211–220 of 518 posts
How about the shitty Sceptre specials from Walmart? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-50-Class-4K-UHD-LED-TV-U5... > Let's you view your pictures as a slideshow or listen to your favorite music via the USB port. Just insert your flash drive into the USB port for the ultimate entertainment. I'm pretty sure this is the one I have. But even if it's not, the fact they're advertising playing music via USB flash as the "u…
I find it a little remarkable that there isn't a similar "scene" built around lobotomizing smart TVs. The desire is obviously there, and surely rooting Android isn't terribly hard. The OS's for smart TVs are barely maintained.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They get money from the ads, they get money from selling your usage data, they get money by selling space on the remote for streaming apps, and probably through some other means as well.
Sure, but my intuition says they might get a few hundred dollars that way, tops. Is my intuition off by an entire order of magnitude?
https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2021/11/10/22773073/vi...
All TV's are dumb tv's if you only use them as an external display/monitor and don't connect them to the net. I have a dedicated computer for a media center and just use HDMI1 input on the TV. Never enter menus. Never update the OS. Never agree to anything. Never let the TV "phone home." Never set up wifi. Never connect a CAT5 to it. Set the input using the remote and forget it. Treat it as a dumb monitor. Computer i…
so, are there any TVs where this is not possible? For example as part of turning on there is a setup procedure that makes it phone home and connect to wifi? If so (I wouldn't know but I would expect because natural cynicism) then the question naturally becomes what TVs is what you suggest actually possible on.
on edit: I see jiveturkey just posted that in fact what I suspect would be the case of difficulty to keep it from connecting is often the case https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29383963
All TV's are dumb tv's if you only use them as an external display/monitor and don't connect them to the net. I have a dedicated computer for a media center and just use HDMI1 input on the TV. Never enter menus. Never update the OS. Never agree to anything. Never let the TV "phone home." Never set up wifi. Never connect a CAT5 to it. Set the input using the remote and forget it. Treat it as a dumb monitor. Computer i…
not all. some require a network connection at least to get started. some find an open network and connect "for you"
Look also for used signage monitors; they're built for heavy work, from 18/7 to 24/7, and used ones would last more than new consumer TVs anyway. Be aware however that some of them have already been plagued by Android and other "smart" features. Samsung has however some smart models using the Tizen OS, which is Linux based and potentially more open to hacking if compared to Android.
Just don't connect it to the network or agree to any of the license clickthroughs, it can't do things behind your back then. HDMI and the RF tuner can still work fine.
You know that some devices essentially "require" network connectivity for initial setup? E.g. https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/tv/smart-tv-set-up-witho...
Why don't people like their Smart TVs? I've had a 4k smart TV for years and love it. Being able to stream without needing my phone is great. It seems ironic that people are complaining about smart TV ads while the [2] link in the OP has an absolutely MASSIVE video ad that takes up 2/3s of the screen. And it's not like you're not being tracked when you stream from a Roku stick / Chromecast. Edit: I have a 4k Samsung t…
Believe it or not, there are ways to deliver content to a display that don't involve Roku, Chromecast, or any other instrumented "platform".
From the baseline of a society already saturated with ads, I don't think there's anything unusually evil about giving people the choice to share analytics/see ads in exchange for lower hardware prices. But when that choice is obfuscated or taken away entirely, and it becomes difficult or impossible to buy hardware that doesn't spy on you and/or hijack your attention, I see that as a big problem. It's one more step along the road to a world where consumers simply don't have access to general-purpose computer technology.