5 ms·

The one thing I never understood about this is, aren't you just free to not hookup your TV to the WiFi? I've bought SmartTVs and have just used them as "dumb" T

The one thing I never understood about this is, aren't you just free to not hookup your TV to the WiFi? I've bought SmartTVs and have just used them as "dumb" TVs and they work perfectly fine. Aren't you there capturing the benefit of this supposedly lower price without having to give up any personal data back?

crooked-v 7y ago
They're relying on most people being uneducated about how their TV is spying on them.
- baroffoos 7y ago
  And even when they find out they don't really have other options without a lot of hassle and research. This is why I think the GDPR was great. Its not just "We are spying on you, if you don't like it then turn off your tv" It requires that you have an option to say no while still using the product/service.
Traubenfuchs 7y ago
But people want to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime or other stream services. Modern smart TVs have those integrated.
- jaytaylor 7y ago
  Just get a Chromecast or any other streaming player device and hook it up to the TV with only HDMI. Solved- TV don't need to be able to spy on you.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Chromecasts may be the best low-key (and low-cast) gadget out there. Which probably means Google will kill it :-/ Just use my tablet, phone, or laptop to put content up on the TV. It makes for a pretty nice digital picture frame too.
    - metafizikal 7y ago
      luckily Chromecast seems to be an important piece of Stadia, so it should be around for a long while
      - ghaff 7y ago
        Good to hear. I'm not really a gamer so I haven't followed it that closely although I know a few folks who were very involved with it early on. The Chromecast model just seems so obviously right for users even if I can understand why the TV manufacturers don't like it.
      - account42 7y ago
        Do you have a reason to assume that Stadia will be around for a long while?
      - scarface74 7y ago
        As if you can count on Stadia being around for awhile....
    - yread 7y ago
      I like it, but it seems very unreliable - I almost always have to disconnect and reconnect my phone to the wifi for it to work
  - HenryKissinger 7y ago
    This is not always practical. Either you lay your HDMI cable across the living room, or you have to find a spot for your laptop near the television (not always possible), and then you have to get up and walk to the laptop to change anything.
    - susijdjdjxa 7y ago
      The Chromecast is a small stick that hangs off the hdmi port. It’s not really plausible for it to not fit in a room layout.
    - opan 7y ago
      Your last point about walking up to the laptop isn't exactly true. I've gotten creative with HTPCs doing stuff over ssh. mpv (video player) can be controlled from the shell it's launched from. I just keep a tmux session going and then I can play YouTube videos or stuff off my file server. sshfs for file server access is nice and simple. I use various other computers or my phone to connect and run commands. This also makes it easy for other people to pull up stuff. It runs on a guest account, so I don't mind telling them the password. They can search for a video on their own machine and just paste it into the shell. Since all the normal controls work, you can easily adjust volume, take screenshots, etc. mpv also works for viewing images, so it's similarly good for showing the room a picture, local or on the web. The only pain point is when someone really wants to pull up a website in a browser. I've used a bluetooth keyboard adapter, a steam controller, the "xmouse" android app... Things work best when I can handle them via mpv or other terminal stuff, though.
  - thedaemon 7y ago
    Yes because Google never spys on you...
- glandium 7y ago
  Haha. That's the actual best part. They have those integrated TODAY. They may not have them tomorrow. And they may not have new streaming services either. I bought a TV 6.5 years ago that could access a bunch of services, including Hulu. Too bad for me, that's not the case anymore. Many icons are gone, including Hulu's. And Netflix wasn't part of the deal originally, because it was either not here yet or too new, and it still isn't available. I'm not holding my breath for Disney+, whenever it becomes available where I live.
- timw4mail 7y ago
  In the laziest, most finicky way possible. Unless you have a Fire Tv or Roku TV, most smart TV 'apps' aren't worth using.
skyyler 7y ago
I would imagine that the TV manufacturers get paid per unit sold with the ad-serving software installed, in addition to ad views.
Avshalom 7y ago
And as long as they don't try to connect to any public wifi they see... https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=87111 https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=87111
- saagarjha 7y ago
  That link has your ZIP in it, if you weren’t aware.
  - Avshalom 7y ago
    It's not mine it's just my city
  - dehrmann 7y ago
    I like to use 10001 for this. It's valid, populated, easy to remember, and not 90210.
    - Danieru 7y ago
      Oh that is a good one. Thank you for that. As an over seas person I otherwise just search for a company's own american zip code and give it back to them since surely their employees are using it as well and it must be valid.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- daveslash 7y ago
  Scroll just west of here (not my zip) ... what's that clump in the ocean? https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=92008 https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=92008

crooked-v 7y ago

They're relying on most people being uneducated about how their TV is spying on them.

baroffoos 7y ago
And even when they find out they don't really have other options without a lot of hassle and research. This is why I think the GDPR was great. Its not just "We are spying on you, if you don't like it then turn off your tv" It requires that you have an option to say no while still using the product/service.

