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Is it dangerous to open a modern TV? Might be worth finding the network chips and disconnecting or breaking them off.

by tehwebguy 9y ago

TheCoreh 9y ago
Or just don't connect them to the network?
- noir_lord 9y ago
  Thats what I did, it popped up after first power up asking for wifi password, to quote Snowden "lol no.".
- zeep 9y ago
  Any of them automatically connect to open wifi networks or maybe cellular networks?
  - ddalex 9y ago
    > maybe cellular networks Now you're getting me paranoid.
    - poizan42 9y ago
      That would probably cost too much. At least I hope so.
      - zeep 9y ago
        Amazon used to provide free networking for its readers... I think that it is very cheap to transfer text/"meta-data"... It might even be sponsored by the government...
  - fencepost 9y ago
    You may be able to check that by reviewing FCC documentation online similar to how people sleuth out new phones, though I've never looked at what precisely is required in terms of filing.
pjc50 9y ago
It's usually a single-board highly integrated solution; CPU, RAM, Flash. You might be able to disable the wifi (if present).
- Scoundreller 9y ago
  Funny how they do this with TVs, but even on a Macbook Air, the flash and wifi cards are still separate components.
userbinator 9y ago
To a rough approximation, a "smart TV" consists of a computer, laptop-style, connected to the display and speakers. From various places online, you can buy "scaler" boards that take HDMI/VGA/etc. to whatever interface the panel uses (LVDS is common), i.e. they comprise essentially all the electronics inside a standard non-smart monitor. They are intended for laptop display conversions but can drive much bigger displays too, as long as the interface is the same. That might be an alternative to buying a much more expensive "dumb TV", i.e. buy a smart TV and "dumb it down" yourself! For example, this particular one is configured for an iPad's display but the sellers usually have other configurations available: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4K-eDP-HDMI-LVDS-Controller-Board-LCD-Display-Driver-Sets-Support-2048x1536-51-Pins-for-iPad/32795530294.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4K-eDP-HDMI-LVDS-Controller-...
gh02t 9y ago
It's not as dangerous as a CRT, but there are some dangers; however it doesn't really matter. They're tightly integrated, you can't just pull out the smart bits and leave behind a tuner. Generally most modern TVs are gonna have a power supply, a main logic board, a display driver board and maybe another control board for stuff like backlights or sound. The logic board is basically gonna be an embedded mini computer running a full embedded OS that orchestrates the UI/smart features, decoding the inputs and generating the control signals for the panel driver. This will all be highly integrated on a single board, probably with almost all of the functionality in one or two main chips. Point being, you can't just yank out the smart stuff and still have a functioning TV. It'd be a bit like trying to remove a feature from a computer motherboard. The ideal way to go about it would be to write your own firmware for the chips, but that's a practical impossibility because almost always there's no data publicly available on the chips or the other parts like the panel. You might also be able to get something working if the actual panel uses a standard interface, but it'll be a ton of work. There aren't that many teardowns of televisions online that I can find, but this article has some to give you an idea. https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-the-55-samsung-led-tv-un55d6300sf/ https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-the-55-s...

Is it dangerous to open a modern TV? Might be worth finding the network chips and disconnecting or breaking them off.

TheCoreh 9y ago

Or just don't connect them to the network?

noir_lord 9y ago
Thats what I did, it popped up after first power up asking for wifi password, to quote Snowden "lol no.".
zeep 9y ago
Any of them automatically connect to open wifi networks or maybe cellular networks?
- ddalex 9y ago
  > maybe cellular networks Now you're getting me paranoid.
  - poizan42 9y ago
    That would probably cost too much. At least I hope so.
    - zeep 9y ago
      Amazon used to provide free networking for its readers... I think that it is very cheap to transfer text/"meta-data"... It might even be sponsored by the government...
- fencepost 9y ago
  You may be able to check that by reviewing FCC documentation online similar to how people sleuth out new phones, though I've never looked at what precisely is required in terms of filing.

pjc50 9y ago

It's usually a single-board highly integrated solution; CPU, RAM, Flash. You might be able to disable the wifi (if present).

Scoundreller 9y ago
Funny how they do this with TVs, but even on a Macbook Air, the flash and wifi cards are still separate components.

userbinator 9y ago

To a rough approximation, a "smart TV" consists of a computer, laptop-style, connected to the display and speakers. From various places online, you can buy "scaler" boards that take HDMI/VGA/etc. to whatever interface the panel uses (LVDS is common), i.e. they comprise essentially all the electronics inside a standard non-smart monitor. They are intended for laptop display conversions but can drive much bigger displays too, as long as the interface is the same. That might be an alternative to buying a much more expensive "dumb TV", i.e. buy a smart TV and "dumb it down" yourself! For example, this particular one is configured for an iPad's display but the sellers usually have other configurations available: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4K-eDP-HDMI-LVDS-Controller-Board-LCD-Display-Driver-Sets-Support-2048x1536-51-Pins-for-iPad/32795530294.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4K-eDP-HDMI-LVDS-Controller-...

gh02t 9y ago

It's not as dangerous as a CRT, but there are some dangers; however it doesn't really matter. They're tightly integrated, you can't just pull out the smart bits and leave behind a tuner. Generally most modern TVs are gonna have a power supply, a main logic board, a display driver board and maybe another control board for stuff like backlights or sound. The logic board is basically gonna be an embedded mini computer running a full embedded OS that orchestrates the UI/smart features, decoding the inputs and generating the control signals for the panel driver. This will all be highly integrated on a single board, probably with almost all of the functionality in one or two main chips. Point being, you can't just yank out the smart stuff and still have a functioning TV. It'd be a bit like trying to remove a feature from a computer motherboard. The ideal way to go about it would be to write your own firmware for the chips, but that's a practical impossibility because almost always there's no data publicly available on the chips or the other parts like the panel. You might also be able to get something working if the actual panel uses a standard interface, but it'll be a ton of work. There aren't that many teardowns of televisions online that I can find, but this article has some to give you an idea. https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-the-55-samsung-led-tv-un55d6300sf/ https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-the-55-s...