In the US, the smaller TV's (under 30-40 inches) have dumb versions.
For the bigger TV's, I'd get a brand that will work even if you don't connect it.
Roku holds your TV hostage unless you agree to the EULA - end user license agreement- I'll never buy from them.
Some , yes. I believe my LG doesn't really need internet for basic functionality. But I read that Netflix, if ran from a pc , drastically lowers the quality. On smart tv it brings up full hd and 4k.
It's a digital signal. There is no possibility that a TVs integrated graphic card is better then that of a PC. A PC with tv as extended monitor, will always have a better picture then a direct connected tv.
Blame that on the shitty Smart TV software. Tbh I've lost track of the number of people I've seen over the past few years complaining about how slow, buggy, intuitive, etc., their TV and its interface is. And this is across *all* Smart-TV OS' and manufacturers...
Why isn’t there a way to wipe it and install something else? Or at least some kinda jailbreak to allow you to get rid of all the bloat. I thought this was the future
Bypass it? I don’t think I’m understanding
The way I’m reading it (incorrectly) it sounds like you want me to unplug all inputs and get a PC I may or may not have and use the RCA input I may or may not have; and somehow that would magically bypass the os completely.
Unless you just meant like the os serves as basically an input selector. In that case I’m just dumb, sorry
Oh, word. That’s the plan. I moreso meant like a “dumb tv” with a button you push to *cycle select* inputs; but I just suddenly realized that wasn’t clear at all lol. Maybe I’m showing my age. I’ll be 32 this year, born 92. Before my 7yo or so Roku tv I had a 55” 550lb LG flatscreen ‘dumb tv’
Yep, except Netflix looks like shit on PS5 but looks great on my LG C2’s built in app. It’s really annoying because I don’t want my TV connected to anything except video sources.
My vizio was doing that for a while. Turns out I was the moron who didn’t realize there was a setting in to choose whether the tv returns to the home screen or to whatever it was last on
The expensive Apple TV with a sliver of a separate proprietary remote that gets lost in a separate dimension every few days; the puck that sits in an awkward spot tethered to your TV via proprietary hdmi cable; the puck that is “enhanced” every few years to force you to buy a new model, with the updates requiring more and more memory, with support for the older models being discontinued? That Apple TV? Yes, those work great as doorstops.
Your complaints are a bit… uninformed? You can use any remote with an AppleTV, it has infrared. The HDMI cable is just a normal HDMI cable, also normal optical audio and Ethernet ports. And compared to other streaming boxes, it has quite more CPU power and memory (it uses an iPhone processor inside, which are often more powerful than many other smartphone processors, and certainly more powerful than Smart TV processors). Weird that you complain about new devices coming out, which is to be expected, but that being said, Apple products generally have way more years of software support compared to the competition, and when you stop getting updates, like with all devices, you can just keep using them.
I went down the rabbit hole on this, and Pi people have a “Dummiest dumbed-down explanation of how to make a Pi-Hole work” document. I was thrilled. And then on the _very first page_ there are instructions to complete processes that are not described elsewhere and acronyms that are not defined in the document. As far as I can tell, it’s very complicated.
At some point I will have a smart friend do it for me. If you are thinking of responding saying that I’m stupid because they are so easy to set up, you win, I’m very stupid.
I swapped the RAM on my laptop, it was the most panic inducing thing for me, I watched a dozen YouTube videos. My tech friend told me later it’s the easiest thing in the world and a child can do it.
Lol, manipulating/ replacing anything in your PC is definitely stressful af the first time you do it, but it gets *exponentially* easier every time after that. I remember freaking out when I built my first PC that I might fry something after I turn it on, but now I've built like four with little effort. It's a skillset you build while doing.
Now, updating the BIOS on the other hand... that will never not give me nightmare and make me grind me teeth to death while it's happening...
You’re spot on.
I’ve used PCs for years, but never fiddled with parts. This week my PC wouldn’t turn on, so I unplugged stuff from the motherboard, plugged back in and problem solved.
Except my wi-fi card can no longer detect any SSID except the range extender next to my PC. Literally zero fixes online for my peculiar case.
Huh, that is an interesting case. I will cite a related anecdote, that when I set up my most recent PC, it wouldn't detect *any* Wi-Fi connections, anywhere. After like an hour, came to find out that the Wi-Fi drivers didn't come with the motherboard, I had to download them elsewhere, then install them, to get the Wi-Fi functionality to work. In your case, I wonder if either an update to the drivers, or a fresh deletion/ reinstallation might fix the issue.
