[HN Gopher] I spent $3k on a Samsung Smart TV and all I got were...
___________________________________________________________________
I spent $3k on a Samsung Smart TV and all I got were ads and
unwanted content
Author : ivanvas
Score : 260 points
Date : 2022-09-28 19:26 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.zdnet.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.zdnet.com)
| pipeline_peak wrote:
| I've been using Chromecast for 7 years now. A lot of these built
| in UIs are a pretty miserable experience to muck around in.
|
| To me, your phone is the only thing that should be controlling
| your TV or sound system. It's nice, it's clean, and I don't have
| multiple remotes to flop between.
|
| Who wants to deal with gimpy little Linux OS's built into their
| tv? They're getting too smart in a hyper 1980's sort of way. They
| provide far more than anyone asked, my TV doesn't need a browser.
| I can't help but think TVs would be cheaper without them, but
| built in smart boxes are so run of the mill now that I'm sure
| it's at most $50 extra.
|
| Incase I come off as a luddite, I think smart ovens are a great
| idea.
| lamontcg wrote:
| Seems like there's a market here for a relatively bare-bones high
| quality TV. Someone could probably start a small manufacturing
| business around that.
| chrstphrknwtn wrote:
| How can one buy a simple panel these days? Literally just a dumb
| display with an HDMI input?
| yread wrote:
| TVs also seem to consume way more power. I have 48" full hd Sony
| from 2016 that consumes max 58W. None of the TVs on the market
| come even close, some consume 3x as much! What happened? Is 4K
| really that inefficient?
| Melatonic wrote:
| OLED in general takes more power. But those are rookie numbers
| compared to my 2013 plasma :-)
| amiga-workbench wrote:
| Potentially more backlight power draw for HDR? But yeah,
| generally it takes more power to push 4x as many pixels.
| petesergeant wrote:
| Hope the EU regulates this so I can -- at least -- import a TV
| from somewhere that doesn't have this shit
| gw99 wrote:
| I left my Tizen based Samsung with my ex wife when we got
| divorced. This was a subtle troll because I am finally free of
| the fucking thing and she's not.
|
| The last decade of ownership has been hell. Slow laggy equipment,
| HDCP problems, working but forcibly obsoleted hardware, bugs
| galore and ads stuffed in your face.
|
| I now no longer own a television and will never own one again.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| Nobody deserves that, you awful awful person. ;)
| gw99 wrote:
| Oh she deserved it. And the HP windows 10 laptop with 64Gb
| eMMC storage.
| inopinatus wrote:
| Aside from not giving it a network connection, my LG C1 also
| became a lot less obnoxious when I declined the privacy policy,
| at which point it disabled most so-called "smart" features. All
| the image processing stuff still works. Also felt like it starts
| up more quickly, although I'm not game to re-enable anything to
| actually measure it.
| _gabe_ wrote:
| I think this whole thread is very indicative of why programmers
| shouldn't design a product. I've been reading through the article
| and comments trying to figure out what "ads" were being
| referenced and then I finally realized people must be talking
| about the ads for TV shows and movies...
|
| I think the average consumer would much rather have a TV that
| they simply connect to their wifi and then get Netflix, YT,
| Disney+, etc as opposed to hooking up some sort of computer or
| streaming box via hdmi to get the TV to work. I also think the
| average consumer doesn't find ads for TV shows and movies that
| show up on their TV intrusive. I mean, that's essentially what
| every streaming app does already isn't it? It just shows
| potential shows and movies. Why would they get upset that their
| TV does the same thing?
|
| What I do think is intrusive and disgusting is the fact that
| Samsung will happily take screenshots of what you're watching and
| send telemetry. The random ads for movies that show up are the
| least of my concerns.
| snarfy wrote:
| I ditched cable and went 100% streaming starting with Netflix
| because they had zero ads. Many of my friends did the same. I
| consider ads an assault on my psyche and will avoid them as
| much as I possibly can.
| jakedata wrote:
| I spent 3K on a 65" 4K conference room touchscreen monitor.
| Rather than having a built in smart TV function it has a dock for
| a SFF PC.
|
| It lacks a tuner and don't think it does HDR but it does have
| surprisingly good sound.
| pessimizer wrote:
| A tuner USB key is like $10. Plug that into the PC.
| lifeisstillgood wrote:
| I went through this process - we bought a "TV" and found it
| impossible to fight off "watch this" trailers appearing and
| enticing our little one.
|
| The only solution is to buy "business or gaming monitors" - no
| built in TV, just connect up a apple box and be done with it.
|
| Even then you can tell Apple is moving from "here is a button to
| press" to "let us decide what you are interested in"
|
| (Tangent but it's noticeable that the stuff I have bought from
| Apple Itunes like a kids movie is several clicks away, but the
| latest movie that I have not bought but will need to pay for is
| right there on the home screen. No. That's the wrong way round.
| If I reach up to my bookshelf and the bookshelf needs me to climb
| a ladder and reach over the books for sale to get to my own darn
| book, the bookshelf is not doing it's job.
|
| Apple. Be a bookshelf. I paid for a bookshelf.
| barbariangrunge wrote:
| titzer wrote:
| Consider getting a digital projector instead. I got a relatively
| cheap one (Dr J mini projector, 1080p) for $60. It...is not like
| a TV. Works only in low lighting conditions and has some focus
| issues, but if you just want a big screen with decent resolution,
| absolutely worth skipping a TV for this. And NO SMART FEATURES.
|
| I'll be upgrading to a better, eventually 4k projector, but it
| seems like the ad and spam smart crap hasn't hit projectors
| yet....YET.
| pianoben wrote:
| When I was a kid, the most frustrating technical challenge around
| TVs was how to get the VCR clock to stop flashing. How the world
| has changed since then!
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| Your parents never asked you to set up a timed recording on
| that VCR eh
| [deleted]
| bogwog wrote:
| Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do about
| this? All the TV brands do the same thing, and those that don't
| simply haven't gotten around to pushing out the firmware update
| that enables ads.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do
| about this?_
|
| If you're willing to pay a bit more, you can buy commercial
| TVs/displays.
|
| Amazon lists them under "Digital Signage > Commercial TVs &
| Displays", for example.
| shahbaby wrote:
| Vote with your wallet.
| mikestew wrote:
| _Just give me my Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max,..._
|
| All of which are available on an AppleTV, and I assume other
| less-intrusive devices. TFA comes to that conclusion in the last
| paragraph, but just in case anyone didn't make it that far. And
| then, as everyone on this page is going to say, never let that TV
| anywhere near a network connection. Why anyone would go to the
| effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me.
| Plug in a box, remove network access to the TV, watch your shows.
|
| _...even if it duplicates all the streaming app functionality in
| the TV itself._
|
| I don't know, Samsung's fuckery aside, does anyone seriously
| think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be
| anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV? IOW, use the
| AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better
| experience.
| tssva wrote:
| ", does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on
| the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as
| the AppleTV?"
|
| I in general think the Apple UX experience is pretty awful
| across all their products with Apple TV being the worse of all.
| I have used the Samsung interface and it is bad but I still
| dislike the Apple TV more.
| pb7 wrote:
| You're probably in the minority with that opinion. Apple UX
| is wildly renowned for being great and Apple TV is no worse
| than any of the competitors. The TV input interface is just
| awkward in general but being able to use an iPhone to
| automatically fill in passwords, authenticate purchases, or
| just use as a second remote is smooth as butter. It's another
| example of how Apple products are better together within the
| ecosystem. But even if you don't have an iPhone, the newest
| remote is extremely good. One of the best products they've
| made in recent years.
