I don’t even understand the pitch? you have the disc playing, in your hands, your ownership, no buffering, no subscription required. and they’re saying…hey do you want a worse experience?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you own something and it either gets taken away or it gets tarnished in some way, you are fully justified to pirate it…
I can almost guarantee this was some stupid marketing exec’s idea. Someone had to write the code that interprets that you’re watching an episode that someone else has available for streaming. Any software dev worth their salt would have seen this request and said “This is the dumbest fucking idea I have ever seen in my life” and they probably had to make it anyway because it pays the bills.
I rooted my 2013 Samsung TV and overclocked it from 800 to 1200Mhz (the whole system is actually build for 1200Mhz but only the Highend-Ones are qualified for it). To my surprise the amount of data it send to Samsung was quite reasonable but still I removed most of it. Full removal of Internet is not an option because then I lose HbbTV and Prime TV which is like 50% of what I use that device for. And since I rooted it I also use it for BS and the public broadcasting mediatheks. Also, it now runs Quake2 in 1920x1080 in ~20fps.
It’s called “Post-Purchase Monetization”, and it’s why your 65” OLED tv is so cheap. They capture and sell your viewing data - but only if you hook it up to an internet connection. So don’t hook them up to an internet connection.
The question is how long that will help. Just recently read about the first TVs popping up that try to connect to any available open WiFi to phone home, regardless of your settings. Soon our TVs will need tinfoil hats 😱
I couldn’t find it again, sorry. But it wasn’t any real brand that did this (yet), but cheap noname TV clones (similar to those Trojan horse android boxes). Not something you’d trust anyway, but didn’t expect them trying to bridge the gap to get telemetry.
I was able to trick mine by connecting it to an AP with all traffic blocked. it assumes their services are down or something? and just slips right back into working fine with no nags or ads.
Pretty soon you won’t be allowed to use a tv to watch stuff that isn’t state approved media from a state approved source. I had an airbnb once that was set up in such a way that you could sign in to any streaming service you wanted but hdmi was blocked. I doubt the owner intentionally did that but it’s scary to actually see this type of shit firsthand.
Not guarenteed for every single one to break but…yeah. they are known to break for no reason. hell when i was the electronics guy at walmart they came back broken right out of the box waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more then any other brand.
I’m particularly a huge fan of LG televisions. Of course that doesn’t help if you’re trying to avoid smart altogether.
Also if you’re going LG… Their televisions are great but don’t touch their fucking home appliances. Ever. I don’t get the discrepancy between the two different parts of the same company. Beautiful televisions but things like they’re washers and dryers are notoriously horrible pieces of shit.
Sometimes you have to be a bit more pragmatic. I’m not aware of any TV with HDR, Dolby Vision, OLED, etc. that isn’t smart and reasonably priced. Your best bet is to buy a smart TV and block Internet access.
Another thing you can do is visit the selfhosted subs and they can help you out with other things like pihole for blocking ads and intrusive network activity on your home network.
No it’s not, AirTags are just Bluetooth beacons. When an iPhone or other apple device picks them up, the location data is uploaded to Apple’s servers and then sent to whoever owns the AirTag. There’s no two-way communication and the owner of the AirTag doesn’t get any personal info from the devices picking it up.
Apple HomeKit does something similar with BLE devices - if your phone goes out of range, they’ll connect to the closest Apple TV or HomePod to get internet access
I have never had any smart TV complain (yet) that I have never once connected wifi. I am guessing there would be lawsuits, that a physical device requiring internet and requiring you to connect it just to function, would get sued in a class action of some kind. I use other connection systems via HDMI to transcode media, and even people who still want TV do not need to connect the TV itself to wifi, since it should all come over through HDMI ideally (or DP or whatever cables it may be.)
You’re going to love this free tv then. It’s free, and people has began receiving this tv since the last 3 months or so. In exchange for receiving this free tv, you’ll have to make some sacrifice:
The tv must be connected to internet at all times within 5 days of receiving it. You aren’t allowed to disconnect it (except due to brief internet outages)
There is a second screen on the bottom with camera that display ads. You aren’t allowed to obscure the second screen to hide ads.
No modification allowed. You can’t disconnect the second screen.
You aren’t allowed to block ads, even with pihole.
Breaking the ToS means your credit card would get charged $1000. Very fun TV.
It does all those things because you explicitly agree to it before getting the TV. Not the same as paying outright for a TV that somehow needs a constant connection.
This may not be a popular opinion, but I personally see no issue with this if the terms of service and use are made clear and transparent before you order the device. Would I personally recommend or use the product? Hell no, but people having an informed choice, and choosing to accept these terms is perfectly fine imo.
I agree with you. Instead of spending money to buy a smart tv and still getting ads and your data collected, I can see the appeal of paying $0 to get a smart tv riddled with ads and data collection. At least you’re not paying any money for the device. I just wish the opposite is also possible where you can buy a smart tv with zero ads and data collection.
This is what’s up. Buy a small Intel NUC, a USB-C combo Blueray & DVD player, and watch any service / play any content without the ridiculousness.
Spectres are reasonable TVs. Screen tech hasn’t improved drastically for the last few years, and streaming quality hasn’t had any major facelifts outside the frameworks we know and love – don’t let anyone fool you otherwise. Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc., all stream comparably to one another.
I really don’t get why you would allow your tv Internet access anyways. A huge number of them carry tons of spyware that not only is on the TV but creates backdoors into your network.
Some TVs automatically latch on to any open network they can find, to do their connected thing, even if you don’t specifically give them access to your wifi.
I think you missed the point. It isn’t about your network or what good security practices are, it’s about what the TV does or is trying to do if you don’t connect it to your wifi. Open networks are out there whether we like it or not and some TVs will try to use them to call home.
I have a TCL even, but it’s not allowed on my wifi network at all. Have its Mac addy blocked, all my smart TVs are blocked. Wish they sold more non smart TV’s these days.
From a matter of convenience I could actually appreciate what they are trying to do.
Binge watching TV on disc, especially DVD, is frustrating. If you aren’t using the extra content (such as commentary), streaming is much better, as you can binge more episodes at a time or watch certain episodes without having to switch discs.
If I was unaware this was available on a streaming service I had, I’d appreciate the reminder. But I’d appreciate it more at or before the main menu, not during the content, and certainly not more than once (or reset when the disc is removed).
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