[HN Gopher] RootMyTV is a user-friendly exploit for rooting/jail...
___________________________________________________________________
RootMyTV is a user-friendly exploit for rooting/jailbreaking LG
webOS smart TVs
Author : thunderbong
Score : 567 points
Date : 2022-09-29 04:08 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| marcodiego wrote:
| Great! Now we have a reason to buy a smartTV.
| porbelm wrote:
| Will this make my TV able to remember input settings for the HDMI
| ports? It resets if the device is unplugged, and it's really
| annoying to have to go to the settings and change the HDMI2 input
| to "PC" every time I plug in the laptop.
|
| (The TV only uses chroma 4:4:4 when the input is set to PC mode)
| deergomoo wrote:
| I'm currently travelling so I can't remember exactly what it's
| called, but there is a setting on the stock firmware for this
| (at least there is on my C1). I think it's called "device
| recognition" or something like that.
|
| Basically it will stop it auto-switching the "device mode" for
| a source; I use it to keep one input permanently on game mode.
| lots2learn wrote:
| I bought an expensive LG Oled a few months back and was quite
| annoyed that every time my kids would turn it on, they were
| greeted with an ad depicting Peter Griffin in a thong lying on a
| beach. It was crass intending to be humorous; typical Seth
| McFarlane fare. The ads on the home screen are a very worrisome
| indication of where smart consumer products are headed. This root
| is cool, but I accomplished what I needed by blocking all the LG
| ad URLs in my router. You can find the list by some simple
| Googling.
| bluejekyll wrote:
| I got a new LG C2, hooked an AppleTV up to it, the AppleTV
| turns on the TV and it goes straight to the AppleTV Home
| Screen, when you turn off the AppleTV, the TV turns off (with a
| slightly annoying "LG: Life is good message"), and no, I've
| never connected it to the internet.
|
| Using it basically as a dumb screen seems fine so far.
| dev_tty01 wrote:
| Yes, this. Never connect a TV to the internet. Apple TV (or
| whatever you prefer) and the TV as HDMI monitor only.
| Firmware updates with USB stick. If it won't work like that,
| take it back.
| RDaneel0livaw wrote:
| Exactly this! I have the same lg oled and I love it. I
| don't think I've ever even seen the native ui (maybe when I
| first unboxed it?). I've never connected it to the
| internet, and don't ever plan on updating anything. What
| would a firmware update for a dumb monitor even do?
| dev_tty01 wrote:
| My VISIO had what I believe was a memory leak. After a
| few weeks it would start getting random white streaks on
| the screen. After unplugging and restarting, the problem
| disappears for a few weeks. Firmware update eventually
| fixed it. So, yeah, sometimes a dumb monitor needs a
| firmware update. I would think a robot as smart as Daneel
| would have known that... :-)
| miles2sleep wrote:
| That sounds like a great way to encourage users to
| connect it to Internet. Increasingly degrade the video
| and audio quality slowly (and randomly) over time while
| no internet connection is available. Part of the support
| script should be to advise the user to connect to
| Internet so that updates can be downloaded to "fix" the
| issue.
| bdcravens wrote:
| We bought a C2. We went with DirecTV Stream, which oddly
| there is (or was) no app for on the LG, but there is on the
| cheaper Samsung in my office. (both Android based) Got
| DirecTV's streaming box, which boots directly into their
| service (so no bouncing around in apps for our everyday
| watching) but also supports the usual third-party apps as
| well. It's also uses a simpler remote which is nice.
| seemack wrote:
| The LG OS is not Android-based. LG bought WebOS from HP
| many moons ago and adapted it for televisions.
| bdcravens wrote:
| Actually I think I'm wrong on both accounts, as my
| Samsung TV runs Tizen, not Android. I believe I was
| thinking about the old FireTV that I put on the C2 at
| first, as well as the DirecTV Stream device, which both
| run variations of Android.
| nullfield wrote:
| Hit the mute button three times and get a useful little menu;
| turn off the logo if you don't like it.
| jwmoz wrote:
| I had no idea this was an issue, tv ads? I'm about to buy a
| new tv for new home. So go-to is buy any new tv but just use
| Apple TV box instead, and this box is worthwhile?
| colpabar wrote:
| Yep. Your options are to buy a dumb TV or just make sure
| whatever TV you do buy doesn't ever connect to the
| internet, and use an external device to get the content to
| the screen. There are ads everywhere now.
| themadturk wrote:
| Roku is just as effective as an Apple TV (and cheaper).
| Both devices connect to the Internet and feed HDMI to the
| TV.
| lancesells wrote:
| I do the same on my Sony TV and it's great. Unfortunately
| there will probably be a day in the not-so-distant future
| where that AppleTV has ads. It's probably the same day I
| start a collection of Blu-Rays.
| dawnerd wrote:
| Apple tv already has ads, but they're at least relevant and
| not in your face trash that the other companies use. Really
| it's more like a showcase.
| akerr wrote:
| Same here. To disable the logo, press mute 3 times to bring
| up a secret menu.
| bluejekyll wrote:
| Need to look at that. Any other options on the "secret"
| menu?
| dhritzkiv wrote:
| IIRC, the only other useful one is whether the light on
| the front should be off all the time. There are a few
| other options, but they felt more diagnostic
| OGWhales wrote:
| If the menu doesn't pop up, try switching to an input
| source without a signal and then pressing mute 3 times.
| That worked for me.
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| NextDNS is also a great help here.
| wvenable wrote:
| I have a slightly older LG OLED and I don't get any ads -- I
| just haven't accepted any of their policy checkboxes and that
| seems to keep things at bay. There some very minor features
| (Alexa integration) that don't work but everything else works
| fine.
| speeder wrote:
| I have a C!, and didn't accept the policies either.
|
| This worked for a while to prevent ads, but now the ads
| ignore the policies and show up anyway, and they became
| really obnoxious, including the notification system sometimes
| showing ads while you are using the TV.
| fibers wrote:
| Peter Griffin lying on the beach wearing a thong is the most
| American thing ever. I don't understand why you are upset.
| arkh wrote:
| I use an nVidia Shield and a TV as a dumb one. It was really
| good until Google decided all Android TV devices would have to
| use their bad UI with their homepage full of ads.
| faluzure wrote:
| I used to love my nVidia shield.
|
| First it was a Disney+ ad, then it was a Tim Hortons ad.
|
| It's gotten so slow I'm planning to replace it in the near
| future, probably with something from Apple.
| bedast wrote:
| Used Nvidia Shield TV since the first gen until the ads
| started getting really bad and taking up most of the
| screenspace. That was a very quick way to convert me to an
| AppleTV user. I know you can replace the launcher on the
| Shield TV/AndroidTV, but the process is non-trivial and I
| didn't feel like dealing with it. In my experience, when you
| have to hack things to make it work, it presents problems
| later on.
| nirav72 wrote:
| You should look into swapping out the default google
| launcher. Which will remove the ads, remove all suggested
| content and declutter the main screen. Tons of videos out
| there showing how to do that on android tv.
| takoid wrote:
| I highly recommend FLauncher: https://play.google.com/store
| /apps/details?id=me.efesser.fla...
| arkh wrote:
| Thanks for the recommendation. I'll try it this evening.
| balls187 wrote:
| Did you enable Google services on your oled?
|
| I haven't seen any ads on my tv, but Google is disabled along
| with personalization services.
|
| Mine is an older set tho--LGC9 series.
| coldcode wrote:
| Is it really all that hard to build a TV designed to be used only
| with a separate device (Apple TV, Roku, etc)? I wonder why no one
| has started a company to do this; perhaps VCs only want to fund
| people who make money with ads.
| hsnewman wrote:
| This looks interesting, I may try it if there is a picture in
| picture ability (LG removed that from mine).
| metadat wrote:
| It looks like the Homebrew channel adds support for a Jellyfin
| app!
|
| If I were willing to connect my LG TV to the network, I'd be all
| over this.
| itsyaboi wrote:
| Would assigning the TV a static IP and blocking all outside
| traffic to/from it do the trick?
| metadat wrote:
| Yes, if you assign it to a VLAN without internet access.
|
| More trouble than it's worth, imho. I'll just keep casting
| from my laptop to the Google TV dongle.
| pipeline_peak wrote:
| It's pretty unfortunate that we've come to needing software
| injections to get rid of ads plastered on home owned TVs.
|
| Remember to unplug your brain dongle before going to bed.
| l33tbro wrote:
| > RootMyTV
|
| This will go well in Australia.
| glerk wrote:
| I really don't understand what the point of a "smart tv" is. Why
| aren't you just plugging your computer into a screen and using
| your own OS?
| kreddor wrote:
| I would love a modern "non-smart" tv, but do they even exist?
|
| It's the reason why I stick to my Sony Bravia from 2009 until
| it dies.
| mrweasel wrote:
| At some point I asked here on HN. I got sent to a Romanian
| online electronics retailer. Apparently there's a pretty nice
| selection of non-smart TVs in Romania.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| in the UK there is a manufacturer called Cello who make non-
| smart variants of their smart TVs. I got their 50" 4K dumb tv
| for around PS250
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Sceptre sell them, at least in the US:
| https://www.sceptre.com/
| jraph wrote:
| It's so you can watch YouTube and Netflix without plugging a
| computer.
| pessimizer wrote:
| The real point: so you don't have control of your tv and things
| on it can be directed in the financial interest of the people
| who "sold" it to you.
|
| The other point: There's not really an easy PC solution. The
| closest you can get to one is Kodi, and in my opinion it is
| bad. Not that they haven't put an enormous amount of work into
| it, but the UI is very unpleasant. Their idea of what people
| want out of a television interface is violently different than
| mine, and the configuration is absurdly opaque.
| badlucklottery wrote:
| For non-technical users, having one UI with all their streaming
| apps built-in is honestly a useful feature. The problem is all
| the other spying, hijacking, slowdowns, and other bullshit. But
| it's often a desirable feature for many users at its core.
|
| For a technical user: the smarts often serve no point, we
| already have a streaming solution. Unfortunately, higher end
| TVs with OLED panels and the such come with "smarts" built-in.
| So the best you can do is ignore it and hope the firmware
| updates (that you install over USB because you don't trust it
| with a wifi connection) don't cause a ton of UI slowdown over
| time or otherwise cripple the TV. But if we could buy a dumb TV
| with the same features, we would.
| satysin wrote:
| Most people I know don't have a PC or don't have a PC they can
| easily connect to a TV as it is in another room and not easily
| moved.
|
| For those that do, such as those with a laptop, they don't want
| the inconvenience of connecting it to the TV to open up Netflix
| to watch The Crown.
| beardyw wrote:
| Generally speaking "smart" means "quickly becoming obsolete".
| Cars a few years old now have built in unwanted/unusable
| satnavs.
| Jaxan wrote:
| I don't want to connect my laptop, because my kids might break
| it. Having just a tv with limited control is perfect for kids.
| daveoc64 wrote:
| I have two LG Smart TVs with webOS.
|
| While both TVs have a PC connected, it's far easier to use the
| built-in apps to watch things like YouTube and Netflix.
|
| The apps support 4K without any fuss (which is often locked
| away on desktop OSes due to DRM).
|
| The LG magic remote is pretty cool, it works a bit like a Wii
| remote, so you can quickly point to things on-screen.
| alkonaut wrote:
| There is little point if you have a smartphone and chromecast.
| But a built in chromecast, or built in airplay video receiver
| _is_ convenient. Few people have (or want) a dedicated PC to
| use with their TV.
|
| The reason technical people (even those few that do have a pc
| connected to it) will, and should, buy smart TV's is because
| they are the most widely sold and therefore by far the best
| screen for the money. Large computer monitors or signage
| screens aren't as good or cheap as the most sold smart tv in
| the most sold size. They are extremely good for the price. If
| you don't want to use any smart features, most should work
| fairly well when operated without internet and just connected
| to an external input.
| pessimizer wrote:
| > Few people have (or want) a dedicated PC to use with their
| TV.
|
| They have one though, so technical people shouldn't entertain
| the direct-to-consumer lie that smart TVs aren't crippled and
| locked-down general purpose computers.
| alkonaut wrote:
| I don't mind my TV being another computer, and the other
| computers I want to use with it are probably only my iPhone
| and Chromecast (incidentally also locked down general
| purpose ARM computers).
|
| The last thing I would want even as a tech savvy person is
| to use a desktop or laptop with a TV in any way.
| blitzar wrote:
| In Australia _rooting_ your TV means something different from
| this, if it goes wrong the result will also be that you can say
| _my TV is rooted_.
| simbas wrote:
| What does it mean?