| rewtraw wrote:
| I can't really imagine what you believe is so bad about the
| Apple TV UX. It's a basic grid of available apps and videos,
| with an easy swipe to access video settings (subtitles,
| language, etc). Not complicated at all.
|
| Most streaming boxes have the same basic interface... my
| usual issue is when one is laggy (e.g. TV built-in, Roku,
| Chromecast, etc). The Apple TV is buttery smooth, fast to
| scrub through videos, and never feels limited by its CPU.
| aaronbrethorst wrote:
| _Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole
| cat-and-mouse game is beyond me_
|
| Fun way to pass the time for some folks, I assume.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Also the cat-and-mouse mostly happens at the block list
| level. I just set it up once and my LG TV never shows any
| ads.
| autoexec wrote:
| > IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just
| for the better experience.
|
| I've never used AppleTV. Does it come with ads and a bunch of
| data collection too? Roku collects massive amounts of data and
| has ads. For example:
|
| "Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video "snapshots"
| in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a
| database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be
| matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is
| watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard
| seltzer, Roku's ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the
| TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on
| screen is automatically recognized, as the technology's name
| indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to
| link the account watching with the content they're watching."
| (https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-
| analysi...)
| Melatonic wrote:
| NextDNS is blocking a CRAP ton of Roku tracking for me. Very
| successfully. And I never get a single advertisement either!
| mattmanser wrote:
| One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's
| objectively less hassle.
|
| The apps are actually mostly identical from experience.
|
| I actually use a PS4 at the moment, and it occasionally forces
| me to update before I can use the TV app, so even more hassle.
| domy wrote:
| I have an AppleTV connected to my Samsung TV, and almost
| never use the Samsung remote. The AppleTV remote's on/off
| button switches everything together (through CEC I believe)
| so in everyday usage I only ever need a single remote.
| antihero wrote:
| Yep, I only ever use the LG remote for turning off the
| display when I want to listen to music with a blank screen.
| gffrd wrote:
| Unless, of course, the one remote is garbage, and the hassle
| of working the system with one remote is greater than with
| two.
| petesergeant wrote:
| > One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's
| objectively less hassle.
|
| My Apple TV can turn my TV on and off though, so I rarely
| need to use the TV remote
| dangus wrote:
| On top of that, people who used the old Apple TV remote
| with the touchpad might not even realize that there's a new
| one that fixes all the bad design issues of the old one.
| nevi-me wrote:
| We have a 45" from ~2013, I used to connect it to the internet
| in the early days when I didn't have a Chromecast. The UI is
| underwhelming, and the only times I've used the smart TV
| features was when a streaming device wasn't working.
|
| I've gone through 4 streaming devices, and I think that even if
| I get a new TV, I'm likely to continue with streaming devices,
| unless that TV runs stock Android TV. Even then, it'll reach a
| point where the firmware is no longer updated.
| gw99 wrote:
| Yeah good luck with that. I did the same. Then all the
| streaming devices stopped working suddenly. Turns out that
| there was suddenly an HDCP compatibility issue which
| obsoleted the TV instantly.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| At some point, I fully expect the TVs are going to refuse to
| work after a month of no internet.
| mikestew wrote:
| At which point I'm personally content to go read a book (on
| my network-connected Amazon Kindle, of course). But I'm one
| of dozens, unfortunately for the rest of you because Samsung
| won't care about cranky old men and their books, they don't
| spend money anyway.
| skizm wrote:
| My next "TV" is just going to be a conference room monitor. Dell
| has some for like around $1K for a 55 inch and $4.3k for a 75
| inch. Not sure about other companies, but my experiences with
| Dell have always been positive so I'm okay paying a bit of a
| premium absent better alternatives.
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| I don't understand why anyone would like to connect such a thing
| to their WiFi. An external device gives you flexibility and
| control. The built-in firmware gives you ads and tracking.
| kitsunesoba wrote:
| Yeah, buy smart TVs for their display panels and image
| processing, not for their smarts. First thing when setting them
| up is disabling the wifi and bluetooth and _not_ plugging in
| ethernet, followed by hooking up an Apple TV 4K /Nvidia
| Shield/PC.
|
| Also worth factoring ability to update firmare without an
| internet connection when making a purchase decision. Sony TVs
| for example typically allow updates via a thumb drive.
| ayngg wrote:
| Because the vast majority of people aren't tech savvy enough to
| care about ads and tracking, ads and tracking everywhere is
| normalized.
| equon_ wrote:
| Most people do that to use integrated streaming apps. This is
| less expensive than buying an Apple TV/Chromecast
| jonnycoder wrote:
| I use my Vizio tv for integrated apps. YoutubeTV, Netflix,
| Paramount+ and Prime Video all work great, except Prime Video
| will buffer a lot lately but the other apps never do. It's
| also very easy to enable/disable Viewing Data and Advertising
| under Menu/Admin & Privacy.
|
| My dad runs Apple TV since his screen is older, and it's
| marginally better than my Vizio because most of the time
| YoutubeTV continues where it left off when turning TV back on
| which is nice.
| kitsunesoba wrote:
| The cost difference is marginal unless you're buying bargain
| bin TVs, though.
| Nextgrid wrote:
| You underestimate how many people buy that ~3k TV on credit
| and for whom an extra ~150 bucks for an Apple TV is
| actually non-trivial money.
|
| In fact that's the reason these ads are there - a lot of
| people can't be convinced to use an external device to
| escape them. If everyone used Apple TVs/etc, there would be
| no built-in ads because it's just not worth the trouble.
| kitsunesoba wrote:
| If I were in that position I think I'd buy a TV that's
| lower priced but still quite good ($1.5-$2.5k) and spend
| the difference on a good streaming box. The value per
| dollar is much better that way.
| scohesc wrote:
| The funny thing too is that a lot of TV/Cable providers' set
| top boxes _already_ include built-in apps, so now you've got
| your TV that does Netflix, Hulu, etc. - then you _also_ have
| your set-top box being able to do the same thing.
|
| It just makes things so much more frustrating when you're
| providing support for the less technically inclined.
| suprjami wrote:
| $3k on a TV but won't spend an extra $50 on a Chromecast?
| cgrealy wrote:
| It's not just the money. I bought a new LG OLED last year.
| I didn't care that it had integrated Netflix, YouTube,
| whatever because I had a chromecast.
|
| But the experience of using the integrated apps is just
| better. It all just works out of the box, there are
| basically no ads (some "recommended content", but it's
| pretty unobtrusive) and I don't need to use my phone or
| worry about why youtube or netflix have randomly decided
| not to see the chromecast.
| mattwad wrote:
| I like having only one remote with my TV. I get minor anxiety
| when at other people's houses and they have 3-4 remotes or
| more, and usually only one person knows what they all do (the
| one that had to set it all up).
| coldtea wrote:
| it's amazing what 21st century can consider an
| inconvenience...
| marssaxman wrote:
| With the Roku stick, you can set up the remote to control TV
| power and volume. I stuck the TV remote on the back of the TV
| with velcro so it won't get lost, but in ordinary use the
| Roku remote is all you need.
