Sometimes I think about changing out my 13-year-old 1080p TV for something with 4k. Then I see crap like this and hope it never dies.
this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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It really sucks that dumb TVs apparently just don't get made anymore
They absolutely do. You just have to get a commercial display.
I got a new Samsung TV (consumer model) last year and I haven't had any issues using my shield with it. The trick is don't use the built in crap.
Most TVs are dumb if you never hook them up to the Internet. I don't allow my OLEDs on the Internet generally and simply use a different device to stream and do all the things (webOS is actually pretty cool but LG is obnoxious like this sometimes). Even if your TV is good enough, this shit happens anyway. At least if my shield gets obnoxious, I can replace it with a different device.
Still gotta be careful since some manufacturers have started auto-connecting to open access points when they detect them.
That's the solution I used in the end too. It was for my parents TV, which is a smart TV with an OS that just sucks. I have a server with Jellyfin and every time they wanted to open that, they had to navigate to the app store, open that, open "Web App Tester" and then click the link for Jellyfin. The TV was also really slow in general, it always took like half a minute to connect to our WiFi after turning on and it randomly started to flicker. Then I found the Xiaomi TV Box, which comes with a bluetooth remote and can be hooked up to a TV over HDMI. It runs Google TV, which is just the new name for Android TV, so it has Jellyfin as an app and all the other issues were fixed as well. I know that still sucks privacy wise but my parents don't care about that and they just wanted something that works. We also wanted to replace the smart TV with a dumb TV at first but all the dumb TVs we could find were a lot smaller and only 1080p instead of 4k, so we just disconnected the smart TV from our WiFi. This new setup is an improvement in every way and we can replace the TV itself and the Xiaomi TV Box independently if we ever need to.
I havenβt bought a TV in over a decade. Iβve thought about upgrading but I wonβt upgrade to a TV that requires an internet connection to activate
If it's any consolation I don't think any of them I've run into REQUIRE Internet to use them as a dumb screen. I wouldn't buy one that did either. Lol.
use your tv as a pc (e.g. raspi) screen and let the pc run everything.
Unfortunately that doesn't always work. For example on linux there are not high-quality DRMs available so streaming platforms are stuck at 480p/720p, forget your 4k
Here is what I do, but ofc not for live sports.
My TV does have access to my wifi but I blocked its MAC address from actually accessing the internet. I have a jellyfin server on my network that also can not access the internet. Now my tv can see the jellyfin server without any data leakage, cause they are on the same network :) maybe this helps some of you.
Where did you block the internet access? Ok the router? I've been looking to do this on some smart switches that I control from homeassistant, but I'm not sure how to block them
On the router yes. Depending on your model you should be able to see a list of connected devices somewhere and from there block internet access.
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If you have a smart TV, you're already at a disadvantage.
One solution to consider might be a black hole DNS on your local network, like Pi-Hole, that can target this device and prevent all Google requests.
Another, unfortunately, might be to get a dumb TV and use an HTPC as your streaming solution for the content you already watch.
And another might be to look into custom TV OS options out in the wild.
I have been trying to find some motivation to get into the pi-hole game. And that Earl Grey project looks intetesting.
Earl Grey? Hot.
Can you even still buy a dumb TV nowadays? Last time I looked, I couldn't find one
Ah, a "smart" TV
[as the other guy said, use your TV as a PC screen and let the computer do the screaming]
AAAAHHHHHHH
I never connected my TV to the internet, I use a computer, an Apple TV or other box like that, etc always using external hdmi devices.
Great, but that doesn't really help OP.
I got a ....don't hit me....GoogleTV "smart" one recently and there's absolutely no BS. With some fiddling one could replace the launcher and then there's really not much left. As to tracking and stuff, there's pihole and no WiFi, just LAN. And they don't even try to escape local DNS.
I explicitly wanted a google one, not some Samsung-shit who add their own garbage on top of Google's garbage.
But the best advice would be to buy the dumbest tv possible (are there even some left?) And then be free to choose which box to add to it. Which might also be google but exchangeable if annoying.
I explicitly wanted a google one, not some Samsung-shit who add their own garbage on top of Google's garbage.
Samsung TVs run Tizen which is their own OS, rather than a skinned Android TV. It's pretty minimal so you need some other box or stick if you want a good watching experience, but it doesn't do anything hostile as long as you turn the tracking bs off at setup, and there are no ads in the UI (at least on the 2019 model my parents have).
There's no truly open source TV OS though :( I miss Firefox OS
Oh I didn't know. Assumed it's just the same shit like their phones and tablets. Crap on top of other crap. But it's still Samsung and I don't trust them either π₯΄
Tizen has privacy issues and suggests content on its home screen.
I have my S90D Wi-Fi turned off. Suggested content is still there from when it was previously on the network. Also certain features require an Internet connection, but I don't miss those features with my Apple TV.
I couldn't find any properly dumb tvs in a recent search and got a Google TV. You can set it up in "dumb mode" at startup and it never does a thing online. Can even do firmware vis USB if you felt like it for some reason.
Happy with it so far! 4k and OLED, a decent price imo as well. I'd rather it be fully dumb but this is close enough.
Same. I didn't even find a 1080p anymore, let alone a dumb one. So fucking sad...but I don't ever need a TV at all, it's just for wifey who uses it as background-noise.
And it could be even cheaper without their stupid "smart"-crap. But nooooo. Let's make a TV they maybe can't even use 10 years later anymore.
10 is optimistic imo
Depends on what level of usability of an un-updated android one needs, yes. On a TV I guess it's of less importance. Except you're dependand on apps that constantly update and also their required os-level. Yeah,might've been too optimistic ;-(
Letting TVs absorb set-top equipment was a mistake. You want to keep that modular stuff separate from the big expensive rectangle, so if it any of it gives you backsass, you can take it out back and beat it to smithereens with a sledgehammer.
What's your tv?
Samsung. But i think the culprit might be the new direct tv plug that seems to be wrapped up in gemini. This is my parents tv. I have actually never owned a tv and have onoy ever watch tv when i have roommates ir visit parents.
Considering they actively ordered this thing i'm guessing we're just hosed.
But i am still looking into pi-hole and jellyfin setup for them.
Is it possible it's still in retail mode?
I'll look into it when i get the chance. I didn't see anything about retail mode. Is there another wording for that? Everything seemed to be straight forward during installation.
It's a mode on tvs that retailers use so the tv would be more bright and stuff and maybe show messages.
Ok. Thank you. I'll run through the configs. Appreciate your tips.