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With TVs it is especially important to look at the _software_ it comes with. If it is some locked-down piece which requires the blessing of the manufacturer to
by pbasista 5y ago
With TVs it is especially important to look at the _software_ it comes with. If it is some locked-down piece which requires the blessing of the manufacturer to install anything on it, then I would stay away from such TVs.
It seems to me that Android TVs offer at least some degree of customization because it is possible to install apps there. But the value you get from them depends on whether you can get the root access and on other restrictions the manufacturer has imposed on it. So, in general it is not an ideal usage model.
In my opinion, a pure Linux TVs would be much better. For instance, running Kodi as a frontend with TVHeadend or minisatip as a backend. They would of course have plenty of possibilities to play other media and would be fully customizable, giving the customer a _choice_ to consider and utilize that capability. In my opinion, there is a reasonably sized market for such TVs.
- shultays 5y agoAndroid has smarttube app which is even better (imho) compared to official youtube app, even if you pay for adfree For starters, it supports sponsorblock which is even more adblocking. Secondly i think ux is miles better You dont need root but you need to manually download and install it
- henriquecm8 5y agoThat's really nice, I need to save this for when I buy an android tv
- shultays 5y agoBe warned, even if you can block ads in youtube apps, most TV brands (and Google) started putting ads in their home screen. Mine was alright for 2-3 years but early this year there was an update that started putting "Watch these cool stuff in Disney app" and it is not removable. I rolled back the update for my home screen app, which works for now. I think you are able to use entirely different home screen apps but I didn't want to go that far yet. The moment I can't disable ads is the moment I will start using PI and using my TV as a dumb screen
- ohgodplsno 5y agoOn Android TVs, you can install launchers to replace the absolute dogshit launcher that Google has pushed with the latest big updates, thankfully.
- metadat 5y agoI never connect my TVs to the internet because you can't trust the manufacturers to keep them up to date and secure. And they might install more ads as part of a system "update".
- adra 5y agoSecurity? Are they not behind a firewall? What security vector are exposed plugging them into the internet? I don't see Samsung and co letting their telemetry domains lapse. Privacy and annoying updates are something totally different though.
- dsr_ 5y agoThe answer is to grab a Pi or similar tiny box and treat the TV as a dumb monitor. This works very well.
- dessant 5y agoHost based content blockers have no future. Ad companies have been moving to first-party ad delivery in the past few years, and YouTube serves ads and videos from the same host. Edit: nevermind, I've completely misread your comment to be about Pi-hole :)
- shultays 5y agoAre there remotes for Pi? How do you control it? What tv like OS do you use? Can it also turn on/off tv? I think HDMI allows that but not sure if Pi can do that
- dsr_ 5y agoThere are lots of USB-IR remote receivers. The nicest, in my opinion, is the Flirc (flirc.tv) which has all the smarts in the USB dongle to convert IR remote signals into a simulated keyboard. It's reasonably cheap, too. I like using a TiVO remote, because their ergonomics are almost perfect. To turn on and off a TV you need an HDMI port that supports CEC. The Pi does, so you just need to install cec-client. As for OS, you should use the general purpose Linux distro that you are most familiar with. If in doubt, use Gunnar Wolf's Debian for Pi, which is as close as you can get to 100% Debian on a Pi.