3 ms·

Can anyone confirm this? If this is true, this is huge news and highly consequential

lilhenry 2y ago
It’s the same with Hisense tvs
Loughla 2y ago
Can confirm. If you don't give vizio Wi-Fi access it functions as a dumb tv. This is why I purchase Vizio instead of other brands. I don't need my television loaded with a ton of apps I'll never use.
- monksy 2y ago
  Later firmwares will still try to push you to the smart tv display if there is no signal for 5 seconds to get you to setup the wifi.
- echelon 2y ago
  They'll probably install cellular connectivity or brick the devices if they can't connect.
  - tmcdos 2y ago
    Then we simply won't buy TVs and will only watch computer.
- rendaw 2y ago
  That's different than what GP said though - that you need to reject the agreement to get it to be a dumb TV. Which is it?
  - Loughla 2y ago
    Is the same thing. The agreement is giving it Wi-Fi access. If you say no, you deny Wi-Fi.
soared 2y ago
TCL is the same, as are likely every brand of TV. The smart tv hate is overhyped. All my TVs are dumb because they were smart but never got WiFi access.
- cjaackie 2y ago
  I think this is the way, just don’t give it wifi access! Fun story, my sony has android tv and can play MKV files off a flash drive (eg. a non-streaming tv show), but the built in player is horrible (drops frames?). Turns out I was able to find the right version of VLC player and adb the apk over the Ethernet port! Really worked a treat. This avoided connecting it to wifi, but I still got what I wanted out of it.
- jqpabc123 2y ago
  TCL is the same, as are likely every brand of TV. They are not all the same --- even within the same manufacturer. A lot of newer firmwares will launch into setup every time you power up if access is not configured. The TV configuration data is most likely being saved/retrieved from their cloud. This serves as their connectivity test. Without wifi setup, my new Hisense 4k "budget" model does this *unless* you run it in "store" mode. Dealing with setup on every power up is possible --- but obviously highly annoying over time --- and this is by design. The manufacturers desperately want the data collection $. It's the only way some of them make money.

It’s the same with Hisense tvs

Can confirm. If you don't give vizio Wi-Fi access it functions as a dumb tv. This is why I purchase Vizio instead of other brands. I don't need my television loaded with a ton of apps I'll never use.

monksy 2y ago
Later firmwares will still try to push you to the smart tv display if there is no signal for 5 seconds to get you to setup the wifi.
echelon 2y ago
They'll probably install cellular connectivity or brick the devices if they can't connect.
- tmcdos 2y ago
  Then we simply won't buy TVs and will only watch computer.
rendaw 2y ago
That's different than what GP said though - that you need to reject the agreement to get it to be a dumb TV. Which is it?
- Loughla 2y ago
  Is the same thing. The agreement is giving it Wi-Fi access. If you say no, you deny Wi-Fi.

soared 2y ago

TCL is the same, as are likely every brand of TV. The smart tv hate is overhyped. All my TVs are dumb because they were smart but never got WiFi access.

cjaackie 2y ago
I think this is the way, just don’t give it wifi access! Fun story, my sony has android tv and can play MKV files off a flash drive (eg. a non-streaming tv show), but the built in player is horrible (drops frames?). Turns out I was able to find the right version of VLC player and adb the apk over the Ethernet port! Really worked a treat. This avoided connecting it to wifi, but I still got what I wanted out of it.
jqpabc123 2y ago
TCL is the same, as are likely every brand of TV. They are not all the same --- even within the same manufacturer. A lot of newer firmwares will launch into setup every time you power up if access is not configured. The TV configuration data is most likely being saved/retrieved from their cloud. This serves as their connectivity test. Without wifi setup, my new Hisense 4k "budget" model does this *unless* you run it in "store" mode. Dealing with setup on every power up is possible --- but obviously highly annoying over time --- and this is by design. The manufacturers desperately want the data collection $. It's the only way some of them make money.