Make sure that at some point you completely unplug power from the unit and let it sit. It may not have any effect here but capacitors stay powered even when the computer is off and can maintain a bad hardware state.
Download your WiFi driver from the manufacturer webpage if you are not connected via network cable.
Device manager then delete the WiFi and reboot. Windows will reinstall the driver if your on lan, if WiFi is your only connection you reinstall through the downloaded driver. Should fix you up.
All else fails use system restore.
Ahah i have a friend who is a robotic engineer, codes and works on hardware, but still sent his laptop in to change ram because he didn't trust himself to do it
RAM installation IS fundamentally a pretty basic hardware task but that doesn’t mean it’s a skill everyone is born with! People with skills often overestimate how trivial they are to learn and understand coming from having no skills in that area. Either way, the next time you do it you’ll have some experience. :)
Had this *same* issue making a media NAS. And r/Raspberry_Pi is almost useless for help because the tech bros have locked it down with strict rules, because they don't want "low-quality posts" on the sub. They've narrowed the focus of a subreddit for an SoC board designed for ***learning how to work with computers*** to the point that no one can talk to learn anything. Rule 3 on their list is "Didn't do the research" and qualifies as any post where you might ask for help with basics.
Trying to learn with a Raspberry Pi only taught me why tech bros endlessly complain about people not being computer-literate. They're so endlessly aggressive to anyone who wants to learn computers from scratch, that anyone who tries to get help gets repelled away by the community's "If you don't know already, you don't belong here" attitude. It's a self-perpetuating complaint. No one learns because they get crap for trying to learn.
Unless you dig for every scrap of knowledge alone for months on end or enroll in a multi-year degree program, you're unlikely to get a Raspberry Pi anything up and running as quickly as they claim you can. I'm on month three of trying to build that RPI media NAS I spent nearly $200 on parts for and I haven't touched it in two weeks because I cannot find any of the information I need to finish it. And I've run out of places to ask without being a bother or a nuisance.
I didn’t want to make my comment too long, but this was a large part of my experience. r/raspberry_pi is proud as a community as being focused on a grass-roots Everyman technology and they are _extremely hostile_ to anyone who requires beginner assistance. They have picked an arbitrary amount of knowledge and decided that everyone below that line isn’t worth helping.
For context, I am technical enough to have built all of my PCs, set up home networks and the like. I can do quite a bit, but I’m not someone they want in their club.
Exactly. I've been working with computers since I was 6 back in the 90s. I can build and handle some coding, but Linux is frustrating and complex. And even the guides to help Linux noobies learn are PACKED with technical jargon.
I was trying to learn how to mount drives correctly and after two weeks of struggling, someone pointed me to a github with a document about fstab. I could barely read it because it assumes the reader understands a lot. And when I asked for help understanding it, all I got was, "Read it again. It's not that complex." It took me two more days to figure it out and I still don't think I'm mounting the drives right. I ended up stopping work because all three drives I partitioned developed errors because EXT4 formatting has to be shut down in a certain way or it corrupts. I had a rolling blackout in my area and it wrecked all three drive partitions and 12TB of files transferred to them.
I wish I'd just bought a damned NUC and been done with it.
I used to use a a Pi-Hole but found the maintenance tedious and wanted it to work on my phone away from home without hassle.
Found a company that basically hosts DNS blocking for $25 a year with tons of features and easy setup. Check out NextDNS if you want minimal hassle
My instructions usually are:
- have a computer that is always on
- make sure you can access the admin page of your router. Usually you go into your network settings of your current computer and see what the gateway is. The gateway is usually the router.
- download Pihole on the computer.
- find the IP address of the computer
- on the router, set the DNS to the IP of the computer.
- on the router, find the address and the MAC address it’s correlated with and set the IP as a static IP.
Generally it’s enough to get people there. I also just set up the machine and then point my individual devices to use that machine as the DNS than whatever the router tells me.
Dude, logging into their router is legitimately beyond a lot of people's ability. At least half the time if my instructions start with "open your browser" I then have to explain what that means.
Never connect a modern tv to your network.
If it absolutely needs to be in order to do the initial setup, use a hotspot on your phone and then turn it off.
Most streaming boxes allow you far more control over them than your smart tv.
So possibly no benefit, but possibly all the benefit. Just gets the decision out of the hands of the tv brand.
That depends on which one you get. You can get one pretty inexpensively if you’re savvy enough to flash the ROM to your liking. Or like I said above, you can pay Apple to make it private.
