3 ms·

As soon as I read the title, I knew the answer. It's because you can no longer buy a "TV set". What you can buy is yet another sort of snooping device, which ha

As soon as I read the title, I knew the answer. It's because you can no longer buy a "TV set". What you can buy is yet another sort of snooping device, which happens to show TV. > But the most interesting and telling reason for why TVs are now so cheap is because TV manufacturers have found a new revenue stream: advertising. If you buy a new TV today, you’re most likely buying a “smart” TV with software from either the manufacturer itself or a third-party company like Roku. The cut of the advertising revenue from those pre-installed video channels is big business for actual TV makers, as is the business of selling user viewing data and other information to marketers. So yet another thing that I will never buy.

Markoff 7y ago
you can use TV just as display, that's my primary use of TV, it's just hooked to HDMI cable from laptop, rarely playing some Netflix/Youtube videos to children you can use whatever is your prefered Android or STB box without ads, just hook it to HDMI and you are done, TV will next time automatically start with selected HDMI output and you will see nothing preinstalled by manufacturer
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  I do exactly the same thing (apart from desktop vs laptop). Just don't connect TV to the internet, feed it from trusty HDMI input and it will be great value with 0 annoyances. But if folks are too lazy to launch videos themselves with few clicks then 'you will be served'
  - altacc 7y ago
    On many smart TVs the content you're watching will still be monitored, as automatic content recognition is based on analysing the images being displayed, regardless of source. Blocking that requires isolation from the internet, by simply not setting up the wifi, or using a network level blocker like pi-hole if you still want to use smart features.
    - saiya-jin 7y ago
      Yes I should have mentioned that one too, no internet connection. In my case TV simply works, there is nothing a software update can bring to improve it but plenty to annoy. Its like an air-gapped notebook with Windows that you only run Notepad. No need to update it with unknown stuff in patches from Microsoft.
      - mirimir 7y ago
        OK, but from what I've read, it can still get online if there's an open WiFi AP within range. You'd need to find the WiFi radio, and physically disable it. Me, I just buy the largest gaming display that's available. And view videos stored locally. From DVDs or torrents. From a machine that has no internet access. Just ethernet LAN connectivity to an otherwise isolated machine, which is online only via nested VPN chains and Tor.

Markoff 7y ago

you can use TV just as display, that's my primary use of TV, it's just hooked to HDMI cable from laptop, rarely playing some Netflix/Youtube videos to children you can use whatever is your prefered Android or STB box without ads, just hook it to HDMI and you are done, TV will next time automatically start with selected HDMI output and you will see nothing preinstalled by manufacturer

saiya-jin 7y ago
I do exactly the same thing (apart from desktop vs laptop). Just don't connect TV to the internet, feed it from trusty HDMI input and it will be great value with 0 annoyances. But if folks are too lazy to launch videos themselves with few clicks then 'you will be served'
- altacc 7y ago
  On many smart TVs the content you're watching will still be monitored, as automatic content recognition is based on analysing the images being displayed, regardless of source. Blocking that requires isolation from the internet, by simply not setting up the wifi, or using a network level blocker like pi-hole if you still want to use smart features.
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    Yes I should have mentioned that one too, no internet connection. In my case TV simply works, there is nothing a software update can bring to improve it but plenty to annoy. Its like an air-gapped notebook with Windows that you only run Notepad. No need to update it with unknown stuff in patches from Microsoft.
    - mirimir 7y ago
      OK, but from what I've read, it can still get online if there's an open WiFi AP within range. You'd need to find the WiFi radio, and physically disable it. Me, I just buy the largest gaming display that's available. And view videos stored locally. From DVDs or torrents. From a machine that has no internet access. Just ethernet LAN connectivity to an otherwise isolated machine, which is online only via nested VPN chains and Tor.