| H1Supreme wrote:
| Oh man, I'd love to do this to my Vizio. I honestly don't even
| care that they show ads. It's when they shut off Netflix or Hulu
| while I'm in the middle of movie to show me an ad. Which, takes
| me to the home screen when I close it (not back to my show). Or,
| freezes the TV while attempting to show an ad, and forces me to
| cycle the power to get it to come on again.
| jgaa wrote:
| satysin wrote:
| This is the most Hacker News comment I've read in a while.
|
| Also would love to know how you are doing Dolby Vision playback
| for example as I've never found a reliable way to do Dolby
| Vision on Windows, macOS or Linux.
| bscphil wrote:
| > how you are doing Dolby Vision playback
|
| mpv can now decode most of the spec if you want a software
| player; if you want to passthrough the DV metadata to your
| TV, still no luck on PC AFAIK. I believe the approach most
| take is using an Android TV device (e.g. Nvidia Shield),
| where various apps are able to do it because there's native
| support. Kodi, Plex, etc, can do it on the Shield.
| jgaa wrote:
| satysin wrote:
| I think the needless insult at the very start of your
| comment is why it is being downvoted.
|
| You make valid points but your language makes people not
| want to listen to you.
| jgaa wrote:
| This is how hackers speak ;)
|
| Hacker in the old meaning; someone who knows computers
| well, not someone who exploit this knowledge for greed.
|
| When I bought my first computer, a VIC 20, I got so
| hooked that I hardly slept for several weeks. In that
| time I learned Basic, figured out software design and
| wrote my first application, a word processor. My next
| interesting application, ready a few years later was a
| multi-user BBS written in C for the QNX operating system.
| I know hackers from that time with skills magnitudes
| better than mine - and the all sound like that. If people
| on "Hacker News" can't tolerate hacker speak, then either
| they, or the hackers, don't really belong here.
| defrost wrote:
| <yawn>
|
| Mine was a Commodore PET (VIC 20 precursor), while I
| worked with PDP-11 and CDC Cyber machines on the side ..
| you don't speak for a generation and you could use some
| manners.
| jgaa wrote:
| > while I worked with PDP-11
|
| One of the few things in life I really feel depressed
| about, is never getting the opportunity to work with one
| of those.
|
| > you don't speak for a generation
|
| I speak only for my self, and in this thread only of my
| own direct experiences.
|
| My experiences from working with some really
| extraordinary people (hackers, editors, adventurers) is
| that they are often anything but nice on the surface.
| When you speak, you can speak to please, or you can be
| honest. You can be dull, or you can use rhetoric to spice
| up your points. Personally, I find dishonest people
| despicable and dull people boring ;)
| sph wrote:
| So a real life version of
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02a723LsoFA
| sph wrote:
| This is not how hackers speak. Or are the non-insulting
| ones less hacker than yourself?
|
| Learning how to be a decent person ain't harder than
| learning to use a computer.
| jgaa wrote:
| > This is not how hackers speak.
|
| Well, sometimes I don't speak like this. I can be dull
| and boring and polite and say all the right tings; when
| I'm surrounded by snowflakes and people without any
| original toughs.
|
| > Learning how to be a decent person ain't harder than
| learning to use a computer.
|
| Being a decent person is actually quite hard to learn,
| and even harder to practice. Being polite and
| /pretending/ to be a decent person, is something any
| idiot can manage.
| p1necone wrote:
| I assume people don't buy "dumb" TVs because they basically
| don't exist any more, outside of industrial/commercial screens
| that cost way more than an equivalent consumer TV or PC
| monitors that cap out at about 32". I'm curious which option
| you went with?
|
| I just use a regular Samsung smart TV, but I use a Chromecast +
| PS5 instead of the smart features and have never connected it
| to the internet. If there were viable "dumb" tv options I would
| totally prefer them though.
| jgaa wrote:
| I went to a local store (I'm in EU) and asked the salesperson
| "what's your biggest 4k, dumb TV?" It happened to be a 49"
| NEO. So that's what I have at the moment. When it's time to
| change it, I will try the same thing again. If that fails,
| I'll either get a "hotel TV", a really big PC monitor or a 5k
| projector.
| sph wrote:
| Yours would be a good comment if not for that unnecessary
| insult in the first line. Stop doing that.
| jgaa wrote:
| pbasista wrote:
| One of the reasons might be that there are no non-smart TVs
| with the same kind of features available. For instance, I am
| unsure whether there are non-smart large OLED TVs.
|
| Also, price of a TV with "smart" features typically does not
| differ much from a price of a similar TV with only non-smart
| features. So, people buy them because they are getting
| something extra at little additional cost.
|
| Of course one can create a DIY smart setup with any TV. But
| given that many people already have a TV with a capable
| hardware, it is in my opinion only natural that they want to
| turn it into a proper smart TV simply by changing its software,
| rather than by buying a smart PC, adding cables, etc.
| badrabbit wrote:
| I have been declining to update my tv since this tool came out
| until I get time to try and exploit my tv. Kudos to the author!
| Also, LG not being android based is nice!
| delackner wrote:
| Maybe someone here will know how to fix this:
|
| I turned off internet access in my LG WebOS TV settings. On power
| on, it has no audio for about 5s and then the display blanks,
| shows LG Logo, and then finally is fully awake. Is there a
| solution?
| scandinavian wrote:
| Please note that it doesn't work on current versions. One of the
| maintainers said back in July that they were working on a new
| exploit chain to be release in a month, but no news after that.
| laurencei wrote:
| So if I've already upgraded my LG Tv to the latest version, I
| cant rollback and jailbreak?
| romland wrote:
| There are alternative ways of rooting latest version, but it
| involves a bit of manual work instead of just sliding.
|
| One such is 'the crashd exploit', you can find instructions
| for that in the OpenLGTV Discord.
| ratsz wrote:
| Mainly I just want something like FLauncher as the default home
| screen and have it open the TV apps from there.
| pabs3 wrote:
| If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio
| for GPL violations in their TVs, and similar lawsuits reach LG
| webOS TVs, then RootMyTV will be helpful for replacing the LG
| webOS with open source Linux distros with Kodi or KDE Plasma
| Bigscreen. Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the
| device after you purchase it basically means ads/spyware these
| days.
|
| https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html
| kmlx wrote:
| > Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the device
| after you purchase it basically means ads/spyware these days.
|
| i don't know about this, but what i do know is that WebOS on LG
| is miles ahead of any PC, Chromecast, Apple TV etc etc
| kwanbix wrote:
| Miles ahead how? It sucks. It looses wifi all the time and I
| have to do a crazy change on settings. I got tired and got a
| Fire TV Max. No more problems.
| mkmk3 wrote:
| Miles ahead in what sense? Swiss army knife of shit you dont
| need is sometimes inferior to just having a small PC if it
| suits you better. Feel like itd enable more control and
| privacy
| VWWHFSfQ wrote:
| My experience with the open source TV software is that they're
| all buggy and terrible. I don't really want to be tech support
| for people in my family complaining the TV doesn't work because
| the software is janky. I'll just keep the Roku TV software and
| do some DNS blocking and that will be fine.
| maxfurman wrote:
| Anyone know of a similar tool for Roku TVs? I have the same
| complaints as everyone else. A PiHole used to be an effective way
| to keep the ads down but they've found a way to get around it.
| sphars wrote:
| I don't know if it'll help, but I've been using NextDNS [0] to
| block ads on my Roku TV (and general network-wide adblocking).
| In the NextDNS dashboard, there is a setting under Privacy >
| Native Tracking Protection that has an option to block Roku
| trackers. According to their source code [1], I think it just
| blocks logs.roku.com, but works for me.
|
| Additionally, there was another Roku domain that I blocked at
| the router level that also helped (I think it was something
| like scribe.roku.com, but can't confirm until later today).
|
| [0]: https://nextdns.io
|
| [1]:
| https://github.com/nextdns/metadata/blob/master/privacy/nati...
| rs_rs_rs_rs_rs wrote:
| You don't really need to jailbreak your LG tv to install custom
| apps(like adfree Youtube), you can just put it in developer mode
| and have a cron somewhere(I use Pipedream) that keeps activating
| developer mode every 24h or so(it deactivate itself every 48h)
| Gormo wrote:
| So instead of just removing the root cause of the problem,
| you'd rather leave the problem in place and then maintain a
| permanent workaround that has to run someplace else?
| rs_rs_rs_rs_rs wrote:
| Yes, the "permanent workaround" is literally permanent, it
| works all the time while the jailbreak solution works only
| when the vulnerabilities are not patched by LG.
|
| I also prefer keeping my tv software up to date with
| patching, I don't want to jailbreak and keep the tv software
| at the specific vulnerable version.
| zdware wrote:
| > You don't really need to jailbreak your LG tv to install
| custom apps(like adfree Youtube), you can just put it in
| developer mode and have a cron somewhere(I use Pipedream) that
| keeps activating developer mode every 24h or so(it deactivate
| itself every 48h)
|
| I've been doing this as well. I love the idea of rooting but
| not being able to get system updates bugs me a bit.
| julianlam wrote:
| > Around June-July 2021 LG started rolling out updates which
| added some minor mitigations that broke our original exploit
| chain.
|
| It's a damn shame companies feel incentivised to do this.
|
| People hacking on their own TVs is quite literally a victimless
| crime (besides yourself, if you brick your one TV), because you
| knowingly void the warranty.
|
| Mazdas have a great third-party firmware called Mazda AIO
| Tweaks[0] that fixes a whole host of bugs and allows you to
| customize the infotainment system. The best part is you can use
| it to enable Android Auto on older Mazdas (this was before AA was
| even released for Mazda!)
|
| Mazda then proceeded to lock down the firmware so much you now
| need to take apart some consoles and attach a serial connection.
| Disgusting behaviour.
|
| (vis-a-vis plugging in an SD card with the scripts you want to
| run.)
|
| [0] https://mazdatweaks.com/
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| These exploits should certainly be fixed, they're security
| holes which can let malware into the TV. The same exploit that
| lets us root our TV would also allow anyone else to root it.
|
| On the other hand, the ability to physically flash our own
| software into any hardware we buy should be a basic consumer
| right. There should be no need for exploits in the first place,
| it should be a built in feature.
| salawat wrote:
| You will never have both, however, the "consumer can flash
| hardware" one guarantees a remedy to any malfeasant software.
| The other incents learned helplessness.
| EMIRELADERO wrote:
| > These exploits should certainly be fixed, they're security
| holes which can let malware into the TV. The same exploit
| that lets us root our TV would also allow anyone else to root
| it.
|
| What dangers are there for TVs in terms of malware? This
| isn't a phone or a computer which holds sensitive
| information. The very worst that could be done would be to
| steal your streaming service session cookies.
| jiveturkey wrote:
| some TVs came with cameras, for gesture based remote
| control.
|
| yes, it was found that the cameras were abused.
|
| or what if the malware took screenshots of what you were
| watching every so often? oh wait, that was also found to be
| a built-in "feature".
|
| otherwise, they are a foothold onto the rest of your
| internal LAN, possibly with other more vital IoT devices
| ready to be compromised, or at least serve as a botnet army
| georgyo wrote:
| I mostly agree with you. I too like to actually own my
| hardware.
|
| However, another angle to view it is that these are huge
| security vulnerabilities. Visiting a webpage on your TV to
| install a custom firmware could also be used for great evil as
| well.
|
| So letting this huge holes exist is not that great, but there
| should be an easier on path for people who want their own
| custom firmware.
|
| I think Google phones do a good job here. It's nearly
| impossible to accidentally flash your phone with an unsigned
| firmware, but you can also unlock the boot loader and do
| whatever you want.
| nobodyandproud wrote:
| The security angle is also the way to legislate this stuff
| away.
| cesarb wrote:
| > It's nearly impossible to accidentally flash your phone
| with an unsigned firmware, but you can also unlock the boot
| loader and do whatever you want.
|
| From what I have heard, that "whatever you want" excludes
| important things like banking apps.
| Gormo wrote:
| > People hacking on their own TVs is quite literally a
| victimless crime (besides yourself, if you brick your one TV),
| because you knowingly void the warranty.
|
| Nitpick: it's not a victimless crime, on account of not being a
| crime at all.
| delecti wrote:
| > It's a damn shame companies feel incentivised to do this.
|
| There are other comments in this thread talking about disabling
| ads. The companies are financially incentivized to keep those
| ads running.
|
| Though on the flip side, I consider ads even more reason to
| demand full control over my hardware.
| dahfizz wrote:
| Worth noting that in the Mazda case, unlocking Android auto in
| the 2014-2018 cars is a paid upgrade you can do at the dealer.
|
| So, the incentives there are a lot clearer.
