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Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#41

Post by dmitriid »

metadat wrote: post #25
jitl wrote: post #4

I’ve kept my Samsung offline since I purchased it in 2019. I’ve kept my LG offline since I purchased it in 2016. As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. (I recommend LG over Samsung - Samsung TV has native undismissable ads from 2019 still)

+1, this is great advice. I've been doing the same; get an AppleTV or GoogleTV dongle and never, ever attach the LG or Samshung TV to the network. Benefits of this strategy: * So simple, even non-savvy folks can follow the rule * Protects your privacy * Eliminates an unnecessary, highly invasive, and parasitic advertising vector (ads directly from LG or Samsung) * Protects your TV performance and functionality from s…

> Protects your TV performance and functionality from surprise degradation due to "updates"

Instead, it will have its own upgrades which will degrade performance and/or UI.

A recent Android TV update on my Xiaomi Android TV brought ads covering a 1/4 of the screen from services I'm not subscribed to. Had to revert the upgrade and stop it from updating.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#43

Post by bananamerica »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #35

It's one of the things that doesn't make sense anymore, like cars with manual transmission. Smarts in smart TV might cost $25 per unit, but OEMs get paid for streaming service placements on remote / home screen and a cut of revenue if users sign up. Even without streaming functionality, TV would still need some smarts to display tuner/inputs/settings UI and it's cheaper to develop Android apps than go custom route. P…

TIL most car in my country doesn't make any sense :P

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#45

Post by GekkePrutser »

walrus01 wrote: post #26

Just don't ever give it the wifi password. Drive the TV from a PS4/PS4, xbox series X or home theatre PC. Use the youtube/netflix/amazon video/whatever client software on those platforms. I have a thousand times more confidence that microsoft or sony will keep their operating system patched and free from zero days than some random OS on a TV. And at least they're big enough that their telemetry and data collection pr…

> Just don't ever give it the wifi password

This works for now but Amazon is already working on a way to share messages from devices through echo dots etc in the area. Even your neighbors'.

It's intended precisely for this purpose :( To capture days from those trying to stay under the radar. It's called sidewalk.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#46

Post by [deleted] »

solardev wrote: post #8
Shank wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. Do these TVs start up and boot directly into the selected input for something like an Apple TV, or do you have to go to extra hoops when it starts up to switch to your desired input? I'd actually be perfectly happy with a smart TV that's disconnected if it never throws its UI in my face wh…

My "smart" Vizio TV and LG projectors just go directly to the last active input (in my case a Google TV). I never even remember they have their own built-in smart OSes because I never see them. However, these days, most of the streaming sticks have their own shitty recommendations and ads anyway, so unless you're doing a self-hosted Plex box or something, expect ads. And then of course there are the actual streaming…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#47

Post by monkpit »

Shank wrote: post #5
jitl wrote: post #4

I’ve kept my Samsung offline since I purchased it in 2019. I’ve kept my LG offline since I purchased it in 2016. As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. (I recommend LG over Samsung - Samsung TV has native undismissable ads from 2019 still)

> As long as you have an AppleTV or similar connected to service your need for “smarts” it won’t be hard to leave the TV offline. Do these TVs start up and boot directly into the selected input for something like an Apple TV, or do you have to go to extra hoops when it starts up to switch to your desired input? I'd actually be perfectly happy with a smart TV that's disconnected if it never throws its UI in my face wh…

Look up HDMI-CEC and buy things that support that. It’s what enables switching to the input automatically when the device is turned on.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#48

Post by monkpit »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #37
LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

Rtings maintains a list of ad-free TVs. This isn't the same as smart-free, but maybe that's what some people want: https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/ads-in-smart-tv (The ones with a "10" in the ad-free column.) The often-given advice of "just don't connect it to the internet" is viable only sometimes. My TV shipped with some missing features that were enabled after a software update. Perhaps plug it in, update the soft…

Another option if you have good control over your router is to put the TV and other smart devices on a special subnet or vlan and only occasionally give it internet access for updates, etc. Maybe there's a good DNS-based ad blocker you could run on its vlan and nuke all of its ad and spy traffic too. This actually seems like a good market opportunity for yet another home device, a router with aggressive spyware and a…

These products are designed not to rely upon DNS to serve the ad content, though.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#49

Post by Scoundreller »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #45
walrus01 wrote: post #26

Just don't ever give it the wifi password. Drive the TV from a PS4/PS4, xbox series X or home theatre PC. Use the youtube/netflix/amazon video/whatever client software on those platforms. I have a thousand times more confidence that microsoft or sony will keep their operating system patched and free from zero days than some random OS on a TV. And at least they're big enough that their telemetry and data collection pr…

> Just don't ever give it the wifi password This works for now but Amazon is already working on a way to share messages from devices through echo dots etc in the area. Even your neighbors'. It's intended precisely for this purpose :( To capture days from those trying to stay under the radar. It's called sidewalk.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the next iteration of TVs will take ads over a data signal over OTA deals with TV stations and display localized ads in programming and in their apps.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a TV on the market without “Smart TV” features?

#50

Post by FunnyBadger »

I simply have NEVER connected the TV directly to the Internet - I have HDMI from other devices I trust more connected but that's it. I don't really watch any broadcast TV - instead it's either my own tape/DVD content or internet content available from other devices.

There are enough ethical violations by Samsung to NEVER trust them when it comes to internet anything. So just omit the connection.

Basically treat any TV today as a monitor and nothing more. Never make a buying decision based on any feature that isn't specifically monitor-related (e.g. only resolution matters; no other whiz-bang features should enter into the decision).

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