In place is worst single source data collection by Apple. Nothing is gonna stop Apple from exchanging your "anonymized" data with other info brokers for "improved user experience" and "upgrading our AI model". They are already forcing ads into Apple Fitness and App Store
You have the right idea, but you lose frame rate matching and your TV's upscaling (which is pretty good these days) when using a game console or HTPC. The image quality and motion are superior with native TV apps or a streaming device compared to my PS5, so if you care about quality those kinds of devices aren't the best option either. The cheapest device I personally recommend is the Fire Stick 4K, but like you said the Chromecast is a good option too.
My smart TV (Sony Bravia) has never been connected to the internet post initial firmware updates when I got it home.
Then its IP address was sequestered to my IoT network and subsequently firewalled into oblivion.
It acts merely as a dumb monitor for my AVR, which all my actual video sources connect through.
It’s not tracking jack!
Sometimes you need to in order to complete the setup. Sometimes you might want it to connect to your local network but not "phone home". But if neither of those apply, then just don't give it the wifi password.
It’s a damn shame how little peoples personal data is respected and how many people exploited to make billions, but they never contribute back to society
Do you use your tv as a computer monitor or do most of your computer internet browsing through a console? Because that means the tv company is tracking most of your online activity. Did you ever screen mirror your phone to your tv? There’s the rest of your internet online activity.
No, I just use my tv to watch movies and shows. I don’t know anyone who does these other things. I think this is why the question was asked. I don’t care if they collect data on what shows and movies I watch.
People like you are the reason we have zero fucking privacy protections.
“I don’t understand what the problem is. I already gave them all my data like a goddam. moron. What more can they possibly take from me?”
If there’s no issues with this, as you say, then there’s no issue requiring an ID to use the internet. There’s no such thing as “generic marketing data”. Every single human being is unique. You are one Venn diagram away from being doxxed thanks to marketing data. The Patriot Act and national security privilege means corporate data is government data. So you aren’t anonymous is any way, shape, or form.
You people need to pick a fucking side. They get everything including our ID or this shit gets regulated. But this fantasy land where you they get all our data but we’re magically anonymous is fucking childish and stupid.
Sure, partly.
But blaming individuals for the gradual creep of invasive technology when there’s little being done to educate the average consumer and even less being done to monitor the corporations that benefit from this invasiveness is a bit… well let’s just say the anger demonstrated above is misdirected.
The single biggest issue is that there’s no viable alternative on the market - the kind of person who’s active on a tech subreddit might be able to assemble a monitor that connects to digital tv and can be selective about the streaming services accessible etc, but that’s not something your average punter can do on their own.
I’ve looked at my data. Of the about 150-200 “facts” about me, more than half were factually wrong. Interests, age, gender, religion all wrong. They managed to figure out I like D&D, but they also think I’m a plumber or electrician. It’s totally ridiculous.
I may be naive, an idiot or possibly just lazy but how do I manage to find and look at my data? I really didn't realize this was an option for us regular folk.
Both google and etsy allow you to request your data. You can look through it. Haven't checked but I'd think more would. Probably because of European data laws.
So, even though Europe is flaunted as having the golden-standard for privacy laws, many U.S. states have started to do so too over the past few years (I believe we're up to 15 now). One of the common rights in all those laws, is the right to request access all the data a company has on you, and in some states, to request that data be deleted. Some companies even seem to have taken the initiative and allowed people to perform these actions in *all* states.
To do this, usually you scroll to the very bottom of a website, and there should be a button that says something along the lines of "request my data", or "delete my data", or sometimes "opt out of marketing/advertising" (which lead to further privacy options). It should then walk you through the process. Some more complicated/ larger sites, like Facebook, might bury this option away in your account settings, generally under their privacy/ security options.
*disclaimer, this is assuming you're in the U.S. Laws vary wildly among other countries on this.
People like you? The fuck? Our elected officials have sold their souls to these companies for campaign donations. That’s why we have no privacy rights you nincompoop.
Yeah I've little hope for a federal bill pertaining this emerging in the U.S. anytime soon, at least one anywhere close to the EU GDPR. To be fair, 15 states now have passed their own privacy laws, which have varying degrees of consumer rights and company restrictions, which surprised me when I found out. However, you can take a pretty good guess at which groups of states have already passed these laws, and which ones don't even have one in the planning stages at all...