| chaostheory wrote:
| I don't see the point because it's dangerous connecting a TV to
| the internet. Using open firmware like this also adds the chance
| that you can brick your TV
|
| I don't understand why people don't stream using a separate box.
| There are plenty of options which perform much better than the
| under resourced built-in streamers inside cheap televisions
| wodenokoto wrote:
| It's usually Samsung people talk about with regards to spying on
| Smart TV, and reports saying they send regular screenshots home
| for analysis.
|
| I don't know if LG does the same, but in terms on ads in the
| display I ... never really found it to be anything.
|
| I sold my 55" LG OLED highend model last year when moving, but
| except for a "recommended app"-showing on the main menu I don't
| recall any nag-ware. I also found the smart TV features to beat
| most, if not all, dedicated boxes in speed and usability and
| preferred it to Apple TV.
| victortroz wrote:
| What bothers me most on the Samsung TVs is that there are ads
| in the menu. It's one thing to see ads in a website or other
| content that is "free" and need to be monetized. But a TV in
| which I paid for doesn't make any sense.
| Psychotherapist wrote:
| The argument often made here is that the tv is being sold
| cheaper and then the value lost is made up with ads. My
| Samsung TV was pretty cheap compared to others but I just
| pointed it at my Pi-Hole and don't have that annoying ad
| anymore.
| asimilator wrote:
| Makes sense for Samsung. :(
| nickcox wrote:
| Microsoft Windows also does this.
| type0 wrote:
| Given how bad Samsung is at protecting user data, this is
| basically a Trojan with similar consequences.
| cornedor wrote:
| I have a Samsung TV but don't use the smart features. I was
| annoyed by the ads to because it would also change the order
| when switching devices. Furthermore, I found online that not
| accepting the privacy terms would remove all apps and ads, this
| indeed works great.
| sofixa wrote:
| Same, there are no ads on my LG TV that i can see, unless the
| occasional recommended app (which at least on one occasion, for
| Stadia, also told me I'll have a free few months if i sign up
| now).
| yuuu wrote:
| Yeah, that's an ad.
| werid wrote:
| bottom left corner of the app menu had an HBO / House of the
| Dragon ad when that show launched a few weeks ago.
| satysin wrote:
| LG webOS is still one of the better experiences on smart TVs
| for sure. It is generally smooth with good app support and
| experience and like you said limited built in ads.
|
| While not perfect it is the system I like the most if I have to
| use a smart TV. I do still prefer an Apple TV 4K though.
| IshKebab wrote:
| Damn if webOS is one of the best I would hate to see the
| others. I find it to be laggy and poorly laid out.
| dryfish wrote:
| I had been keeping my LD up-to-date but with each new update
| there was an additional service with its own privacy
| agreement with a name I'd never heard of.
|
| Now all smart functionality is via the Apple TV.
| jwmoz wrote:
| Hmm that's interesting, there's a guy above saying the exact
| opposite. I'm about to buy a new tv and this is something I
| never considered.
| ptsneves wrote:
| I do build systems and specifically yocto. I understood that LG
| used yocto for webOS build. Can i just use yocto to build a
| toolchain and package a more recent version of the web browser?
| The shipped one is outrageously out of date and mostly does not
| work. The apps in the store all seem quite minimal.
| esskay wrote:
| I wish more projects existed like this for other manufacturers.
| It really bugs me that you buy a "smart" tv knowing full well
| they've already dropped support for it and wont release anything
| other than essential bug fixes.
|
| Hisense TV's suffer from this massively (the ones running VIDAA).
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| Lobotomize my TV.
|
| Or yours.
|
| My TV was a AU$420 42" LCD that was approximately the last of the
| models that dont have built in bullshitware.
|
| One day it will break I suppose. Probably should have bought ten
| of them.
|
| Now might be a good time to stick up on secondhand dumb TVs.
|
| Fortunately I enjoyed watching movies / series, but not so much
| that I think a $3000 / better quality display would enhance the
| experience significantly. I also can't justify that sort of
| expenses on a screen.
| throwaway742 wrote:
| Lobotomizing my TV is an apt description for what I did to my
| old TCL. I just removed the entire wireless module.
| atlas_hugged wrote:
| I got a 48 in LG from Costco for $300 (OLED C1 can be had for
| around $800 I think). I just never hooked mine up to the
| internet. Works just fine. I use an Apple TV to watch streaming
| stuff.
| agilo wrote:
| I don't understand, what is the point of doing this? Eliminating
| ads? Expanding functionality? It's not clear from the description
| what is to be gained from jail breaking your LG tv. I'm perfectly
| satisfied with it now.
| teawrecks wrote:
| Unlimited "Developer Mode" access
|
| While LG allows willing Homebrew developers/users to install
| unofficial applications onto their TVs, official method
| requires manual renewal of "developer mode session", which
| expires after 50 hours of inactivity.
|
| Some of the amazing homebrew that has been built/ported onto
| webOS would likely never be accepted onto LG's official Content
| Store.
|
| Lower level user/application access
|
| This allows willing developers to research webOS system
| internals, which will result in creation of amazing projects,
| like PicCap (high performance video capture used for DIY
| immersive ambient lighting setups), or access to some
| interesting features like customization of system UI, remote
| adjustment of certain TV configuration options, and others.
| NullPrefix wrote:
| Unless you're paying someone to use the device, this should be
| available by default. The question should be what's the point
| of not doing this?
| IshKebab wrote:
| One app I saw that immediately makes me want this is something
| that rebinds the useless Rakuten TV button to something else!
|
| LG's interface is pretty insane in places. E.g. there's no
| button to go straight to the TV guide. There's not even a
| play/pause button on the remote. You have to press the centre
| button anywhere between 1 and 4 (yes!) times to pause. The
| screen brightness control is buried somewhere insane in the
| settings like "OLED care". The home screen is literally 85%
| wasted space. Fully half of it is just a big "WebOS" banner.
|
| If I can fix any of those this is definitely worth doing!
| porbelm wrote:
| And FUCK the input settings not keeping properly after
| saving. Try plugging in a laptop, set the input to "PC", save
| the input config. All good. But if you unplug the laptop from
| HDMI, either end? Setting lost, back to default. Ugh.
| te_chris wrote:
| There's a reason mine has never touched wifi and all 'smart'
| stuff happens through my apple tv 4k.
| romland wrote:
| I had the same issue as you. I rooted my TV and decided to
| ditch that Rakuten button too[1]. I was mildly irritated that
| I had no way of getting current time easily, so wrote a
| Svelte+Vite WebOS example that does just that. Adding
| pause/resume should be equally trivial. For things like this,
| it's actually very little code once you get used to working
| on the platform, but yeah, the research prior is what takes
| time.
|
| Not sure if you know this, but you can bind any application
| to a "long click" shortcut. Hold one of 1-9 buttons for two
| seconds over an application in the menu and it will bind it.
| From there on you can just hold said button for two seconds
| and application starts.
|
| As for UI things, depending on the version of WebOS, you can
| likely make (some of) the tweaks you want by using bind+mount
| to make QML files writable
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QML). There are a some people
| doing small tweaks to the UI, but I don't know of anyone that
| did any huge changes (since, once rooted, the ads are
| trivially removed).
|
| [1] https://github.com/romland/webos-svelte-template (it
| lacks documentation)
| urbandw311er wrote:
| > but you can bind any application to a "long click"
| shortcut
|
| This was a great tip, thank you
| mburee wrote:
| It says right there, it's purpose is to jailbreak your TV. Why
| do they have to spoonfeed users ideas for what to do after?
| Kiro wrote:
| Don't be obnoxious.
| blowski wrote:
| My LG tv shows ads, streams all sorts of data to LG that I'd
| rather they didn't, and the UI is pretty ropey.
|
| Given I mostly watch Kodi, I'd love that to be the primary UI.
| layer8 wrote:
| The readme has a section "Why rooting".
| henriquecm8 wrote:
| Bought a lg tv recently and root it on the first day, there some
| cool homebrew app.
|
| Like and unofficial Crunchyroll app.
|
| Now I just need and app to reconfigure the control app shortcuts.
| anotherman554 wrote:
| There's an unofficial Crunchyroll App yet Sony can't be
| bothered to make on official one? Weird.
| agilob wrote:
| >Will this break Netflix/YouTube/AmazonVideo?
|
| >No. This does not break or limit access to subscription services
| or other DRMed content.
|
| I can't run Netflix app on rooted Android, but could on a rooted
| TV. I guess this isn't something Netflix was prepared for.
| reyqn wrote:
| You can run Netflix on rooted Android, you just have to hide
| root from the app
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| > you just have to hide root from the app
|
| No longer going to be possible due to hardware remote
| attestation.
| Iolaum wrote:
| the operative word here is "just"
|
| As someone who has hid root from banking apps in the past,
| there is no just here. You need to keep up with release notes
| of software updates in several components (custom OS, magisk
| and any roothide mods you use). That's fun to do for a while,
| but not long term. And definitely something I wouldn't expect
| from the mythical average user.
| gommm wrote:
| I agree, it's not for the average user. I'm happy to root
| my android (mostly because android backups really suck
| otherwise) but would definitely not recommend it to most
| people. I think it took me an average of 2 hours every 6
| months to keep hiding root correctly.
| yusi-san wrote:
| I agree, but the average user doesn't generally root his
| android phone. If you have the technical
| abilities/motivation to root your phone, you may have the
| ability to use MagiskHide and manage an exclusion list in
| Magisk.
| dogma1138 wrote:
| I guess their WebOS app doesn't have root detection.
| password4321 wrote:
| Yet!
| mcv wrote:
| What happens if they add it?
| prmoustache wrote:
| They only add it on mobile devices were you can download
| the content to view it online as a decryption key has to be
| stored locally and the content producer don't want them to
| facilitate piracy /backup copies.
| yellow_lead wrote:
| That's funny. Wonder if there are any DRM keys that can be
| extracted after root.
| Mindwipe wrote:
| If there were they would be revoked.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| You can also watch pretty much anything on a "rooted" computer
| (i.e. one where the user has admin access). I'm not entirely
| sure why phones are the one device where that's somehow
| considered a big deal.
| arianvanp wrote:
| But Netflix only allows 720p on computers because of this. So
| there's that...
| norman784 wrote:
| I thought that 720p was a linux limit, AFAIK on macOS and
| windows at least you get 1080p, but sucks that you can't
| watch in your fully capable hardware in a good quality.
| Amazon does the same.
| tpxl wrote:
| 720p is non-widewine-DRM limit afaik. Free as in freedom
| distros don't have proprietary DRM that would allow you
| to watch more than 720p by default, but you can install
| the proprietary blobs and get higher resolutions.
| easrng wrote:
| You need widevine to play Netflix at all, and widevine is
| always proprietary. It has a few modes though, L3 is
| software only (easier to crack) and it's commonly limited
| to lower resolutions. L1 uses hardware to decrypt and
| will only output video over encrypted connections (like
| HDCP). Since L1 is harder to crack you need it to get the
| full resolution. I don't think there's any implementation
| of L1 for Linux other than for android and probably some
| custom embedded ports. There's also L2 but idk what that
| does.
| Mindwipe wrote:
| > You need widevine to play Netflix at all
|
| No you don't. Safari doesn't support Widevine at all for
| example.
| gerdesj wrote:
| Not on my gear (all Linux). Also, what do you think
| Android is?
| sgtfrankieboy wrote:
| Incorrect. I can watch 4K on my PC just fine using Edge or
| the Windows App, you also get 4K with Safari.
|
| https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444
| ryandrake wrote:
| Important to note you need a very recent version of
| Safari. If you are using an older MacMini as your HTPC,
| your Safari version may not be new enough. I found this
| out the hard way. Edge on macOS works though.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| that's interesting. I wonder how Netflix detects that.
| would it be as simple as using an Edge user agent, or
| more complex using the Edge browser engine with embedded
| DRM keys
| luch wrote:
| to get 4K resoltution with Edge on Windows, you need to
| activate VBS (Virtualization-based Security) and Secure
| Boot. In that config, DRM keys are stored in a trusted
| application in secure world, and Edge from normal world
| ask the TA to decrypt the stream.
|
| Server side Netflix has nothing to do, just send out the
| encrypted stream if asked by a client.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| if asked specifically by a proven Windows client with VBS
| and secure boot enabled? or could the same method be
| implemented on any OS?
| Mindwipe wrote:
| The entire graphics chain needs MS signed drivers, so no.
|
| (Netflix do the same thing on MacOS with Apple signed
| drivers, backed up by hardware based security.)
