My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened? • Hacker News Board

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#231

Post by mastercheif » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 5:24 PM UTC

sshine wrote: post #214

ffsm8 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an 6 yo LG OLED and bought a Xbox series x on release. I've had the firmware update disabled too, because I couldn't think of a reason why I would want it to update. I'm not using it as a smart device after all. Well, when I got the Xbox, it worked. But a few months after, it wouldn't receive any signal on my TV. After some googling, it turned out that the Xbox had a firmware update which now made them incompa…

I avoided firmware updates on my Samsung TV and removed as many built-in apps as possible. It used to start in quiet mode looking for a source. Then my renter updated the firmware because of a popup. Now I’m forced to start one of the commercial flow tv channels. Somehow I’m allowed to play the same episode of Baywatch, progressing 10-15 seconds before I start whatever app I actually want to use. David Hasselhoff has…

You can remove Samsung TV Plus by long pressing on the icon on the Home Screen > remove > disable. Your TV will go back to its old behavior.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#232

Post by distances » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 5:48 PM UTC

tscherno wrote: post #228

distances wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not the case. How would the firmware even end up in the device, which protocol delivers it? And which ISP would have the expertise to patch a collection of random devices in the network?

See TR-069

Thanks for the pointer, today is another day when I'm learning something new.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#233

Post by exe34 » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 6:38 PM UTC

jononor wrote: post #201

exe34 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it has to have some kind of modem/antenna that you can cauterise.

But the TV functionality does not have to work if one does that? We should really have laws that makes it illegal to not function without connectivity.

correct. that's why I have an old and dumb projector instead of a TV.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#234

Post by toast0 » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 6:49 PM UTC

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #227

cma wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Luckily with TVs you can freeload: just never connect it to the internet and only apply updates via USB. Stick an Apple TV / Chromecast / console into it for playback With things like Amazon sidewalk, Samsung smartthings network, etc. it can still get data out

Wouldn't the data be a lot less useful to them? Instead of 'customer watched X show for Y minutes' it'd be 'customer X watched Y minutes of unknown on HDMI1'.

There's ways to fingerprint the content.

A low res, low quality jpeg once a minute or N seconds into a scene transition is quite small. I think audio fingerprinting can be effective and very low bandwidth as well.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#235

Post by toast0 » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 6:56 PM UTC

alemanek wrote: post #52

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe a Roku does the same kind of TV fingerprinting, and probably so do the other streaming hardware devices. So, not sure there is any relief anywhere? You can run your own linux HPC, but those get locked to 720p quality.

Apple TV is pretty good and not very pricey. It’s a good value

Starting at $130 is kind of pricey. A Roku Ultra isn't as capable, but is $80, and a Roku Express 4K+ (no wired ethernet, no dolby atmos) is $30. Roku likes to snoop and push ads too, of course.

And how usable are they if you're outside of the Apple ecosystem (i think I saw an article recently that someone was stuck and needed to use a mac or an iPhone to get unstuck).

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#236

Post by gorjusborg » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 7:50 PM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #66

pmags wrote: post #2

I seem to recall that Vizio was added to my "do not buy" list quite a long time ago, when it turned out they were monitoring your watching habit ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr... ). This seems to be more of the same I guess. Choice text from the link above: Q: Why did I see an ad in Scenic Mode? A: After Scenic Mode launches to full screen, you may see ads. We offer free, scenic conten…

There's a reason their TVs are basically free.

I will leave them to those interested in trading their attention in lieu of money.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#237

Post by gloxkiqcza » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 8:24 PM UTC

anal_reactor wrote: post #206

gloxkiqcza wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TVs should have brightness controls the same way they have volume controls on remotes. It’s great having a >1000 nits display, just like it’s great having a 500W subwoofer, but it doesn’t mean I want to blast it full power all the time and changing it shouldn’t require digging into slow menus. What’s the PC app please?

My dad's old Sanyo from early 90's did have brightness control buttons. https://github.com/JPersson77/LGTVCompanion I have a few extra buttons on my gayming keyboard that I pretty much never use, so I assigned three of them to a script that uses the above app to change brightness between 30/50/100.

Thanks!

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#238

Post by cma » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 8:24 PM UTC

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #227

cma wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Luckily with TVs you can freeload: just never connect it to the internet and only apply updates via USB. Stick an Apple TV / Chromecast / console into it for playback With things like Amazon sidewalk, Samsung smartthings network, etc. it can still get data out

Wouldn't the data be a lot less useful to them? Instead of 'customer watched X show for Y minutes' it'd be 'customer X watched Y minutes of unknown on HDMI1'.

As edge AI gets better they will be able to send smaller textual descriptions of the screen content.

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#239

Post by kotaKat » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 10:39 PM UTC

PeterStuer wrote: post #197

throwup238 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how much longer that will be possible with how cheap 5G is getting. Sooner or later they’ll be able to install a $10 part and make a deal with wireless carriers as backhaul for unconnected TVs. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already made a deal with Spectrum or XFinity to use those open wifi networks that are open to customers via their account signin. The best solution is commercial displays but…

Adding 5G today increases the BOM by 10$-30$ in volume production. Keep in mind that the tv already has ethernet and wifi to ISP controlled networks. Basically almost every consumer ISP offer mandatory includes an ISP managed gateway, that can pre-certify your appliances or operate hidden ssid networks or "public" wifi access point to the ISP's network. So "smart" appliance operators only need deals with a few big IS…

I fathom with 5G RedCap you can drive a low cost BOM and pair it with a "reduced capacity" yet still fairly moderate speed (up to 100mbps) 5G service.

Market the 5G as "always connected" to the customer. Free 720p streaming, a "plus" OTT platform that costs $10/mo that gives 1080p streaming over cellular (and 4K on traditional internet - advertise the 5g as a backup in this case).

Ads sold at an upcharge to the advertiser to reach the "always targetable" smart TV. Hit 'em hard with the ads to pay it.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/devices/tcl-and-t-mobile-launc...

T-Mo's already running RedCap in the states, so it's a matter of time...

Re: My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?

#240

Post by RandomBacon » Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 11:21 PM UTC

sshine wrote: post #214

ffsm8 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an 6 yo LG OLED and bought a Xbox series x on release. I've had the firmware update disabled too, because I couldn't think of a reason why I would want it to update. I'm not using it as a smart device after all. Well, when I got the Xbox, it worked. But a few months after, it wouldn't receive any signal on my TV. After some googling, it turned out that the Xbox had a firmware update which now made them incompa…

I avoided firmware updates on my Samsung TV and removed as many built-in apps as possible. It used to start in quiet mode looking for a source. Then my renter updated the firmware because of a popup. Now I’m forced to start one of the commercial flow tv channels. Somehow I’m allowed to play the same episode of Baywatch, progressing 10-15 seconds before I start whatever app I actually want to use. David Hasselhoff has…

> Then my renter updated the firmware because of a popup.

And this is why all of those people who say "just don't connect it to the Internet" are wrong.

You can decide not to connect, but are you going to tell every single guest not to, and have them think you're a crazy person because they don't understand the problem?

For those that say, I just won't tell them the WiFi password. I have news for you: many phones have hotspot and data plans where streaming to the TV won't be an issue.