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Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#41

Post by horsawlarway »

colangelod wrote: post #9

If you just want it for the HDMI input to use as an aux screen for what ever computer your running than anything with an HDMI input in the size range you want should work. I run all the TV's in my house like this; connected to mac mini's instead of futzing with the onboard software mostly because I despise typing one letter at a time with a tv remote. Honestly all the onboard TV OS stuff I have interacted with in the…

Yup.

You generally don't want a smart tv you can hack. You want a decent computer you own sending signal through the external inputs.

The SBC in the TV is, hands down across basically every "smart" TV I've interacted with, a cheap piece of crap (even well into the "expensive" brands and models).

Manufacturers stick the absolute cheapest garbage in there that can output the advertised resolution during playback without stuttering.

So you can spend hours/days/week wrestling this cheap, underpowered board back from the manufacturer... or you can just side-step it entirely and spend much less time and effort sticking a decent computer you own behind the tv.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#43

Post by andrepd »

hamdingers wrote: post #20

For "fun and interesting" consider an LG WebOS TV. Many can be rooted[1] which allows installing a homebrew channel[2] of unauthorized apps or writing your own. I initially did it for Jellyfin before they made it into the official app store, but the Moonlight game streaming app has unlocked many hours of entertainment. 1. https://cani.rootmy.tv 2. https://www.webosbrew.org/

Unfortunately it still spies on you if you connect to the web :S

I guess you can mitigate that if you use something like a pi-hole? I do wish there was a solution using root/devmode to block ads (or better yet, run in whitelist mode!).

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#44

Post by MisterTea »

gruez wrote: post #23
MisterTea wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most TV's today are actually giant Android computers. I opened a friends TV a few years back to try and examine a back light issue and to my surprise there were just 3 small PCB's in the TV: Power supply, LCD driver/interface, and the video input board that contains an Arm SoC. The PSU had a small harness that ran to the other two boards and the SoC board had a ribbon cable to the LCD panel. The Arm SoC is the real i…

>If we could get our hands on the SoC datasheet then its possible we could flash that SoC to run whatever OS we want and actually have a Smart TV instead of a spyware and malware vector Surely it's more straightforward to buy a SBC yourself and plug that into your TV? Even if you could flash it, dealing with random SoC/hardware seems not worth the hassle compared to shelling out $50-200 for a SBC that you picked and…

> Surely it's more straightforward to buy a SBC yourself and plug that into your TV?

Of course it is. Though my point is we already have the hardware in the TV and it would be awesome to actually use it the way we want to use it. Also, I have two dumb TV's, each with a small PC hooked to it and they haven't moved in years.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#45

Post by paulgerhardt »

Do recommend the LG C series (C5 or C4 are new or the C1 series if you want a deal on classifieds - same hardware as the higher end models but needs a firmware bit flip). The OS is very rootable and it makes a great TV that doubles as a monitor. Supports free sync / g-sync. OLED is nice at this scale.

Text is very readable, refresh rate is good. It uses the same panels as the fancier G series in the larger sizes. One can root the firmware to make it go brighter. (Though this is screen works well in medium or dimly lit rooms. It does not shine in very bright rooms).

Plenty of YouTube videos singing the C series praises as a TV / Monitor.[1] LG webOS is also trivial/friendly to root in developer mode and network control of the tv is a nice to have.

Would avoid Samsung. I love the matte on the Frame and the design of the Serif but the OS is frustrating / impractical to root.

[1] https://youtu.be/Qtve0u3GJ9Y

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#46

Post by xer0x »

paulgerhardt wrote: post #45

Do recommend the LG C series (C5 or C4 are new or the C1 series if you want a deal on classifieds - same hardware as the higher end models but needs a firmware bit flip). The OS is very rootable and it makes a great TV that doubles as a monitor. Supports free sync / g-sync. OLED is nice at this scale. Text is very readable, refresh rate is good. It uses the same panels as the fancier G series in the larger sizes. One…

Thanks that's great to know! I've got one to tinker with.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#47

Post by horsawlarway »

foobarian wrote: post #38
colangelod wrote: post #9

If you just want it for the HDMI input to use as an aux screen for what ever computer your running than anything with an HDMI input in the size range you want should work. I run all the TV's in my house like this; connected to mac mini's instead of futzing with the onboard software mostly because I despise typing one letter at a time with a tv remote. Honestly all the onboard TV OS stuff I have interacted with in the…

Unfortunately the family likes live TV, and that is very hard to get without compromising the UX.

OTA TV Tuners fill this niche.

It's been a bit since I've done this (I'm not watching live TV anymore), but something like HDHomeRun worked fine.

It basically pairs an antenna with a small computer to convert to network traffic, then gives you an app on your streaming device to play it back.

You do need to be able to run the vendor's app, and you'll get stuck with that UI for live tv (So yeah - totally agree that you're compromising the UX). But still no reliance on the "smarts" built into the tv.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#48

Post by dn3500 »

patrickk wrote: post #21
colangelod wrote: post #9

If you just want it for the HDMI input to use as an aux screen for what ever computer your running than anything with an HDMI input in the size range you want should work. I run all the TV's in my house like this; connected to mac mini's instead of futzing with the onboard software mostly because I despise typing one letter at a time with a tv remote. Honestly all the onboard TV OS stuff I have interacted with in the…

This, this, this. Just never, ever connect the TV to the internet. Connect up an Nvidia shield, or a mini-PC/raspberry pi configured with whatever apps you desire, hidden behind a pi-hole. Connect a steam deck if gaming/linux desktop usage is your thing. I only touch the TV remote to switch on the TV, and even that could be automatable with home assistant+CEC if that's of interest.

I had a TV once, can't remember the brand, that refused to stream from my dlna server unless it could contact its own corporate servers over the internet first.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#49

Post by WorldPeas »

I use a NEC OPS module tv I got on facebook marketplace as a digital signage monitor. Best purchase I've made yet, though I will admit the feet for it being 200 dollars was quite a shock (they're made out of steel and about 2 feet long each so it makes sense) completely dumb tv, takes all inputs from HDMI to component and has features like auto-sleep without any real smarts inside. I love it.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best hackable smart TV?

#50

Post by addandsubtract »

reaperducer wrote: post #39
gruez wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing out on resolution (4K) and picture quality (HDR, contrast ratios, color gamut) improvements by doing this.

You're missing out on resolution (4K) and picture quality (HDR, contrast ratios, color gamut) improvements by doing this. Not everyone suffers from FOMO. I've only seen one movie that was worth the bother and expense of seeing it in 4K (Rear Window). The rest of the things you mention are mostly for a very small slice of theoretical people with perfect vision in perfectly lit rooms at the perfect height and viewing a…

Rear Window? A movie from 1954? Can you explain how that was better in 4K when the footage isn't even 4K?
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