| 867-5309 wrote:
| thanks for the info
| easrng wrote:
| Edge supports Microsoft's PlayReady DRM and Safari
| supports Apple's FairPlay DRM, both of which are stronger
| than Widevine.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| are each of those tied to their implementors? or can they
| be used on any supported OS and hardware like widevine
| can?
| Mindwipe wrote:
| All of them have varying levels of secure implementation,
| and services will usually only send high resolution
| content to devices that can demonstrate (with signed
| keys) the more secure options.
|
| Including Widevine. Widevine Level 3 is a software based
| solution that can be used on a variety of platforms, but
| the space for Widevine Level 1 requires OS and hardware
| integration (which doesn't include Windows for example,
| but is available for Android if the OEM does the
| requisite work).
| 867-5309 wrote:
| it's a shame. really don't understand the thinking behind
| it. it's easy for them to detect and ban shared accounts,
| but it's also easy enough to rip a decrypted stream, even
| if it is only at 1x rate. not sure why they bother. I
| suppose their recompense for piracy comes from those
| manufacturers willing to pay them for signed keys in
| exchange for hassle-free compatibility
| nextstep wrote:
| Is there a similar tool for Sony smart TVs running Android TV?
| That OS has become so awful, plenty of ads you can't disable and
| just generally unpolished in the unique Android way.
| [deleted]
| jkellermann wrote:
| Very interesting piece of work, however unfortunely not targeting
| my LG TV from 2013. By any change, is anybody aware of a project
| to install alternative firmware on such an ancient box? --
| Cheers, Jurgen
| romland wrote:
| I'm not sure which WebOS (if at all) version you are running,
| but https://www.google.com/search?q=getmein+lg+tv might work
| for you.
|
| It could also be running Netcast instead of WebOS? In which
| case there are other ways to get in, but you'll be asking
| yourself "why did I do this" pretty quickly.
|
| Join the OpenLGTV Discord and you'll have a wealth of
| information.
| jkellermann wrote:
| Thx for the information! I think my TV predates WebOS. Well,
| I'm using Kodi on a Raspberry Pi mostly anyway, but would be
| nice to use the TV itself aswell...
| Gormo wrote:
| > Join the OpenLGTV Discord and you'll have a wealth of
| information.
|
| Is this information archived in a more reasonable location
| than Discord?
| whatsthatabout wrote:
| I've rooted my LG tv with this method a few months ago and have
| no issues. Everything works just fine including 4K
| Netflix/Prime/Disney. I like the homebrew apps and the fact that
| this jailbreak somewhat limits the data my tv sends to LG.
| satysin wrote:
| Smart TV stories really show the bubble that many here are in.
|
| "Why would anyone use a Smart TV?! Just build a home theatre PC
| to connect to your old TV via a 60ft HDMI cable and use a
| Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I've been doing this since 2005"
|
| As if any normal person wants that kind of setup. Not to mention
| the difficulties with the above for higher end content such as 4K
| Dolby Vision playback.
|
| People want a basic interface that doesn't require downloading
| files beforehand. Click a few buttons on the remote and you have
| high quality streaming video without the fuss.
|
| What is hard to understand about why people _like_ smart TVs?
| It's just convenience.
| mlindner wrote:
| Also good luck trying to build a non-Windows system that does:
|
| * Dolby Atmos decoded direct to speakers with no delay.
|
| * Correctly demuxes and sends Dolby Vision HDR content at 4k
| 120 Hz to the display with a calibrated consistent lag with no
| frame drops.
|
| * Correctly handles atmos surround system speaker calibration.
|
| * Can play any Blu-Ray available on the market, sending the
| content without quality loss.
| kuschku wrote:
| The true solution is "just buy a TV designed for console gaming
| without any smarts and plug in an apple TV / nvidia shield /
| roku / firetv stick / chromecast".
| deificx wrote:
| I would just like an option without the smart-stuff. It seems
| impossible to find, it's either very small and ugly TVs or
| built for something else like digital signage and very
| expensive.
|
| I also have the impression that "everyone" buys an apple
| tv/Chromecast/etc anyways because of limitations in the smart
| tv or just ease of use. It makes a lot of sense to have these
| things separated except for TV manufacturers that want you to
| buy a TV more frequently.
| Nursie wrote:
| "Everyone" buys that 5 years down the line when the built-in
| services drop out of support, or they just buy a new tv.
|
| And often by that point they're looking for an excuse to buy
| the new shiny anyway.
| JetAlone wrote:
| That's ironic. You can pay your way around the nonsense
| surveillance/advertising infrastructure by buying the
| expensive functional displays that were intended for
| uninterrupted advertising infrastructure.
|
| Can we produce substantially inexpensive black-boxed hardware
| that they desperately want in order to cut costs, but
| interferes in dissatisfying but barely tolerable ways with
| the quality of life too? Can we occasionally make it send
| messages in-store to their customers that the execs wouldn't
| want or approve of but find themselves putting up with
| because it's relatively benign compared to a worse bottom
| line?
| post_below wrote:
| Have you looked into high res projectors? Prices for the
| decent ones are comparable to TVs.
| alkonaut wrote:
| The best dumb TV is a regular (i.e. smart) TV that you just
| don't connect to the internet, and use some separate signal
| source to.
|
| Using a computer monitor or specialist/signage TV is both
| expensive and offers a worse experience.
| devmor wrote:
| Unfortunately, you still really have to do your research to
| find a decent one.
|
| My Samsung TV has never been connected to the internet - we
| use a Roku box to feed streaming content to it - but it's
| still laggy and unresponsive by default, getting worse over
| the course of a few months until we decide to factory reset
| it again.
|
| At one point it was so bad that I pressed the "change
| source" button a couple times, noticed it wasn't working,
| pressed the volume buttons, then the menu button, assumed
| the remote was dead, went to find some batteries in a
| drawer, took the remote batteries out, and then the TV
| rapidly switched sources, changed volume and opened the
| menu over the course of half a second.
| alkonaut wrote:
| I mean I don't expect my TV to work like a snappy
| appliance from the 1990's. I expect my TV these days to
| be a slow super low cost ARM computer with poorly written
| buggy software.
|
| But I expect that of my car infotainment, my computer
| monitor, and a recently purchased signage screen as well.
| Finding a device (any device) that _didn 't_ behave like
| this would me more shocking. I tend to think that the
| best thing to do is buy the most popular product, from a
| known brand. Because at least then there are millions of
| people having the same experience, increasing the chance
| of a fix.
|
| We get _amazing_ hardware in many cases these days. The
| quality of the screens in TV 's these days is completely
| unbelievable. And you can get a decent one for a few
| hundred. I too _wish_ there was a brand that would spend
| a little more on better UX (both hardware and software).
| But the harsh reality is that it doesn 't sell. Rumor
| doesn't spread that BrandX has snappy intuitive menus,
| fewer bugs or less ads. The commercial says that
| UsualBrand has new magical colors and ultra high def
| thingamajigs, and that sells TVs.
| scarface74 wrote:
| My Roku TV is set to automatically go to the HDMI source
| where my AppleTV is connected. The remote for my AppleTV
| turns on the TV and controls the volume.
|
| The ARM chip in the AppleTV is anything but slow and the
| only thing I had to do to prevent ads on the Home Screen
| is to remove Apple's apps from the top bar and replace
| them with my most used apps.
| [deleted]
| Al-Khwarizmi wrote:
| Yeah, in fact I have the skills for such a setup, but I don't
| bother. Why would I?
|
| The LG built-in system is actually pretty nice (and the reason
| why I buy LG TVs). Netflix and Prime Video are a click away. If
| I have downloaded something, I just plug a USB stick or use the
| built-in software (SmartShare) to stream from my computer by
| WiFi. If I want to play some games in the Steam Deck, I plug it
| with an HDMI cable and it just works. If I want to show my kid
| a Youtube video, it's a little more inconvenient with the on-
| screen keyboard but not a big deal. By the way, I have a Sonos
| Amp connected through HDMI Arc, feeding two wired front
| speakers and two wireless back speakers, and it works with many
| versions of Dolby surround sound - I haven't bothered to check
| if this is easy on PC, but I suspect it might not.
|
| Maybe it's just that I don't watch a lot of TV so I'm not
| fussy, but I haven't found any particular feature I would like
| to have that isn't reasonably easy with my smart TV, while I do
| find significant drawbacks in the PC setup (basically more
| stuff in the living room, why would I need a keyboard or mouse
| there?).
|
| So yes. I'm a nerd, and I like my smart TV. Go figure.
| FnuGk wrote:
| how do you do streaming with SmartShare? closest thing i
| could find was that the tv supports airPlay off all things.
| But that seems quite useless without any apple products.
| mccorrinall wrote:
| I have exactly one reason to fiddle with my smart tv: to use
| an youtube app with adblocker and sponsorblock. The first
| could also be achieved by buying premium. But sponsorblock?
| No, I need to be able to sideload apps for that.
| satysin wrote:
| SponsorBlock on my TV would probably be the biggest single
| value add feature I could do. I pay for YouTube Premium
| because it is cheap so it is worth it to remove the YouTube
| ads but it is frustrating how much sponsored crap there is
| in the videos themselves these days and SponsorBlock is
| wonderful in the browser.
| satysin wrote:
| Indeed. I have been making my TVs "smart" since around 2001
| so that I could watch content from my computer on the TV.
| I've done it all from DivX CD players to a home theatre PC to
| network streaming boxes.
|
| Back in the 00s I had a nice setup with a networked media
| player (connected via SCART back then) that could play my
| DivX/XviD DVD rips from a network share.
|
| These days I have a NAS running Plex with an Apple TV 4K (2nd
| gen) and use Infuse for playback that happily plays back
| 150GB 4K HDR Bluray REMUXES over the network instantly. Also
| it is accessible anywhere I have internet so I can access my
| whole media library on a phone, tablet or laptop while away
| as easily as I can Netflix.
|
| I use my LG "smart" TV like a dumb TV. I don't let it have
| internet access as it doesn't need it for how I use it
| although it is connected to the network but it has its own
| blackhole VLAN just to stop the "connect your TV to complete
| setup" message it always shows.
| scarface74 wrote:
| The problem with WebOS and any other smart TV platform that
| is not Apple or Roku is that new streaming services either
| get ported late or not at all to it.
| bobdvb wrote:
| WAF = Wife Acceptance Factor, now with added junior school
| kid!
|
| I love my LG OLED TV, everything I need is on the remote.
| reacharavindh wrote:
| I think you picked the extreme to make your point(Desktop PC in
| another room and long cable). I'm aware of all the BS that TV
| manufacturers pull with "smart TV" and chose to never ever let
| my TV connect to any home network. Instead, I had an old Mac
| mini laying around(from 2012 that is not up to snuff for main
| desktop, but is okay for a browser on TV to view Netflix, Apple
| TV, YouTube and basically anything accessible by a web
| browser). This is really not as complicated a setup as you were
| talking about before.. The Mac mini is just behind the TV, and
| is quiet.. a mini Bluetooth keyboard, and a mouse is all I need
| to have my own Internet TV.. using smart TV as a dumb display
| is the best.
| satysin wrote:
| Sure if you have old hardware capable of decent media
| playback it isn't a bad option but old hardware is quickly
| the limiting factor for higher quality media such as original
| HDR or Dolby Vision BluRay video streams.
|
| Of course not everyone cares about that but if you're going
| to spend good money on a nice 4K HDR TV I suspect you want to
| actually be able to watch HDR content.
| reacharavindh wrote:
| Yes, that part is true. I wanted to get a Sonos Beam Gen2
| sound bar for my TV, and realised it support Dolby Atmos
| Audio. Now, I kinda want to buy the Apple TV 4K just for
| Dolby Audio support, and replace the Mac mini with it..
|
| But, even for that, I personally would not let my TV
| connect to the Internet and ruin my teaching experiences
| with ads.
|
| Like most things in engineer's life, tradeoffs and people
| choose to trade different things.....
| hengistbury wrote:
| That is the exact same setup, minus the long cable and using
| an old PC rather than building one. For many people this
| setup is too complicated.
| emsy wrote:
| WebOS is so much better than AndroidTV or the Samsung and
| Philipps OSes my previous TVs had. I actually have no need to
| use a Media Stick.
| Loranubi wrote:
| - I don't want my TV crash regularly - I don't want to connect
| my TV to the internet - I don't want my TV to spy on me - I
| don't want to have ads on my TV - I do want to have control
| over image/video processing - I do want to watch stuff on my TV
| for which no app is available - I don't want to pay extra for
| compute which is already available with my PC - I do want to be
| able to access my existing file and disk based media library
|
| For me, convenience is having my dumb TV connected to my PC.
| It's not impossible to get a remote for a PC too you know.