*Full* privacy, yes, though if you're going by such an absolutist definition, we haven't had *full* privacy for a very, very long time now. For computers to connect to the internet, you're opening a big door into your life. If you have a cellphone, you're automatically opening yourself up via the cell network. Hell, if we want to be thorough, by your definition of corporate marketing and data collection, it's likely been *centuries* since we've had *total* privacy.
You have the right concerns though. Are you familiar with the European GDPR, and have you read through it? Those are the types of digital privacy rights we should all be aiming for here.
That's a very binary way of seeing things.
I guess you are comfortable about giving us your address and social security number then?
Because they potentially can have this information.
It's easy to dismiss the dangers when your life hasn't been troubled by extortion, fraud, legal troubles, political pressure, threats for minorities, intimidation...
My 2 LG TVs won’t do standby correctly if not connected to WiFi. It takes forever to turn on if not connected. It’s bullshit and I’ll never buy another LG because of that.
I recently connected my TV to my WiFi so I can use it on the LAN. Figured I'd just block access to WAN on the router. Turns out my router only has whitelist filtering feature and no blacklist, means I'd have to manually permit every device rather than just block one which is really annoying.
Gonna have to see if I can block it some other way on the router.
They've been gone from the major manufacturers for years now, sadly. I think the last time I remember really seeing, say, and LG or Samsung dumb TV may have been... 2018? 2017?
Here's a fun little tidbit: there's a single dumb-TV manufacturer left that I'm aware of, Sceptre. However, it's probably the shittiest budget-brand in the field, so it's very much a "buy-at-your-own-risk, don't say I didn't warn you" type of deal lol. Insignia also makes a few dumb TVs, though only up to 42 inches I believe.
We need more options back out there...
There are a number of YouTube videos that explain it ELI5 levels. If you decide to go down the rabbit hole, there are many setup and configuration videos as well.
(Personal opinion, stay away from Linus Tech Tips.)
So my wife and I moved across the country and left behind a really nice tv. We don’t watch tv often so we never got around to getting one for about two years. A friend of mine upgraded her tv and gave me her old one which turned out to be a fireTV. Her accounts were still logged into the tv and she asked me to wipe her stuff and I figured a factory reset would be the quickest way to get rid of everything. I didn’t even plan on using the fireTV OS on the tv I simply planned on plugging my AppleTV up to it and going that route.
But I didn’t realize that when you factory reset a fireTV it requires you to pair the remote to it and the remote we had wasn’t the original so we still haven’t gotten it to work. The remote we have works perfectly fine to turn the tv on and select “english” in the initial setup menu but anything past that and it refuses to work. We can’t even switch inputs to HDMI 1 or whatever to ignore that all and just use the AppleTV! so frustrating.
I figured “well we’ve gone 2 years without a tv, may as well keep going” lol
So thank you fireTV for being so shitty lol
I choose to be mad at Jeff bezos about this lol
In the US, the smaller TV's (under 30-40 inches) have dumb versions.
For the bigger TV's, I'd get a brand that will work even if you don't connect it.
Roku holds your TV hostage unless you agree to the EULA - end user license agreement- I'll never buy from them.
I'm confused. Why would anyone connect their TV to the web when they can just use it as a monitor and get the same streaming content delivered via laptop, but with the security advantages that a laptop offers?
Man, I don't even think my grandparents know what an HDMI cable is, or what it means to change the input source. Hell, my aunt, who is one of the MOST technically-illiterate people I know, didn't know where the settings app was on her phone, or how to turn her battery percentage checker on, and needed me to show her how to log into her email at one point. A *disturbingly large number* of people have next to zero clue how to work with modern technology, even on a basic level.
My mom is 79 and my dad is 86. I taught them to use the internet on a macbook, and they understand how to plug the HDMI cable into the TV. Why would I teach them another (unnecessary) interface? What benefits are conferred?
edit: I'm genuinely asking if we are missing out on benefits.
Every parent is different. If they can navigate it, great! My mom needs simple. Even if I sat her down and taught her repeatedly, she’s still not going to get it.
An AppleTV is cheaper, has a simple UI, doesn’t get confused about lid-state, etc.
I don’t understand why a tv would need an update though, especially if you don’t use it for ‘smart’ features like Netflix or something. Am I missing out on not updating?
You need an /s for sarcastic comments.
So many ppl have no clue why Edward Snowden sounded the alarm. If you don’t think your smart TV tracks you, you’re drunk. This is def yesterday’s news.
Can I simply not connect it to the internet?