| SSLy wrote:
| I have an Apple TV 4k - LG OLED - Soundbar setup, and it's
| all controlled via the Siri Remote. HDMI CEC seems to just
| work.
| Arubis wrote:
| I spent $200 on a 43" Spectre UHD 4K TV a week ago and it
| literally doesn't have wifi capabilities. It just reads off HDMI.
| The end.
|
| WalMart sells their stuff at like half MSRP and there isn't
| network connectivity with which to exfiltrate your data.
|
| I wish every manufacturer worked like this.
| timothyduong wrote:
| For my Samsung TV, I connect it to the internet once a year for a
| firmware/software upgrade.
|
| Outside of that, any TV in my house is connected to an AppleTV.
| HDMICEC is great.
| cantrevealname wrote:
| The sentiment here on HN is to never connect the TV to the
| Internet and instead use a digital media player or external
| streaming device. I wholeheartedly agree. But then several people
| mentioned wanting to update the firmware. If you'll never connect
| it to the Internet, then you should never update the firmware
| either. It goes against conventional wisdom, but updating the
| firmware in this situation is more likely to cause problems than
| to bring you desired improvements.
|
| The firmware update might have stricter DRM controls; it could
| have a tricky new way to exfiltrate data out via your streaming
| box; maybe the firmware update itself contains some static ads;
| perhaps in the near future we'll have public wifi or free Google
| community wifi, and the new firmware will have the smarts to use
| that and bypass your wifi.
|
| And these days, once you update the firmware, you often cannot
| revert back to earlier firmware.
| tpxl wrote:
| > perhaps in the near future we'll have public wifi or free
| Google community wifi, and the new firmware will have the
| smarts to use that and bypass your wifi.
|
| Xfinity WiFi has been around for at least 8 years. Amazon
| sidewalk has been around for over a year. Wanna bet those are
| or will be used by your smart TV producers to connect them to
| the internet via wifi?
| tenebrisalietum wrote:
| What makes me think this will never happen is that
|
| - Open Wi-Fi networks are a thing of the past. There hasn't
| been any around me in a residential area for a long time now.
| Businesses and workplace lobbies, more likely, though.
|
| - No one is going to just give Samsung free Internet except
| the hapless consumer by supplying Wi-Fi credentials.
|
| - Samsung might make a deal with providers, but it would have
| to have unique credentials embedded in its OS and firmware,
| and I doubt Samsung has the ability to keep that totally
| secure.
|
| Think about it. If you could get free, anonymous Internet
| with credentials in a Samsung TV, crackers would be all over
| that - they'd be searching every crook and nanny for
| exploits, desoldering NAND and sniffing busses for encryption
| keys, connecting with Chinese friends to get original
| datasheets, etc.
|
| Even if Samsung embedded an LTE/5G SIM, eSIM, whatever, it
| would be hacked to bits. "Get model X of samsung TV, get free
| Internet with this Linux application". It's not realistic for
| there to be a network connection that you don't know about,
| pay for, and have your name attached to.
|
| Of course the p2p network interface that shows up on the
| Netflix diagnostic screen is concerning, though.
|
| Now if cellular providers start selling TVs, such as AT&T,
| Verizon, etc. bundling Internet with them, _then_ it can
| happen.
| bhelkey wrote:
| Every TV ships with a unique secret key. Secret keys that
| are used to do anything other than connect to an Ads server
| are disabled.
| PeterisP wrote:
| Every TV ships with a non-unique secret key and an
| agreement with some major internet service provider which
| specifies that accounts using that key will gain network
| access but only to a specific list of IP addresses that
| host or proxy firmware updates and advertising content.
| nwiswell wrote:
| > No one is going to just give Samsung free Internet except
| the hapless consumer by supplying Wi-Fi credentials.
|
| I think it's implied that Samsung would pay Amazon for
| Sidewalk access.
|
| > Samsung might make a deal with providers, but it would
| have to have unique credentials embedded in its OS and
| firmware, and I doubt Samsung has the ability to keep that
| totally secure.
|
| I don't think this is as hard a problem as you're making it
| sound. Each TV ships with a serial number, let's suppose;
| it tries to handshake with the Sidewalk network. Sidewalk
| phones home to Amazon, Amazon talks to Samsung, Samsung
| says "yes, we sold that S/N recently and it has never
| connected before, here's its public key".
| reaperducer wrote:
| _Open Wi-Fi networks are a thing of the past._
|
| I've been to two medical facilities and a large regional
| hospital in the last week where there were open wifi
| networks with no portals. My apartment building operates an
| open wifi network for guests so we don't have to bother
| giving out passwords to visitors. An airport I visited last
| month has wide open wifi. A see ads on transit buses all
| the time stating that the bus has wifi. I suspect that is
| wide open because the transit agency didn't want to deal
| with tech support.
|
| Open wifi is _far_ from a thing of the past.
| AtlasBarfed wrote:
| And there are long wifi IoT networks supported by proof-
| of-coverage cryptocurrencies.
| the_snooze wrote:
| It's pretty common for public networks to still have a
| captive portal to get the user to view an ad or click "I
| agree" before actually granting full connectivity.
| vkou wrote:
| It's a thing of the past in residential areas. There are
| ~80 wifi networks that I can detect from my apartment,
| _and not a single one of them is open_.
| sgtnoodle wrote:
| Firmware updates may resolve HDMI compatibilities, though, and
| in my mind it's always worth the risk even if there's a 10%
| chance of improvement because HDMI reliability is terrible.
|
| When I mounted my TV, I embedded a single HDMI cable, a single
| cat5e cable, and a single optical cable in the wall. Conduit
| wasn't an option due to the age and construction of the wall,
| so changing it would require power tools and drywall mud.
|
| I have a sound bar rather than a receiver because it makes my
| wife happy. The sound bar works best with ARC. Optical works
| too, but power and volume isn't synchronized.
|
| I have an NVIDIA shield mounted behind the TV because the TV's
| software stack got too lethargic, and the TV's built-in decoder
| has silicon bugs that break video in Netflix, and break
| surround sound in everything but Netflix.
|
| Surprisingly, everything works reliably about 95% of the time.
| It's unfortunate that I consider that a win. I just added a 4-1
| HDMI splitter with ARC passthrough in order to get a Blu-ray
| player back in the mix, and it was boring!
| warble wrote:
| Wow, never once ever had an issue with HDMI, although I only
| go 4K at most. I never even considered it a possibility.
| owenwil wrote:
| I wish I was in your shoes! I also had no issues with HDMI
| until recent years--but HDMI-eARC is so buggy on Samsung
| TVs, especially when being used with surround sound or a
| sound bar. I had no problems before I moved to a surround
| system/beyond ARC, but with eARC I need to reboot the TV at
| the wall once every two weeks or it will "forget" it's
| plugged into a sound system, it's very annoying. It was far
| worse when I first got the TV and updates have improved it
| somewhat, but it's still very annoying. I don't hold out
| hope for Samsung updating the TV for much longer, my last
| one from them they abandoned it after the first year. :/
| sgtnoodle wrote:
| Sure, the "DVI" subset of HDMI generally works everywhere,
| although I've had signal integrity issues from cheap cables
| in the past.
|
| It's all the other stuff that's supposed to seamlessly
| integrate your components. Audio Return Channel so sound
| makes it to the speakers regardless of where a source is
| plugged in, Consumer Electronics Control so you can use one
| Bluetooth remote for everything, automatic power
| synchronization, etc.
