I’m mostly sailing the high seas, using the tv as a giant monitor for the always-on laptop connected to it. I’m afraid of the 1984-esque “You must connect to the internet to continue using this TV” that might come after some time.
Its silly how many people are proposing dumb TVs as something better ore something you need to hold on to at all costs. Get a TV with a screen that suits you and connect some playback device via HDMI or such. Kodi, custom entertainment PC, android TV, whatever. The tips about pihole are not good either. Its not a firewall with DPI, just a dns blocker. If the TV uses hardcoded IP then you are shit out of luck. And it bet they do.
I wish dumb TVs were more available. I have a Samsung and I mainly use their interface to swap HDMI inputs - though the built in Spotify app has a better screensaver.
My main issue is that good screens in large formats, like the latest OLEDs aren’t really available in dumb TVs.
Shit out of luck…. unless you run your own router and know how outbound firewall rules work. Granted the general public does not do either of those, but this is Lemmy.
You should’ve never connected it in the first place. Never even set up any functions that a piece of hardware prompts you to. Most of those are enforced only because the company behind them gains something from you having them set up. Unless you actually need something that depends on that function, disable the function.
I have a box that connects to the internet for video things. The TV has and will never connect.
I feel I must clarify. I value my privacy, and my money. I prefer to disconnect it from the internet immediately, but if the vendor put a piece of code that measures offline time and then disables critical HDMI input functionality - it is a different story entirely.
What if after X months of offline functionality - I have to connect it again because of “You must connect to the internet to continue using this TV”
What if being offline for a very long duration of time - means that when connecting it again - the firmware update bricks my TV?
I know the instabilities that occurr when updating after a very long time of being offline.
I’m unsure about my specific model - but it is an LG WebOS OLED 48"
If they disable stuff, call the manufacturer and tell them you have moved in a family member with sensitive medical equipment that needs to have no wifi in the area. Will they give you a code to disable internet or do you need to sue them for reckless endangerment?
I think we all know the answer to this.
Actually, I’ve seen reports where CS gives them a code. Maybe it’s bullshit, maybe not.
No one eos obligated to have internet, and there are actually people who don’t have it. The TV isn’t sold as an “online only” product, they cannot block you from using something that works offline because you’re offline.
Yes.
This is why I’m holding on to my “dumb” TV for as long as I can. Being able to pick and choose what streaming device I use is great, and if I have to build my own someday, that’s just fine.
I’ve fixed a couple extras and have them stored. If you find a “dead” TV, shine a flashlight into the screen and see if you see the picture. If so, then there’s probably just a problem with the backlighting, which is why TVs get trashed most often. Order up a set of backlight strips, find a youtube vid on taking that model apart, and put new strips in. Takes about 30 minutes and baby, you got yourself a TV.
I still have a 720p dumb TV and I’m not getting rid of it. But my eyesight is terrible so 720p, 1080p, 4k don’t really make much difference to me.
I’ve got 20/10 vision and the difference is so negligible as to not really matter after 1080. Especially because all the smoothing and image effects new TVs have are so horrendously bad that they make me feel sick.
I still run an 8 year old LG TV that stopped getting updates 4 years ago and doesn’t even attempt to connect to the internet. It’s great because it just turns on and works.
Yes.
Not only due to privacy concerns (my main concern), as the device will constantly ping home even when turned off. Other concern is it will download “updates”, that eventually may render your tv browsing experience laggish.
Some tv sets have not only mics incorporated, but cameras, so it may depend on your level of concern.
If I were you, I wouldn’t have let it have internet access in the first place. Try a factory reset and don’t let it online, and you’ll probably not even notice.
But think of all the wonderful ads you’re going to miss out on!
I think I can live without that particular piece of junk. :)
Yes.
As someone in a similar situation, entertainment PC connected, I’ve never connected my smart TV to the internet. There is no need.
You could also do that “softly” with PiHole, if you intend to use some of the apps, but if you don’t, it’s only beneficial to disconnect it entirely from the internet.
I set up a PiHole for my Hisense TV.
