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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

#461

Post by kelnos »

ashirviskas wrote: post #139
montymintypie wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one-click method has been patched, but there are other methods that will work if you haven't been religiously updating your TV: [0] https://github.com/throwaway96/dejavuln-autoroot [1] https://github.com/throwaway96/faultmanager-autoroot

Religiously updating my TV? It has been patched since spring, someone clicking by accident "yes" for the update notice that appears randomly on the middle of the screen in the past 9 months would ruin it. I was religously *not* updating my TV and it still got too new software for the exploit :')

My LG TV is a little over a year old now and I refuse to allow it to connect to the Internet, ever, so I guess RootMyTV would work fine for me?

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

#462

Post by ssl-3 »

pessimizer wrote: post #425
jader201 wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you still want a smart TV, just with control. Which is fine. But for many people, we just want a monitor, maybe with speakers (I personally am fine also separating this). I prefer separation of concerns — if I want to attach a computer to my TV, I’ll do that as a search device. Why have a dependency on the TV hardware, when I can attach upgradable parts?

A monitor has a processor in it that is running an OS and software. These are digital devices. The nit you're picking is silly. If you want to buy a bare LCD panel, they're cheap. But you're going to have to add a processor to it that runs an OS (which you're free to write yourself, along with the driver) in order for it to understand any input. All that slapped together is what we call a monitor, or a television. If…

It's not necessary for a display to have an operating system.

They make fixed-function chips in factories every day that do stuff like convert video signals from one format to another (including formats that LCD panels can deal with).

Like the TFP401. For illustration, here is one on a board, ready to plug into an LCD panel and use for whatever: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2218

It doesn't run an OS. It's barely even programmable, and the programmability it does have relates only to configuring pre-defined hardware functions. It doesn't have an instruction set. It can't add 1+1.

But it can bridge the gap between a consumer device that produces video and a fairly bare LCD panel. It's a very much a single-tasker.

(Do any of the current crop of consumer-oriented televisions and computer monitors use this kind of simple pathway? Most assuredly not, which is the complaint that brought us here to begin with.

But these pathways exist anyway. It's completely possible to to create an entire video display and house it in a nice-looking package, put it in a retail box, and sell it on store shelves without involving an operating system. It's not a technological limitation.)

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

#463

Post by autoexec »

ori_b wrote: post #447
broof wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know the finances, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their margins are low enough that their profit comes from advertising and data gathering post sale. So all this bloatware and advertising is subsidizing a high quality product and if you can strip out the unwanted stuff you’re probably getting a good deal at the expense of the company

You're showing the company that shoving advertising and data gathering into products will help them make products that sell. What you buy is what companies put out into the world.

Often what you buy is either all you can afford or all that that has been made available to you. There are plenty of companies, industries even, which refuse to give consumers what they'd prefer simply because it's more profitable for them not to. Too often consumers are left with choosing the best of terrible options or just making due with what they can can.

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

#464

Post by godelski »

IPTN wrote: post #362
godelski wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And annoyingly you can do USB-C to DP but not the other direction. I can't be the only one that hooks up my computer, with a graphics card, to my TV

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNX7MS6N

Thanks. For some reason when googling and searching amazon I only found "unidirectional" ones and going the other way. I fucking hate search

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

#465

Post by kmstout »

wiether wrote: post #321
saalweachter wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But like, a coffeemaker is a thing. You can make coffee with a kettle, but if you are making enough coffee often enough, it does make sense to bundle a second kettle into a dedicated coffeemaker, even if you are reducing the functionality of it by doing so.

It's a thing and it's convenient as a smart TV is convenient for people who don't care much. But as a "power user" of a TV, I want to compose my own setup. In the same way, "power users" of coffee don't use a coffeemaker. They use things like French press. (I use instant coffee myself in my non-heating mug so in this comparison I would be the person not owning a TV and watching everything on their phone?)

> In the same way, "power users" of coffee don't use a coffeemaker. They use things like French press.

As a perpetual intermediate, I find that a pour-over cone is a great balance of convenience and quality.

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

#466

Post by earthnail »

It's interesting to read the praise for Apple TV here. I didn't like mine. My three years old Sony Bravia is really excellent, supports Chrome Cast, Airplay etc, has a great remote control, and a fast enough CPU that the apps don't lag. Everything is butter smooth. It's a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

I had an Apple TV as well, but I don't use it anymore. And I otherwise only use Apple devices. But the Apple TV I just never got warm with.

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

#467

Post by ssl-3 »

amelius wrote: post #302
taxmeifyoucan wrote: post #101

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…

For the real hackers: https://www.panelook.com/ Global Panel Exchange Center

Holy Toledo.

That's like Alibaba, except for small(ish) quantities of LCDs of any possible description.

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

#468

Post by taxmeifyoucan »

kelnos wrote: post #461
ashirviskas wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Religiously updating my TV? It has been patched since spring, someone clicking by accident "yes" for the update notice that appears randomly on the middle of the screen in the past 9 months would ruin it. I was religously *not* updating my TV and it still got too new software for the exploit :')

My LG TV is a little over a year old now and I refuse to allow it to connect to the Internet, ever, so I guess RootMyTV would work fine for me?

It's totally possible! Check it at https://cani.rootmy.tv/. There are multiple exploits, search around

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

#469

Post by taxmeifyoucan »

rssoconnor wrote: post #383
throwaway63467 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there much you can do with it? Does it still work as before, does it still have a GUI? Sounds really cool.

I used my rooted TV to root my PS4. I'm not even joking. https://youtu.be/NzBBfGnAWM0

I am doing the same! I have been jailbreaking PS4 for few years and Modded Warfare is where I learned about the LG TV jailbreak

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

#470

Post by ori_b »

autoexec wrote: post #463
ori_b wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're showing the company that shoving advertising and data gathering into products will help them make products that sell. What you buy is what companies put out into the world.

Often what you buy is either all you can afford or all that that has been made available to you. There are plenty of companies, industries even, which refuse to give consumers what they'd prefer simply because it's more profitable for them not to. Too often consumers are left with choosing the best of terrible options or just making due with what they can can.

Which is why making this trash profitable for them is a problem.
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