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72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

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Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#321

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

idiot900 wrote: post #312
Bud wrote: post #261

This isn't difficult: TVs should not be "smart". TVs should be incredibly dumb. They should be screens for displaying stuff. That's it. Nothing else. No network connection of any kind, no apps, no software beyond that necessary to do basic setup of how that screen works: brightness, input selection, etc.

You're in luck. Buy a commercial TV, or a hospitality TV. For example: https://www.lg.com/us/business/commercial-tvs/lg-65ut640s0ua Other TV manufacturers make similar products.

Thanks for that, I have a standing need gap for 'Make TV dumb again' [1].

[1]https://needgap.com/problems/64-make-tv-dumb-again-privacy-c...

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#322

Post by chrisrhoden »

onion2k wrote: post #292
Bud wrote: post #261

This isn't difficult: TVs should not be "smart". TVs should be incredibly dumb. They should be screens for displaying stuff. That's it. Nothing else. No network connection of any kind, no apps, no software beyond that necessary to do basic setup of how that screen works: brightness, input selection, etc.

That would essentially force people to buy two devices - one for receiving content to display and a second to display it. All your solution does is shift the problem on to the receiving device. It wouldn't fix anything, and at the same time it'd increase the cost and complexity for the user (by a very small amount admittedly).

Yes, but the argument goes that someone selling a device specifically for receiving content may see you as a customer of that service primarily, rather than as a means to subsidize the cost of the display or device.

Not sure how that plays out in practice, but not a distinction without a difference.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#323

Post by paledot »

everdrive wrote: post #260
supertrope wrote: post #237

Hard coding DNS removes a troubleshooting variable and decreases customer support load and return rates. Some ISPs hijack DNS to serve up search ads (when it’s not down or slow). Some routers are part of botnets so DNS is not to be trusted.

There are definitely good reasons why manufacturers do this, but in a perfect world it would be possible for the user to control this feature. (on the device itself, I know you can usually control this if you have a nice router)

Or you will be able to, until the manufacturers catch up with DNS over HTTPS. So, you know, in another 10 years.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#324

Post by myrandomcomment »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #176
scarface74 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So which “smart box” would that be? Roku? Where the CEO outright said that they aren’t in the hardware business and they are trying to monetize via ads? Google? Need I say more Amazon Fire devices? See above with Google AppleTV? Sure I have a couple. They aren’t trying to monetize with advertising. But the HN crowd is anti-Apple.

HN not liking something doesn't make it a bad choice. Kodi running on a Pi or some other low power computer is probably HN-friendly, although the usability isn't even close to as good as the Apple TV.

No Netflix or Amazon on Kodi. While I have a NAS with my media on it that Kodi worked fine on the need to open a browser and need for a keyboard and mouse became to much of a pain. I switched everything to AppleTV which had the issue of not being able to mount the NAS. Lucky there is a Kodi "port" to the AppleTV in the App Store called Mr.MC for like $8 that is pretty much Kodi with built in support for NFS, SMB, etc. AppleTV is the perfect box for this to be honest.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#325

Post by muststopmyths »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #227

>Fortunately, with a few simple firewall rules, you can intercept these hardcoded DNS queries and redirect them to your PiHole. These instructions are for pfSense I can see running pihole instead of a pfSense+pfBlocker rig. But if you've already got pfSesne at the edge, why not just polish it off with pfBlocker/DNSBL instead of erecting a separate pihole machine?

I have pfsense with pfblockerng/dnsbl and it lets in way more ads than pihole.

I could be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#326

Post by thotsBgone »

post_break wrote: post #223
stiltzkin wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like an easy suggestion to write, i find more difficult to find a good dumb TV nowadays.

Aren’t all tv dumb TVs if you don’t connect them to the internet?

Some smart TVs will scan for open wifi networks and connect to one they find.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#327

Post by Bjartr »

sbarre wrote: post #110
mojo982 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I’m still holding onto my TV from 2014 because it doesn’t have “smart” functionality. Every time I look at new ones I can’t find good dumb ones.

Yeah as others have said, the TV can't get online by itself, so you simply don't configure the "Smart" features and it should work just fine (although perhaps that is something to confirm before purchase).

IIRC, some will attempt to get online by themselves by connecting to open access points, but I don't have a source for that.

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#328

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

Smartphones too! OnePlus hardcodes Google DNS as secondary DNS & I'm sure many others do it too[1] .

Forcing DNS requests to Pi Hole is the easiest option to defeat this.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/oneplus/comments/e0htyg/remove_goog...

Re: 72% of smart TVs and 46% of game consoles hardcode DNS settings

#330

Post by 8ytecoder »

stingraycharles wrote: post #309
Bud wrote: post #261

This isn't difficult: TVs should not be "smart". TVs should be incredibly dumb. They should be screens for displaying stuff. That's it. Nothing else. No network connection of any kind, no apps, no software beyond that necessary to do basic setup of how that screen works: brightness, input selection, etc.

I own several smart TVs but use none of the smart functionality. They don’t even have internet. TV makers are horrible software developers, for the same reasons that mobile manufacturers were horrible mobile OS developers until Android came along. We have similar solutions for televisions in the form of Apple TV and Chromecast. I honestly feel I’m wasting my money when I’m buying a smart TV these days, but you just n…

Both LG webOS and Sony Android TV come across as polished. If not for the fact that I hate advertisement and tracking with a vengeance, I'd gladly use them.
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