Live data from Hacker News

Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

nytimes.com

761–770 of 1001 posts

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#761
Such a disappointing answer. I'm torn between thinking the NYT is being disingenuous to avoid offending advertisers or they are just willfully ignorant.

A flat panel display gets a computer to "run" it. We get that, if you're adding a tuner capable of decoding digital broadcasts or cable signals, it can do that without doing reporting on what you are watching.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am frankly surprised they do not all do this, and predict they all will. There will be no "don't connect it to the internet" nor even "use a pie hole" solutions possible, because the manufacturers will intentionally block them

Use monitor and smart TV dongle?

My TV is a 43" HP Monitor. Some things just don't work right. The Roku cannot turn off the display like it could my old television. Since the monitor has no speakers, I have to use a soundbar but the Roku remote cannot adjust the volume so I have to use two remotes. None of this is a big deal to me but it is not seamless.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#764

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

On that matter I have nothing but praise to give about my Panasonic OLED display.

It is a smart tv in the sense that it has YouTube Netflix etc apps, but it’s working perfectly fine without internet access (it has local network only), works with home assistant, shows no ads ever (even if online), starts up in 5–10 seconds from button press to displaying the picture, has a dedicated remote button for switching inputs, and looks fantastic (OLED with tons of calibration options)

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#765
post #722

Wow, others have said it but they really missed the point. Most of it is just kind of annoying because they're missing the point, but this sentence really stuck out to me (snipped to only show the important parts, there's a bunch of stuff in the middle that's also annoying): "By connecting to the internet [you get] security and features updates". Did they seriously argue that you need to connect to internet, otherwis…

There are other attack vectors of a TV. For example, most TVs have a usb. Imagine an attack in which an attacker gains physical access to your TV and loads malware onto your TV via USB. Now the infected TV is communicating with a nearby WIFI hotspot to upload the audio recordings from the TV's microphone (that exists for voice commands). I think the TV is malware out-of-the-book if connected to a network connection.…

If your threat model involves people hijacking your TV to spy on you, and one of these attackers managed to enter your home, you are already toast no matter what.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#767
post #760

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

> "just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time yo…

> Because end user questions disrupt developer discussion this thread will be removed soon.

Lol. I’ve worked for Samsung’s TV (and ad business, I’m ashamed to say) and this doesn’t surprise me one bit. The culture was actively user hostile and gave zero fucks about security or quality. All that mattered was how much data we could suck out of the users home. That included automated content recognition so we’d know what you were watching at all time including porn even if it was streamed via your laptop, or reporting all the IDs of all hdmi devices connected to the tv, or scanning your internal network to find out what devices are there to then sell this info to advertisers and have you switch from Nintendo to Xbox for example.

Fwiw this was the first and last time I’ve ever worked in adtech, I’ve sworn to never ever enable this industry ever again.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#768

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

> A smart TV with no internet connection And it's soon going to be impossible to dodge it going on the Internet anyway. Manufacturers are hard at work making sure that if any of any neighbor's Internet of Shitty Insecure Things [TM] device participate in the scam, the smart TV shall use your neighbor's device to escape and access the net. I forgot the name of the protocol / "feature", but it's a very real thing. So u…

How is it not illegal for your device to highjack a neighbour's internet connection?

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#769

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

On that matter I have nothing but praise to give about my Panasonic OLED display. It is a smart tv in the sense that it has YouTube Netflix etc apps, but it’s working perfectly fine without internet access (it has local network only), works with home assistant, shows no ads ever (even if online), starts up in 5–10 seconds from button press to displaying the picture, has a dedicated remote button for switching inputs,…

My Sony is about as pleasant. I’ve got it on my iOT network just so HA can see it, and it’s fine with having no internet access.

Re: Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?

#770

"just don't connect it to the internet" is such a typical HN response that completely misses the point. A smart TV with no internet connection is still a smart TV. It still has an entire operating system that needs to load wifi, ethernet, Bluetooth, usb driver stacks. It still has an awful, flashy interface that adds unnecessary steps between changing inputs. It still tries to load god knows what apps every time you…

Children are complaining, but this is exactly right. Yes, I can work around the device connecting me to the internet. What I’d really prefer though is to exchange whatever cost went into the shit add ons, the Bluetooth, the speakers, the wifi, the usb, and put that into a better display. Done. I’m sure there’s a good business reason why this simple, obvious project is not what’s in the market.

But it costs money not to advertise to you. You have to be willing to pay more for your TV, and people love buying $500, 65-inch TVs.
Post reply on HN