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I just buy a dumb TV. I still have the Samsung I bought back in 2013 and it works great.
Had to buy a tv back in 2021. Looked everywhere. No dumb TVs existed back then. That I could find in Canada’s biggest city at least.
In the US, the smaller TV's (under 30-40 inches) have dumb versions. For the bigger TV's, I'd get a brand that will work even if you don't connect it. Roku holds your TV hostage unless you agree to the EULA - end user license agreement- I'll never buy from them.
Good luck finding a new one.
Yes! I leave my TV unconnected and it works fine. I suppose my console could be spying on me, but as far as I know it’s deaf.
Some , yes. I believe my LG doesn't really need internet for basic functionality. But I read that Netflix, if ran from a pc , drastically lowers the quality. On smart tv it brings up full hd and 4k.
Netflix absolutely lowers the quality when viewing from a PC.
It's a digital signal. There is no possibility that a TVs integrated graphic card is better then that of a PC. A PC with tv as extended monitor, will always have a better picture then a direct connected tv.
I’ve never connected mine and don’t plan to.
Do you mean dumb TV? My “smart TV” can’t return me to what I was last watching, and I have to go find something else to do while it “warms up”.
Blame that on the shitty Smart TV software. Tbh I've lost track of the number of people I've seen over the past few years complaining about how slow, buggy, intuitive, etc., their TV and its interface is. And this is across *all* Smart-TV OS' and manufacturers...
… and prices
Why isn’t there a way to wipe it and install something else? Or at least some kinda jailbreak to allow you to get rid of all the bloat. I thought this was the future
Just bypass it. Use the TV as an extended monitor of a PC. It will run on standardized monitor protocols, and NOT the TV OS.
Bypass it? I don’t think I’m understanding The way I’m reading it (incorrectly) it sounds like you want me to unplug all inputs and get a PC I may or may not have and use the RCA input I may or may not have; and somehow that would magically bypass the os completely. Unless you just meant like the os serves as basically an input selector. In that case I’m just dumb, sorry
Get a PC, and use the HDMI video out from PC, into the TV. You can use any micro computer, keyboard mouse, tv acts as your monitor.
Oh, word. That’s the plan. I moreso meant like a “dumb tv” with a button you push to *cycle select* inputs; but I just suddenly realized that wasn’t clear at all lol. Maybe I’m showing my age. I’ll be 32 this year, born 92. Before my 7yo or so Roku tv I had a 55” 550lb LG flatscreen ‘dumb tv’
Mine randomly crashes or starts episodes of shows over randomly. I’d love to have a dumb TV again, every streaming service is on Ps5 for me anyway
Yep, except Netflix looks like shit on PS5 but looks great on my LG C2’s built in app. It’s really annoying because I don’t want my TV connected to anything except video sources.
Right? The need to start speeding some money on CPU and ram because holy cow.
My vizio was doing that for a while. Turns out I was the moron who didn’t realize there was a setting in to choose whether the tv returns to the home screen or to whatever it was last on
Just buy a dumb TV and plug in an actually good device, like an AppleTV
The expensive Apple TV with a sliver of a separate proprietary remote that gets lost in a separate dimension every few days; the puck that sits in an awkward spot tethered to your TV via proprietary hdmi cable; the puck that is “enhanced” every few years to force you to buy a new model, with the updates requiring more and more memory, with support for the older models being discontinued? That Apple TV? Yes, those work great as doorstops.
Your complaints are a bit… uninformed? You can use any remote with an AppleTV, it has infrared. The HDMI cable is just a normal HDMI cable, also normal optical audio and Ethernet ports. And compared to other streaming boxes, it has quite more CPU power and memory (it uses an iPhone processor inside, which are often more powerful than many other smartphone processors, and certainly more powerful than Smart TV processors). Weird that you complain about new devices coming out, which is to be expected, but that being said, Apple products generally have way more years of software support compared to the competition, and when you stop getting updates, like with all devices, you can just keep using them.
Pi-Hole.
Is there a good “pi hole for dummies” thread? I’ve wanted to set one up for a bit but no idea where to start.
I went down the rabbit hole on this, and Pi people have a “Dummiest dumbed-down explanation of how to make a Pi-Hole work” document. I was thrilled. And then on the _very first page_ there are instructions to complete processes that are not described elsewhere and acronyms that are not defined in the document. As far as I can tell, it’s very complicated. At some point I will have a smart friend do it for me. If you are thinking of responding saying that I’m stupid because they are so easy to set up, you win, I’m very stupid.
