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Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

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Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#91

Post by microcode »

dewey wrote: post #90
HDBaseT wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure the adtech is even enough to subsidize the price in a meaningful way. Google’s global ad revenue equates to roughly $61 per user per year, most TV manufacturers would be unable to extract that much out per user, even with crazy levels of tracking, ads, etc. I haven't used a modern TV in a very long time, but I can't imagine LG is extracting over $20 in ad revenue/data revenue per year. It might move the…

What makes you think LG would not be hitting the Google numbers (Instagram ad-free is ~$6 / month for example, roughly the same ballpark)? A device that's connected to a high speed internet connection, often allowed to do background tasks and being able to track all data being consumed through it (Streaming services, gaming etc.) is extremely valuable.

Indeed, many of these TVs serve ads by default on their screensavers and home screens.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#92

Post by SchemaLoad »

gozucito wrote: post #89
rustcleaner wrote: post #44

Never ever connect your "Smart"-TV to your network, or if you have an incurable impulse to then make sure it's on a firewalled gateway-less VLAN. Take the money you save buying the thing (compared to what a profitable "dumb" version would cost) and buy a surplus corporate mini-workstation system, and slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device. No good for you can ever come from…

I've heard this wisdom before, usually with an apple TV positioned as the alternative, but I've had that setup before and didn't enjoy having to use 2 remotes instead of one. A better solution would be to root the damn TV and neuter its spyware/adware crap.

Having 2 remotes is so much easier than trying to flash custom firmware on the TV

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#93

Post by microcode »

SchemaLoad wrote: post #92
gozucito wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this wisdom before, usually with an apple TV positioned as the alternative, but I've had that setup before and didn't enjoy having to use 2 remotes instead of one. A better solution would be to root the damn TV and neuter its spyware/adware crap.

Having 2 remotes is so much easier than trying to flash custom firmware on the TV

You don't necessarily have to flash a custom firmware. Rooting the TV and killing the ad processes is usually sufficient.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#94

Post by notatoad »

gozucito wrote: post #89
rustcleaner wrote: post #44

Never ever connect your "Smart"-TV to your network, or if you have an incurable impulse to then make sure it's on a firewalled gateway-less VLAN. Take the money you save buying the thing (compared to what a profitable "dumb" version would cost) and buy a surplus corporate mini-workstation system, and slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device. No good for you can ever come from…

I've heard this wisdom before, usually with an apple TV positioned as the alternative, but I've had that setup before and didn't enjoy having to use 2 remotes instead of one. A better solution would be to root the damn TV and neuter its spyware/adware crap.

this is a solved problem on basically any modern tv: HDMI-CEC lets your appletv control your tv without using the tv remote.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#95

Post by jerrysievert »

gozucito wrote: post #89
rustcleaner wrote: post #44

Never ever connect your "Smart"-TV to your network, or if you have an incurable impulse to then make sure it's on a firewalled gateway-less VLAN. Take the money you save buying the thing (compared to what a profitable "dumb" version would cost) and buy a surplus corporate mini-workstation system, and slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device. No good for you can ever come from…

I've heard this wisdom before, usually with an apple TV positioned as the alternative, but I've had that setup before and didn't enjoy having to use 2 remotes instead of one. A better solution would be to root the damn TV and neuter its spyware/adware crap.

why were you using 2 remotes? did you have other systems attached to the television, such as a game console, or cable?

the Apple TV provides hdmi cec, which should control your television through the hdmi cable.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#96

Post by Dig1t »

drnick1 wrote: post #82
rustcleaner wrote: post #44

Never ever connect your "Smart"-TV to your network, or if you have an incurable impulse to then make sure it's on a firewalled gateway-less VLAN. Take the money you save buying the thing (compared to what a profitable "dumb" version would cost) and buy a surplus corporate mini-workstation system, and slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device. No good for you can ever come from…

This, but LibreELEC or other Kodi distributions suck. They are too limited. Until recently, the best solution was to run a full Linux DE, but now there is Plasma Bigscreen[0] for that. This is basically a DE optimized for couch use with a remote. You can run Kodi as an app, but also stream from a browser, or play games with Steam, etc. [0] https://plasma-bigscreen.org/

This looks great, it just needs some hardware to run on with a nice remote. Does any hardware like that exist?

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#98

Post by microcode »

Dig1t wrote: post #96
drnick1 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, but LibreELEC or other Kodi distributions suck. They are too limited. Until recently, the best solution was to run a full Linux DE, but now there is Plasma Bigscreen[0] for that. This is basically a DE optimized for couch use with a remote. You can run Kodi as an app, but also stream from a browser, or play games with Steam, etc. [0] https://plasma-bigscreen.org/

This looks great, it just needs some hardware to run on with a nice remote. Does any hardware like that exist?

An Xbox/PlayStation controller is cheap and high quality.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#99

Post by elahd »

gozucito wrote: post #89
rustcleaner wrote: post #44

Never ever connect your "Smart"-TV to your network, or if you have an incurable impulse to then make sure it's on a firewalled gateway-less VLAN. Take the money you save buying the thing (compared to what a profitable "dumb" version would cost) and buy a surplus corporate mini-workstation system, and slap LibreELEC/Kodi or whatever on it, and use that device as your "smart" device. No good for you can ever come from…

I've heard this wisdom before, usually with an apple TV positioned as the alternative, but I've had that setup before and didn't enjoy having to use 2 remotes instead of one. A better solution would be to root the damn TV and neuter its spyware/adware crap.

Put the TV remote in a drawer and only use the Apple TV remote. With CEC enabled, that one remote will control power and volume for the TV and any connected audio devices. It'll also switch to the proper input when the Apple TV is turned on.

Re: Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs

#100

Post by drnick1 »

TurdF3rguson wrote: post #23

It's not Smart TV apps specifically, it's all free apps. They have to monetize those somehow, don't they? And you get upset when you see ads, don't you? Basically it's either this or pay for your apps.

> And you get upset when you see ads, don't you?

Yes and no. I understand that Youtube needs to generate revenue, has staff to pay, etc. About a decade ago, I got an occasional 10 second commercial at the start of a clip, and I could live with that. But Youtube pushed me too far when it started playing two consecutive commercials at regular intervals that cannot be skipped, and I now use uBlock or VacuumTube on all my devices.

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