|
| Even 4k is a little weird, with different HDMI versions
| supporting different frame rates. I have a Yamaha receiver
| from 2014 or so that doesn't support 4k, but claims to
| "support" it; all you have to do is turn off the receiver
| and it will pass the signal through!
| dn3500 wrote:
| I had a Panasonic TV about ten years ago that refused to play
| any content off my home server unless it could talk to its own
| servers over the internet first.
| clouddrover wrote:
| > _The sentiment here on HN is to never connect the TV to the
| Internet_
|
| Once 5G is cheap enough the TVs will come with built-in 5G in
| order to always be connected.
| asdfk-12 wrote:
| This is good advice. I kept my 4k Vizio offline until updating
| the firmware on a whim. The update broke the ability to run
| 1080p@60hz from my PC, making it effectively useless for normal
| use. The annoying part about the panel is that it was
| advertised as 4k but only works at 30hz at that resolution.
| Cheap, so should have figured.
| p1necone wrote:
| It might be supported but non obvious, some TVs only support
| 4k60 through one of the HDMI ports.
|
| It could also be a cable issue, although I believe the option
| usually shows up on cables that dont support it and only
| fails once you try to switch.
| asdfk-12 wrote:
| New cable, tried both ports. The update was the only
| x-factor.
| Melatonic wrote:
| Try setting a custom resolution on your PC and mess with
| the settings
| worble wrote:
| >It goes against conventional wisdom
|
| Does it? So long as it's not connected to the internet, and
| generally works, then why would you want to? Whats the risk?
| mikestew wrote:
| I stay on top of device firmware updates in order to stay
| current on security patches, lest bad folks come crawling
| through the connection. I assume that's the "conventional
| wisdom" spoken of here. But if the TV never goes anywhere
| near a network...
|
| If it's not a networked device, then the FW update better
| have enhancements that benefit _me_ , the user, and not
| Samsung. Otherwise, GTFO with your crab bucket of new bugs.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Firmware updates can bring image quality improvements,
| hardware compatibility fixes, all sorts of stuff beyond the
| built-in streaming apps.
| pseudosavant wrote:
| Obviously most users won't be able to do this, but this is
| exactly the type of reason I use OpenWRT on my RPi-based
| router. I have a firewall rule that prevents the TV from
| communicating with anything in the WAN zone. I can still have
| the TV on the Wi-Fi and still use features like Airplay.
|
| I disable the firewall rule if I want to try updating the TV
| firmware.
| danielheath wrote:
| That breaks the built in chromecast, right (since the TV is
| the one fetching the stream), but I suppose you could plug in
| a regular chromecast dongle if that matters to you.
| olyjohn wrote:
| So... do all that work so that you can send all your shit
| to Google instead of Samsung?
| lifeisstillgood wrote:
| QQ: how do you replace the ISP router - my cable provider clT
| out refused to give me the PPP / etc details or I have to go
| find an RPi with adsl io.
|
| I guess I can solve it but any pointers gratefully rec d
| dn3500 wrote:
| See if your cable modem has a pass-through mode. This
| disables the NAT, DHCP, etc and passes the IP address of
| the cable side of the modem through to one of the ethernet
| jacks. Then you plug your own router in to that and do your
| own NAT, DHCP, firewall, etc. I know Arris used to have
| this, haven't checked recently.
|
| My current ISP has the cable modem completely locked down.
| No control over DHCP, no punching service ports through the
| NAT for home servers. Also they've got me double NATed.
| asciimov wrote:
| Sometimes firmware updates are necessary. I've got a Tcl tv
| that had HDR issues out of the box that were fixed by an
| updated firmware.
| shaboinkin wrote:
| I learned this with my router. I updated the firmware thinking
| it was the smart thing to do, security fixed and all that, but
| instead I was greeted with ads for their other products and
| them wanted to shove their stupid phone app in my face to
| interact with the router. I then installed OpenWRT and said
| nuts to using proprietary router firmware.
| EastSmith wrote:
| I am in a search for Wi-Fi 6 router, can you please name the
| company I should avoid?
| roody15 wrote:
| Hmm I like just buying 4k displays with no smart features at
| all. 65 sceptre works great.. is just a display (does need a
| sound bar as built in speakers are poor).
|
| No need to fight against your device IMO.
| jakeinspace wrote:
| Sure, but that's not a very high-end panel. When Samsung and
| LG make almost all the best panels, it's tricky to avoid if
| you aren't willing to sacrifice picture quality.
| Melatonic wrote:
| There are "monitors" even for high end OLEDs
|
| I also considered maybe trying to import a TV from the EU -
| do they have stronger privacy laws that would prevent this?
| Panasonic makes some VERY nice OLED TV's out of the country
| agilob wrote:
| Why even buy a TV then, why not a PC screen or a projector?
| PreachSoup wrote:
| Because if u want the best oled panel as pc screen, you have
| to get a tv
| sgtfrankieboy wrote:
| Because a 32" monitor is small for a TV? and a projector has
| tons of downsides?
|
| The solution is to buy a commercial TV used in retail
| environments.
| TacticalCoder wrote:
| > and a projector has tons of downsides?
|
| I'm not so sure. I've been using a projector as a TV for
| something like four years straight: no TV at home, only a
| projector. As a bonus the living room becomes a home
| cinema. I didn't see much downsides. Zero issue. No ads.
| Cheaper than a TV for a _much_ wider diagonal and a more
| "cinema'ish" picture too (I hate it when movies look like
| cheap sitcoms on modern TVs).
|
| And as many of these are made to show slides and whatnots
| in corporate settings, ads are a big no-no.
|
| I think more people should seriously consider that option.
|
| EDIT: well I remember one issue... I decided to fix it and
| it took longer than the time it'd have take to hook a TV.
| But I did it exactly once, used some fishtape to pull HDMI
| cables in the system ceiling and family was good to go for
| years.
| darkteflon wrote:
| > I hate it when movies look like cheap sitcoms on modern
| TVs
|
| This really is the trope about LCD TVs that will not die.
| I blame the manufacturers.
|
| Yes, it looks terrible. It's called motion smoothing (or
| something like it) and it's often switched on - for
| reasons I cannot possibly fathom - when TVs are in demo
| mode and/or in the showroom.
|
| And it is absolutely trivial to disable. Most any modern
| TV is either fully capable of playing 24p / 30p and 60p
| at native frame rate, or playing 60p at native, 30p at
| half-rate and 24p at 3:2 pulldown, in each case without
| any interpolated frames muddying the native presentation.
| It looks perfectly great (while 3:2 pulldown is perceived
| as juddery by some, that's an issue any projector
| incapable of either 120hz or native 24p would also
| share).
|
| There are loads of legitimate reasons to prefer
| projectors over flat panels (and vice versa); motion
| smoothing is not one of them.
| akvadrako wrote:
| You sound like somebody going on about how vinyl is
| better than CDs. Sure, projectors give you that
| "authentic" cinema look, in the sense of bad color
| reproduction, especially being unable to show dark blacks
| like OLEDs can.
|
| The "cheap sitcom" look is objectively better. With the
| right filters you can reproduce the cinema look; but
| nobody who isn't already used to it would want to to
| that, unless you are going for a specific "old school"
| style.
| autoexec wrote:
| The "cheap sitcom" look is objectively worse, but it can
| be disabled on every TV I've encountered so far. If I
| bought a TV that didn't allow me to disable it I'd return
| it as defective.
