we live in hell
I don’t even understand the pitch? you have the disc playing, in your hands, your ownership, no buffering, no subscription required. and they’re saying…hey do you want a worse experience?
What brand? so I know NOT to buy it
I believe it’s Roku. That purple symbol in the bottom right is on the remote as well.
Very budget so this doesn’t surprise me.
Also beneath the purple asterisk is the words “Roku TV” in grey on the bezel
Wtf I thought roku TV were one of the good ones. I use a Roku thing that you plug in and I haven’t seen this yet.
The good ones go bad eventually :(
The poster really needs to just turn off the Smart TV experience.
The Roku box was one of the good ones… about ten years ago. Though maybe this is just a TV thing. TIL Roku makes actual screens.
In the past few years especially, I’ve seen so many unshakable “good ones” go bad. Some, in the worst possible way.
My Sharp TV runs Roku software. Suffice it to say I do not have it web connected and use an android box instead
The little asterisk symbol on the screen is leading me to believe it’s a Roku.
I have two roku tvs. The day I see this is the day they get disconnected.
You can probably use a pi-hole to block those things.
The amount of Roku stuff my PiHole blocks is asinine. I just recently added a blocklist for smart TVs and it ballooned the query counts like mad.
+1 for PiHole. Worth the ~$40 for the Pi Zero W and accessories alone.
That’s because they retry failed connections until they can phone home again. They aren’t normally making tens of thousands of requests.
It can scream into the void for as long as it wants.
I fucking hate my Roku Tv. One of my roku TV became unusable after software update. Can’t be rolled back. I’m just stuck with a perfectly fine screen and shit software. And yes even connecting another device via HDMI is an issue because the TV restarts randomly for “updates” while watching external sources.
Hrm, that’s a pretty good argument for buying a tv and leaving the built in smart features without internet access. Sorry about your issues.
I’d there no way to factory reset it?
Which smart TV blocklist are you using? Should probably add that into my pihole.
I really need to get around to that on my pfsense
Pi-hole FTW.
You can, but don’t forget to also block other outbound DNS connections in your firewall. Lots of “smart” devices are hard coded to use 8.8.8.8 regardless of what DHCP says. Pihole won’t stop those, so you have to block it at the firewall.
Or a private DNS service that allows filtering like nextdns
They put one too many ads on the home screen… then they made them larger…
fuck em. they get nothing now.
blocked their ad servers at the DNS level.
You can turn it off in the settings, and it’s not an ad it shows the same show for all channels that say they have it, no one paid for the banner.
I have an old Roku Express or something similar and love it. It has an RF remote and a very responsive UI. But it is slowly becoming crappier with the infrequent updates.
Name and shame!
It’s literally on the screen….
It says Roku TV
But not exactly obvious. Don’t be a jerk.
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See the problem is that you let a display device connect to the internet
Connected a Samsung smart TV to my network when we first got it. The thing damn-near crashed my pi-hole asking for so many ad/tracking domains. Factory reset it later that same day. I think my % of requests blocked went from 15% to 68% in just the 3 hours or so the Smart TV was connected.
They started to wisen up and hard-coded dns requests to 8.8.8.8 to bypass dns ad blockers now. Heck, some apps like Netflix already do it for years now. If your router can transparently redirect all dns requests to your pi-hole, you should use that feature.
So they recognize that the owner of the product is trying to prevent them from collecting data, and actively try to circumvent the owner’s security measures? This shit should be illegal, and carry a huge fine. You paid for the device, and it’s connected to your network, which you control. I’m sick and tired of corporations thinking it’s totally okay to be straight-up spyware and adware. Some supposedly legitimate companies these days make old-school computer viruses look down right respectful.
or use the blocking feature of your firewall. Here’s Roku being persistent and ignoring my pihole. Firewalla for the win.
Firewalla’s are great. All the features of pfsense and then some, in a fine little hardware form factor.
Heads up if you have the purple though : they had a bad hardware batch that had a soldering flaw on the lan side nic that would eventually make your upload reduce to KB/s. I replaced far too many waps before I found a thread about it and realized it was the firewall.
