Does anyone got any television recommendations for dumb tv’s or other words none smart tv’s? Or even a tv that is smart but the software is open sourced making it privacy friendly?
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TV’s have become privacy nightmares in recent days.
One option would be any TV that works then simply keep it offline and stream from a device that allows you to have more control over your privacy.
If you’re wanting to actually use a smart TV’s functions, I think NextDNS can be set up to block most of the telemetry on whichever smart TV you have.
Yep, my TV is the chattiest device on my network according to PiHole. Blocked all the telemetry and it still works fine.
This is definitely the simplest approach, as you will be able to use any TV you come across.
As for a streaming device, some form of HTPC is likely to give you the best control over your digital privacy.
Not any TV. You can’t just use PiHole and similar if the TV uses DNS over TLS or HTTPS
Dumb TVs have gotten hard to find these days. Your options are to either avoid connecting the tv to the internet, or to get digital signage display (but they are pricier).
or a monitor i guess
Yeah, but monitors don’t typically have a remote control or TV tuner embedded. But if that’s not an issue, sure, a monitor would work.
I asked this question a year ago, and was advised to buy a TV and never connect it to my network. That worked fine for me… But, one person told me they bought a TV that would not function until it was connected to their network to run “updates” so he took it back to the store and got a replacement. The replacement did the same thing so he took that back too. (I think he eventually got one that just “worked” out of the box without requiring an update just to work.
Till they release the next update. Why even support a brand like that.
I mean the TV won’t know they’ve released a new update if you never connect it to the net.
I wanted a cheap TV. To me it’s just a display. It’s been over a year and it’s never been connected to the Internet and it’s never bugged me about it.
get any tv and dont hook it to the net. use a device like a nvidia shield, a game console or something similar if you want streaming apps
You think consoles don’t track you? Also they are extremely wasteful when it comes to power consumption. Better just get a tiny streaming stick or a smart tv.
Have you considered that you can play videogames on them?
Yes, but we are discussing streaming here. I also have several consoles and I play on them but for streaming they’re a really bad (expensive) option for the reason I mentioned: electricity.
Not everyone plays games or has time for it.
That’s why they recommended more than consoles.
use a device like a nvidia shield, a game console or something similar
use a device like a nvidia shield, a game console or something similar
Tgey can still connect to open networks in your area and send data, I personally disconnected the wifi&bluetooth chip from mine
You’re looking for a computer monitor or a commercial display. Both should be free of all the “smart” features.
The downside is that both are far more expensive comparatively.
Warning, computer monitors tend to be missing speakers. I’ve made this mistake
you can get somewhat decent usb speakers for like 20 bucks though
“Digital signage” is horribly overpriced, and lacking in features you probably do want (like HDR, HDMI 2.1, VRR, etc).
Just buy a regular TV and don’t let it on the internet.
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I’ve had some that actually will not let you use it until you have accepted the user agreement, sold your soul, created an account, verified the account, then signed in. That is also why I won’t buy any TV that uses Roku.
Can’t you just go through the setup process with some dummy account details then just disconnect everything when it’s done updating?
I actually tried creating an account then just signing out, but then it just sent me RIGHT back to the login screen. You had to be logged in to even use the damn thing.
I heard that Roku TVs (not the sticks) disable HDMI until you have connected to the internet and registered an account. I also heard that their TVs are way chattier and force more ads than their stick.
Ironic because the one device I would want to connect to its HDMI is a Roku stick.
I have several roku tvs in my house and I’ve never heard that, and I’ve never had to setup any type of account…
Sources for what? The article is about ads, ads appearing in live broadcasts, and disabling them in the tvs settings. Op is taking about how he HeArD you have to setup an account or certain hardware like hdmi ports are disabled
What am I missing?
Not saying you’re wrong, but I never had to create an account on my TCL TV running the Roku TV software. You can even choose an input to start up to, so I never even see the home screen ads.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it varies by model, but I’ve had no issues just having mine start up to a Fire Stick connected to my home Plex server (though Fire Stick comes with its own problems).
You can buy commercial signage displays like this one from Samsung which have modern display features. These are made to run 16 hours/day every day so the electronics are actually better than most consumer displays.
These don’t have all the crapware of consumer smart TVs, but they also aren’t subsidized by all the data gathering and ad pushing stuff so they cost more than smart TVs of the same size.
But do they come with stands? I spent a decade working in digital signage in Australia and I don’t recall ever seeing a screen with a stand.
A reasonable enough VESA mount or stand should be no more than $50 or $60. Looks like the linked display has VESA 200 mounting holes.
You want to wall mount any decent sized TV anyway. My LG didn’t come with a stand either, only a wall mount.
Why would I want to wall mount a TV if it’s large?
Several reasons.
First of all space: a wall mounted TV takes up less space, and this is especially true if it’s a large TV
Second: safety. A large flat screen is at risk for falling over. Even the smallish (50") plasma I had a while back came with a safety warning that urged you to basically run a piece of rope from a hook at the top of the TV to the wall to ensure it wouldn’t fall on anyone.
Third: it just looks better.
I use Raspberry Pi 4 + Lineage OS (Android TV version) + Jellyfin + SmartTube (open source YouTube client for Android TV)
What do you do about a remote control? Bluetooth? Or do you just use a wireless mouse and keyboard?
Chromecast Remote connected via Bluetooth
Have you looked at big-ass computer monitors? They probably have a lot of things you don’t want, but I’ve yet to see a smart one. Maybe a cheap one would fit the bill?
that’s true
What things do they have that you don’t want?
A much bigger price tag.
The PC monitors?
Depending on the type, they might be optimised for documents rather than multimedia. Look for a monitor that is intended for gamers/graphics designers. That way you get the color depth you’d also want for movies, I guess.
Sceptre has some decent panels. Also look for business display units. You can find major brands like Samsung and Panasonic and Toshiba and they will be as good as the regular TV without the stupid bloated “smart” shit.
Literally just don’t use the shit OS. Plug in a media system and you are good.
Who gives a shit what the tv OS can or can’t do??
If you want to have absolute privacy, then you want any TV, never hook it up to the internet, then probably just a raspberry pi hooked up with Kodi.
You won’t have netflix or disney+. But if you want privacy that’s the way you have to go
I got a xiaomi smart tv, opened it up and disconnected the wifi&bluetooth chip. Making it a really annoying dumb smart tv, then just connected a laptop with Arch
I don’t think there’s anything you can reasonably do today to stop the privacy invasiveness. They can always use an Amazon Sidewalk-ish communication method. You’d have to faraday cage the damn thing.
Simple solution. Don’t have an Alexa etc type device that allows those silly protocols and constantly listens to you.