| pb7 wrote:
| >I hate it when movies look like cheap sitcoms on modern
| TVs
|
| That has nothing to do with "TVs" in general and more the
| software smoothing settings that are on by default.
| Properly configured (takes literally minutes or less one
| time) using a website like rtings.com for the optimal
| settings, a TV will look better than a similar quality
| projector every time, and in greater lighting situations.
| There's a reason why projectors aren't popular and it's
| not because people forget about them. Movies on my OLED
| TV look incredible, better than a cinema frankly.
| OriginalPenguin wrote:
| I've never seen a great projector that doesn't make a ton
| of white noise form the fan. Do "silent" projectors
| exist?
| cgriswald wrote:
| I've been using a projector in my bedroom because I do
| occasionally want to watch something while laying in bed,
| but don't generally like a TV in the room.
|
| Potential problems, all fixable:
|
| Can't see it during the day or when using the lights.
|
| Had to run power and data to the ceiling.
|
| Lower resolution for the price.
|
| Can't use the wall for anything else or need to install a
| screen; paint choice a potential issue (bad color, too
| glossy). (Also need a wall without windows that is large
| enough.)
|
| That said, the pros vastly outweigh the cons for me and
| projectors have gotten cheaper and better in the near
| decade since I installed mine.
| tsukikage wrote:
| It's 2022 and recent projector models are also joining
| the smart internet-connected advertising hellfest now.
| colinmhayes wrote:
| > commercial TV used in retail environments.
|
| I got one of these from work, it's not a great solution.
| First, they're more expensive than regular TVs. Bigger
| issue though is that there's no remote so changing the
| volume can be a pain in the ass.
| izacus wrote:
| Because those tend to not support features people want from
| their TV - related to DRM, software, connectivity and form
| factor.
| derefr wrote:
| The problem is that we're at a point in the evolution of TVs
| where robust support for HDMI-CEC (especially in combination
| with ARC/eARC) isn't guaranteed; but might be something you can
| get later through a firmware update.
|
| When you finally decide to shell out for a sound bar, and after
| hooking it up, your TV now suddenly takes 30 seconds to flicker
| to life from sleep, you'll really want that firmware update.
|
| (It's similar to where we were ~5 years ago with motherboards
| and NVMe boot support. The motherboard had the M.2 socket; but
| whether the NVMe device showed up in the boot options was up to
| chance. Often it'd only work in legacy mode but not UEFI mode.
| But, after a few-months-later motherboard firmware update,
| things would begin to work the way you'd expect.)
| smt88 wrote:
| > _The sentiment here on HN is to never connect the TV to the
| Internet_
|
| Appallingly, this isn't enough to stop the ads. Many TVs will
| proactively scan for open networks and connect to them.
| midasuni wrote:
| Do you have links to blogs that show this happening, I see
| plenty of hearsay, but I know my LG doesn't attempt to my
| honeypot wifi, I'd love to see proof.
| hedora wrote:
| Samsung (Dacor) discloses this behavior in their fridge
| manual; it says it will mesh with Samsung TVs to better
| target ads.
|
| I'm not about to buy a Samsung set to find out what it
| actually does in practice. The fridge has deep learning
| object classifiers and internal cameras; I assume that is a
| big part of its ad targeting capability.
|
| Note that the fridge has demand response / energy use time
| shifting features that don't work unless it is connected to
| the internet.
| wernercd wrote:
| That's what you get for using a fridge with internet.
|
| I thought they were to keep things cold? That requires
| internet?
| cassianoleal wrote:
| There are few things more chilling than certain forums on
| the Internet.
| tsukikage wrote:
| > Samsung (Dacor) discloses this behavior in their fridge
| manual; it says it will mesh with Samsung TVs to better
| target ads.
|
| ...seriously?
|
| ...we collectively did this to ourselves. We live in the
| science fiction dystopian future we deserve.
| autoexec wrote:
| You know all those stories about weird little shops run
| by suspicious characters but filled with incredible items
| that end up being cursed. That's every single shop right
| now. All of our technology is cursed. They will bring you
| great things, as promised, but always at some hidden
| price because those items exist to serve a dark master.
| B1FF_PSUVM wrote:
| > serve a dark master.
|
| They're not in the necromancy business.
|
| Yet.
| autoexec wrote:
| I wouldn't be shocked if we saw dead loved ones deepfaked
| into ads before long.
| gw99 wrote:
| You can crack the things open and unplug the wireless module
| usually.
|
| If the TV stops working then, well you solved the problem
| anyway :)
| worldofmatthew wrote:
| Could that not get their owner arrested for stealing WI-FI?
| vonseel wrote:
| Are the cops generally investigating Wi-Fi theft in your
| area?
| gwbas1c wrote:
| I've been very happy with Sony smart TVs. They are Android based,
| and don't have "ads." (They do highlight promoted content.) It's
| very easy to go directly to Netflix, ect. Even the remotes give
| the services dedicated buttons.
| tempest_ wrote:
| I also have a Sony Smart TV.
|
| It is ok but "highlighted content" are ads and I am quite sure
| Android TV is sending every bit of info it can harvest from
| anywhere to google.
| acchow wrote:
| In my experience, Samsung TV's are atrocious garbage. LG has been
| great for me tho
| walrus01 wrote:
| never, ever give a TV an internet connection, wifi password or
| dhcp lease.
|
| I realize there are ads on the homescreen of an xbox series x,
| ps4 pro, ps5, etc but I would much rather deal with those than
| whatever shoddy operating system TV manufacturers put on their
| thing.
|
| I have a thousand times more confidence that microsoft and sony
| will keep their OSes patched and up to date (they have a strong
| financial/self-interest incentive to do so, for anti piracy
| reasons) than the junk running on a TV.
| jrib wrote:
| my parents' TCL TV would blink a white light at the bottom of
| the front bezel unless we gave it access to the wifi... :(
| etrautmann wrote:
| Time for electrical tape or desoldering an LED...
| happimess wrote:
| Nail polish is very handy for this sort of thing.
| rewgs wrote:
| I assume connecting it to an adhoc network that doesn't have
| internet access wouldn't work?
| kingrazor wrote:
| One thing I hate is when things like input switching are part
| of the TV OS. It can turn something that should be fast and
| easy into something slow and glitchy.
| Domenic_S wrote:
| I want to skywrite this comment above Samsung's offices for a
| year.
|
| I bought their brand-new-tech Quantum Dot OLED. I LOVE the
| screen, it's outperformed my every expectation... EXCEPT...
| switching inputs is a nightmare! How is that possible?!?! I
| still have no idea how to get to an input select screen. I
| use my Harmony remote to direct-select an input (impossible
| with the stock remote) or wait for the TV to say, "no signal,
| choose another input"
|
| I'm completely flabbergasted at how ridiculous it is to do.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| > things like input switching are part of the TV OS
|
| As opposed to what?
|
| On my LG there's a button for input switching that does only
| that. It's part of the OS but I don't see how it could be
| more convenient.
| kingrazor wrote:
| Something like input switching should operate below the OS.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| What am I missing? What's wrong with input switching
| being made at the OS level?
| Kerrick wrote:
| On the contrary, I absolutely love the WebOS that came on my
| TV, and I use it (connected to the internet) regularly. I've
| often found myself watching YouTube and even browsing NPR and
| HN (using a TV remote as the only input device) on the TV
| rather than using my laptop, desktop, or even my iPhone. It's
| also open source [0] and you can develop your own software for
| it [1] without needing to submit that software to their app
| store [2] (though you can do that too [3]).