Traubenfuchs 7y ago

But people want to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime or other stream services. Modern smart TVs have those integrated.

jaytaylor 7y ago
Just get a Chromecast or any other streaming player device and hook it up to the TV with only HDMI. Solved- TV don't need to be able to spy on you.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Chromecasts may be the best low-key (and low-cast) gadget out there. Which probably means Google will kill it :-/ Just use my tablet, phone, or laptop to put content up on the TV. It makes for a pretty nice digital picture frame too.
  - metafizikal 7y ago
    luckily Chromecast seems to be an important piece of Stadia, so it should be around for a long while
    - ghaff 7y ago
      Good to hear. I'm not really a gamer so I haven't followed it that closely although I know a few folks who were very involved with it early on. The Chromecast model just seems so obviously right for users even if I can understand why the TV manufacturers don't like it.
    - account42 7y ago
      Do you have a reason to assume that Stadia will be around for a long while?
    - scarface74 7y ago
      As if you can count on Stadia being around for awhile....
  - yread 7y ago
    I like it, but it seems very unreliable - I almost always have to disconnect and reconnect my phone to the wifi for it to work
- HenryKissinger 7y ago
  This is not always practical. Either you lay your HDMI cable across the living room, or you have to find a spot for your laptop near the television (not always possible), and then you have to get up and walk to the laptop to change anything.
  - susijdjdjxa 7y ago
    The Chromecast is a small stick that hangs off the hdmi port. It’s not really plausible for it to not fit in a room layout.
  - opan 7y ago
    Your last point about walking up to the laptop isn't exactly true. I've gotten creative with HTPCs doing stuff over ssh. mpv (video player) can be controlled from the shell it's launched from. I just keep a tmux session going and then I can play YouTube videos or stuff off my file server. sshfs for file server access is nice and simple. I use various other computers or my phone to connect and run commands. This also makes it easy for other people to pull up stuff. It runs on a guest account, so I don't mind telling them the password. They can search for a video on their own machine and just paste it into the shell. Since all the normal controls work, you can easily adjust volume, take screenshots, etc. mpv also works for viewing images, so it's similarly good for showing the room a picture, local or on the web. The only pain point is when someone really wants to pull up a website in a browser. I've used a bluetooth keyboard adapter, a steam controller, the "xmouse" android app... Things work best when I can handle them via mpv or other terminal stuff, though.
- thedaemon 7y ago
  Yes because Google never spys on you...
glandium 7y ago
Haha. That's the actual best part. They have those integrated TODAY. They may not have them tomorrow. And they may not have new streaming services either. I bought a TV 6.5 years ago that could access a bunch of services, including Hulu. Too bad for me, that's not the case anymore. Many icons are gone, including Hulu's. And Netflix wasn't part of the deal originally, because it was either not here yet or too new, and it still isn't available. I'm not holding my breath for Disney+, whenever it becomes available where I live.
timw4mail 7y ago
In the laziest, most finicky way possible. Unless you have a Fire Tv or Roku TV, most smart TV 'apps' aren't worth using.

skyyler 7y ago

I would imagine that the TV manufacturers get paid per unit sold with the ad-serving software installed, in addition to ad views.

Avshalom 7y ago

And as long as they don't try to connect to any public wifi they see... https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=87111 https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=87111

saagarjha 7y ago
That link has your ZIP in it, if you weren’t aware.
- Avshalom 7y ago
  It's not mine it's just my city
- dehrmann 7y ago
  I like to use 10001 for this. It's valid, populated, easy to remember, and not 90210.
  - Danieru 7y ago
    Oh that is a good one. Thank you for that. As an over seas person I otherwise just search for a company's own american zip code and give it back to them since surely their employees are using it as well and it must be valid.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
daveslash 7y ago
Scroll just west of here (not my zip) ... what's that clump in the ocean? https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=92008 https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/network/map?zip=92008