Replacement was simple and free, but they should have been more proactive reaching out to purple buyers.
Easy enough to do with NAT unless it uses DNS over https. Then you have to block a lot more than just DNS.
I deny all DNS traffic except traffic going to my router IP so my pfBlocker will always work.
There’s always DNS over HTTPS. It’s really hard to nab that shit out if it’s going upstream to the same server that’s hosting the content.
Yep - this. I absolutely abhor “smart” TVs for just this reason.
But, even lack of internet sometimes isn’t enough. I recently, and inadvertently, left the wireless adapter on my TV enabled, after having to temporarily join it to my wireless for a firmware update (digital TV tuning needed updating for my region). After I was done, I cleared the wireless config, but I didn’t think to go into the other menu where you can entirely disable the wireless adapter.
Little did I realise that meant the TV started broadcasting it’s own SSID, for friggin’ Apple Airplay or some other shit. I found this out when my 9yo daughter was suddenly exposed to some adult content for about 10 seconds. Best guess is a nearby neighbour mistook my TV for theirs.
I’ve obviously disabled the wireless adapter again, but this has been a terribly difficult lesson I’ve had to learn.
For anyone concerned, my daughter is OK. My wife had a good chat with her about it. She had considerably more talking down to do with me - I was ready to start knocking on doors, to have my own chat.
All new Roku devices do that, even if it’s not a Roku tv. Roku went from one of the best video devices to the worst in one fell swoop. Literally the only good off the shelf device is the Apple TV.
My Roku TV will be in a landfill before I allow it to send 1s and 0s through anything but the HDMI cord
I prefer the Nvidia shield over Apple TV. It supports direct streaming of Dolby Vision/Atmos on Plex. Pretty sure the Apple TV is missing some key codecs.
Infuse fills in the gaps. Don’t even need a plex server anymore (it works better imho)
My TV is connected to the Internet and doesn’t do this. There’s a setting to turn it off.
Mine doesn’t have anything like this and is connected to the internet, no settings to change either. LG Oled
Protip: Do not connect your TV to the Internet.
I ended up giving up and just putting a Linux PC attached to my TV as a media center. I host plex on it.
I don’t see how this is giving up though. Been doing this to close to two decades in one form of another and I wouldn’t consider any other way. Except kodi instead of plexus here.
Protip: destroy your ‘smart’ TV.
Even if you must own a smart TV (because it’s impossible to buy a large-ish TV anymore that isn’t), I see no reason to actually connect it to any network. But! I notice recent models will bitch at you on every single power on if you leave them disconnected. So you’re not even safe from being annoyed then.
Some people get big computer monitors instead of a TV, because of shit like this.
Where am I gonna get an 85" monitor for under $1k?
Under the heading: “Digital Signage Display”
For under $1,000?
If you take away their data mining and advertising revenue, you’re going to need to pay extra. Especially if you’re in a high end market segment (humongous TV) where there’s little demand for a dumb TV outside the digital signage industry (which tends to demand higher standards because those things are always on).
The cheapest and easiest workaround is to get one of those Google TVs that has the ability to switch back to “basic TV” mode. That way you can get a TV from the consumer segment, subsided by other people’s use of smart features.
You could also DIY a dumb TV by getting a compatible TV, ripping out the internals (don’t kill yourself by shorting out the power supply!), and replacing them with an HDMI controller board from sites like AliExpress.
That’s the route I took. I recently bought a 48" 4K monitor, hooked a mini PC up to it, and now I stream my movie and TV show collection through Plex. I still have Internet access on my “TV,” but I’m in control of what pops up (I block all ads on my home network). I just use a small wireless keyboard and mouse instead of a remote.
I haven’t actually owned a TV since about 2008. I have better media options through computers, and the technology just keeps getting better. Cable and public access television are a pain because you’re constantly bombarded with ads. With my own computer, I can circumvent ads and get a solid viewing experience.
I went the other way. My 75" TV is my PC monitor.