|
| [0]: https://www.webosose.org
|
| [1]: https://webostv.developer.lge.com
|
| [2]: https://webostv.developer.lge.com/develop/getting-
| started/de...
|
| [3]: https://webostv.developer.lge.com/distribute/app-approval-
| pr...
| RajT88 wrote:
| I'll be shopping for a new big TV in the near future, and I
| am an HP TouchPad owner as well.
|
| How difficult has nerfing the ads been on a WebOS TV? That is
| the only thing keeping me away from an LG -- I want a TV
| which I don't have to fight.
| cgrealy wrote:
| I have an LG TV with WebOS. It's connected to the internet
| and I use it to watch Netflix, Prime, etc.
|
| There's a "recommended" strip on the home page that shows
| various movies/tv shows from streaming services, and that's
| pretty much it as far as ads go.
| callahad wrote:
| I bought an LG C2 earlier this year. The ads are impossible
| to remove, but sufficiently avoidable that I do not regret
| the purchase.
|
| There _is_ an option to run as a dumb panel, but I haven 't
| tried using it that way.
|
| Setting the TV up normally requires accepting a
| disconcerting number of EULAs. You can choose to decline
| some individual terms at the cost of disabling features
| like voice recognition, but others are required.
|
| The TV's home screen is rife with advertisements, mainly in
| the form of pre-loaded apps and mandatory content sections
| like "Top Picks for You" or "Sports Alert." The Verge has
| screenshots at
| https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/11/22223767/lg-webos-6-tv-
| so.... These cannot all be hidden or moved below the fold.
|
| The home screen ads _really_ bothered me when I first
| unboxed the TV. It was new, and I wanted to explore
| everything it could do. Once the novelty wore off and I
| stopped giving a damn about the smart features, it stopped
| being a problem. For example: you never have to see the
| home screen. If you 're not hooked up to cable or an
| antenna, the TV boots into a screensaver (a Rothko-esque
| slideshow by default) from which you can summon an app
| switcher and jump directly to Netflix / YouTube / etc. This
| skips the home screen altogether, so you never see those
| ads. System menus are free from ads to the best of my
| recollection.
|
| I remain vaguely concerned about background data collection
| and telemetry.
| Kerrick wrote:
| Most (all?) of the ads can be disabled in the settings. The
| built-in web browser even includes ad-blocking and cookie
| blocking options.
|
| General -> AI Service -> AI Recommendation: turn off
| "Who.Where.What?" and "Content Recommendations" and
| "Network-Based Personalization Recommendations"
|
| General -> Home Settings: turn off "Home Promotion"
|
| General -> Additional Settings: turn off "Live Plus" and
| turn on "Do Not Sell My Personal InformationA
|
| General -> Additional Settings -> Advertisement: turn on
| "Limit AD Tracking"
| BiteCode_dev wrote:
| +1. I bought a samsung premiere projector, and it's a very good
| product. But the first thing it did was prompting me for the
| wifi, and hell no.
|
| It's offline, plugged to a real computer that has internet
| access and I skip the projector home page as quickly as I can
| to get to the laptop mirrored displays.
| Alex3917 wrote:
| > never, ever give a TV an internet connection, wifi password
| or dhcp lease.
|
| The problem is that it's becoming unavoidable. Right now the
| only oven with a good Consumer Reports rating requires a Wi-Fi
| connection, so it's either get that model or another one with a
| significantly worse rating.
| InitialLastName wrote:
| Or find a reviewer who values the same things you do?
|
| I have to think there's an acceptable oven on the market that
| doesn't have a Wi-Fi requirement. I bought a GE Adora oven a
| few years ago and it has been exactly as perfectly
| uncomplicated an oven as I've ever wanted; it was even easy
| to replace the handle when I broke it off in a moment of poor
| judgement. It looks like those are still available, and don't
| require any Wi-Fi access.
| cbozeman wrote:
| > Right now the only oven with a good Consumer Reports rating
| requires a Wi-Fi connection, so it's either get that model or
| another one with a significantly worse rating.
|
| I guarantee you Wolf, Sub-Zero, and Viking do not require Wi-
| Fi connections.
| account-5 wrote:
| What for? Genuine question, what reason does an oven need an
| internet connection for?
|
| If I bought an oven and it required an internet connection
| I'd be getting my money back.
| [deleted]
| Melatonic wrote:
| Or buy a commercial oven. Or used
| walrus01 wrote:
| I will build a fire pit with cinder blocks in my back yard
| and roast hunks of meat using a sharpened stick before I put
| my oven on a wifi network.
| OrangeMonkey wrote:
| Bought a samsung and a roku tv. I don't know which one it was -
| but, for one of them, I refused to install internet. And it had
| a red light that flashed like every 30-60 seconds. I looked up
| why? "Its the no internet" light and it couldnt be disabled.
|
| I had to cover it up with a sticky note on my nice tv until I
| finally gave up.
|
| Anti consumer patterns.
| Domenic_S wrote:
| Get a roll of gaff tape, I block out a great deal of
| blinkenlights that way, it's great stuff.
| wollsmoth wrote:
| My vizio runs so much better without a connection. It used to
| semi-regularly get into a state where the screen was blank even
| though the tv was on. Because it was a smart tv, powering it
| off wouldn't actually power cycle it. I had to pull the power
| cord to reset it.
|
| Now I use a chromecast plugged into it for streaming. before
| that I used a ps4.
| PreachSoup wrote:
| My previous Vizio tv botched chroma functionality for pc
| monitor for 2 years before getting it fixed. It doesn't allow
| downgrade. Never connect to wifi again.
| dokka wrote:
| I own this tv, and I had it connected to the internet for a short
| while. Not only does it have ads everywhere, but the menu is
| _SLOW_. Taking it off the internet not only got rid of the ads,
| but also made menu navigation faster.
| jmcphers wrote:
| I own this exact model -- the QN90A, though in a smaller size --
| and have had exactly the same experience.
|
| The most maddening advertisement is the one that is forcibly
| inserted in the menu between the apps and the settings. Using the
| remote, you must literally click past an ad to switch inputs.
|
| You ... must ... click ... past ... an ... ad ... to ... switch
| ... inputs. Every time.
|
| Unbelievable for a TV that costs this much. I almost returned it,
| but as the author notes, the alternatives have worse picture
| quality and often aren't any better in the ad department.
| [deleted]
| cgrealy wrote:
| Get an LG. Picture quality is just as good, and bugger all ads.
|
| I will never buy anything from Samsung ever again.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Likewise. I used to mostly buy Samsung. My latest TV was an
| LG OLED. Not only I find webOS infinitely more usable than
| anything I've seen on Samsung TVs, but the image quality is
| excellent and even the built-in speakers are acceptable after
| I disabled the crappy AI-assisted stuff that makes it all
| sound like it's reverberating in a dumpster.
| jason-phillips wrote:
| If only they could get access to the real estate inside your
| eyelids, just imagine the possibilities!
| falcolas wrote:
| Corporate slogan of the 21st century: Why settle for some of your
| customer's money when you can get all of your customer's money
| (and monetize their data too)?
|
| Microtransactions, ads, selling customer usage data, up-front
| costs, PPV, subscriptions... I'm shocked we as customers can
| actually afford to obtain and use any of these devices anymore.
