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I am afraid that my dumb TV, which I've been holding onto for many years, might be on its last leg. I remember seeing privacy guides for smart TVs over the yea
by mastazi 2mo ago
I am afraid that my dumb TV, which I've been holding onto for many years, might be on its last leg.
I remember seeing privacy guides for smart TVs over the years, does anyone know a place with up to date info?
Most 55inch monitors are now "smart" sadly, so are most "digital signage" products. So there is no longer a way to get a true dumb panel at least over 50 inch
EDIT I am in Australia, there might be products that are available elsewhere but cannot be bought/shipped here
- tikkabhuna 2mo agoI share your disappointment. I just want a screen with a tuner. If I want any “apps”, I’ll pair it with another device which will probably be an Apple TV. I’m starting to wonder if a monitor and a soundbar with an external tuner is possible.
- crote 2mo agoI don't even care about the tuner part. If I ever get the desire to watch linear TV again, I'll just get an IPTV subscription. A decent-ish TV-sized panel with at least a single HDMI input really is all I need.
- qq66 2mo agoIf you don't ever give your network credentials to the Smart TV you've closed off 99% of the attack surface.
- Tor3 2mo agoFrom previous discussions there are apparently TVs which will connect to any open network nearby, if it can find one. I got myself a normal, non-smart Philips 49" TV some ten years ago, it's good, but I don't expect to be able to find something similar anymore.
- kyriakos 2mo agoWho runs open WiFi networks in 2026?
- m132 2mo agoHopefully nobody, but still—it takes just one
- permo-w 2mo agoJapan is full of them
- kyriakos 2mo agointeresting. any idea why?
- permo-w 2mo agothey say that Japan is simultaneously living 20 years in the past and 20 years in the future. lots of legacy devices are still being used for all manner of quirky convenience contraptions. they also live in an extremely high trust society where networks don't necessarily need to be secured If you want a very specific example, the original nintendo DS can only connect to WEP connections, which meant that when I was there I was able to play parts of DS games that wouldn't have been accessible in the west
- Tor3 2mo agoI haven't seen that many actually. In our neighborhood in Japan the area is crowded with home networks, they're all encrypted. And when I've tried navigating in large cities (Tokyo included) and found that my stupid tablet's GPS relied on getting the ephemeris data from the internet, and never through the GPS itself, I couldn't start navigating until I connected to something.. and I spent hours trying to find an open network, unsuccessfully. Happened twice, the second time in Nagoya. No open networks. Well, Starbucks have that, but then you need to find one.
- deleted 2mo ago
- cynicalsecurity 2mo agoYou can easily turn dumb mode on any smart TV.
- JKCalhoun 2mo agoI helped a friend's mom set up a new TV she bought and was unable to get the TV to "come online" without 1) giving it network access and 2) setting up an account. Only then would the TV give access to the inputs.
- dizhn 2mo agoIn my country install service is included in the price (mounting a wall holder inclusive) and required for warranty service. They go yes,yes,yes to every question on the install steps it becomes a blur. Must be part of their training. You can always get a hospitality tv though. They are pretty dumb unless you go into secret menus and such to enable network features.
- lifeisstillgood 2mo agoWait - how? I thought the whole reason the darn things are lower cost than equivalent PC monitors is the smart mode tracks viewing habits and seeks that to data brokers?
- qlte 2mo agoEvery Google TV enabled smart TV I’ve seen has a built in dumb mode that’s the first question asked when the TV is first setup. It does exactly what you expect.
- mastazi 2mo agoDo you know if this is a mandatory requirement set by Google, hence we can expect to find it on every single Google TV, or it depends on manufacturer? I cross checked some manuals from different brands and not all of them mention the "dumb mode" but maybe I just missed it. Based on my experience with Android devices, not every single Android feature is present on all devices, sometimes it's up to the manufacturer to implement certain features. I wonder if Google TV is the same.
- kyriakos 2mo agoDon't connect your TV to the network. Use an external device for smart features like firestick, Apple tv, Google streamer etc (there are open source options too if you look around and don't mind missing some polish). I have yet to receive a software update on any of my smart TVs that brought in any positive feature.