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.
I stoped using the smart function of tvs. I use one of that generic chinese things that you connect to the TV and it mirrors your phone. My TV is not connected it’s like I’m watching netflix in my phone
edit: to make it clear I was afraid because my TV came with a fucking camera. Didn’t like that so I disconected and also put a tape on the camera. WTF tv brands
should I unplug my smart _______ from the internet?
fill in the blank, it should always be yes.
Some brands (LG and Samsung iirc) have been confirmed to send periodic screenshots of your content, no matter if it’s through “smart apps” or HDMI.
I don’t see how they could, the laptop isn’t going to know what to do with them, they’d have to also get you to install something on the laptop which you’d obviously not do.
The TV takes screenshots of whatever is displayed on the TV screen, and sends the screenshots to TV HQ via the Internet connection of the TV
I seem to have misunderstood the point to their comment. They’re lending support to the idea that you should unplug it from the internet whereas I initially thought they were saying that even if “unplugged” from the internet, OP’s current setup wouldn’t save their privacy anyway because the TV will send those screenshots to the internet whether it’s by via the TV’s own apps, or “through” the HDMI cable which in my mind implied either getting internet connectivity through that cable or at least sending the images to the laptop and having that send them. I couldn’t see how that was supposed to work.
I realise now that’s not their point at all, they’re saying that if it’s allowed to remain connected to the internet, simply abstaining from using the TV’s own apps and using persistently a connected device via HDMI instead, it’ll still send screenshots of that HDMI output through its own internet connection and so yes, indeed OP should disconnect the TV from the internet.
For the next TV look at commercial and industrial panels. You can usually find the display you want with none of the smart tv junk.
Search for ‘commercial display + brand name’
A smart TV is primarily a surveillance device that also happens to display video.
Um yeah, definitely. My TV has never had Internet connectivity, not should it.
Unequivocally yes. The less surveillance, the better.
I’m going to be the voice of dissent here: nah.
I have a box that connects to the internet for video things. The TV has and will never connect.
Has never and will never connect
Or didn’t it did?
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.
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!
I definitely understand the instinct to always be up-to-date with the newest. But then digital storefront “updates” started removing features and even content! Runaway capitalism ruins everything…
Well, the program is that the computer in my TV is a potential security issue. That said, there’s no way of knowing if I can trust updates to patch problems or create new ones, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well if it’s not connected to the network then it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Is there a ful list anywhere of brands and models that lock non-network features behind a network connection requirement?
I’ve heard people complaining about some that don’t let you select HDMI input without first connecting to the internet and “activating” the TV, but the model is usually not specified in those complaints.
So I know for sure is avoid Roku like the plague! You cannot use it as a TV at all without a connection and creating an account.
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
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’ve resigned myself to large monitors for the ‘small TV’ and projectors for the ‘big TV’
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.
Fuckin a, you weren’t kidding.
This is from Amazon on the first two I saw in USD
I spent less than $500 for my 50” 4K Samsung but here is twice the price.
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.
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.
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.
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.
My next tv is probably going to be a dumb tv. You can search for commercial business tvs online and find dumb tvs for displays and digital signage. Same screen, just no smarts, plays a network stream, off a usb, or hdmi input. Nothing else.
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.
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 have 4 tv’s , all dumb. One in the bedroom , one in the living room and two on ice. I’ve got a stack of dvd / blue ray players and a region free DVD player with a 3k+ dvd collection and an antenna I made myself. Fuck all that smart TV bullshit. I’ll fix them all if I have too, the info is all available on YT like you say and the parts are cheap.
I’ve had 4 or 5 opportunities to get free OLED (or what ever trash is out now) tv’s for free and I turn them all down. People that aren’t the least bit paranoid about all these connected devices bug me out. Facebook freaks and Amazombies
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.
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.
Samnsung takes a screenshot every 500ms. LG is every 10ms. For crying out loud they can “stream” everything you watch.
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
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.