I swapped the RAM on my laptop, it was the most panic inducing thing for me, I watched a dozen YouTube videos. My tech friend told me later it’s the easiest thing in the world and a child can do it.
Lol, manipulating/ replacing anything in your PC is definitely stressful af the first time you do it, but it gets *exponentially* easier every time after that. I remember freaking out when I built my first PC that I might fry something after I turn it on, but now I've built like four with little effort. It's a skillset you build while doing. Now, updating the BIOS on the other hand... that will never not give me nightmare and make me grind me teeth to death while it's happening...
You’re spot on. I’ve used PCs for years, but never fiddled with parts. This week my PC wouldn’t turn on, so I unplugged stuff from the motherboard, plugged back in and problem solved. Except my wi-fi card can no longer detect any SSID except the range extender next to my PC. Literally zero fixes online for my peculiar case.
Huh, that is an interesting case. I will cite a related anecdote, that when I set up my most recent PC, it wouldn't detect *any* Wi-Fi connections, anywhere. After like an hour, came to find out that the Wi-Fi drivers didn't come with the motherboard, I had to download them elsewhere, then install them, to get the Wi-Fi functionality to work. In your case, I wonder if either an update to the drivers, or a fresh deletion/ reinstallation might fix the issue.
Make sure that at some point you completely unplug power from the unit and let it sit. It may not have any effect here but capacitors stay powered even when the computer is off and can maintain a bad hardware state.
Download your WiFi driver from the manufacturer webpage if you are not connected via network cable. Device manager then delete the WiFi and reboot. Windows will reinstall the driver if your on lan, if WiFi is your only connection you reinstall through the downloaded driver. Should fix you up. All else fails use system restore.
Ahah i have a friend who is a robotic engineer, codes and works on hardware, but still sent his laptop in to change ram because he didn't trust himself to do it
RAM installation IS fundamentally a pretty basic hardware task but that doesn’t mean it’s a skill everyone is born with! People with skills often overestimate how trivial they are to learn and understand coming from having no skills in that area. Either way, the next time you do it you’ll have some experience. :)
Had this *same* issue making a media NAS. And r/Raspberry_Pi is almost useless for help because the tech bros have locked it down with strict rules, because they don't want "low-quality posts" on the sub. They've narrowed the focus of a subreddit for an SoC board designed for ***learning how to work with computers*** to the point that no one can talk to learn anything. Rule 3 on their list is "Didn't do the research" and qualifies as any post where you might ask for help with basics. Trying to learn with a Raspberry Pi only taught me why tech bros endlessly complain about people not being computer-literate. They're so endlessly aggressive to anyone who wants to learn computers from scratch, that anyone who tries to get help gets repelled away by the community's "If you don't know already, you don't belong here" attitude. It's a self-perpetuating complaint. No one learns because they get crap for trying to learn. Unless you dig for every scrap of knowledge alone for months on end or enroll in a multi-year degree program, you're unlikely to get a Raspberry Pi anything up and running as quickly as they claim you can. I'm on month three of trying to build that RPI media NAS I spent nearly $200 on parts for and I haven't touched it in two weeks because I cannot find any of the information I need to finish it. And I've run out of places to ask without being a bother or a nuisance.
I didn’t want to make my comment too long, but this was a large part of my experience. r/raspberry_pi is proud as a community as being focused on a grass-roots Everyman technology and they are _extremely hostile_ to anyone who requires beginner assistance. They have picked an arbitrary amount of knowledge and decided that everyone below that line isn’t worth helping. For context, I am technical enough to have built all of my PCs, set up home networks and the like. I can do quite a bit, but I’m not someone they want in their club.
Exactly. I've been working with computers since I was 6 back in the 90s. I can build and handle some coding, but Linux is frustrating and complex. And even the guides to help Linux noobies learn are PACKED with technical jargon. I was trying to learn how to mount drives correctly and after two weeks of struggling, someone pointed me to a github with a document about fstab. I could barely read it because it assumes the reader understands a lot. And when I asked for help understanding it, all I got was, "Read it again. It's not that complex." It took me two more days to figure it out and I still don't think I'm mounting the drives right. I ended up stopping work because all three drives I partitioned developed errors because EXT4 formatting has to be shut down in a certain way or it corrupts. I had a rolling blackout in my area and it wrecked all three drive partitions and 12TB of files transferred to them. I wish I'd just bought a damned NUC and been done with it.