| kcarter80 wrote:
| OP wasn't arguing your use case doesn't exist.
|
| They were arguing it's uncommon and requires above average
| competency.
| INTPenis wrote:
| It's just unnecessary to have a camera in your TV, that's all I
| feel. I have an Acer 55" DP monitor instead. And I use
| chromecast, no problem, it has no cameras.
| Nursie wrote:
| Pretty sure that's a minority of smart tvs anyway...
| colordrops wrote:
| for now
| cgrealy wrote:
| I've built that kind of setup (HTPC, bluetooth kbm, etc) before
| and now I have a smart TV, and I definitely like it for all the
| reasons listed.
|
| But it's also not unreasonable to want a smart TV that doesn't
| plaster the UI with ads.
| suction wrote:
| b3lvedere wrote:
| I totally understand the convenience. Most people think my
| setup is indeed complex. Fortunately my family was already used
| on how to use the Xbox and Switch on the tv. Connecting a MSI
| Trident computer and teaching them how to use Kodi, Steam and
| the various streaming services via a web browser was quite
| easy.
| chrischen wrote:
| Well, normal people could use Apple TV (or Google or Fire TV)
| which generally offer a better experience than whatever TV
| manufacturer has built in to their "smart" TV. I have this same
| problem with smart home devices, in which every manufacturer
| has some basic app that does some crappy automations... whereas
| it'd be much better if they just delegated that exclusively to
| Google or Alexa or Siri/Homekit.
| justsomeguy123 wrote:
| Do you... change your tires? Or just get a brand new car every
| year to avoid the hassle of dealing with car shops?
|
| Problem with Smart TVs is they become obsolete super fast
| software wise. And basically, unsafe to connect to the internet
| in a few years.
|
| Most TVs have CI+ ports. I can easily imagine an upgradable
| "smart module". Just buy a new compatible one (which,
| effectively could just connect for power and HDMI) and get the
| brand new stuff.
|
| There is no bubble, smart TVs are a consumerist trap and it
| will require government intervention to fix because nobody has
| any incentives otherwise.
| satysin wrote:
| Gonna skip over your tyre comparison as I don't think it
| makes much sense sorry.
|
| Having a switchable "compute" module that the user can
| upgrade without replacing the whole TV would be great but the
| truth is that is what a streaming box is doing just not
| integrated into the TV but connected via HDMI.
|
| I treat my smart TVs like a dumb TV. It doesn't have internet
| access as I have explained elsewhere. I just use the TV OS to
| switch inputs and change picture settings but never use any
| of the built in apps.
|
| Having said that my parents do use the apps and haven't
| reported any issues with them on their LG C8 from 2018. I
| have tried to get them to use a streaming box but they didn't
| see the point in complicating things to use the same
| streaming services. Maybe if the apps get slow or crappy they
| will change their mind rather than replace the TV.
| tinus_hn wrote:
| People like the smart in smart tvs when they just bought it but
| 6 months in almost nobody uses it because 9 out of 10 times it
| just stinks. They use a chromecast, Apple TV or some other set
| top box.
| cgrealy wrote:
| Do you have any evidence of that?
|
| Anecdotally, that's not true of people I know (and even less
| so for people not in tech), but anecdotes are not
| particularly useful.
| scarface74 wrote:
| I can guarantee you that most people aren't buying extra
| devices to watch TV when the apps they use are built in. Most
| people definitely aren't buying $150 AppleTV devices. Roku is
| by far the most popular streaming device and they are
| aggressive about getting their software included with most
| low end TVs.
| pessimizer wrote:
| > I can guarantee you that most people aren't buying extra
| devices to watch TV when the apps they use are built in.
|
| No shit, the reason you jailbreak a tv is to put apps on it
| that were not built in (or remove apps that are intrusive.)
| This is just like saying that people who are happy with
| things aren't unhappy with things.
| scarface74 wrote:
| > ...but 6 months in almost nobody uses it because 9 out
| of 10 times it just stinks. They use a chromecast, Apple
| TV or some other set top box.
|
| The parent commenter claimed that "almost nobody uses"
| the built in smart TV features. This is false outside of
| whatever tiny bubble they are in.
| tinus_hn wrote:
| Set top boxes and chromecasts are selling pretty well so
| obviously people are using them, but I guess there's
| quite some people content with using a mediocre
| implementation, for as long as the api that's used is
| supported by YouTube and Netflix.
|
| It probably depends on the kind of crowd you sample.
| scarface74 wrote:
| Set top boxes if they ever sold well are very much
| declining in popularity as most TVs have the same OS
| preinstalled.
|
| Roku by itself comes pre-installed on almost 40% of new
| TVs
|
| https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/roku-claims-38-all-
| smart-t...
|
| Manufacturers have just started installing FireTV
| software.
|
| https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/amazon-vp-
| shares-ho...
|
| And Google has been in the game for awhile with
| preinstalled Android.
| Kiro wrote:
| That's obviously not true. I hardly know anyone who uses
| external devices. I have a Chromecast but never use it after
| I got a smart TV.
| satysin wrote:
| My parents still use all the smart TV features in their 4+
| year old LG C8. They don't have any streaming boxes, I tried
| to give them my old Apple TV a year ago but they didn't like
| the remote (don't blame them for that, it is garbage).
|
| They use Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube and the Disney+ apps
| daily. No complaints other than when the wifi sometimes goes
| out but that isn't a fault of the TV.
| mrweasel wrote:
| > It's just convenience.
|
| Sure, if they worked, but they don't. Sadly it's pretty hard to
| get any real numbers on this. I do know people who use the
| smart bit of their smart tv, and to be fair, their use case
| might be exactly what the designers had in mind. The apps on
| the TV is a supplement to live TV. So mom and dad will watch
| just regular cable TV, maybe stream a movie once or twice a
| month, while the kids will use the YouTube app.
|
| For people who are basically done with cable or over the air
| broadcasts, smart TVs just aren't good enough (for the most
| part). I think you can get high-end TVs now that are fast
| enough and where the software is reasonable. However, if you
| buy your TV in the supermarket, or just pick the cheapest one
| in the right size or color, when you can safely add something
| like a ChromeCast or even an AppleTV and it will still be
| cheaper.
|
| You're right that a "normal person" simply do not want a home
| theater PC with a keyboard and mouse. They also don't care
| about Dolby, Atmos or soundbars. They just want a TV and if the
| speakers are built in, then perfect, less to worry about... In
| fact I'm kinda normal in that sense, my TV is a screen, it has
| speakers and inputs, it's fine. What's not fine is the shitty
| apps and the fact that I can reboot my AppleTV twice in the
| time it takes to open the Netflix on the TV. The AppleTV is my
| current baseline, you have to be at least as good or better.
|
| Then there's the apps, you can be certain that whatever
| streaming subscription you want will have an AppleTV app or it
| works with ChromeCast. Does it work on a random Philips TV....
| Will it ever get updated on your Samsung TV from 2016? Most
| likely not.
|
| The concept of smart TVs are very convenient, but the TV
| manufactures lost this one. Either they stuff some Android
| stuff into the TV and upgrade the hardware or at least add in a
| small shelf in the back of the TV for me to put the AppleTV
| into, like B&O did at one point.
| Nursie wrote:
| > Either they stuff some Android stuff into the TV
|
| Are you aware of Google TV? It basically is android on the
| tv, and it's on lots of low to high end tvs across a bunch of
| manufacturers (Hisense, Tcl and Sony last I looked).
|
| It's more than good enough for people who are done with cable
| and broadcast (I'm one of them). There are apps for all the
| streaming services, both my country's tv channels and the big
| players like netflix, apple, disney etc, and they perform
| great.
| easrng wrote:
| Not all Android TV devices support all the streaming
| services. Mine works fine with Disney+, Amazon, and Apple
| TV+, but Netflix won't support the device for some reason.
| Mindwipe wrote:
| > Not all Android TV devices support all the streaming
| services. Mine works fine with Disney+, Amazon, and Apple
| TV+, but Netflix won't support the device for some
| reason.
|
| That must be... an extremely niche device. With some
| considerable knowledge of the space, I cannot think of an
| Android TV device that supports Apple TV but not Netflix
| ever.
| scarface74 wrote:
| You mean the company that abandons software quickly? That's
| the last thing I would want on my TV. At least Roku has a
| history of supporting its hardware.
| Nursie wrote:
| Sure, android has totally been abandoned, damn shame.
|
| And you know what? If they _do_ abandon it, I 'm still
| free to buy an add-on of some sort, so I haven't lost
| anything compared to people who have this weird obsession
| with dumb-tvs.
| scarface74 wrote:
| It's not _Android_ being abandoned. The issue is _your
| device_ being abandoned.
| atoav wrote:
| While I think you are right, I also think in 2022 the required
| skills for the alternative should be part of everybody's
| education.
| bayesianbot wrote:
| It's always been very strange for me that people who use
| computers hours and hours per day don't customize their
| workflows in any ways. Same people who customize and spend a
| long time choosing their car because they sit an hour or two
| every day in those, who are always improving their efficiency
| in stuff like building things, cleaning, cooking etc.. Then
| they go to their 6-12 hour daily stint on computer and use
| Edit->Copy, Edit->Paste to copy&paste stuff and that's the
| level they stay on forever, only changing things when updates
| change it for them.
| piaste wrote:
| Perhaps because that kind of person only uses a computer
| for work, and never for themselves.
|
| If their career won't see any benefits by improving their
| computer skills, they have no reason to care about
| inefficiency.
| neoberg wrote:
| I mean I definitely have the skills to do these and have done
| it before. I even have my gaming pc connected to the tv all
| the time. But I don't want to fiddle with and maintain this
| setup for video consumption. I just want to turn on my TV,
| run the Netflix app and have dolby vision 4k video playing
| without issues.
|
| I don't have any data but I feel like most people (technical
| or not) are thinking the same as me.
| atoav wrote:
| This was not my point. I said anybody should be thought the
| skills to find a solution for this themselves _if_ they
| want to. Even if you end up hiring someone or pay for a
| finished product having a basic idea what a thing entails
| and how it could be made is a useful skill to have in any
| evolving techological society.
| onion2k wrote:
| _While I think you are right, I also think in 2022 the
| required skills for the alternative should be part of
| everybody 's education._
|
| Pretty much everyone believes their own specialist skills
| should be part of general education curriculum. If you ask a
| lawyer if law should be taught in schools, or an accountant
| about accounting, or a translator about languages, or a
| mechanic, or a nurse, or _literally any person in any job_
| they all think their own skills are appropriate to be taught
| to everyone. Obviously that isn 't going to work.
| atoav wrote:
| Oh come on. Scripting and coding is not some specialist
| knowledge in a world where a big chunk of people spend a
| good chunk of their time feeding data into bureaucratic
| systems. Most white collar jobs would immensly profit from
| knowing a little about scripting. Some of the tasks that
| take them days could be done in seconds if they just had a
| basic understanding how to transform data. And I will stand
| for it, this is something they should teach in school.
|
| Given that even farmers have to spend more time behind the
| computer than anybody is willing to admit, a little bit of
| understanding ans ability to automate the boring things is
| just a basic skill that should be thought. Not to solve any
| specific problem, but to learn how to find your own
| solutions and be clever about work processes.
|
| Any society that teaches this will massively outperform one
| where specialists put up walls because they are afraid of
| sharing the magic incantations. Or we could continue living
| in a society where clerks print out a form just so the
| other clerk can type it into another program, because they
| haven't even discovered the concept of copy and paste.
| onion2k wrote:
| Everyone should know a bit about the law, everyone should
| be able to do their accounts, everyone should be able to
| mend their car (maybe less so with electric cars..),
| everyone should be able to do basic first aid and look
| after their health, everyone should understand a bit
| about politics, everyone should know how money works ...
| literally everyone believes their job is a special case
| that ought to be taught in schools.
|
| The fact you believe everyone should learn some basic
| coding just shows you work in tech. It doesn't make it
| true. For a start, very few people actually apply the
| skills they learn at school until at least a decade
| afterwards (learning at around 10 - 12 years old, getting
| a first proper job where skills matter in their early
| 20s). Do you really think basic coding taught today is
| going to apply to a farming job in 2032 in the light of
| Github Copilot, visual programming, the death of
| filesystems and the rise of iOS/Android file pickers etc?
| Of course not.
| tjoff wrote:
| Of course a normal person doesn't want such a setup.
|
| But a normal person doesn't want a smart tv either. It sucks.
| And that is when it is working, and it will stop working. And
| it does spy on you.
|
| I get that people want to like smart TVs. Unfortunately, you
| can't.
