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I never liked (or even understood) the concept of a smart tv. “Do I want to replace my player hardware every time I get a new display?” The answer was a defin

I never liked (or even understood) the concept of a smart tv. “Do I want to replace my player hardware every time I get a new display?” The answer was a definite no. I ended up buying shiny new 65” 4K HDR Smart TV only because they didn’t sell it in dumb version. I duct taped it’s Ethernet port, and shielded it from wifi. (Just an image... but never let it connect). It’s only a display for Kodi and a gaming pc. ... And they lived happily ever after, without ever thinking about updates. End of story. (Pre-answers for the usual questions: I banished TV from my life in 1998. This “display” never seen an antenna. I read news papers, actual physical copies arriving in mail. And hacker news, ofc. I’m only ~30 years old. And yes it is a way, and I don’t see how TV is missing from my life)

squarefoot 6y ago
> I never liked (or even understood) the concept of a smart tv. It's perfectly understandable from the manufacturer point of view: a more complex, programmable, platform that can be instructed to show ads or grab personal data. I'm expecting the same behavior from every connected piece of technology we will put in our homes/cars/bodies. > I duct taped it’s Ethernet port, and shielded it from wifi. (Just an image... but never let it connect). Thanks to 5G (which is a good thing in itself) most of them will connect anyway, and some already attempt to find unprotected WiFi hotspots to get online.
- cced 6y ago
  Source on the claim?
  - squarefoot 6y ago
    I couldn't find the reference, sorry, however I'm sure I read it here from some user who wanted to keep offline his Smart TV by not giving it any encrypted WiFi credentials, but found it attempting to connect anyway through open ones. Someone already found Smart TVs using hardcoded DNS addresses (although they obtain their own address through a DHCP request) which has the side effect of bypassing anti-adware/malware tools such as Pi-Hole. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25313480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25313480 Ignoring the user choice of keeping a SmartTV offline by looking for the nearest open network (or possibly using 5G in the future) would be just one step away.
- Dylan16807 6y ago
  Putting in a sim would cost more than the ad revenue, wouldn't it? > some Which?
bootlooped 6y ago
It's not like you're buying a high end blu ray player and a hifi system built into smart TVs, the player hardware is probably similar to a raspberry pi in cost and complexity.
- Const-me 6y ago
  Pi 4 is from 2019, has 4 cores at 1.5 GHz made with 28 nm process. Smartphones from 2019 had 8 cores at 2.8 GHz made with 7 nm process. I think TVs gotta be closer to smartphones than to Pi4.

squarefoot 6y ago

> I never liked (or even understood) the concept of a smart tv. It's perfectly understandable from the manufacturer point of view: a more complex, programmable, platform that can be instructed to show ads or grab personal data. I'm expecting the same behavior from every connected piece of technology we will put in our homes/cars/bodies. > I duct taped it’s Ethernet port, and shielded it from wifi. (Just an image... but never let it connect). Thanks to 5G (which is a good thing in itself) most of them will connect anyway, and some already attempt to find unprotected WiFi hotspots to get online.

cced 6y ago
Source on the claim?
- squarefoot 6y ago
  I couldn't find the reference, sorry, however I'm sure I read it here from some user who wanted to keep offline his Smart TV by not giving it any encrypted WiFi credentials, but found it attempting to connect anyway through open ones. Someone already found Smart TVs using hardcoded DNS addresses (although they obtain their own address through a DHCP request) which has the side effect of bypassing anti-adware/malware tools such as Pi-Hole. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25313480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25313480 Ignoring the user choice of keeping a SmartTV offline by looking for the nearest open network (or possibly using 5G in the future) would be just one step away.
Dylan16807 6y ago
Putting in a sim would cost more than the ad revenue, wouldn't it? > some Which?

bootlooped 6y ago

It's not like you're buying a high end blu ray player and a hifi system built into smart TVs, the player hardware is probably similar to a raspberry pi in cost and complexity.

Const-me 6y ago
Pi 4 is from 2019, has 4 cores at 1.5 GHz made with 28 nm process. Smartphones from 2019 had 8 cores at 2.8 GHz made with 7 nm process. I think TVs gotta be closer to smartphones than to Pi4.