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There are set top boxes (Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, etc.) that offer a much better user experience with thriving app ecosystems and regular feature updates, if yo
by babypuncher 7y ago
There are set top boxes (Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, etc.) that offer a much better user experience with thriving app ecosystems and regular feature updates, if you don't want the rigamarole of trying to use desktop software in a living room.
I used to do the whole HTPC thing but having to use an actual web browser to access half my content felt obnoxious and cumbersome.
As for avoiding smart TVs, I found it pretty easy to just ignore the WebOS garbage on my LG. I don't see why I would want to pay more to get rid of a feature I haven't had to interact with since setting the device up.
- JohnFen 7y ago> There are set top boxes But can any of them be trusted? Serious question...
- munk-a 7y agoTrusted with your viewing history? With a trivially regeneratable netflix password? I like keeping privacy private, but I'm having a hard time imagining what sorts of private data you are concerned with that would be going over a set top box. Or were you more worried about the STB being an attack vector into your home and other machines?
- JohnFen 7y agoTrusted as in not reporting data about my use of the boxes or what I'm watching to anybody other than the sources of the video.
- munk-a 7y agoAlmost certainly not, they're very likely collecting viewership data unless not doing that is explicitly called out. But there is some good news! Since you're watching a lot of things that are being served over the interwebs your data has likely already been entirely harvested by the provider companies anyways!
- rconti 7y agoReporting back information on your home network?
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoTrust is relative. They can certainly be trusted more than the Smart TVs because their incentives align at least marginally better with yours. They need to justify their price. The TVs are for the most part doing the minimum possible to check the "Smart" box.
- WorldMaker 7y agoWhat's your threat model? Apple TV is a pragmatic option for the sort of person that doesn't mind the Apple Walled Garden. Xbox One is a pragmatic option for the sort of person that doesn't mind the Xbox/Microsoft Walled Garden. NVidia Shield and FireTV are pragmatic options for folks that prefer the more Android-ish "mostly a Walled Garden, but". If your threat model is anything with a corporate or walled garden smell, then sure none of them can be trusted and just build your own media PC with Linux and whichever apps you feel you can trust.
- JohnFen 7y ago> What's your threat model? Avoiding tracking and phone-home things.
- jjeaff 7y agoThen in that case you will have to go open source like a Plex or Kodi box. Raspberry pis work nicely for this.
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y agoEven PLEX includes Google Analytics now I believe.
- top_kekeroni_m8 7y agoCheck out Vero 4k+, it runs on OSMC (open source media center) with Kodi installed. I run it on my 4k Philips TV and it works perfectly for any kind of media content...
- babypuncher 7y agoI have an Apple TV and two Rokus. According to my PiHole and my UniFi controller, the Rokus (attempt) to do an awful lot of talking to domains associated with telemetry and advertising all throughout the day. My Apple TV is pretty quiet, though I do catch some ad/telemetry traffic when using individual apps. I intend to replace the Rokus.
- anderspitman 7y agoAre you aware of any that support the "play this URL" use case I talk about in the blog post?
- Mindwipe 7y agoA Sony Android TV would - you could paste the URL into either VLC or the Internet Browser provided with the TV using the Android TV remote app on your phone, as you can paste into that.
- anderspitman 7y agoAh so you can just cast whatever is on VLC? That was the first thing I tried with Roku but my TV doesn't support it, and I was disappointed there wasn't any VLC companion app.
- Mindwipe 7y agoWell, VLC does have casting, but here I more meant you can run VLC on the TV itself, and you can enter a URL directly into VLC on the TV itself. While that's a bit clunky, if you use the remote app on a phone you can enter keyboard data and, most importantly, paste keyboard data from your phone into an input field on the TV itself. So no casting would be required. Kodi would also enable the same use case.
- anderspitman 7y agoWait does Roku have a VLC app? I swear I checked for one.
- Mindwipe 7y agoNo, I mean for Android TV in all cases above. I don't think this is a use case on Roku. Roku has zero international market share, so I don't think there's much of a developer market for it.
- 7y ago