| satysin wrote:
| I am confused you say a normal person doesn't want a smart tv
| but then on the next line say they do want a smart TV?
|
| I assume you mean normal people don't like crappy smart TV
| experiences with slow and crappy apps but if they were smooth
| and fast and easy to use they would like them more? If so
| that is true of pretty much everything technology related :)
| Nobody _likes_ using a slow, crappy computer that takes 5
| minutes to load a webpage do they.
|
| I think normal people _love_ smart TVs they just wish they
| were _better_ especially as they age a bit.
|
| What would be fantastic is a modular smart TV where the
| screen has a standardised connection for a compute unit that
| you can replace for a much smaller cost than replacing the
| whole TV itself. If you're happy with your screen it is
| frustrating you need to buy a whole new TV just because the
| shitty SoC can't handle all the new stuff Netflix, Disney,
| etc. add to their apps over time.
| Nursie wrote:
| > But a normal person doesn't want a smart tv either.
|
| Erm, yeah, they do. They want a tv that's got the netflix and
| stuff all built in. A 'normal' person doesn't want to deal
| with an extra device that may or may not have a separate
| remote control. They want simplicity. Smart tvs give them
| that.
| tjoff wrote:
| If that was true it would be fine. But that is not what
| they are getting.
| scarface74 wrote:
| So what are they getting?
| rbanffy wrote:
| Ideally you should have dumb TVs and smart set top boxes.
| TVs last much longer than the puny computers in them.
| Nursie wrote:
| Why is that ideal?
|
| I'm perfectly happy to have a smart tv, it does what I
| need without extra wires or remotes. I have zero desire
| to have a separate box. If I'm still using my tv when it
| stops getting updates and being able to stream, _then_ I
| 'll investigate and add-on for it, not now, because in 5
| years that would likely be out of date too.
|
| I don't get this weird obsession with dumb screens.
| Device convergence is excellent. The fewer boxes and
| wires and the more capable the devices, the better.
| scarface74 wrote:
| In what reality do "normal"people not want TVs with their
| most used streaming apps built in?
| jaimex2 wrote:
| You're an Apple user arent you?
| satysin wrote:
| Fedora mostly, I come from a RHEL background.
| koenvdb wrote:
| Yeah I really hate that I can no longer easily hook up my
| laptop to my LG OLED tv and just press play on the movie I
| downloaded. Nowadays I have to download PotPlayer, change the
| renderer and increase the brightness whenever I want to
| playback a 10bit HDR movie.
| satysin wrote:
| IMHO the best solution for you would be to just fire up
| Plex/Emby/etc on your laptop when needed and use the Plex/etc
| app on your TV/streaming box and play over the network. Wired
| is more reliable of course but wifi works fine most of the
| time too.
|
| You can play back HDR and Dolby Vision 4K content just fine
| with Plex and it is all decoded on the TV (or streaming box)
| so no need to mess around with Windows video settings to get
| HDR looking not-shit.
| bjarneh wrote:
| > We would like to thank: * LG, for patching
| symptoms of bugs rather than underlying causes...
| jgaa wrote:
| I think it's called "Test Driven Development" ;)
| 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 wrote:
| Nothing in here about disabling adware, which is pretty much the
| only thing I care about.
| gattilorenz wrote:
| Which adware? I have an LG OLED TV, and I never saw any ads in
| the menus or whatever.
|
| I do only use with apps or am external source (no DTV or
| cable), so maybe it's that?
| pseudalopex wrote:
| https://lgads.tv/
| walterbell wrote:
| LG WebOS is based on Linux.
|
| https://github.com/bashalarmist/war-webos-ad-remover
|
| https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/war-webos-ad-remover-vers...
| throw03172019 wrote:
| I think you can do that using PiHole
| xwowsersx wrote:
| I haven't tried setting up PiHole yet. Does it "break" any of
| the interwebz for me in the way client-side ad blockers
| sometimes can? Any pitfalls I need to be aware of?
| joemazerino wrote:
| No, it is fully customizable and managed by a dashboard.
| xwowsersx wrote:
| You're saying that even if I do run into any issues, I'll
| be able to tweak and resolve myself?
| onionisafruit wrote:
| Exactly. I have pi-hole and maybe one every month I have
| to go to the web interface and click the link to disable
| blocking for five minutes while I use some kind of shady
| software.
| anonymous_sorry wrote:
| If it's something I use often I might spend the time to
| look through the logs and work out the correct domain to
| unblock. But there are also handy "disable for
| 10s/30s/5m" functions which just let me get on with my
| day.
| artificialLimbs wrote:
| Yes. Some pages won't load if they're on whatever blocklist
| you're using. You can manually remove them from your
| blocklist.
| veidr wrote:
| I use pi-hole and am grateful for it, but it breaks lots of
| online commerce sites (e.g. Amazon) in ways that irritate
| my wife, who then comes to me to file her grievances and
| tech support request.
|
| This is AFAICT because it blocks "sponsored product
| placement" type ads -- which are indeed ads, but which some
| users are deriving value from (at least so they think), and
| want to see.
|
| (Luckily the admin dashboard makes it fairly easy to deal
| with these, but usually I "don't have time" right then and
| just disable it for x minutes.)
| judge2020 wrote:
| Ublock origin is the best here, since it blocks trackers
| and ads while still allowing you to temporarily click to
| bypass the screen that stops you from visiting a tracker
| (eg. a marketing shortlink or ad that you actually are
| interested in).
| anonymous_sorry wrote:
| I agree that ublock origin is convenient, but doesn't do
| anything to block ads in apps, on (unrooted) TVs, etc.
| worthless-trash wrote:
| Or get a decent /etc/hosts file .
| lostlogin wrote:
| A fair few routers also allow a rule similar to "if traffic
| is on port 53 traffic and not from PiHole, send to PiHole."
| liketochill wrote:
| I have a lg webos smarttv and haven't noticed any ads. I also
| have a pihole.
| kossTKR wrote:
| Is it impossible to root samsungs Tizen tv's?
|
| This seems to be the most widely used TV and the worst offender.
|
| This is great of course, but i don't know why they are targeting
| LG which is less used and has way less ads than Samsung.
| kkarpkkarp wrote:
| > i don't know why they are targeting LG which is less used and
| has way less ads than Samsung.
|
| Probably because the author (looking on the git history, for
| first 2 months it was developed by one guy and then one another
| has joined him) has LG tv. :)
| kossTKR wrote:
| My mistake - great hacking from a solo dev.
|
| Skimmed the comments and thought this was part of the KDE
| Plasma Bigscreen project.
| leros wrote:
| I feel like my HDMI inputs are third party citizens on my LG TV.
| I have to scroll past all the stupid apps to choose one of them.
| And if I press the wrong button, it somehow opens up the LG fake
| TV channels which defaults to the country music channel. It's an
| incredibly strange experience. I don't mind all that smart TV
| stuff but to prioritize it above things like my Chromecast or
| BluRay player is odd.
| eropple wrote:
| On my C8 at least, you can reorder all items, including HDMI
| ports. Did that change? (I'm looking at a new TV for my office
| and that'd sure change my mind.)
| josefresco wrote:
| My LG will switch to whatever HDMI inputs "activates". It
| defaults to my Chromecast w/Google TV, but if I turn on my
| Steam link, or Blu-ray player the input automatically switches.
| Eezee wrote:
| If you haven't yet, you could put your HDMI devices on the
| quick access buttons (long press on the number buttons). I
| pretty much never use the home screen, despite using multiple
| HDMI devices and a bunch of streaming services.
| Kerrick wrote:
| Not only does this work wonders when the TV is already on,
| you can even configure QuickStart+ so that the quick access
| button actually turns on the TV (while switching to that
| input).
| ck2 wrote:
| How long until your (very expensive) car has you as a trapped
| audience and starts showing ads until people feel forced to root
| it
|
| Imagine ads when emergency brake is on so people stop using that.
|
| TV you can bypass with a media device (good idea for
| portability/repalcement too)
|
| But a car, can't
| Gigachad wrote:
| You won't own the car, you'll just request it via an app (like
| a self driving taxi) and then you also won't have any ability
| to root it.
| whoooooo123 wrote:
| Yep, and if your social credit score is too low then your
| request will be denied and no car will show up. Don't like
| it? You can't protest, because no car is available to take
| you to the protest. Hooray for progress!
|
| "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy."
| avidiax wrote:
| Yes, and it will be self-driving, but the entire windshield
| and console will be replaced with a giant TV screen playing
| unmutable ads.
|
| If you pay extra, you can have a "limited ad" experience, and
| see a virtual view out the windshield or even play content
| from partner subscription services.
| RajT88 wrote:
| That doesn't seem so bad. By that point we'll have AR
| headsets to drown all that out.
|
| Of course, those will have ads too.
| tjpnz wrote:
| "It looks like you're having a car accident. Would you like to
| add mens underwear to your shopping list?"
| denkmoon wrote:
| Fortunately you will be able to purchase Apple EyePods with
| Active Noise Cancellation. Similar to Zaphod's Peril Sensitive
| sunglasses. Only costs a single kidney too.
| diavolodeejay wrote:
| Do you know if it's possible to enable tv recording and maybe vcr
| (or how it's called the thing that allows you to pause live tv
| and resume later)? In italy for some reasons they are disabled..
| judge2020 wrote:
| I'm not sure TV recording is possible since you'll be getting
| DRM-protected/encrypted content anyways, at least regarding the
| streaming TV channels (unless you wanna get in the business of
| researching and looking for exploits in widevine level 1
| certified chips).
| bscphil wrote:
| In the US at least (don't know about Italy), TV is very
| rarely streamed over the Internet. Most people have a cable /
| set-top box that does the descrambling and then send a (HDCP
| protected) video stream to the TV.
|
| Because commercial TVs are trusted devices that have the key
| to decrypt the HDCP stream, if a TV had a feature to record
| and rewind video, it would work just fine. Widevine isn't
| related because that's only used (AFAIK) for Internet
| streaming.
| judge2020 wrote:
| Not sure what you mean; streaming TV in the US is booming
| with YT TV reportedly having 5 million subscribers, Hulu
| live TV at 4.1 million, Sling at 2.2 million, and Fubo at 1
| million.[0] That's 12 million american households, so
| between 5% and 10% of the adult population (depending on
| how many subscribers you think are married).
|
| 0: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-many-
| youtube-...
| bscphil wrote:
| There are more than 50 million cable TV subscribers
| alone, though. And just over 10% of television households
| rely on broadcast TV exclusively. My point wasn't that
| streaming TV subscribers don't exist, it was just that
| the OP almost certainly meant recording traditional cable
| or broadcast TV when they said "tv recording". That's why
| I was confused by your reference to widevine.
| GoOnThenDoTell wrote:
| Does this allow a 'clean' basic dumb tv setup?
| jaimex2 wrote:
| Would love something like this for Hisense
| dSebastien wrote:
| I love my LG OLED TV even more now that it's rooted and I can
| watch YT without ads. The install process indeed reminds of
| iPhone/iPod Touch jailbreak. Fun stuff :)
| shultays wrote:
| Assuming that is an android TV, you could also use
| smarttubenext. No ads and it also comes with sponsor block and
| IMO has better UI.
|
| I have youtube premium but I still prefer smarttubenext over
| default android tv youtube app
| kmlx wrote:
| > I love my LG OLED TV even more now that it's rooted and I can
| watch YT without ads
|
| you don't need to root it to watch Youtube without ads. you
| just need to pay for Youtube premium.
| NL807 wrote:
| Or alternatively, you just want autonomy over the device you
| own, and want to predicate how the pixels are being lit up on
| the screen, and not according to some conglomerate's terms.
| jonathantf2 wrote:
| *watch YT without ads and paying
| whatsthatabout wrote:
| That's true for ads from youtube (I have yt premium myself)
| but not for ads directly in the video. The yt app from the
| homebrew store has sponsorblock[1] integrated which can skip
| these too.
|
| [1] https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock
| m348e912 wrote:
| If you are talking about in video sponsorship segments, how
| does sponsorblock know when they start or end? Are creators
| required to tag their sponsorship segments with timestamps
| somewhere?
| charcircuit wrote:
| The data is crowd sourced from other sponsorblock users.
| Karunamon wrote:
| It's even gamified a little bit; the add-on tracks how
| much time your submissions have saved other people (so if
| you block out 30 second sponsor spot, and 10 users skip
| that spot, you get credited with 300 seconds of time
| save), and there is a leaderboard. Popular YouTubers like
| Linus tech tips will have their sponsor spots identified
| and submitted within a couple of minutes of uploading
| because the high view count is worth a ton of time save.