| Tenoke wrote:
| A lot of things are sold cheaper than they would be otherwise
| (including at a loss) because they can make part of the money
| through ads/add-ons instead. It's customers who have shown they
| prefer those cheaper on the face of it options rather than
| those with much bigger up-front cost (which still exist but
| have been mostly left to business products since only there are
| enough of their customers fine with it).
| marcosdumay wrote:
| I doubt this.
|
| Even more because the cheaper products have less lucrative
| users, and are way less likely to include ads than the most
| expensive ones.
| titzer wrote:
| > are sold cheaper than they would be otherwise
|
| They are absolutely not selling $3k TVs at a loss.
| RajT88 wrote:
| Yep, this I think is implicit in the author's frustration. He
| didn't buy the cheapest possible TV, he bought something near
| the top of the range. Premium customers deserve premium
| treatment.
|
| I would wager the story is the same for the absolute most
| expensive TV's as well.
|
| What I haven't seen here in this thread yet is the usual
| suggestion of looking into "Digital Signage" displays, which
| in addition to being "dumb", some of them come with a place
| to chunk in an RPI board!
| walrus01 wrote:
| this is what happens when you let MBAs run amok
| manuelabeledo wrote:
| Can't wait for business schools to discover that concepts
| like "consumer loyalty" and "user experience" are quite
| intermingled.
| BiteCode_dev wrote:
| You gotta get this unlimited growth somewhere. Remember HN
| comments tell you it's not a zero sum game, you can innovate!
| fxtentacle wrote:
| ... plus they typically spy on you.
|
| Like the TV will take a screenshot of what video you're watching
| via HDMI and upload that for content ID. Or it'll turn on the
| microphone to listen in on what you say.
|
| Samsung calls that shit "Viewing Information Services". I guess
| because it informs their headquarters of what you are viewing.
| EastSmith wrote:
| I wonder what TV units big corps buy for conference rooms, etc?
|
| Imagine you are Google and you buy LG Spy TV, or Samsung Spy
| Panel. You put it in your conference room, where you meet
| regularly to discuss next Pixel phone with the Samsung's remote
| control AI listening to you. Eh?
|
| What products are they buying?
| danbr wrote:
| I run a pihole on my network for exactly this reason. The amount
| of network traffic the TV attempts, even when on standby or
| watching over-the-air broadcast is astonishing.
| titzer wrote:
| It's a veritable dystopia with these little snitches.
| matbilodeau wrote:
| I approve, PiHole does a great job at removing ads and other
| unwanted content.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30655479
| Melatonic wrote:
| Unless it pins the IP of a DNS server and does DoH
| derflundgren wrote:
| Just wait till ATSC 3.0. Then you will really be bombarded by
| ads.
| switch007 wrote:
| All Samsung devices are trash these days
| IndigoIncognito wrote:
| facts, after the Bixby button on the S8 above, everything went
| downhill
| walterbell wrote:
| https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io
|
| _> RootMyTV is a user-friendly exploit for rooting /jailbreaking
| LG webOS smart TV. It bootstraps the installation of the webOS
| Homebrew Channel ... At the time of writing (RootMyTV v2 -
| 2022-01-05), all webOS versions between 4.x and 6.2+ we tested
| (TVs released between early-2018 and late-2021) are supported by
| the new exploit chain._
| scohesc wrote:
| It's so frustrating. For some consumers, you're dropping multiple
| paychecks on a TV that you want to just _USE_ - but you can't
| because Samsung, LG, whoever decided to take money from various
| companies and shove their garbage advertising down your throats
| and you can't disable it.
|
| I don't feel like browsing various commercial signage websites
| for TV's that don't have any advertising in and I don't feel like
| we should be punished for paying more for this either!
|
| I just want a TV I can turn on - and it doesn't need to load an
| operating system - it doesn't need to delay displaying actual TV
| because the computer needs to reach out and upload telemetry,
| download advertisements, and take pictures of what you watch. It
| just needs to take an HDMI/RCA/whatever ports, and output the
| signal on the screen.
|
| There's no expectation of privacy anymore in society - some
| company somewhere has eked out a slice of the market share, and
| are pounding their customers with ways to extract more wealth out
| of you while you sit and take it - the 2 or 3 second delays
| eating up your life for advertisements you'll never buy things
| from.
|
| It's depressing - I just want a TV. A plain TV. I'd rather not
| pay more for a commercial display-tier TV that doesn't have any
| of this smart crap built in.
| potatototoo99 wrote:
| There are plenty of plain TVs around though, just like there
| are plain operating systems, plain phones, etc but consumers
| still give their money to Samsung, Microsoft, Google, etc. Most
| people don't care, you are not the target audience.
| coldtea wrote:
| So, what would be some of that plenty "plain" models with
| good quality and comparable price?
| bombcar wrote:
| Found a cheap one but it's 720p.
|
| Sceptre 32" Class 720P HD LED TV X322BV-SR
|
| Didn't spent much time looking at Walmart however.
| coldtea wrote:
| Yeah, taking more about a 50"-65" 4K, with a price at
| $800 or below...
|
| 32"/720 won't cut it - that's what I already have, and
| have had for like a decade...
| mikestew wrote:
| I _sold_ a 42 "/720 close to a decade ago, and we'd had
| that TV quite a long time. I didn't know 720 panels were
| still even produced.
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| Seems to be the way of it. When you start wanting things
| like 4k, good HDR, or (heavens forbid) low latency for
| games, the selections get a lot tighter.
|
| Actually, my employer tried to get a Sceptre as a
| reasonable accommodation for someone with low vision
| (needed everything to be huge). That panel was so
| unusable not even the legally blind want to look at it.
| LinAGKar wrote:
| That'd be a downgrade from my TV from over a decade ago.
| dleslie wrote:
| Got any Amazon/BestBuy/Costco links for a 65" 4k "plain" TV
| that lacks advertisements?
| MattDemers wrote:
| I actually ran into this problem buying an Nvidia Shield Pro;
| they had _just_ changed the UI to be packed with ads, so I was
| left wondering what was so great about it (from previous
| reviews).
|
| Currently a Steam Link (old hardware), and Raspberry Pi running
| Plex/Kodi are pretty much my setup. Cast things to Kodi, use yt-
| dlp to download YouTube stuff, or remote into my PC with the
| Steam Link.
| equon_ wrote:
| If you are comfortable with configuring DNS settings you can use
| NextDNS, it works with LG smart TVs. Pi-hole is an alternative
| but it is a bit more complicated to setup.
| kungito wrote:
| Somewhat related, ever since I upgraded from old Chromecast to
| Google TV I'm having issues simply casting from HBO Max or
| Netflix. First I need to cast once, it would turn on the TV and
| open the annoying Google TV "app browser". Then I'd have to stop
| casting and start casting again to actually enter the app I want.
| Maybe my stick has some hardware problems and/or I'm paranoid but
| things like these feel like they are just trying to get me to use
| the Google remote and their app so that they can show me ads and
| recommend other streaming services (of course Amazon Video is
| always the first app offered eveb though I never used it).
| behringer wrote:
| Unlike other brands, my LG allowed me to decline all the crap
| ware ToS so it's pretty much just a normal non smart TV. It does
| give a text add for new apps at the bottom usually when a new
| firmware update comes out.
|
| Not a bad deal imo. Thanks LG.
