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Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options

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

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Unfortunately, Torvalds supported tivoization: https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/13/289

Which confirms the point actually. The hoops companies have to jump through are pretty good hoops.

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

#372

For the tech-savvy, I'm not too worried about smart TVs. I just do this: > If you want premium image quality or sound, you’re better off using a smart TV offline. In the future, if they add e-sims, we'll just remove them or de-solder or whatever. The real risk is cars: if they start not working without cell network connections.

I feel like there's a bit of a jump from "tech-savvy" to de-soldering things on an expensive piece of home electronics. As it stands now, though, I agree that turning off the smart TV features seems to be the way to go for most people.

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

#373

The cheat code is Sceptre dumb TVs from Wal-Mart's web site. I want Hackernews to know about this so that Sceptre and Wal-Mart can get sales and know that there's a substantial market for these devices, not shrug their shoulders and go "we may as well take these off the market and sell enshittified crap instead; it's not like our customers know or care about the difference."

I’d be in the market but walmart.ca doesn’t list any Sceptre TVs. (Nor does any other Canadian retailer.)

I think they are selling off old stock and exiting the TV business. Searching various sites in the US shows only a basic 50” 4K TV. A few years ago, they had a very wide variety of offerings - I bought a 65” 4K dumb TV from them. Amazon (US) shows a wide variety of available-to-buy computer monitors, so that is probably their focus at the moment. It’s probably a lot more lucrative.

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

#374
post #169

For a hacker news article, it misses the crucial option - hacking a smart TV! I have LG OLED jailbroken using rootmy.tv, it was pretty trivial. It's basically a linux computer with a huge screen, you can customize it, SSH into it, map any commands to the remote, etc. Before I only used monitor, simple DP/HDMI input is all I wanted. But being able to take full control of the tv and connect it with other devices in the…

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

https://fossforce.com/2025/12/judge-signals-win-for-software...

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

#375

For the tech-savvy, I'm not too worried about smart TVs. I just do this: > If you want premium image quality or sound, you’re better off using a smart TV offline. In the future, if they add e-sims, we'll just remove them or de-solder or whatever. The real risk is cars: if they start not working without cell network connections.

> we'll just remove them or de-solder or whatever

If we continue giving money to people who build malware into the products, the malware will eventually be baked in deeply enough that the rest of the device will refuse to operate if it can't phone home to the ministry of truth or wherever.

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

#376

For the tech-savvy, I'm not too worried about smart TVs. I just do this: > If you want premium image quality or sound, you’re better off using a smart TV offline. In the future, if they add e-sims, we'll just remove them or de-solder or whatever. The real risk is cars: if they start not working without cell network connections.

ha good luck. they already aggressively scan and use public wi-fi networks and have everything shipped on a chonky SoC

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

#377
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Obviously they suggest you to instead get an Apple TV I did the same last year though when I couldn’t find a good non-smart tv. Even if you don’t like the advice it is a practical solution for normies.

The Apple TV box does not have a microphone and a camera, but beyond that there is absolutely no reason to think it's any more private than a "smart" TV.

you can see no privacy differences between an appletv and a roku or fire stick?

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

#378

> Best ways to find a dumb TV I did not give my TV network access. Works fine.

Manufacturers know people do this. The TV will attempt to connect to any open network (neighbors) and I'd be shocked if they haven't at least considered packaging them with 4G/5G antennas. You're gonna need a Faraday Cage.

Provide any evidence at all that this is happening.

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

#379

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.

> Why wouldn't you want it to be a computer?

Because I can then easily upgrade my computer without upgrading my TV.

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

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, Torvalds supported tivoization: https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/13/289

Because anti-tivoization doesn’t make sense in a software license. Imagine you make a smart toaster, and you make it entirely out of open source software. You release all the changes you made too, complying fully with the spirit of open source. People could take your software, buy some parts and make their own OSS toasters, everything’s great. But for safety reasons, since the software controls when the toaster pops,…

Modifiability does not imply insecurity (though if it did, the user should still be given a choice).

A software author has the right to set terms for use of their software, including requiring that manufacturers provide end users certain freedoms.

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