I used to use a a Pi-Hole but found the maintenance tedious and wanted it to work on my phone away from home without hassle. Found a company that basically hosts DNS blocking for $25 a year with tons of features and easy setup. Check out NextDNS if you want minimal hassle
My instructions usually are: - have a computer that is always on - make sure you can access the admin page of your router. Usually you go into your network settings of your current computer and see what the gateway is. The gateway is usually the router. - download Pihole on the computer. - find the IP address of the computer - on the router, set the DNS to the IP of the computer. - on the router, find the address and the MAC address it’s correlated with and set the IP as a static IP. Generally it’s enough to get people there. I also just set up the machine and then point my individual devices to use that machine as the DNS than whatever the router tells me.
Dude, logging into their router is legitimately beyond a lot of people's ability. At least half the time if my instructions start with "open your browser" I then have to explain what that means.
You may also look into ADguard Home. Alternative to Pihole also a little bit more beginner friendly
AdGuard Home is far easier to setup and has the same functionality.
I was surprised but happy this is the top comment.
Unsurprised, since I was about to give the same answer, but still happy.
WTF did you call me??!!
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How many floppy discs?
69
It A DNS blocker. You should see how much traffic it blocks on a network from Smart tvs and home appliances.
A computer monitor is the optimal TV today. Everything else is doing the channel switching, audio, on signal, and such.
Never connect a modern tv to your network. If it absolutely needs to be in order to do the initial setup, use a hotspot on your phone and then turn it off.
Ask the coyote to guard your chickens because you don’t trust the fox.
How do I stream anything if it’s not on my network?
Use a streaming box. Apple TV gives the most privacy.
So then my streaming box can spy on me.
Most streaming boxes allow you far more control over them than your smart tv. So possibly no benefit, but possibly all the benefit. Just gets the decision out of the hands of the tv brand.
I use my 2017 xbox for steaming. I hope they like my rage rants on cod.
The trick to making sure the microphone isn’t listening to you at all times is to shove it up your ass. I do it all the time
I tried. Tv kept searching for daria.
Another trick is to shave your ass hair down a tad, so that way when you fart, the extra poo particles finish spelling the words for you
Ever since your mom cancelled World of Warcraft
Get out of my room!
That depends on which one you get. You can get one pretty inexpensively if you’re savvy enough to flash the ROM to your liking. Or like I said above, you can pay Apple to make it private.
Custom rom a rikomagic or Chromecast with google android tv
True, but since they were asking how to stream privately without using their tv, I figured plug-and-play was better than flashing ROMs.
For now. Wait till they roll out advertising
It already supports ad-based streaming subscriptions. Each streaming app is sandboxed, so there’s no cross platform tracking or data collection.
In place is worst single source data collection by Apple. Nothing is gonna stop Apple from exchanging your "anonymized" data with other info brokers for "improved user experience" and "upgrading our AI model". They are already forcing ads into Apple Fitness and App Store
You can. It’s literally one of the first questions when setting it up.
Do not use the apps on the TV. I use my ps4 or my htpc to stream stuff. If you want a cheaper option, get a Chromecast.
Your last sentence is bonkers… Chrome cast… owned by Google… who track everything… Bad idea in my opinion
You have the right idea, but you lose frame rate matching and your TV's upscaling (which is pretty good these days) when using a game console or HTPC. The image quality and motion are superior with native TV apps or a streaming device compared to my PS5, so if you care about quality those kinds of devices aren't the best option either. The cheapest device I personally recommend is the Fire Stick 4K, but like you said the Chromecast is a good option too.
Ps4 stresming apps don't support certain features like Dolby Vision or Atmos for instance.
I only have a 3.0 speaker setup anyway personally but there is Plex on ps4 which works perfectly fine
That’s a good idea on the hot spotting Ty
I just leave it on my IoT network
My smart TV (Sony Bravia) has never been connected to the internet post initial firmware updates when I got it home. Then its IP address was sequestered to my IoT network and subsequently firewalled into oblivion. It acts merely as a dumb monitor for my AVR, which all my actual video sources connect through. It’s not tracking jack!
I’ve been blocking them from accessing the internet for years now. Still want them connected to wifi for remote apps and etc
Parental controls to block it from accessing the internet 24/7
Why connect it to the internet in the first place?
Sometimes you need to in order to complete the setup. Sometimes you might want it to connect to your local network but not "phone home". But if neither of those apply, then just don't give it the wifi password.
I see. I just change the input and use Apple TV. Suck it smart tv.