I fucking love it.
I did a projector. Pretty close in price and I have a very modest, but serviceable 135" screen and no ads.
If I found out a TV required internet access to function, I’d return it to wherever I bought it next day.
Luckily I have a old-ish flatscreen that doesn’t require internet but does have a netflix and other channels I can setup if I want. The Netflix client is so old it won’t connect to their servers any more. That’s OK. My Roku still works.
I have yet to see one that won’t eventually let you use it as a dumb display after you dismiss one (or more) nags first. But I’m sure that’s coming eventually. The worst offender I found yet is the “cheap” Black Friday sale Amazon Fire TV my boss got to use as a security monitor in one of our satellite locations. That fucking thing won’t even show a picture until you dismiss its network nag, and then its sign-in-with-Amazon nag. At least I found you can disable the Amazon account nag in the options. The network connection one you can’t.
We’ve just resolved never to turn it off. You can’t dismiss the nag screen with the bezel buttons, either. You have to use the remote, so that’s now permanently double-stick taped to the desk the TV is on.
Next time he’ll just buy a fucking computer monitor like I told him to.
Samsung is quite terrible at this. Even when you tell it to just show what’s on the HDMI input, it’ll do some kind of smart device detection on the HDMI signal with an infinite progress spinner before it’ll actually display anything. You can disable it per device by manually assigning a device type, but the damn thing has amnesia.
The basic mode of Google TV and LG’s WebOS seem fine to me, though.
The TVs I’ve seen that do this have been smart enough to not get naggy about a lack of Internet until 30+ days after first power on. Then you get popups or autoplay videos begging you to connect it.
My Hisense has been pretty decent, surprisingly. But for my next TV I’m honestly thinking of going with a commercial display.
I bought a 65" HiSense last month. I was psyched the first time I set it up, and it gave me the option to configure it as a dumb TV without the Android TV experience or a network connection.
I’m tempted to do a master reset on mine to see if I got that option. I have the Roku edition and I know that I can specify what source it defaults to on power on. I can also turn off content recognition, which is what’s going on in OP’s case. But using it as just a dumb TV would be awesome.
Yeah, that’s why I’ve come to just pay the premium for professional displays instead of consumer TVs.
How much more is it?
That’s a great way to go. There are also still some budget options (Sceptre comes to mind) that don’t have any smart features in some models. My buddy just picked one up.
It’s an absolutely terrible TV, but for his use case it’s perfect. He’s using it as a karaoke monitor for parties at his house. It’s mounted in a covered patio and is dumb as hell.
Wonder how much an 83" OLED would cost me for a premium professional display.
Are you serious?
My LG you had to scroll down (with no scroll indicator) below the screen to find the hidden option to not connect it to the internet on set up.
If I the TV nagged me every start up I’d get rid of it.
At least the LG TVs don’t try to pull any shit like OP posted about. At least mine hasn’t.
Thankfully mine (about two yrs old now) only whined for the first couple weeks then gave up on me.
Now the only issue I have is the time it takes for android to boot. It’s like having to wait for your tv to warm up all over again except without the high pitched noise old tv sets had.
I agree with you for the most part that there’s no reason to connect them to the internet, however:
Most modern TVs have Bluetooth and WiFi radios, therefore they’re never truly isolated, and consequently that means if there’s a security flaw, it can potentially be exploited without physical access.
Now your priorities (and frankly, hardware) will obviously differ from mine, but that risk alone is enough of a reason for me to connect things up in order to receive software updates. Of course, the privilege of getting software updates for your telly is not ubiquitous, but most manufacturers can issue updates if there is a good enough reason to do so
If its never been connected to the internet…wtf are they gonna do if they hack it? what are they going to get? it will have no credit card information, no personal information of any kind.
They could connect it to the Internet, I guess.
The problem is that because the hardware is there, a determined person with physical access can change the settings to join a network you don’t control.
Ideally, you can open the TV and remove the wifi modules but I suspect that might be beyond the skills of most TV owners.