|
| Something else a lot of people don't know is that it can
| be configured to skip things that are not simply sponsor
| spots, stuff like filler, intro and and cards, begging
| for subscriptions, and so forth. That add-on is the
| single greatest quality of life improvement YouTube has
| ever seen.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| > it can be configured to skip things that are not simply
| sponsor spots, stuff like filler, intro and and cards,
| begging for subscriptions, and so forth
|
| Amazing! I didn't know that. Now I'm starting to wonder
| why I ever tolerated this noise in the first place...
| reegnz wrote:
| WOW, SponsorBlock is something I didn't know I needed so
| bad! Thanks a lot for sharing. (I also pay for yt premium
| btw)
| nebula8804 wrote:
| FUN FACT: yt-dlp (the new youtube dl cmd line app) also
| has sponserblock integration so it can automatically
| download files and strip the ads from the video file if
| you specify the "--sponsorblock-remove all" argument.
| There are other arguments you can pass to fine tune this,
| check the docs.
| bspammer wrote:
| I'd much rather have the full video file and instead have
| it be possible to skip at the point of playback. I
| believe this is possible too: yt-dlp can mark the
| sponsored sections as a separate chapter in the video
| file.
| SergeAx wrote:
| Wow! Can I still cast YouTube videos from my phone to TV? I
| understand that it is not a screencasting, phone app just
| sends video id and control signals.
| Kiro wrote:
| Not sure why you are getting downvoted when that's the
| obvious solution. I use YouTube Premium and don't see any ads
| on my TV.
|
| People say "just let me pay" but when the option is there no-
| one really does. They just want free things.
| jrib wrote:
| I wish Google offered the option to do something like this:
| 1. pay 2 cents (or whatever the value is to Google for a
| single ad view) for each ad skipped 2. if your
| total cost exceeds the monthly cost, just pay the monthly
| cost
|
| That may not make sense from Google's perspective, but on
| the consumer side, I'm a lot more likely to sign up for
| that scheme than paying a monthly fee for youtube.
|
| I pay for hulu without ads because we watch enough hulu for
| that to make sense. But I watch probably a handful of
| videos on youtube a month. I can't really justify paying
| for youtube premium in that case.
| anvic wrote:
| I don't say "just let me pay". I really just want free
| things.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| They're the ones sending us videos free of charge. They're
| doing it _assuming_ we 're gonna look at all this noise.
| Unfortunately for them, their assumptions aren't gonna
| hold. We're just gonna delete the parts we don't want. Just
| like we can rip out the ad pages on a magazine and throw
| them away.
|
| Where's the YouTube plan where Google doesn't track me,
| where I get zero ads, where YouTube itself blocks hardcoded
| sponsor segments in videos, where YouTube allows me to
| download videos DRM-free? Because we already have all that
| without paying them a cent. You want us to pay them to have
| less freedom and power than we already have? Nope.
| eropple wrote:
| I mean, this hauteur is nice and all, but typically
| people pay for things that they want to see continue
| existing. When you aren't paying in money, the only
| recourse is to pay with your attention. Refusing to do
| either is just social abrogation.
|
| I pay for YouTube Premium because I won't sit through ads
| but I want creators to get paid (and apparently at a
| better rate than without it). I also use SponsorBlock, by
| the time I've watched a channel's back catalog I've often
| already signed up for their Patreon. I can't practically
| do so for every channel, so making sure they get their
| impression money is minimally just.
| RunSet wrote:
| https://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2015/10/why-its-ok-
| to-...
| Gormo wrote:
| And yet broadcast TV has existed for decades, supported
| entirely by ads, with no tracking or spyware involved,
| and with nothing restricting our ability to fast-forward
| through commercials.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| > typically people pay for things that they want to see
| continue existing
|
| That makes things even easier. I don't really want
| surveillance capitalism corporations like Google to keep
| existing. Therefore I won't pay them for anything, not
| even with my attention. "Minimally just" has nothing to
| do with it. Any data they have on me, they took despite
| my best efforts to deny them. If creators can't make it
| work without exposing me to this evil, that's OK too. It
| was never meant to be.
|
| > signed up for their Patreon
|
| Yeah, I think this is the way to go for creators. They
| get paid _before_ they create _for_ the act of creating.
| This is the only thing that makes sense in the 21st
| century. Outdated stuff like ads and copyright needs to
| go, if they refuse we 'll force them out with amazing
| world changing technology like uBlock Origin, Sponsor
| Block, Ad Nauseam and the almighty ability to copy that
| every computer inherently possesses.
| thefreeman wrote:
| >> it can be configured to skip things that are not
| simply sponsor spots, stuff like filler, intro and and
| cards, begging for subscriptions, and so forth
|
| > Amazing! I didn't know that. Now I'm starting to wonder
| why I ever tolerated this noise in the first place...
|
| This you?
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| Yes. Is there a problem?
| dtjb wrote:
| Isn't the recourse then to ignore the product? Not take
| their stuff on your own terms just because you really
| want it?
| bheadmaster wrote:
| YouTube provides their content for free. They just don't
| want to provide that content without strings attached, they
| want to force their users to watch advertising.
|
| The only way to provide content for free, yet force users
| to watch advertising, is to lock down users' computers and
| remove their freedom to control their own computing. That's
| what most HN users are against, as it goes against the
| philosophy of free software [0].
|
| If YouTube doesn't want to provide free content, they have
| all the liberty in the world to remove free content from
| their site and provide it only for YouTube Premium users.
| But they don't want to do that, they want to have their
| cake and eat it too.
|
| [0] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
| morbia wrote:
| > If YouTube doesn't want to provide free content, they
| have all the liberty in the world to remove free content
| from their site and provide it only for YouTube Premium
| users. But they don't want to do that, they want to have
| their cake and eat it too.
|
| If you believe in the philosophy of free software to the
| letter YouTube can't do as you suggest. If they were to
| offer a paid only service to Premium members that
| respects their freedoms, that content should also be
| freely distributable to others. That undermines their
| entire business model.
| falcor84 wrote:
| I don't think that this is a real problem. There's
| nothing stopping you from downloading a video and
| emailing it to a few friends, but there's no viable
| alternative to YouTube as a video distribution platform.
| If you wanted to take a lot of videos from YouTube
| premium and share them all with the world without having
| to worry about bandwidth costs, what are your options?
|
| Torrenting is the only real solution that comes to my
| mind, but that only works for the most in demand media.
| If you want the long tail, then as I see it, YouTube's
| (or similarly Facebook's) infrastructure offers the only
| viable solution, and there's no alternative to paying
| them for maintaining this infrastructure, either via ads,
| or via a subscription.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| > If you wanted to take a lot of videos from YouTube
| premium and share them all with the world without having
| to worry about bandwidth costs, what are your options?
|
| I also want to be able to feed, shelter, and educate the
| whole world without having to worry about costs, but I
| have no options.
| NoGravitas wrote:
| Not on your own you don't.
|
| https://giphy.com/gifs/arispool-communism-ferengi-
| ferengigan...
| stavros wrote:
| I don't agree that this is true, you don't have to have
| free _content_ to have FOSS _devices_ , but sometimes
| your business model doesn't work. I'm not obligated to
| buy your stuff.
| morbia wrote:
| When you say 'free content' do you mean free as in beer
| or free as in freedom?
|
| I agree that 'free as in beer' is not required for a
| 'foss device', but I don't see how you can have content
| which is not 'free as in freedom' on a foss device.
| Without DRM and licensing restrictions, how can YouTube
| prevent premium users sharing that content with non-
| paying individuals?
|
| To be clear I am not saying it is right or wrong, just a
| statement of facts. All I am suggesting is that both
| business models (ad supported free (beer) content or paid
| subscriptions) do not respect free software principles.
| Either way, you are restricting what a user can do with
| that content.
| stavros wrote:
| But this is like saying "how can you have non-free things
| in a supermarket, when anyone can put them in a pocket
| and leave?"
|
| The propaganda is so pervasive that we believe that
| people must be made physically unable to steal, otherwise
| they definitely will.
| morbia wrote:
| I don't understand that analogy. I've never been to a
| supermarket without some degree of security, and laws
| form a deterrent. Sure, we could say that violates my
| freedom to take what I want (and it does) but trading
| _some_ liberties are what allows us to have a civilised
| society where we don 't all steal from each other.
|
| > The propaganda is so pervasive that we believe that
| people must be made physically unable to steal, otherwise
| they definitely will.
|
| Are you suggesting that if tomorrow YouTube removed all
| their DRM and turned into a paid for only service, that
| content would not be freely distributed to non-paying
| individuals? Hell, content _with_ DRM is getting
| torrented all the time.
|
| Again, and I want to stress this, I'm not saying it's
| 'right' or defending YouTube's business practices. I just
| don't see how either business model can be reconcilled
| with the Free Software principles.
| falcor84 wrote:
| > I've never been to a supermarket without some degree of
| security, and laws form a deterrent.
|
| For what it's worth, I have been to some unattended small
| shops (particularly in smaller places around Europe) that
| are fully trust-based, with just self-service credit card
| checkout or a money box that you should put the right
| amount in, and it seems to work. I don't know if it would
| work for a large supermarket, but I think we are getting
| there, with the proliferation of self-service, and
| camera-based technological solutions like Amazon's.
| simondotau wrote:
| Really this makes perfect sense in locations where most
| people are honest and the dishonest minority are just
| pilfering the occasional chocolate bar and not unloading
| the entire store into a waiting van.
|
| As long as increased levels of theft doesn't exceed the
| salary they would otherwise have to pay, it's a good deal
| for the store owners.
| stavros wrote:
| > I've never been to a supermarket without some degree of
| security
|
| And I've never seen a video streaming site that just gave
| you links to download the videos. They all have _some_
| degree of security, but no supermarket ever tied my hands
| behind my back on entry.
|
| > Are you suggesting that if tomorrow YouTube removed all
| their DRM and turned into a paid for only service, that
| content would not be freely distributed to non-paying
| individuals?
|
| No, I'm suggesting that _not everyone_ would steal it, in
| te same way that not everyone shoplifts now. In fact, I
| will go so far as to say that the convenience of Netflix
| over torrents is so great for the average person, that
| they 'd keep paying even if there was no DRM on Netflix,
| because
|
| > Hell, content with DRM is getting torrented all the
| time.
| bheadmaster wrote:
| > If they were to offer a paid only service to Premium
| members that respects their freedoms, that content should
| also be freely distributable to others
|
| That's not true, as content is not software.
| bbarnett wrote:
| Old school TV, and cable companies, lost this argument
| looong ago. Commercial skipping by a variety of products
| was challenged in court ; they lost.
|
| They also lost before commerical skipping existed, in the
| 80s, when they tried, and again failed to get VHS
| recording of live TV banned, because you could fast
| forward through the commercials.
|
| Before that, there were attempts to make it illegal to
| record songs off of the radio, going back to the 70s!
|
| So many attempts were made at this, that many countries
| have legislation which makes recording off of TV, for
| personal use, specifically legal.
|
| Democracy has spoken.
|
| In other words, youtube's model of injecting commecial
| content into freely viewable media, and hoping people
| won't modify it to their tastes, is a proven failed
| business model.
|
| Any executive which thinks this is the path, and they one
| can legally enforce it, is literally delusional and unfit
| to ply their trade.
|
| All their hand-wavy attempts to get around this, via
| encryption, via copyright have also failed repeatedly.
|
| This business model is still alive, but control of
| endpoint is dead, dead, dead.
| scarface74 wrote:
| Your history is incorrect.
|
| Universal Studios sued Sony over BetaMax not because it
| was worried about skipping commercials, it wanted to be
| able to sell movies instead of people being able to
| record it.
|
| The first lawsuit about programmatically being able to
| skip commercials which is more akin to the crowdsourced
| YouTube skipping creator embedded sponsorship was in 2001
| when 28 studios sued ReplayTV out of existence.
|
| https://www.eff.org/cases/newmark-v-turner
|
| Also see: no cable tv was never ad free except for
| premium channels like HBO.
| public_defender wrote:
| I think you're wrong. I'm a big advocate of open
| computing, but I think that endpoint autonomy is in as
| much danger as it ever was, if not more. You're
| describing that legal challenges to market-based or
| grassroots ad skipping etc. have failed, but consider
| that the legal route is out of fashion. What companies do
| now is sell a locked device. See windows on ARM,
| safetynet, [whatever apple is doing]. I love this click-
| to-root hack, but it's really a "play 2009 games, win
| 2009 prizes" situation. Good luck trying this on a game
| console or an Amazon echo.
| NoGravitas wrote:
| Don't know about Echo, but I just jailbroke and wiped an
| Amazon Fire Stick and installed TWRP and LineageOS on it.
