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Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

arstechnica.com

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Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#61

Post by xp84 »

close04 wrote: post #56
embedding-shape wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the worst part, usually way more expensive too, seen some panels where the cost was double because the target market is "ad agencies" or whatever.

> the cost was double because the target market is "ad agencies" or whatever. A TV capable of operating in those conditions has to be more expensive or else it'll need replacing twice as often and cost even more long term. Remember when Tesla used bog standard laptop screens in their dash because they were cheaper than automotive grade, leading to high failure rate?

This makes me wonder if my local McDonalds, which has three big screens mounted vertically in the drive-thru, ended up with not the commercial grade ones. They’re cooking in the sun in a hot climate all day, so they fail and turn into flickery messes, and it seems like they’re on a cycle of roughly 3 months newly-replaced & working, 1 year flickering.

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#64

Post by [deleted] »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #3

Kinda a wild idea I had never really considered, but absolutely a possibility: using a TV as a loss leader to sell ads. Not sure if that's they're intent here, but I could easily see that becoming a thing (if it isn't already). And what better way to collect useful ad data on people than forcing them to create an account and then tracking their usage of the device.

[deleted]

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#65

Post by emacdona »

RiverCrochet wrote: post #27

A lot of people do their grocery shopping at Walmart (even if you don't). This positions Walmart as being able to offer discounts for food and other daily necessities to people right on their TV. People are going to like this-especially the cohort that would buy a cheap TV at Walmart. They're going to really like saving a few dollars on groceries or gas. Not to mention Walmart can now offer perks through the TV to it…

> People are going to like this-especially the cohort that would buy a cheap TV at Walmart.

What? If anyone truly believes that "People are going to like this", then just make it opt-in.

There is a reason it's not "opt-in". They know damn well people are NOT going to like it.

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#66

Post by jonpurdy »

Robdel12 wrote: post #15

Is there any kind of “hook up” on wholesale large dumb displays? I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I just want a giant dumb display from my Apple TV. I vaguely remember someone posting a link to tvs restaurants use but I don’t remember exactly what or if it was what I’m looking for. (Sorry, being lazy here)

I wonder about this every time I see a smart TV-related thread on HN. I recently purchased an LG OLED (C5 48") because my old TV died so I'll finally comment. As others have said, just don't connect it to the internet. But you knew this already, so I'll provide my anecdote on the experience of this since I wondered the same thing for years before getting this TV.

When the TV is never connected to internet, and you use a single HDMI source like me, the TV acts completely like a dumb TV. It gets turned on via my AppleTV remote and displays the picture 1-2 seconds later. No LG logo (I disabled this), and no smart interface shown whatsoever.

If you want to change settings, you can display the settings interface via LG remote control and it generally acts like a dumb TV (not blocking the entire screen, so you can adjust picture quality and see the result as expected).

I've had the TV for about two months and never been asked to update it or shown any ad. The only time I've ever seen the smart fullscreen interface is when you unplug a live HDMI source and the TV detects that nothing is there. (If you turn the source off, it tells the TV to turn itself off as well.)

Hope this helps since it's a lot easier to buy a nice smart TV and do it this way than find a truly dumb commercial panel.

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#67

Post by deltoidmaximus »

freedomben wrote: post #26
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This presumes that, now or later, there won't be an on-screen message that can't be dismissed saying "Sign in to a Walmart account to enable all TV features." There's plenty of ways they can interfere with attempts to use the TV in "dumb" mode. Heck it could refuse to show any video at all til you've signed in.

Yep. I bought a Samsung TV that I never even put online. It pops up with a half-screen display that lasts for 2 minutes every time I turn it on . Never again.

2 minutes. I think I would have boxed that up and returned it to the store as broken.

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#68

Post by giancarlostoro »

I never connect my smart TVs to the network, I just plug in my Apple TV and move on. It's frustrating because it takes longer to turn these devices on than it should because of all the additional overhead I don't want or need. I wish someone would make a painless gadget to flash the software with dumber software that loads instantly.

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#69

Post by boilerupnc »

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #16
darknavi wrote: post #6

Isn't that actually great? Just never create and sign into a Walmart account and now your TV isn't infected.

This presumes that, now or later, there won't be an on-screen message that can't be dismissed saying "Sign in to a Walmart account to enable all TV features." There's plenty of ways they can interfere with attempts to use the TV in "dumb" mode. Heck it could refuse to show any video at all til you've signed in.

Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs.

I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to work fine as long as I'm careful not to blindly update.

[0] https://github.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/blob/master/Smar...

Re: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features

#70

Post by RiverCrochet »

waltwalther wrote: post #58
RiverCrochet wrote: post #27

A lot of people do their grocery shopping at Walmart (even if you don't). This positions Walmart as being able to offer discounts for food and other daily necessities to people right on their TV. People are going to like this-especially the cohort that would buy a cheap TV at Walmart. They're going to really like saving a few dollars on groceries or gas. Not to mention Walmart can now offer perks through the TV to it…

Great point! My knee-jerk reaction was that this is an intrusion and the enduser would be held hostage unless he/she gives up personal information to Walmart...and maybe that is the case for some, but some will surely benefit from the personal advertising and discounts. I do believe there should be a large, bright, unavoidable notice on the outside of the TV packaging stating that a Walmart account is required to use…

And that will also benefit Walmart. They have Walmart+ which is their grocery delivery and in-store checkout app - which, if you've ever shopped at a busy Walmart near a city, both of those either enable you to avoid actually entering a Walmart or make it much quicker if you go in the store.

So that sticker will be a big "This TV requires a Walmart+ account - Sign up for Walmart+ and get free grocery delivery on orders over $30 and discounts at the self-checkout AND deals on streaming!" Their electronics department people will probably be trained to answer any questions and help people sign up on the app (if they're not already).

Walmart's pretty smart here.

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