| corysama wrote:
| Same. I had to click No a bunch of times. And, dig through the
| menus to make sure I didn't miss any defaulted-on crap. But,
| with that done, my LG TVs UX has been great for years.
|
| For many years now my answer for "What TV to get?" has been
| "Last year's LG OLED." The screens are gorgeous. The UX is
| good. The differences between yearly models have been minor.
| The current year is naturally expensive. The previous year is
| nearly as good and much cheaper. And, the model from the year
| before that is actually often more expensive because leftover
| stock is low.
| MBCook wrote:
| Why did the author dismiss the LG C1 as having the same problem?
|
| I don't remember ads on my CX (outside the App Store maybe).
|
| I still use an Apple TV because I like the interface way better.
| But it has been a great TV.
| altruios wrote:
| for smart tv's in general... can we make a public OSOS, to
| replace shit like this... just make it a Linux box tied to a some
| ubiquitous AUR equivalent... or are the unique hardware features
| too varied to overcome?
| legitster wrote:
| We've had a Roku TV for years and have been extremely happy with
| it.
|
| The UI is great and it's nice to have everything right there
| without having to work for it. And as someone without cable, I
| even come to enjoy some of the internet channels they offer.
|
| My takeaway would be manufacturers do not do good user software.
| This is true whether it's tvs or cars or fridges.
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| Funny, I got a Samsung TV which comes with Samsung TV+ which is
| their internet streaming service for free. Although I'm
| fortunately enough to not get ads everywhere (hopefully this
| doesn't change), the channel are actually pretty good.
| jason-phillips wrote:
| I worked for Samsung for ten years and will never buy a Samsung
| product. It's pretty simple, their product support is shit. I
| will defend the people I worked with in Semiconductor to my dying
| breath but nope out on the consumer products like they're lava.
|
| Their UI/UX is also pretty atrocious across the board, so I can
| imagine what their TVs are like.
|
| I have a big 2022 Sony Bravia smart TV and while there are some
| suggestions on the home page, I would not call them intrusive at
| all.
| flashgordon wrote:
| Dumb question - How does one go about (cost effectively) getting
| _just_ a monitor that has:
|
| * Same size/resolution range as the comparable TV
|
| * Same price range as the comparable TV
|
| * X display ports (combination of hdmi, usb, etc)
|
| * Wifi (and bluetooth too?)
|
| * Audio + ports
|
| * Fine infra-red too for remotes
|
| * Other absoulute hardware essentials i might have missed
|
| Absolutely no inbuilt players or software or bloatware or adware
| or any of that crap! May be an app (inbuilt or for the phone) to
| configure presets perhaps.
| evgen wrote:
| The magic words you are looking for here is 'commercial
| display' and it will always cost more than a comparable sized
| TV -- smaller volume of production & sales and the manufacturer
| is forgoing the revenue stream all of that adware and crapware
| on the standard TV offers them. It may have audio ports but is
| unlikely to have more than toy speakers because a commercial
| installation knows to keep the audio and video separated.
|
| tl;dr you can get something close to what you want but you are
| going to pay 2X or more for the unit compared to a similarly
| sized TV.
| snarfy wrote:
| "Commercial Display" or "Conference Room Monitor" is what you
| want.
| mongol wrote:
| Have anyone looked into the service menus of their TVs to see of
| there are options there to disable?
| sen wrote:
| Meanwhile the OP post is so full of ads you're basically
| scrolling past a full-screen (on mobile) ad for every paragraph.
| Then when I came across a chunk of text without ads and thought
| it was over, an ad got dynamically loaded into the middle of the
| text pushing what I was reading down off the screen.
|
| Yes in this case I didn't pay to read the content so they need
| ads, but the user-hostility of ads everywhere is just insane
| lately.
| nightshift1 wrote:
| Those articles complaining about ads are always unclear to me.
|
| Are they saying that there is ads even when you switch inputs to
| a 3rd party device or is it just in the built-in media player?
| 451mov wrote:
| "I narrowed it down to the 85-inch versions"
|
| Lol
| sliken wrote:
| Queue a zillion posts about wanting dumb TVs.
|
| My suggestion is buy a Roku, don't give the TV an IP address, and
| run Netflix, Amazon Prime, Plex, Hulu, and whatever you want out
| of one of the biggest channel catalogs out there on the Roku.
| It's way nicer remote, supports RF (so no pointing at the TV),
| and even supports using earphones (BT or wired from the remote).
| kikokikokiko wrote:
| Just plug your laptop to an HDMI port, and use a wireless
| mouse/keyboard set. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and
| since 2020 I'm also working from home. Nothing beats a 70 inch
| "display", my workspace never felt better than on my TV. Using
| the TV remote to consume content is soooo annoying, and not
| having the ability to block anything you want (i.e. using
| Ublock Origin) are absolute deal breakers to me. It surprises
| me that the average HN user doesn't do the same as I do. TVs
| are just glorified PC monitors, nothing more. No internet for
| them.
| alphabettsy wrote:
| Roku does tons of phoning home, has ads and analytics to see
| what you're watching afaik. Using PiHole shows tons of
| unexpected traffic.
| sliken wrote:
| I don't deny it, but I don't see ads.
| legitster wrote:
| There's a single ad on the home page for me.
| xienze wrote:
| So put it on a VLAN with no egress. Smart TVs are annoying
| but there's ways around it.
| lostapathy wrote:
| Kinda hard to stream if you don't allow egress.
| harvey9 wrote:
| Won't it need the egress to receive streaming video from
| the internet?
| xienze wrote:
| Sorry, you're right. I was thinking of the TV itself. Yes
| for a box it's a little more complicated. Personally I go
| with Apple TV. Much more polished UI than a Roku and
| certainly no being bombarded with ads.
| Melatonic wrote:
| Roku has a lot more features. Plus the remote on the
| Apple TV annoys me. Give me real buttons any day!
|
| NextDNS has been working great to block Roku BS for me
| maxwell_smart wrote:
| It's pretty annoying too that you spend $3k, and Samsung got
| probably all of $150 to serve ads to you in perpetuity.
| warrenmiller wrote:
| Hmm..I would have more sympathy if the article didn't include an
| advert to buy an AppleTV "ZDNet Recommends: Apple TV 4K" - $179
| at Apple
| hparadiz wrote:
| Sony TVs are better.
| noxer wrote:
| Some years ago I sold my TV because of its annoying UI and ads. I
| use a large PC monitor instead to watch stuff. Went back to
| pirating everything so I dont have to worry about whatever DRM
| garbage comes next or ads or streaming subscriptions etc. Zero
| regret. I waste way less time consuming media in general. I watch
| more youtube (with ad block and sponsor block ofc) and I go more
| to the cinema (expensive but I enjoy it way more than a streaming
| subscription). I buy merchandise form stuff I like and I go to
| concerts if possible and that's it.
| jgbmlg wrote:
| That's only the problem you know about. The problem you don't
| know about is your TV is watching (and listening) to you. Put a
| cheap computer between your TV and the internet. Always buy the
| dumbest TV available. But dumb TVs now cost more than smart TVs.
| Dumb TVs make it difficult for the manufacturer to make money off
| you after the sale.
| lizardactivist wrote:
| Just go into the menues and turn it off.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| There's no "no ads" option in the settings.
|
| You can turn off _interest-based_ ads, but then you just get
| less-targeted ads.
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