Thought maybe I didn’t do it right or their ad-delivery was too sneaky, cuz the home screen still defaults to full-screen promos for shows I’ve never watched. Oh well, leave it how it is.
Disabled the PiHole for a couple days to test something else.
Holy shit, banner ads everywhere on the TV.
This is what I do. It stops it from auto updating and from phoning home, but still lets the individual apps function. Some of the apps don’t work, because they can’t update either, but if we get desperate, we just punch the TV through the pihole just long enough to update the individual app. It’s a reasonable middle ground.
I tried this for a while to appease the wife, and I just couldn’t. The amount of shit my pi hole blocked from just one TV was ridiculous. The thing is not connected to the internet anymore, and I use a different pi as a streaming PC
My Samsung Frame tv tries to ping home twice every second.
Pihole says no.
I’m also
surprisedannoyed how often the FireTV stick and the Samsung TV are calling home, or at least how often they try.
Yes. I connected mine, checked for updates, then factory reset it and did not enter any network login.
This only works on certain brands I’m afraid…
Why did you connect it at all? Was there specific functionality they detailed in patch notes or something that you felt you were missing out on?
Eh, I’ve always been paranoid about firmware patches and the like. Also, curiosity got the better of me; I had to see what the crap smart features were like.
You do make a very good point though!
Is your loss of privacy worth it to you?
i like controlling the TV with the various IP methods, so i just blocked it from being able to reach WAN and vice versa
Yes.
Even better, get rid of it entirely and get a dumb TV.
Where? Ive been looking everywhere and its like they dont exist anymore
Qb series Samsung are commercial displays but no Netflix or smart features. However, they are about double the price of a standard tv. Will last forever though. I would rather buy a less expensive and not connect it to the network.
Spectre makes a line of dumb TVs, but I don’t think any of them are 4k. I spent about $600 on a 75" 1080p model last year.
They don’t really as the “smart” subsidies the cost of the TV. Some commerical grade TVs and large monitors won’t be smart or need Internet connectivity.
I got a “signage display”, which is basically just a large monitor connected via HDMI.
The problem with those is that the picture quality is not the same as traditional TVs.
I guess. But it’s good enough for me and all my content is only in 1080p anyway, so I don’t think the display is limiting me too much.
I’ve resigned myself to large monitors for the ‘small TV’ and projectors for the ‘big TV’
Given that you’re using this for a laptop, you’re looking for a monitor. Not a TV.
Anything suitable for office work should be good here.
I mean… it depends on the type of TV you’re trying to replace. If you’re on a 65 inch OLED you’re not going to replace that with an office monitor.
There are really good “dumb” PC monitors for media watching in the 24-42 inch range, though. They’re just… often not cheap.
But even monitors are infected with ‘SmArT teeVEe’ bloat. My pc monitor is basically a TV, and is much worse because of it.
Is it? The monitors I’m currently using are fairly new and don’t seem to have any connected tools. There isn’t even an app to set them up (which I may actually find practical), it’s all OSD stuff.
I think even if there are connected monitors out there, it’s certainly easier to find “dumb” monitors, even with high end specs, than dumb TVs. The real hard breaks are size and feature set, in my experience.
Who makes your tv?
You can do quite a bit of tweaks to mitigate the phone home stuff and ads with projectivy and ADB TV.
Why do you assume you’re being less monitored on your laptop?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, you probably should. I am logged out of all services on my TVs. If you don’t use the built-in apps then why would you be online at all.
It’s just… people that get in the (correct) mindset that smart TVs mostly run spyware can be too kind on the alternatives.
Why do you assume you’re being less monitored on your laptop?
Maybe because I can run Debian, Arch, or even custom Yocto or buildroot distros on general purpose computation hardware, instead of being locked into a walled garden purposely built to increase shareholder value?
Sure, you can. But the point is it’s only more private IF you do that AND you’re not also using services on your laptop that report the same info like, say, Youtube or Netflix.