Tbh, I stopped owning a TV since college. I watch everything on my computer or phone now.
Wait…so the fear here is that they will take my tv, that i don’t have connected to the internet and…connect it to a network i don’t have? Whats the point of going through that trouble? Whats the gain?
Connectivity!
Another option for the even more security-minded is to physically disable the radios.
I think newish tvs offer advanced image quality features like HDR and Dolby Vision through their own apps rather than through web browser; if you don’t have a new generation console in your house and wanna enjoy your new TV full capabilities you will need to connect the damn thing to the internet
Anytime you see the word “smart” in the name of the product, remember to mentally replace the word “smart” with “tracking”.
“Ad enabled”
Same with IoT
They’re taking pictures of what you’re watching on the screen and sending it to random 3rd party data collectors to analyze and then harass you with ads.
Or just reading the file name on the DVD lol
Sure, but they do take snaps of the screen and send it to advertisers. Almost all “smart” TVs do this.
On your Roku TV go to Settings > Privacy > Select Smart TV Experience and disable “Use Info from TV Inputs”
Crazy but expected it isn’t off by default
Because who would willingly turn that on? Lol
“Automatic content recognition” https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysis/acr-the-future-of-tv-and-audience-data#! Roku is not the only ones doing it :(
So the only way to opt out of this hell is to kill your internet connection? That sucks!
I blocked the servers with my pihole. Coincidentally, my two smart TVs are the two most blocked devices on my network. It’s not even close.
This was with only ~1 hour of TV watching, while the device in the third spot is my phone (which I had been using all day). And yet the second TV still had almost 3x as many blocked requests.
Smart TVs are fucking invasive.
I really need to learn how to set that up.
It’s easier than ever these days. The hardest part is figuring out how to configure your router to point devices to it. Because router manufacturers love to bury that setting somewhere deep. For actually setting up the pihole, it’s usually just a matter of flashing the memory card with the right image, then finding some decent block lists. But even the block lists are easy to find nowadays.
Or worse, you have an ISP-provided modem + router that has it locked down. Yes I could buy a router and put it the modem in bridge mode blah blah, so I just configure each device manually.
Yeah, the combined modem/routers are almost all garbage. You really are better off bridging it and letting your own router do the work. Because the ISP has a vested interest in giving you the cheapest router possible.
It’s actually not that bad; I certainly wouldn’t choose it (it’s an Arris) but I don’t want to put $400 down for a router. (I have no idea what a router costs. I’d also spend a month researching the exact perfect router and then take weeks with custom firmware and configuration and miss spending time with the family.)
It’s complicated.
Username does not check out :(
Not really, if you’re a little technical.
What if you’re a big technical?
It’s complicated.
yeah lol, no real need to obfuscate those ip fyi
While these things generate more network traffic than they ever should, you should check what traffic is actually being blocked.
When I looked into my TV, the thing that’s being blocked is actually just the live program database (which Sony put under the same domain as their tracking bullshit). If it can’t reach the internet, it waits for five seconds and tries again.
Big numbers don’t necessarily mean intended privacy invasion. Especially if you’ve added one of those Smart TV blacklists without looking up what addresses and features they actually block.
So the only way to opt out of this hell is to kill your internet connection?
No. It’s actually simple to disable. On the Roku TV just go to:
Settings > Privacy > Select Smart TV Experience and disable “Use Info from TV Inputs”
Thank you!
The pitch doesn’t need to make logical sense. The entire purpose of horrible shit like this is so some asswipe with a marketing degree can say “look boss, I did a thing”. Welcome to late stage capitalism, where no one ever gets fired for shoving another advertisement in somewhere.
And this concludes the enshitification of everything.
concludes
Oh my, you’re quite optimistic today
Hey! How dare you only pay once for a lifetime of viewing, you should be paying monthly… No daily, for the right to view pieces of cultural history.
Turn off Smart TV experience on your Roku.
Pihole or similar DNS blocking. I can’t recommend it enough. My smart TVs are the #1 offender on my network. The only thing that will try to pull in more ads are my wife’s mobile games.