| The exploit to unlock the bootloader has been patched in
| the latest firmware, but I don't see the arms race ending
| any time soon.
| public_defender wrote:
| That's awesome. I have some old kindle fires with
| lineage. I mentioned the echo because they have been
| iterating the hardware to make it harder and harder to
| gain access. For example, I have one[0] where they
| removed the USB port.
|
| [0] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Amazon+Echo+Dot+3rd+Gen+
| Disasse...
| nomel wrote:
| > is a proven failed business model.
|
| Except in this case, where it's a proven successful
| business model.
| NoGravitas wrote:
| > Old school TV, and cable companies, lost this argument
| looong ago. Commercial skipping by a variety of products
| was challenged in court ; they lost.
|
| In spirit, you're right. But legally, the DMCA was
| specifically intended to give the media companies what
| they had always wanted but been denied by the courts.
| Kiro wrote:
| I don't understand your point. A lot of people are OK
| with watching YouTube with ads, and the rest can pay for
| YouTube Premium. Why would they remove free content?
| bheadmaster wrote:
| The parent comment was talking about YouTube Premium as a
| _better_ solution to the ad problem, implying that
| jailbreaking your system for the purpose of disabling ads
| is somehow _bad_. I explained how jailbreaking is
| actually just taking control of your computing, since
| YouTube already provides the content for free, and wants
| to monetize it by taking the control away from the users.
|
| YouTube could monetize their content with YouTube Premium
| _without_ taking the control away from the users, by
| means of not letting anyone view the content without
| paying. But they do not want to do that, as providing
| content for free is what made YouTube popular in the
| first place. So they lock down the users ' machines.
| Gormo wrote:
| > YouTube provides their content for free.
|
| But YouTube provides very little content of their own.
| They are primarily a hosting platform used by third-party
| content providers.
|
| If YouTube doesn't want to make content accessible for
| free anymore, it would undermine the use case of the vast
| majority of people who use it to distribute their own
| content.
|
| I don't know what their finances and operations look like
| internally, but I suspect that the revenue they are
| bringing is enough for them to operate very much in the
| black, despite some proportion of their audience blocking
| ads, just as traditional broadcast TV networks have been
| profitable for decades without having nay mechanism to
| ensure that viewers are watching commercials.
|
| Perhaps YouTube should just accept that ad blocking is
| part of the market landscape they operate it, and plan
| their monetization around reasonable estimates of the
| actual reach of their ads with blocking taken into
| account. Potentially undermining their core business
| model just to increase ad viewership by a few percentage
| points doesn't seem like a sound strategy.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| Imagine paying YouTube not to degrade your own experience
| only to end up being advertised to anyways by hardcoded video
| sponsors. Not to mention driving the value of your attention
| up.
|
| Don't get extorted. The right answer to all YouTube
| advertising is uBlock Origin and Sponsor Block.
| gureddio wrote:
| I've got a 2017 LG TV and I hate it. It's always been buggy and
| some of the hardware was underspecced even for 2017. I was
| getting ready to replace it but this Jailbreak might buy it a
| few more years
| stavros wrote:
| Isn't the panel good? Can you not get a driver and replace
| the current one? It'll turn it into a dumb TV, which sounds
| preferable than the current thing.
| gureddio wrote:
| It's strange - the panel looks good for some content, but
| bad for others. When there is a solid colour on the screen,
| you can see banding really easily. I also was seeing a bit
| of subtle colour flickering when watching HDR content on
| Netflix.
|
| Otherwise, it generally looks ok, but (and I understand
| that this may just be a preference) I have an older Samsung
| panel and I think it looks better.
| meroje wrote:
| It's the nature of the thing, OLEDs can't display
| perfectly uniform colours. It's most visible on greys.
| gureddio wrote:
| Absolutely, it's particularly noticeable on this panel
| though
| delta_p_delta_x wrote:
| > "Slide to root" using a Magic Remote or press button "5" on
| your remote.
|
| This brings back memories of JailbreakMe[0] with 'slide to
| jailbreak' in iOS 4. I am definitely starring and rooting my nice
| LG OLED that is currently an ad-filled cancer-fest.
|
| [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JailbreakMe
| jannes wrote:
| Those were the times :D
|
| They had an entire exploit chain from Safari to root. I can't
| imagine how much that would be worth today on the black market.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| New TVs being ad-filled cancer are the reason why I'm holding
| onto my old HDTV...
|
| Is there a list of LG TVs this works on? If I buy an LG C1
| today, will this allow me to root it?
| EricE wrote:
| If you don't connect it to the internet there are no ads.
|
| It still boggles my mind that people connect these things to
| the Internet :p
| Scoundreller wrote:
| Until they pick up ads OTA
| delta_p_delta_x wrote:
| > It still boggles my mind that people connect these things
| to the Internet
|
| Not particularly surprising, given that cable is dying and
| most content is delivered over the Internet nowadays. Sure,
| you can use something like an Apple TV, a Roku, or Fire TV,
| but most people prefer the convenience of a single device
| rather than having to buy a _second_ device. In fact, LG
| TVs come _preinstalled_ with almost all the streaming apps:
| Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, HBO Max, YouTube, Hulu,
| Plex, etc etc.
|
| People _always_ choose convenience.
| themadturk wrote:
| I connect my (non-smart) TV to my Roku, which is
| connected to the Internet. I suspect I'll do the same
| when I get a smart TV. There are minor ads on the Roku
| home screen.
| rnk wrote:
| The point is don't connect the tv to the internet,
| connect with a cheap streaming device you bought where
| you control what comes through it. You can also replace
| that device that just plugs in via hdmi with another one
| if some company goes bad and spams you with ads.
| matheusmoreira wrote:
| It's not just ads though. It's about control and trust.
|
| Even if I don't connect the TV to the internet, I'll still
| be subjected to their rules. Who knows what this
| proprietary software is programmed to do? Maybe they wrote
| it so the TV will connect itself to the first available
| network it finds, with or without my consent. Maybe it's
| programmed to punish me for not giving them data by
| withholding features that don't require internet
| connection. This software is gonna do whatever is best for
| the corporation, my interests be damned.
|
| I want software that does what I want without concern about
| some corporation's bottom line. Software I can trust.
| [deleted]
| peatmoss wrote:
| It's not just the ads, control, and trust though. It's
| also about software performance. Holy mackerel my TCL
| Roku-infested TV is slow. I just want it to turn on and
| switch to HDMI input. The software apparently feels a
| strong need to remind me that it exists.
| chris_st wrote:
| Not a TV, but someone recently reported a GE oven that
| would not let you use a particular feature (convection
| cooking, IIRC) until you connected it to WiFi.
| technothrasher wrote:
| The coffee machine at work begs and pleads to be
| connected so it can use "enhanced" coffee recipes. My new
| clothes washer at home also tries to convince me it's
| crucial it gets a Wi-Fi password.
| mavhc wrote:
| WiFi that has a route to the internet?
| anonymousab wrote:
| There were a few TV models a couple of years ago that would
| stop working after enough time without a network
| connection. When they reconnect, they're clearly going to
| download a new cache of ads and transmit their existing
| tracking data.
|
| It's easy to assume that they'll eventually require an
| unabridged connection to their own servers for updates, and
| they will simply send all ad data through the same routes
| such that you can't block one without blocking the other.
|
| This is too lucrative for manufacturers to pass up. The
| added complexity also ads more points of failure and drives
| faster industry-wide consumer upgrade cycles. This is not
| something that will be fixed in the market alone.
| ferminaut wrote:
| I can see manufacturers embedding a LTE
| radio/lorawan/whatever into the devices. Not connecting
| the device to the internet wont be an option in the
| future for most consumers.
|
| I give it 15 years or so for the tech to mature.
| GenerocUsername wrote:
| Silly consumer, you need to install the 5g box closer to
| your family room
| Scoundreller wrote:
| My guess is that it will pick up an ATSC signal which it
| already has a tuner for.
|
| Ads will play at 3AM and the TV will just record.
|
| Or push it through some kind of subcarrier data signal.
|
| TV will be able to triangulate its location by
| multilateration of ATSC/DVB-T signals. West end of the
| city will play different ads than east end.
| rnk wrote:
| You could do it with the helium network now. That's a
| specific reason to avoid helium - it's the closest to a
| ubiquitous network that will let people spy on your use
| of ordinary electrical appliances. Unlike TVs, your next
| fridge won't need an internet connection to spy on your
| use.
| technothrasher wrote:
| It'll just share ads over Bluetooth with your
| refrigerator that won't turn the compressor on unless it
| has a connection to the server, so it can determine your
| cooling subscription is still up to date.
| saidajigumi wrote:
| _There were a few TV models a couple of years ago that
| would stop working after enough time without a network
| connection. When they reconnect, they 're clearly going
| to download a new cache of ads and transmit their
| existing tracking data._
|
| Not _quite_ as bad as that, but since I took my Sony TV
| offline it regularly reboots itself (when "off") and
| sometimes needs a "hard" start via the physical power
| button as the remote on has become unresponsive. I
| strongly suspect that it's just badly coded, going mad
| trying to connect to resources that don't exist, filling
| logs, etc. then failing over.
|
| I so want tracked advertising in all of its forms to be
| outlawed.
| [deleted]
| someguy5344523 wrote:
| You can also just buy a Sceptre tv, which doesn't even have
| network connectivity.
| romland wrote:
| Current version (v2) of "slide-to-root" might not work on a
| TV from the store. But there are alternative exploits which
| involve a bit of manual work (not much). One currently in the
| wild is the "crashd exploit".
|
| You can join the OpenLGTV Discord for more information:
|
| https://discord.gg/W8X3wQ7W
|
| (check pinned messages in rootmytv channel)
| opan wrote:
| Is Discord the only place they hang out? No IRC or Matrix?
| SergeAx wrote:
| I have pretty modern (2021) LG WebOS TV for several months and
| didn't see any ads yet (after I deleted all pre-installed apps
| besides YouTube and Art Gallery). It is even connected to the
| Internet (to watch YouTube, obviously). Where do you see yours?
| nonameiguess wrote:
| I've kind of noticed this, too. I actually use a LG OLED as
| my primary desktop PC monitor in my master bedroom, mounted
| to the wall above a standing desk. I don't usually use it as
| an actual television for basic sleep hygiene reasons, but
| I've used it more than zero times in the two years I've had
| it now, and never noticed any ads in any interface (excluding
| the streaming apps themselves promotion their own content in
| their apps).
|
| Same thing on the Sony Bravia I have in my living room, which
| is what I usually watch television on.
|
| But I do run my own DNS server in an OPNSense router/firewall
| with some pretty strict blocking rules, and it recurses to a
| NextDNS server that also has its own blocklists enabled. So
| if these devices are actually using DNS via DHCP instead of
| hard-coding their own servers, and serving ads from known ad
| domains, that would do it.
| simula67 wrote:
| Is there any way to root a third generation Chromecast and
| install AdBlock for YouTube? I have been trying to use
| dns.adguard.com for my Openwrt router and it does not seem to
| block YouTube ads on my Chromecast.
|
| On a side note: the difficulty in blocking ads has shown me how
| much control I have lost over my devices.
| londons_explore wrote:
| The Chromecast modding community is very small considering how
| many devices there are out there.
|
| I think it's a combination of Google having a pretty strong
| security team (so there aren't many exploits), and geeks not
| really wanting to use Google stuff anymore.
| POiNTx wrote:
| I'm using this on my latest generation chromecast, not sure if
| it works on 3rd generation though. Works great!
|
| https://smartyoutubetv.github.io/
| alkonaut wrote:
| Is there any way to make a newer chromecast (the 4k/newer model
| with remote) behave like the old ones? I.e. completely skip the
| apps interface and simply work like a casting receiver?
|
| I have zero interest in using apps, I just want to cast stuff
| from my phone. My old (non-4k) chromecast switched to the
| correct htmi input and started the TV when I started casting to
| it. The new white one _doesn 't even show a stream_ if you cast
| to it when in the "app" interface which is its default
| interface.
|
| Instead you have to use the remote and leave the app interface
| first (go "out" to the photo/clock/screensaver interface which
| was default on older ChromeCasts), and only then you can cast
| to it? Am I misunderstanding something? Is there a
| configuration option to just make it a "dumb but 4k"
| chromecast, i.e. so that it boots up in the mode that accepts
| streaming?
| anotherman554 wrote:
| I don't know about Chromecast models but using the Google
| Home app on android I just tried casting to my Nvidia Shield
| and the Shield started receiving it with no button presses on
| the Shield remote needed. I don't let the Shield turn the TV
| on so can't comment as to whether that would have worked.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-09-29 23:02 UTC)