Thread concludes no privacy-respecting smart TVs exist; focus shifts to rooting capability
8 Nov 1 6:49 PM · 10d ago · 4 comments · 1 source · development 8 of 8
By late evening, discussion consensus solidified that consumers should assume all modern smart TVs spy, and instead evaluate which models support unsigned firmware flashing for maximum control.
“The consensus thus far appears to be that all modern TVs wipe their ass with user privacy. Given what happened with games very recently, perhaps the question should be rephrased to: "Which modern TVs support flashing unsigned firmware?"”
rl3LecroJS Hacker News user asking questionepwr HN commenterdrnick1 HN commenterlrvick HN commenter
The whole story articlespostscomments the bright band is this development · numbered dots are the others · click one to jump
What people said 24 voices · best of 92 · verbatim
-
LG makes the best panels, in my opinion, but they’re also the most customer-hostile when it comes to privacy.The easiest solution is to never give the TV network access at all (no WiFi, no Ethernet) and only drive it over HDMI, via an Apple TV for example. The onus then shifts to how much you trust Apple, and the TV becomes mostly a dumb display…
-
- Buy an LG OLED TV. They're as gorgeous as they are notorious. I just got a 77" LG C6 and it is crazy good.- Root it [0].- Install Glasshouse [1] and disable all telemetry. YOU now own the glass. Now you can chromecast to the TV, use Adfree YouTube, access IP TV, etc etc etc. No point crippling your TV by pulling the wireless module and voiding…
-
Recently I've had to deal with this same problem - get a new TV for living room. Personally, I do not watch TV at all, but kids want to see cartoons when having their breakfast. I spent a week reading forums and came to conclusion that best solution would be to buy a "dumb TV" and connect it to a PC I trust, but it appears there are no dump TVs in…
-
I recommend a projector. When we moved into our current place, I considered a TV and went with the projector instead. Because:- A TV has a backlight. It doesn't feel as 'natural' to the eye when watching because you are staring directly at an LED.- A TV is smaller than a projector.- A TV, when it is off, imposes itself on the room. It's a large…
-
I got an old gigantic monstrosity of a DLP tv off facebook marketplace for free then plugged an old Intel NUC into it. It's not for everyone, but I think that it's great, partly because the facts that it was free and that it's stupidly big give me joy.More practically, when I am not using that, I just watch tv shows and such on my desktop computer…
-
The simple answer is: anySmart TVs are just a normie alternative for what tech enthusiasts were doing for 30ish years: put a computer next to the tv and use it.Alternative, get yourself something capable of running Moonlight (https://moonlight-stream.org/) and run Sunshine (https://app.lizardbyte.dev/Sunshine/) on your workstation, I am even…
-
The other day I saw this project to flash your TV with custom software: https://www.tiktok.com/@itstundealao/video/77013919041931215...Here are the repos mentioned: https://github.com/Gathin23/cleanyourtvhttps://github.com/simbasjungles/free-my-tvThe video is pretty cool. The guy flashes his tv with a custom firmware with a look/feel and elements…
-
Buy any tv with CEC support (almost all of them) and never connect it to the internet. Never. Never start any app on the tv. Hook a Kodi box to the hdmi port and use that, and only that.For the Kodi box get series-7 Intel NUC with Kabylake-era processors, gen 7. They don't run Windows 11, so come very cheap second hand, but decode h264 and hevc in…
-
Projector with media server running Kodi with various plugins. Projector screen is unbreakable by kids or pets and projector itself is high enough to be outside a range of them.Kodi is controlled by smartphones connected to home network so no need to store one physical remote controller.Bonus: When you are outside home, you can still control…
-
Agree … but the part that needs to be rememberedmake sure it’s a model where the latest firmware is rootable and never connect it to your WiFi until you have rootEverything you need to do to get root can be done with an Ethernet connected directly to the TV and your laptop. There may be modifications needed to the root toolkits but with good…
-
buying expensive equipment to deliberately take advantage of a now-exploit is such a bad idea, and it's bit me more than once in the past few decades.and ethically, what's the point in giving hostile corporate groups any money ? I get that you're breaking out of their mega subsidized and profit-locked walled garden, but 'sold units' is still a…
