never connect it over WiFi for fear that it wouldn't forget the network. If someone has a smart TV that only supports WiFi, then I would suggest they setup a new WiFi network, temporarily connect the TV to perform the software update, and then disable the WiFi network.

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

#64
"I really wish that @Google provided a TV box that was the full Android TV, but that was vanilla Google with the ability to install @netflix, @BBCiPlayer, @mubi as apps. That I could just plug this into any display panel, including dumb displays."

He is basically asking to be spied in a different way, just like his cellphone does.

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

#65
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is their problem. Ads are not an acceptable solution.

By definition, if they are actually accepted by their customers, then yes, they are. And since customers continue to buy PS4s it appears that they are (accepted).

It's a classic bait and switch. The buyer didn't agree to get a bunch of stupid bullshit ads after they purchased it.

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

#66
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.

I hear you but I still think it should be reasonable to buy a random product from the store and not have it actively try to poison you, set your home on fire or spy on you. And yeah, I'm so entitled as to expect this without having to carefully follow news about companies that do these things.

I think the law already did a decent job on poison & fire, so maybe there is hope for the privacy too.

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

#67
post #38

This is an example of a strategic bind: Google wants Android to be "cleaner," to better compete with Apple. This means no underhanded service modules or system extensions, and no intrusive or otherwise low quality privileged apps. Android phones are inexpensive because Google doesn't make money directly from licensing the OS. Barriers to entry are low, competition is fierce, and hardware differentiation is only possi…

>as Microsoft learned decades ago, standing between a low margin OEM and a few extra dollars per unit is a difficult position. Once a product ships, policing updates is even harder.

What is this about? Afaik windows (desktop) and windows phone all get 5+ years of patches.

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

#68
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any good tv recommendation, if not Sony?

Not Samsung. I've been reasonably happy with my Panasonic.

panasonic has a good middle ground on quality (hardly hear about bad panels, dead pixel, different from LG), new tech (only brand to have plasma and oled early on), and price.

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

#69
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…

Windows 10 has so far served me ads on the lock screen and in the start menu. If I try to search my computer for a file, it also sends that search query to Bing. This OS should be free.

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

#70
post #55

I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…

Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV.

Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message.

Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.

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