I’m going to buy my first new TV in years. Even if it’s a ‘smart’ tv we plan to just use our Roku. I’ve heard that some TVs require you to connect it to the internet before you can even use a Roku device. For privacy reasons I don’t want my TV to EVER have access to my wifi. Is anyone aware of how to know what models/brands of TVs allow me to use it without ever connecting the TV itself to wifi?
If necessary I guess I could connect it to my guest network to ‘activate’ the TV, set up the Roku to connect to my private network, then change the password to the guest network.
Would rather just have a TV that doesn’t even ‘phone home’ once.
I have a pair of LG tvs that didn’t require any activation. Might wanna take a look at those?
Definitely stay away from Samsung. All my encounters with Samsung have required some type of sign up-activation process.
I’ve seen some users here also recommend checking out monitors as tvs but I’m not well versed in that area.
That’s what I ended up doing. A dumb monitor is just fine, as long as you don’t need a huuuge screen. The main thing is to find a good external speaker though that doesn’t auto-sleep in the middle of one’s show…
The main thing is to find a good external speaker though that doesn’t auto-sleep in the middle of one’s show…
That’s a thing now? It’s been a while since I’ve shopped for speakers, but other than those Google/Alexa jobs they seemed to be about as dumb as rocks. Which is exactly they way I want them.
How old are they? We bought an LG TV 1 or 2 years ago and it has a lot of online features and keeps prompting me to make an account and accept various terms and conditions for their advertising or to let them listen to the microphone and such. I think it’s mostly optional but they don’t make it easy to opt out
To add to this, my LG C2 kept popping up a message that I could use Alexa with it if I connected it to Wifi.
To kill that message, I did. Now it pops up advertisements in that same way from time to time.
If I take it offline again, I get messages about connecting it again.
It’s effectively impossible to kill ads on it.
If you have a modern router you can block WAN connections while allowing LAN connections. This is what I do and it doesn’t give me crap (and bonus, I can interface with it still with home assistant for automations).
My router is an ASUS AX5700, if it matters.
While I overall like my lg tv they have some shitty things from both a tech perspective (can’t play or pass through dts audio bc of licensing bullshit though this may not be the case on newer models) and an anti consumer perspective (data collection and ads)
On the first point you can circumvent by using e-arc and avr
On the second point you have to dig through settings and make sure sales of your personal data is not enabled (it is by default and can be re-enabled with updates)
You can also block the following in your router/dns:
us.ad.lgsmartad.com us.info.lgsmartad.com ngfts.lge.com lgad.cjpowercast.com edgesuite.net us.rdx2.lgtvsdp.com us.info.lgsmartad.com us.ibs.lgappstv.com us.lgtvsdp.com ad.lgappstv.com smartshare.lgtvsdp.com ibis.lgappstv.com us.ad.lgsmartad.com lgad.cjpowercast.com.edgesuite.net ngfts.lge.com yumenetworks.com smartclip.net smartclip.com
snu.lge.com su.lge.com lgtvonline.lge.com
This will block the ads in the os as well as hamper their data collection, somewhat. The last three specifically will also block updates.
You can also root webos in some scenarios which gives you certain options to block ads in YouTube and such
On one hand don’t support TVs that do this anti consumer bullshit. On the other hand good luck buying a tv in 2024 that doesn’t pull some kind of anti consumer bullshit? Any tv with google/android tv, Roku, etc built in is just as bad or worse. Most if not all manufacturers engage in OS level data collection.
Alternative perspective: Buy the most intrusive, ad-subsidized set you can find and disconnect/block it so you get all of the benefit and none of the privacy invasion?
Ensure it works offline before buying would be my only advice here. Also don’t be surprised if it still has ads, I know android tv can have ads without connecting to the internet because it’ll have them cached from a fresh install. Adblocking on android tv is a pain because the caching of ad content can make you think it’s not working
I just have my LG C1 locked down to LAN only connection, in my router settings put it on house arrest. 😂
That way it doesn’t whine about no connection and wardrive for open connections. No ads, no crap, and just works without being able to phone home.
Next “TV” Will definitely be a short throw projector or commercial display (which is the codeword for “dumb”) TV today.
