Even with LG’s concession, it may become more difficult to avoid chatbots on TVs.
LG says it will let people delete the Copilot icon from their TVs soon, but it still has plans to weave the service throughout webOS. The Copilot web app rollout seems to have been a taste of LG’s bigger plans to add Copilot to some of its 2025 OLED TVs. In a January announcement, LG said Copilot will help users find stuff to watch by “allowing users to efficiently find and organize complex information using contextual cues.” LG also said Copilot would “proactively” identify potential user problems and offer “timely, effective solutions.”
Some TVs from LG’s biggest rival, Samsung, have included Copilot since August. Owners of supporting 2025 TVs can speak to Copilot using their remote’s microphone. They can also access Copilot via the Tizen OS homescreen’s Apps tab or through the TVs’ Click to Search feature, which lets users press a dedicated remote button to search for content while watching live TV or Samsung TV Plus. Users can also ask the TV to make AI-generated wallpapers or provide real-time subtitle translations.
When you get a new TV, make sure it supports CEC so you can bypass all this bullshit.
CEC allows your input devices to change inputs, control power, control volume, etc.
My current setup is a Samsung QLED, Xbox, and Apple TV. All support CEC and I never touch the Samsung remote and have no idea what’s in the Samsung menus anymore.
If I turn on the streaming box, the tv turns on, the input changes, and all I see is the streaming box UI. Same for the game console. CEC is fucking incredible and an underrated thing that doesn’t get the flowers it deserves. It just works.
Edit: imagine your TV is dumb monitor with a KVM. That’s what CEC feels like when it’s setup correctly.
This post deserves to be a Technology Connections video
Oh my god he would have so much fun with CEC. What a wonderful and cursed protcol
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CEC has little to do with this; it’s an app that’s installed not a button on the remote. The search button referenced can use copilot but it’s not necessary (ie you can use the default webOS search) nor is the button copilot branded.
CEC is awesome, it just doesn’t address the issue raised by putting copilot/other AI apps on the smart TV itself. For that you just disable the internet connection.
It’s not even an app, it’s just a link to the copilot website
My point about CEC is that it doesn’t matter what silly crap they install on the TV. You won’t see the unremovable apps and ads if CEC will bypass that junk entirely.
A good CEC setup will kind of feel like your TV is a dumb monitor and there is a KVM that switches all the auto and video when you pick up a game controller or streaming box remote.
I never see my TV’s software and I never touch my TV’s remote.
Nope, CEC sucks. It makes lots of simple stuff complicated and it often does things on its own.
Just don’t connect TV to the internet or purchase a dumb PC monitor.
What devices have you tried it with?
I’ve been very happy with Samsung’s implementation paired with Apple and Microsoft devices.
That said, I haven’t see how things play out with other TV brand and input devices from Sony, Roku, etc. I only know that my setup has been pretty damn bulletproof.
I’ve used many throughout the years. There’s always something goofy going on. Watching something on input one might automatically switch to another input that is just doing a network software update check in sleep mode. Or someone picks up a game controller and accidentally presses a button which will also suddenly switch inputs.
CEC is only good if the devices connected to it are very limited and if you want to do all software updates for everything manually.
LG’s implementation is both good and bad. It doesn’t automatically switch over, but it pops up a dialog box asking if you want to switch inputs whenever another input is connected or device turned on.
Samsung did neither, and I always had to manually switch inputs.
We don’t need/want a huge TV, so we just use a monitor with an external speaker and dedicated media box.
Smart TVs these days are just too invasive to even consider in my home.
if you’re using a dedicated media box anyway, a smart TV not connected to your network is basically the same as a dumb monitor.
Exactly our setup.
I will need to replace my TV next year and I’m really not looking forward to it.
I will be hooking my two consoles (Series X and PS5), then all I need is something that I can put Emby and SmartTube on.
Are the Onn sticks still a good option?
I think laptop or mini pc is the best. Casting might not be an option, but its nice not having to deal with apps at all if you want to watch something on the TV, and picking up a cheap wireless keyboard with touchpad makes it a nice combo.
I was thinking I’d do a pinhole and maybe a minipc. I’ve never had much luck with casting.
Linux on minipc with a cheap wireless keyboard like the k400 is a great combo. Won’t be seeing ads with that, since on browser you’ll have ublock origin for things pihole can’t block.
Very true. I’ll need to buy a pi and play with that first.
I have an LG. They have a jellyfin app. Just block the access to other stuff and it’s fine, if not actually good.
I don’t use or need a seperste streaming box. I don’t get data mining or ads.
I need Emby - a friend runs his stuff on it. I’ll eventually move towards self-hosting all my own stuff, but that’s months away.
Jellyfin and Emby are kinda the same thing.
So, I can use Jellyfin client to watch stuff off his Emby server? Interesting.
if you could purchase a basic/dump TV with no features at all and buy raspberry pi separately, you could install Android on raspberry pi and connect the two together
Not sure if it changed in the last year or so since I bought my tv but isn’t the issue that there are essentially no dumb tvs? The closest I could find were big monitors intended to be commercial public displays but they came with their own set of issues. In the end I bought a smart tv and I it’s quite bad.
That’s what my search keeps coming up with - commercial display models. I don’t know enough about them to make a good decision, though. I guess I’ll keep digging.
Those displays are made to be very bright and usually have a lot of backlight bleed.
it’s not that complicated, just get a smart TV and don’t connect it to your network. quite easy to never use any of the built in apps if you only use your own inputs sources.
searching “non-smart tv” on amazon yield many results as long as you don’t require highend brand like samsung or LG
I’m trying to avoid Amazon but I’ll look there to see what I can learn.
I haven’t gotten this yet. Not sure if my TV is too old (2017 IIRC) or because I’m in Japan. I plan to just move my current PC into the living room when I can afford to upgrade but RAM prices just went nuts and video cards are still very expensive here (relative to wages but also because PC gaming is a niche hobby). I hate it.
If your TV isnt too far from your desk getting a fiber optic hdmi cable and a powered usb extension cable if needed might be more convenient and let you keep your PC where it is now. Fiber optic hdmi cables can get pretty long without issues.
I have one that is 22 meters long that supports HDMI 2.1 that I use to send a 4k/120 hz signal to the TV with VRR.