-
As others have said, buy whatever you want just never connect it to the internet.Now many people are also claiming that TVs will surreptitiously connect to an open network, but as far as I can tell, there is no evidence of this actually happening with a real commercial TV [0]. Of course it’s technically possible, but until a researcher actually…
-
The one with the best looking picture at the store. Don't connect it to Internet and use your own streaming box (that you trust).Really I think in store is the way to go. Some "low" and "mid" tvs look identical to me. Some "high end" are meh. Some other "low end" look great. I think it's a bit of a crapshoot. Not sure currently but Samsung QLED…
-
I love this. Do simple procedures like this exist for every smart TV? For every smart device?And how well does it work in practice? My experience with setting up my own media box suggests that online community solutions, no matter how well integrated, will always still have some rough edges that you don't see in commercial products (subtitle sync…
-
I have not checked the details recently, but it should still be possible to get an aftermarket "dumb TV" generic controller board to fit the panel, as LCD panels have a somewhat standardised controller-panel interface.6 years ago, discussion of an article about such: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24877363 (site hasn't survived, but article…
-
The best privacy method is to completely disconnect the TV from any wired or wireless network, and like you suggested to use it as a dummy display with the Apple TV (or whichever your favorite media player is). So in that sense you could just go to Costco (or any major electronics retailer if not in US) and pick one that you like the image &…
-
1) Would you consider publishing which apps you removed? (A wiki on making smart devices dumb - cars, TVs, refrigerators, tractors ... - would be useful, though I'm not suggesting you make and manage it yourself.)2) Why bother removing the apps if it has no network connection? Defense in depth is sensible to me, but maybe there's something else…
-
This is what I'll do for my next TV...I'll purchase a LG / Samsung Digital Signage Display. Basically a stripped down panel with no features, and then just run something like apple tv, or something else on it. For broadcast television (yeah I still occasionally watch that), I have a hdhomerun plugged into the network, and I use VLC/Infuse to…
-
The whole telemetry stuff isn’t even new - I’m in the process of rooting and building custom firmware for my 2018 Panasonic OLED running Firefox OS, it doesn’t look to have as much as the newer sets, but there is still far more than I’m comfortable with.Managed to establish root via a tv data channel, just working out the custom firmware and…
-
Why people subject themselves to TV operating systems (or chromecasts, apple TV, etc)? I just have a mini-ITX PC connected to my TV and a flymouse. You can even use pre-made mini-PC if you don't care about gaming. Using anything without ad-block is impossible these days.Being able to pull out a full wireless keyboard+mouse when doing productivity…
-
This is what I'm doing, but we also have to admit that kodi kinda sucks.It's really unstable, I can't find a browser, can be janky, unstable and don't forget unstable.I can't even identify if it is some plugin that is causing the instability or not. Which should not be an excuse, because poor architecture is still the project's problem.Is anyone…
-
The only solution I use is connecting the TV (LG OLED) via ethernet and set a traffic rule to drop all outbound internet packets from the TV and then have an Apple TV for viewing.However, I bought my Apple TV in 2022-2023 when it was like £129, so excellent value for money, not so sure nowadays.The reason why I keep it connected to the network…
-
One would think that TV manufacturers would provide the means the root TVs so consumer would still buy them. Our TV is kept offline and a fanless low power PC facilitates all content. We would have liked to buy a new TV, but being the real owner would be a hard requirement for that. And a new one would just need to be able to do what the PC today…
-
It's not hard to find options if you stop looking in stupid places with bad search terms. "TV" on Amazon is literally the innermost circle of consumer hell.> I don’t mind paying a premium
All 8 developments of Hacker News discusses privacy-respecting TV options →
Hacker NewsMastodonNewswires