If you’re only using a laptop with Arch to play back offline videos then by all means, carry on, you’re good. But there’s a bunch of people out there worrying about Smart TV spyware and plugging in a Chromecast dongle instead or streaming from their subscription apps from a laptop, which doesn’t really achieve anything. I guess it may cut off Samsung or LG out of the loop, if you have a particular grudge with them specifically, but that’s about it.
I guess it may cut off Samsung or LG out of the loop, if you have a particular grudge with them specifically, but that’s about it.
That’s what people are trying to avoid, the unnecessary data collection by the TVs themselves. I don’t think anyone is saying watching netflix on a laptop is more private than on a tv, and even then, using a browser with uBO can still block some tracking on streaming sites vs using their apps on a tv.
Maaaaaybe? Like, it probably helps mitigate some ingest of data from trackers (because on a web app running on your browser they are probably mining MORE stuff than on your TV by default, depending on your setup), but they still know everything you watched and what you did in the app plus anything adblocking isn’t successfully targeting.
I just don’t know that I have a sliding scale on this. Once your data is out there it’s out there. People will be buying and selling it. There is such a thing as partial mitigation, but ultimately I do stand by the point that a lot of people fixate on some vectors that are less subtle and still have massive holes, sometimes in setups built specifically to replace the more conspicuous snoopers.
I’m all for keeping your TV offline or logged out, but that’s in the context of either not using streaming apps or having them tightly controlled wherever else you use them. Otherwise I may prefer to have them leak my viewing habits from a TV that only ever uses streaming apps than having access to my PC where I do a bunch of other stuff and log in to a bunch of services that may be subject to tracking.
I’m not being contrarian, either. I genuinely think this is a nontrivial issue and you’d need some heavy duty monitoring to get a good sense of what is going on between different configs.
I’ll also say I’m not surprised smart TVs have an increasingly terrible reputation on this, though. Most of what my Pihole ends up blocking is smart TVs calling home. It’s kinda nuts how frequent and persistent they are about it.
And hey, tell the guys up the thread about the data collection thing, apparently some didn’t get the memo.
Otherwise I may prefer to have them leak my viewing habits from a TV that only ever uses streaming apps than having access to my PC where I do a bunch of other stuff and log in to a bunch of services that may be subject to tracking.
That’s the sliding scale you’re talking about. Threat modeling isn’t black and white, it depends on what the person’s risk profile is. Yours is not wanting to expose your laptop. Others don’t want their tv monitoring their activity, and would prefer to transfer the risk to their laptop and browser where they have more control of the medium their streaming site goes through and they can cut off the tv manufacturer.
If you didn’t have a sliding scale, you’d be a hermit with no internet access at all.
Yeah, for sure. No argument from me there. As long as you’re aware of what’s going on and your scale is set that way on purpose I have no issue with that at all.
Again, I’m making a point about ignorance. People who hear about TVs being a massive cesspool of spyware (accurate) and just move the cesspool around to other similarly compromised devices because they’re reacting to the meme and don’t understand what the risk is supposed to be.
If you know what you’re leaking I have no issue with you choosing which leaks to live with, man. I just want to clarify to people who may not know that making a plug out of the bottom of their boat is not gonna keep them from leaking.
OP’s topic isn’t about being monitored. They just don’t want an update pushed onto their tv that disables it from operating the way they want it to operate
The way they want it to operate is not monitoring them, presumably. You just added one extra step for the same thing.
I mean, if it’s not for that reason then connect it to the Internet and have fun, who cares. Just give them all your data and hope for the best.
Everyone else on this page is interpreting it differently than you are
OK, so… how? How is everyone else interpreting the desire of keeping your TV offline if not for privacy? What other reason could there be?
So that it won’t push updates that make the tv worse, like slower startup times for example
OK, but that’s not what the OP said. OP is concerned that keeping the TV offline may trigger a mandatory connection check down the line (not a thing that I know of, at least outside of very specific ad-based cheap models, to answer their question).
The only other thing being brought up in their post are that they play back pirated content primarily. That and the reference to 1984 make me think privacy more than “mostly made up minor technical inconvenience related to firmware updates”.
Either way, if the TV works fine and they are exclusively using an external device for playback there should be no downside to keeping the thing offline indefinitely.