Can confirm, pi hole is awesome.
Some initial configuration required especially if you are doing it by device instead of at the router, but the results are well worth it.
Can confirm, well worth the $30 for the Libre le Potato that I run it on.
Wait, can I run pihole on any device? (I’ll probably look it up in the meantime)
NextDNS is also great for this kind of blocking. It’s like pihole as a service.
Three Words: Digital Signage Display
So when I searched for that, this is the first result that came up:
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/jvl-55-led-uhd-digital-signage-display-jvl055tv
Seems pretty enshittified.
Where do you normally get yours? Do you have brand recommendations?
Just get a dumbTV, or a large PC display and speakers.
If you also need YouTube, Netflix, casting, etc, get a raspberry pi, and install kodi on it.
Just get a dumbTV
That’s getting increasingly difficult to do.
The enshittification continues.
They exist, but very few people care to buy them. TCL/Sceptre/Insignia sell dumb TVs over in America for reasonable prices, though you’ll need to check out the display models to check the TV’s quality.
High end brands will sell their dumb TVs as digital signage displays, often with a price tag that’s oriented at the business market.
Alternatively, you can get “gaming monitors” like the LG 48GQ900 that do nothing but display HDMI. Their sound quality is often worse (get a soundbar) and they don’t always come with a usable remote, but gaming monitors work fine as TVs as long as you have an external TV decoder box.
People want smart TVs. Not because they’re interested in playing candy crush on their big screen, but because they’re cheaper than dumb TVs. The ads and integrated services subsidise the TV so that they can be sold for the bargain bin prices that people have come to expect.
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Get any TV. Build HTPC. Never let the TV access the network itself.
I’ve been doing this for 15 years. It gets easier and less expensive each year as hardware improves.
Judging from the trend, soon smart tvs may include a cellular modem (always on, paid by the manufacturer) or support mesh networking (passing your data through your neighbour’s tv) so it can always send out telemetry data and retrieving ads. Amazon already did it via Amazon Sidewalk, which is said to cover over 90% of people in the US.
Yikes. Soon you’ll need to buy a Faraday cage that fits your TV and sofa.
Do you know of any good guides on this? I started messing with Linux plasma bigscreen and got twisted
Buy a Raspi 4 or 5 if you can get it. Canakit has slightly overpriced but compreshsive kits. Digikey tends to get raspi 5s faster then other stores if you want the latest and greatest, but it’s a b2b company that is kinda annoying to buy from as a retail customer. A 4gb model is all you need from either gen. Keep to a 32gb or larger sd card.
Install libreelec as the operating system. They have a usb program that will flash a usb drive to do this for you. It will automatically boot into kodi, which in is a linux based media center. You can then point kodi to any file server you have, or plug in a usb drive into the raspi with your movies/shows. Kodi aslo has great addons, so you can add things like youtube/nebula/etc.
For advanced use, setup jellyfin on a home server, then use the jellyfin kodi addon to sync all your media. This is really nice when you have kodi setup on multiple tvs, as it will sync when you pause shows/movies, can auto skip intros, stream live tv and make sure all your systems are up to date about with what media you have available.
For a great universal remote, buy a flirc ir recivever that plugs into usb and a flirc skip remote. Flirc is a great company in this space.
And Netflix downscales resolution on Linux btw. It’s almost like you have to host your own media and pirate it all to get the best experience
or plex
How well does Plex run on a RasPi (or other SBC), and have you found a good remote control solution for it? I’m still using Plex on Google Chromcest TVs - the li’l remote just makes it so much easier.
For my dad’s roku TV I’ve got an app on my phone. It just automatically works if my phone’s on the same network.
No idea if plex could receive something similar but if it’s got some kind of API then one could be built.
For the pi there’s always the option of getting a Bluetooth remote and writing your own script to send the commands when they’re triggered - it’s easier than you think because chatgpt can do all the awkward stuff for you
Flirc skip one + flirc ir usb. Great remote combo for kodi.
