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The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

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Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#181

Post by wccrawford »

gpspake wrote: post #160
psy-q wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android TV now also comes with forced ads (since rebranding to Google TV). I was pretty upset when the very expensive Android TV gadget I bought (Nvidia Shield TV) specifically to have an external device without ads suddenly had them. They take up the upper third of the home screen.

What they did to the shield was a tragedy. It was so refreshing to have a device that I could completely customized to remove ads and suggested content. I don't blame Nvidia I think this is more on the Google TV side. I still think the shield is the best TV box on the market. I keep meaning to look into loading a different launcher that will let me go back to the old style.

I have no proof, but I have a feeling nVidia is working to fix this problem. They were probably blind-sided and so it's taking a while, but I fully expect them to create their own launcher now to combat this. Their customers were quite upset about it.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#182

Post by _fat_santa »

xoa wrote: post #87

FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. They're often found under labeling like "commercial digital signage" or "business display" or the like, they seem to often try to avoid using "TV" (if being cynical maybe to make them harder for normal people to discover and confuse them if they do). B…

I'm considering getting a 70" version whenever I get a house. While I've been renting I always just get the biggest and cheapest TV from the local electronics store.

Besides not having the usual crap, I would imagine these use higher quality component since the TV's might be on 24/7. Even that 50" at just over 1k doesn't seem that bad, that's usually what you would pay for a high end 50" anyways.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#183

Post by kornhole »

nesk_ wrote: post #109
xoa wrote: post #87

FWIW, it is still possible to get TVs without this stuff, albeit at a premium. TVs are still made for business usage in areas like conference rooms, wall displays etc. They're often found under labeling like "commercial digital signage" or "business display" or the like, they seem to often try to avoid using "TV" (if being cynical maybe to make them harder for normal people to discover and confuse them if they do). B…

However those TVs are not easy to get and, like you said, they come with an increased price. I couldn't recommend enough to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent) and block all Internet access to your "smart" TV. I did this and everything was instantly better.

I don't know if you have been following the news about Apple expanding its advertising business. If you don't want a corporation collecting data about your viewing, you could modify your approach slightly and try kodi.tv. I have Librelec running on a RPI with attached SSD as house media server. The add-ons catalog is large and growing, but it won't have all the channels you might want.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#184

Post by JohnFen »

ape4 wrote: post #20
DethNinja wrote: post #6

There is a much better option for HN crowd: Buy a large/modern computer monitor and connect it to your homelab’s media server. Literally there is no need for a smart TV so long as you are capable of setting up a small homelab.

What about over-the-air TV

Not an option everywhere. Where I am, the digital switchover meant that most TV stations can no longer be received over the air.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#185

Post by jasonjayr »

thunky wrote: post #131
jokowueu wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just get any smart tv and add a android tv dongle . They don't cost much

That's what I thought we well, but TFA seems to suggest that some TVs may overlay ads on top of any video source: "Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen and matched them to an existing database of content to find out what a user was watching and when" "pop-ups would reportedly appear halfway through the show and be injected into the users' own content, such as home videos"

"Automatic Content Recognition" is scary, and seems to work regardless of the source of the image.

https://www.bannertag.com/guide-to-automatic-content-recogni...

I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the tome of text you agree to when you startup or unpack the tv. So clearly, everyone is okay with it. /s

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#186

Post by api »

AlexandrB wrote: post #180
api wrote: post #147

One thing I fundamentally don't get: all this endless shoehorning of ads into everything is dependent on there being a seemingly unlimited amount of ad revenue on the table. Why? Do ads actually work this well if everyone hates them? What about ads shoehorned into marginal spaces and presented in ways that are barely relevant to the material? The only ads I EVER click on are relevant ads that come up from a search in…

> Why are companies so stingy with wages and willing to outsource their core competencies in exchange for small gains but at the same time are willing to piss endless amounts of money away on ads? Because there's a whole analytics industry that tries to demonstrate ROI for each ad purchased. And as long at that ROI is positive it seems like a no-brainer to throw more money at advertising. I wonder how much of said an…

I wonder if a good chunk of the whole industry isn't a giant grift against advertisers.

Problem is they have to invade our privacy and ruin our products and media to keep the grift going since the ads have to actually be shown somewhere, even if they're ineffective spam.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#187

Post by mrweasel »

scarface74 wrote: post #165
mrweasel wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I do see, and agree with your point, we're also at a time where it's honestly much much easier to not own a TV than say 20 years ago.

He said that he means no video content from anywhere - including streaming services.

Yes, I understand that. Going back to the 80' or 90' you'd frequently be in a position where everyone had seen the same news, show or movie the night before or during the weekend, leaving you out of the conversation. That's no longer the case, there is so much content that it's not really weird that haven't watch something. Sports is so expensive that it's no surprise that you didn't a particular event. It's almost surprising of two people in an office watched the same thing the night before.

Also there are so many other types of media available, like video games, audio-books, podcasts, online articles, e-books. You can be just as informed and entertained without a TV.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#188

Post by ezfe »

uptown wrote: post #53

At home, I've never connected my TV to my network. The few firmware updates I've needed to do were applied using a thumb drive, and I use an AppleTV as my interface. When I travel, I bring along an AppleTV and plug the HDMI port into their set. This lets me keep the services I subscribe-to and use them with their display. This has worked great until my most-recent rental, which had a RokuTV -- presumably setup on Wif…

>When content was streaming from my AppleTV, Roku would overlay a panel along the bottom-part of the screen proposing that I can watch what I'm currently watching from a variety of other providers. This must mean that the TV set is analyzing the video or audio signal to fingerprint what the content contained, then matching it against a library of content to feed into its profile of my use.

My Roku TV specifically said it didn't analyze HDMI inputs, only Roku channel watching

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#189

Post by nesk_ »

jtbayly wrote: post #155
nesk_ wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However those TVs are not easy to get and, like you said, they come with an increased price. I couldn't recommend enough to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent) and block all Internet access to your "smart" TV. I did this and everything was instantly better.

How do you block internet if it will join open networks automatically?

I just allowed my Samsung TV to connect to the wifi (to access the local network, because the Steam Link client is better on it than it is on the Apple TV) and then, on my router, I blocked all Internet access coming from the mac address of the Samsung TV.

Re: The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool

#190

Post by scient »

blueflow wrote: post #100
scarface74 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, yes the alternative is not to use a device used by 95% homes in the US. What next the old Slashdot meme - “I haven’t owned a TV in 10 years. Do people still watch TV?”

This is a non-argument - just because most people do it doesn't mean you have to do it, too. Edit: The slippery slope: 95% of people are straight.

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