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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

#511

Post by jcalvinowens »

atq2119 wrote: post #480
ninkendo wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

> But for safety reasons, since the software controls when the toaster pops, you decide to check at boot time that the software hasn’t been modified. As arguments go, this is a pretty weak one considering how obvious the solution is: Make the manufacturer not be liable for what happens when you operate the device with unauthorized software.

Lawyers who make these decisions are so risk averse in my experience they'd still probably insist on it being nonmodifiable.

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

#512

Post by herewulf »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #401
chrz wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why would i want to sync everything

Why would someone want to sync bookmarks, browsing history etc between their phone, their iPad and their computer? Chrome and Firefox do the same.

Firefox only does this if you set it up that way. It's in no way obligatory. That is a far cry from Apple and Google.

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

#513

Post by JamesAdir »

burnt-resistor wrote: post #503
JamesAdir wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source about Sony?

You could've just Googled. https://electronics.sony.com/tv-video/televisions/television... A family member's TV came with it.

This is an optional add-on product. Your comment made it look like it’s part of the TV.

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

#514

Post by ashirviskas »

Retr0id wrote: post #136
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

One day I will buy a new TV and develop a new one-click method... but for now I'm still rocking my B9.

Oh, hi! Love your work! I'll be rooting for you that day (though most likely after that day, unless you're a superhuman).

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

#515

Post by olyjohn »

fulafel wrote: post #266
stravant wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A rooted piece of trashy IOT is trashy IOT. It's an acquired taste, the excitement of putting a black box insecure linux device on the home network to add to your home infra admin duties.

If someone can get access to the TV on your local network, you're already in trouble.

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

#516

Post by atq2119 »

jcalvinowens wrote: post #511
atq2119 wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But for safety reasons, since the software controls when the toaster pops, you decide to check at boot time that the software hasn’t been modified. As arguments go, this is a pretty weak one considering how obvious the solution is: Make the manufacturer not be liable for what happens when you operate the device with unauthorized software.

Lawyers who make these decisions are so risk averse in my experience they'd still probably insist on it being nonmodifiable.

Sure, which is why right to repair laws are so important.

I understand this discussion as being about how society should deal with it, not how you could try to make the argument internal to a company.

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

#517

Post by jader201 »

ranguna wrote: post #491
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?

> But for many people, we just want a monitor, > you can make it a PC and then turn it off TV manufactories can get the best of both worlds: The people that want smart TVs, get a smart TV. The people that don't want a smart TV, can disable the smart TV features. Manufactors make one model and sell to both market segments. Why should your preferences impose on the ones that don't want what you want? I guess the prefer…

> Why should your preferences impose on the ones that don't want what you want?

The problem is that I can’t have my preference: a TV that comes without (non-essential) software installed.

This means I have no choice but to deal with required updates — or at the very least, an annoying reminder that software updates are needed — for software I never wanted in the first place.

If the software was optional — could be uninstalled, or disabled so that updates weren’t required — then I would agree with you that having all TVs be smart TVs would be fine.

But not only is it not optional, it often comes with dark patterns of imposed privacy violations and/or unwanted ads.

The OP’s solution is to “jailbreak” it with a Linux install, which the average consumer doesn’t know how to do.

Again, is fine for hackers that want to tinker with things, but the whole point of the linked article is that many people are tired of smart TVs and the annoyances that come with them.

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

#518

Post by sharts »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #31

How I break free from Smart TVs ("smart" for the manufacturer but very dumb for the user). Buy a cheap smart TV and run it in "store mode". Brightness and saturation will probably be maxed out but with a cheap TV, it looks more like "normal" on a more expensive model. Hint: The main difference between cheap and expensive in some cases --- the color adjustment range is limited by software on the cheaper models. Curren…

Where do folks find the best alIPTV options these days?

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

#519

Post by JodieBenitez »

idbehold wrote: post #308
JodieBenitez wrote: post #305

> 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.

Well... I got lucky then: none of my 3 TVs from different brands (two of them being used as screens for computers) did this.

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

#520

Post by bookofjoe »

bookofjoe wrote: post #441
wltr wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind elaborating on plasmas? I have entirely missed this technology, and wonder what’s about it.

I paid $5,000 in 2007 for the best TV you could buy at the time: Pioneer Kuro Elite 50” 1080p plasma. I’m still using it as my only TV. For the past 5 years I’ve been looking to upgrade/replace it with a state-of-the-art top-of-the-line 4k OLED/micro-OLED/quantum dot/etc. — but when I go to look at current screens, none match the almost 3D depth and beauty of my plasma display. So, I’m patiently waiting for my 18-yea…

$5,000 in 2007 is equivalent to $7,800 today.

Top of the line 2025 65" Sony Bravia 8 OLED: $2,300

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