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Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

arstechnica.com

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Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#261

Post by darkwater »

pabs3 wrote: post #203
Retr0id wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As Conservancy would say, a device with no way to modify isn't GPLv2 compliant either. https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-t... https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017...

We should really be happy that Torvalds decided to license Linux as GPL software. If it was BSD these discussions would simply not exist, and corporate power over software would be even greater. I would dare to say we would probably not even have an open source scene at all...

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#262

Post by nottorp »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #143
JayGuerette wrote: post #96

I'm confused. Every TV is a dumb TV if you don't give it your Wifi password.

I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV. We never use anything mode of the TV. (Then again, I have zero streaming services, so perhaps I am not who this article is for.)

What do you use for a remote for the Mac Mini?

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#264

Post by rock_artist »

The more I think about it I wonder why Chinese TVs using Android based TV don’t have Some GrapheneTV or basic trimmed down Android aimed to be “dumb”.

Unlike phones,

- if it should be air gapped then all you’d want is your HDMIs input and remote control to work.

- nice to have: ADCs/DACs for analog AV input and audio out and any antenna input if available.

- super nice to have: Bluetooth for passing audio out and maybe network (Ethernet, WiFi) stack if same.

But assuming the goal is airgapped. There are less security concerns in general, You just want the Android TV to be lightweight and fast and don’t care it’s “stuck” in specific version or use closed blobs.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#266

Post by fulafel »

stravant wrote: post #249
jader201 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's basically a linux computer with a huge screen Why would I want a Linux computer with a huge screen? I just want a huge screen. I’ll provide my own connected devices, independent of the screen.

Why wouldn't you want it to be a computer? Then it can be connected to your devices AND also do the job itself in a situation where it's awkward to connect to a device. If already needs a computer in it to drive menus / modern display protocols. Having that computer be powerful enough to also decode content is barely an extra cost.

A rooted piece of trashy IOT is trashy IOT. It's an acquired taste, the excitement of putting a black box insecure linux device on the home network to add to your home infra admin duties.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#267

Post by [deleted] »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #61
orwin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browsing history? Search history? Age? Also 'product interaction' is an euphemism to say "if you're sick, we'll sell this information for around 80€" (I think it's close to 200$ for Americans but I don't have any contact in this industry overseas). If you have a cancer and suddenly you see an increase in ads for pseudo-medicine and other scams whose only goal is to extract all the money you have left, and if lucky, y…

So exactly how do you suppose they sync your browsing history and bookmarks between devices if they don’t store the information? And your browsing history is e2e encrypted by keys on your device. Apple doesn’t have access to your browsing history. You can give Apple any age you want to. It’s not like it checks. And I have no idea about the other topics you are going off on and what they have to do with Apple..

[deleted]

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#268

Post by [deleted] »

jdminhbg wrote: post #107
orwin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browsing history? Search history? Age? Also 'product interaction' is an euphemism to say "if you're sick, we'll sell this information for around 80€" (I think it's close to 200$ for Americans but I don't have any contact in this industry overseas). If you have a cancer and suddenly you see an increase in ads for pseudo-medicine and other scams whose only goal is to extract all the money you have left, and if lucky, y…

> Browsing history? Search history? They want to show you things you have recently watched or looked at when you log in, rather than just random TV shows. > Age? You can give your kids an age-restricted account so what they watch is limited.

[deleted]

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#269

Post by silisili »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #31

How I break free from Smart TVs ("smart" for the manufacturer but very dumb for the user). Buy a cheap smart TV and run it in "store mode". Brightness and saturation will probably be maxed out but with a cheap TV, it looks more like "normal" on a more expensive model. Hint: The main difference between cheap and expensive in some cases --- the color adjustment range is limited by software on the cheaper models. Curren…

> Brightness and saturation will probably be maxed out but with a cheap TV, it looks more like "normal" on a more expensive model.

That probably mimics Samsung TVs, which are popular for that reason but look like crap.

The actual best TVs, picture wise, are among the LG C series, which are surprisingly dim and unsaturated. That said, mine has held up terribly so I won't buy another. My $200 Onn looks good enough to my eyes and lasted longer.

Re: Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

#270

Post by reacharavindh »

Am I missing something? I have a LG nano something TV that has many “smart” features, but I never let it connect to my WiFi ever. Since day 1 it has been hooked up to an AppleTV. Can I not buy any fancy smart TV in 2025 and use it as a dumb HDMI display for AppleTV?
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