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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

#201

Post by BoorishBears »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #125
Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #116

I would like to see a TV with the following attributes: 1. 8 Inputs, with at least four HDMI and one HDMI accessible from the front panel. The remaining inputs would have at least two composite inputs. There would be no cable input since most cable companies, around here anyway, require a set-top box anyway. 2. An optical audio output, for those who wish to hook up a proper audio system. Those who don’t would get ok-…

Because there's almost no profit in selling a dumb screen. SmartTVs are all about the TV manufacturer trying to get a cut of subscription services.

There is if you slap the term gamer on there and put a 200% markup on mediocre panels... so they’re coming soon:

https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/bfgd-big-format-g...

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

#202

Post by BoorishBears »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #116

I would like to see a TV with the following attributes: 1. 8 Inputs, with at least four HDMI and one HDMI accessible from the front panel. The remaining inputs would have at least two composite inputs. There would be no cable input since most cable companies, around here anyway, require a set-top box anyway. 2. An optical audio output, for those who wish to hook up a proper audio system. Those who don’t would get ok-…

Mentioned it in a comment below, but they’re very coming soon:

https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/bfgd-big-format-g...

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

#203

Post by barrkel »

buro9 wrote: post #76
pwg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Try it. I did. I couldn't find a non-smart TV. They are everywhere. If you want the 4k, then you have a smart TV. The best alternatives were super large monitors (way over the price of a TV, and with no decent sound built in), or corporate display panels (for advertising, signage, etc) whose prices are also way above a TV and include no sound system at all.

Or a projector.

Consumer projectors have built-in sound but you'll still want to hook up surround sound. And if you care about hi-res that much, you'll want it on a nice big screen where you can see the difference. I project onto a 100" screen.

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

#204

Post by friedman23 »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #200
lukeschlather wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Android over Linux or MacOS? It feels like at this point, Android and Windows are surveillance systems. If you don't want a surveillance system, you need to go with Linux or MacOS (or iOS.)

Android tracks you less than iOS. You don't even need to create an account to use an Android TV or an Android phone.

ha Android does not track you less than iOS and google can infer who you are using your ip address

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

#205

Post by tass »

jghn wrote: post #182
Keverw wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. No way to opt-out of the ads? Do they have a in-hardware or in-app purchase to remove the ads? <- That would be a horrible trend to start.

Actually I take it back, that is what kept changing location. They'd have an opt out but bury it in increasingly arcane places, and of course since it was "different" I was opted back in. Then I started disabling my wifi and that kept magically re-enabling. And that's the point I took the nuclear option.

What brand of TV?

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

#206

Post by mitchty »

dawnerd wrote: post #160
buro9 wrote: 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…

The nvidia shield is pretty much what you’re looking for. I just don’t hook my tv to the network and just rely on my shield for everything. Works great. Learned my lesson a few years ago when my 3,000+ Samsung tv decided one day they were going to spam advertisements for GameStop in the notifications. Of course they deny that ever happened but I have proof on my twitter. Too lazy to look it up right now though.

Ha, I have the same setup, samsung tv and a shield.

The tv's never been updated since I bought it, never configured wifi and there isn't any open wifi around for it to try to connect to.

Smart tv's aren't smart enough to come with their own internet connection... yet. God I hope they don't put something like cellular connections in these things, then I'd have to find the damn radio and desolder the antennae.

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

#207

Post by BoorishBears »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #129
djrogers wrote: post #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.

How much longer do you think it will be possible to buy a TV that works without Internet access? I assume at some point soon they will demand connectivity to even display images coming in on the HDMI port. Internet services is the future profit center for screen manufacturers; also it's easier to build a system if you assume it has Internet connectivity always. (For, say, HDCP updates.) I also don't allow my screens…

What reasoning behind your assumption? It hasn’t happened yet, and there are still tons of people using TVs in places without Internet.

I say, tackle the problem when it gets here, for now I’ve never had a smart TV hooked up to the internet and it’s not even because I hate Smart features, I just don’t see a point, my 30$ Chromecast covers every use case I could have.

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

#208

Post by lucb1e »

lucb1e wrote: post #79
buro9 wrote: 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…

> linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. I feel like you should mention that in your bio, it's not standard and breaks conversations. People should know that they should cite you if they want something to be preserved in conversations or when linking.

It's interesting how this post gets more downvotes, as the front-page post "delete tweets older than X days" gets more upvotes. I wonder if this is due to priming.

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

#209

Post by drewmol »

bobwaycott wrote: post #127
maccard wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately if you’re in the market for a high quality TV, your choices are restricted to smart TVs.

You can then avoid connecting it to the internet at all, providing you a TV with all the beautiful looks and dumb insides.

The problem I've run into: the buggy software that's 3-6-9 months+ out of date by the time you get it out of box. Offline sofware update is not always an option. Maybe update once and then disconnect? As someone mentioned, only until they have autoconnect built in through partnership with mobile providers

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

#210

Post by andybak »

braythwayt wrote: post #105
andybak wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much as I hate linkrot I'm not sure we should be using Twitter as a archival source. But people do and you're not making future historians happy. ;-) So - why are you using Twitter at all if you want to delete stuff so quickly? You sound the kind of chap who would much prefer their own platform. Heard of these things called "blogs"?

Many years ago I used Posterous as my blog, in good HN fashion. Aaaaand it went away. Walled gardens are always going to be a massive vulnerability for link rot.

Self-host - or at least use a platform that you can easily migrate away from without breaking urls.

Cool URIs don't change and all that... Thank heavens for the Internet Archive.

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