Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

Post by asdff » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 5:01 AM UTC

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #55

anonym29 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not feasible for everyone, but between grocery delivery services, telehealth, etc - if you work remotely anyway, it may be surprisingly feasible to get rid of your car altogether and only Uber/Lyft as needed, at least until robotaxis expand into your area at a fraction of the price of traditional ride-hailing apps.

I work remotely, my gym is downstairs as well as a convenience store with some fresh (overpriced) items, a bar and an (overpriced) restaurant. My barber and grocery store is a $9 Uber Ride each way. So I could get away with a car easily where I live now. My wife and I have been down to one car since Covid. But when I was in the burbs if metro Atlanta where everything wasn’t so close, it would have been over $100 easy…

Post by pabs3 » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 5:02 AM UTC

Retr0id wrote: post #177

pabs3 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't have to hack it, you should have the right to repair the software on your device. Hopefully the Vizio lawsuit will help with that for Linux based devices, signs are looking good though. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

This is just about GPL compliance though (afaik LG TVs are already GPL compliant, or at least, I haven't noticed any noncompliance). The bigger problem here is tivoization. You can build a fresh kernel from source but you have no way to install it because the bootloader is locked down.

Post by asdff » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 5:03 AM UTC

Marsymars wrote: post #150

anonym29 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your car is tracking much more than rideshare apps even can. Uber, Lyft, whoever gets point to point trip information, maybe audio recording in the car. Modern personally owned automobiles are getting everything, all the time. It knows when you're home, when you're not, many record all audio all the time, some are recording video, some are tracking your sexual activity in the car. At this point, I treat rideshare lik…

There are still 2025 model cars where you can just pull the fuse for the modem and telematics module with no real ill effects.

Post by pabs3 » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 5:06 AM UTC

Retr0id wrote: post #177

pabs3 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't have to hack it, you should have the right to repair the software on your device. Hopefully the Vizio lawsuit will help with that for Linux based devices, signs are looking good though. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

This is just about GPL compliance though (afaik LG TVs are already GPL compliant, or at least, I haven't noticed any noncompliance). The bigger problem here is tivoization. You can build a fresh kernel from source but you have no way to install it because the bootloader is locked down.

Post by moltopoco » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 5:09 AM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #183

class3shock wrote: post #174

I'm less bothered by the ever present smart tv and more bothered that there is no way to just turn on the tv and go straight to input from a certain port. Would love to know TV's that just do that. My old Samsung constantly forces me to click through sources and out of smart features to get to the hdmi from my computer everytime I turn it on.

HDMI CEC should be able to to turn on TVs direct to the input. Sadly few desktops seem to support it.