21–30 of 41 posts
Love that predatory bullshit, and it keeps on happening with every TV platform.
common advice is to never connect your smart TV to the network. Only use the HDMI inputs.
Reasonable advice. However it's worth keeping in mind that HDMI supports Ethernet passthru so it too can be used to connect out.
Anyway I think the real threats will be:
1) Aggressive wifi search connecting itself, including deals with ISP routers to allow them to bypass you or even other devices.
2) Time-bombs causing the TV to become non-functional or degraded if you don't connect it to the internet, after the warranty or return window has expired
3) In-built 5G modem connectivity (everyone says this is to expensive but manufacturers could cut bulk deals and could limit the bandwidth usage, even just sneaking in firmware updates has a lot of abuse potential)
There isn't any way to allow certain streaming services via a firewall whitelist, but block all the extraneous connections a TV might make is there? (As the TV manufacturer might use the same CDNs/IP ranges as legitimate services?), ideally without hacking about with the TV itself. Or would it be best just to never connect the TV to a network and use a computer to access streaming services.
As content providers consolidate on shared infrastructure (AWS, gcp, etc) the chances of good and bad actors using the same IP increases. This decreases the effectiveness of firewalls that operate on ip:port matching. Most firewalls do this.
Realistically, what you probably want as a tech savvy consumer is home network level DNS blacklist. It is not a firewall and it doesn't technically block traffic. It does prevent traffic from leaving the device if the DNS the device wants to send to is blacklisted. This exists (pihole) and can be added to a network fairly quickly. Bad actors could bypass your DNS or use known ips directly. Whitelisting dns would also work with the caveat that you'll need to update the list frequently and I don't think pihole was designed for this.
All of that is fairly complicated. A wireless keyboard and mouse and HDMI cable are cheap and laptops are plentiful. You will have the same adversarial content provider issues with a laptop, though. Scriptsafe and ublock can help. Laptops actually shut down when you tell them to. Your tv is probably on even when the screen is off.
I made this decision recently when I inherited a Sony TV with a house. It has not been connected to a network and I use a laptop to stream. I also run pihole, scriptsafe, ublock, and I pay for most of my streaming providers. They're still getting data on me, but less than most people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just buy a smart tv but don't connect to wifi?
How do you use it then? A Roku is more secure?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just buy a smart tv but don't connect to wifi?
The last smart TV I had flashed an annoying light if there were no wifi connection. Cover the light, I thought! ...the annoying light is adjacent to the IR receiver. Cover the light, no remote. Is this intentional?
The most frustrating part is that the last time I was able to buy a "regular" tv was 2020 EVERYTHING is a damn smart tv now
[1]https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV-category1category73.htm...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just buy a smart tv but don't connect to wifi?
I'm sure this will soon be solved using the hack of accessing shared Wi-Fi fabrics that some ISPs now offer (as in, the thing where the router will offer a generic network such as CoxWiFi, and allow random people to pay to use your WiFi; even if you don't have it, maybe your neighbor does)... and even then, new IoT longer-range WiFi services can act as a backstop.
Someone in the future will make decent money converting smart tvs to dumb tvs.
The most frustrating part is that the last time I was able to buy a "regular" tv was 2020 EVERYTHING is a damn smart tv now
Just buy a smart tv but don't connect to wifi?
The most frustrating part is that the last time I was able to buy a "regular" tv was 2020 EVERYTHING is a damn smart tv now
Sceptre sells 4k tvs that are not smart, though they have been hard to find as of late. [1] [1] https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV-category1category73.htm...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you use it then? A Roku is more secure?
Nvidia shield is what I use on all my TVs.
No Ads with the custom launcher.
I don't have to be logged into anything I don't want to be, the devices are... not excellent but probably the best you can get right now for the price range.
Media format compatibility is good. Bluetooth connectivity exists for peripherals (incl audio bars and headphones). It has USB ports to take a thumbdrive or other android support peripherals (incl USB audio DACs).
Good support for CEC and the remote has IR support for controlling other hardware (ex - I can make it work with my Epson projector just fine).
I don't really like the toblerone remote form factor - and it should be against the law into include dedicated streaming service buttons (netflix... blegh), plus every now and then I have to reboot the device. But generally speaking... if one died I'd probably buy another as the replacement.