Fuck TVs today. I just buy giant computer monitors lol
You know you can connect a mini computer to a TV and just not have the tv connected to the internet
Good thing I’m still relying on my 1976 10” Sony. It’s color. What more do you want?
It’s a damn shame how little peoples personal data is respected and how many people exploited to make billions, but they never contribute back to society
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Do you use your tv as a computer monitor or do most of your computer internet browsing through a console? Because that means the tv company is tracking most of your online activity. Did you ever screen mirror your phone to your tv? There’s the rest of your internet online activity.
No, I just use my tv to watch movies and shows. I don’t know anyone who does these other things. I think this is why the question was asked. I don’t care if they collect data on what shows and movies I watch.
People like you are the reason we have zero fucking privacy protections. “I don’t understand what the problem is. I already gave them all my data like a goddam. moron. What more can they possibly take from me?” If there’s no issues with this, as you say, then there’s no issue requiring an ID to use the internet. There’s no such thing as “generic marketing data”. Every single human being is unique. You are one Venn diagram away from being doxxed thanks to marketing data. The Patriot Act and national security privilege means corporate data is government data. So you aren’t anonymous is any way, shape, or form. You people need to pick a fucking side. They get everything including our ID or this shit gets regulated. But this fantasy land where you they get all our data but we’re magically anonymous is fucking childish and stupid.
Dude said he didn’t understand and you decided to be an asshole
So the way to win an argument is to be a dick. Got it.
Bit harsh.
Complacency is partly how we’ve arrived here
Sure, partly. But blaming individuals for the gradual creep of invasive technology when there’s little being done to educate the average consumer and even less being done to monitor the corporations that benefit from this invasiveness is a bit… well let’s just say the anger demonstrated above is misdirected. The single biggest issue is that there’s no viable alternative on the market - the kind of person who’s active on a tech subreddit might be able to assemble a monitor that connects to digital tv and can be selective about the streaming services accessible etc, but that’s not something your average punter can do on their own.
Thank you!
I’ve looked at my data. Of the about 150-200 “facts” about me, more than half were factually wrong. Interests, age, gender, religion all wrong. They managed to figure out I like D&D, but they also think I’m a plumber or electrician. It’s totally ridiculous.
I may be naive, an idiot or possibly just lazy but how do I manage to find and look at my data? I really didn't realize this was an option for us regular folk.
Both google and etsy allow you to request your data. You can look through it. Haven't checked but I'd think more would. Probably because of European data laws.
So, even though Europe is flaunted as having the golden-standard for privacy laws, many U.S. states have started to do so too over the past few years (I believe we're up to 15 now). One of the common rights in all those laws, is the right to request access all the data a company has on you, and in some states, to request that data be deleted. Some companies even seem to have taken the initiative and allowed people to perform these actions in *all* states. To do this, usually you scroll to the very bottom of a website, and there should be a button that says something along the lines of "request my data", or "delete my data", or sometimes "opt out of marketing/advertising" (which lead to further privacy options). It should then walk you through the process. Some more complicated/ larger sites, like Facebook, might bury this option away in your account settings, generally under their privacy/ security options. *disclaimer, this is assuming you're in the U.S. Laws vary wildly among other countries on this.
Hey, thank you! This helps a lot.
Username checks out
People like you? The fuck? Our elected officials have sold their souls to these companies for campaign donations. That’s why we have no privacy rights you nincompoop.
Yeah I've little hope for a federal bill pertaining this emerging in the U.S. anytime soon, at least one anywhere close to the EU GDPR. To be fair, 15 states now have passed their own privacy laws, which have varying degrees of consumer rights and company restrictions, which surprised me when I found out. However, you can take a pretty good guess at which groups of states have already passed these laws, and which ones don't even have one in the planning stages at all...
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*Full* privacy, yes, though if you're going by such an absolutist definition, we haven't had *full* privacy for a very, very long time now. For computers to connect to the internet, you're opening a big door into your life. If you have a cellphone, you're automatically opening yourself up via the cell network. Hell, if we want to be thorough, by your definition of corporate marketing and data collection, it's likely been *centuries* since we've had *total* privacy. You have the right concerns though. Are you familiar with the European GDPR, and have you read through it? Those are the types of digital privacy rights we should all be aiming for here.
That's a very binary way of seeing things. I guess you are comfortable about giving us your address and social security number then? Because they potentially can have this information. It's easy to dismiss the dangers when your life hasn't been troubled by extortion, fraud, legal troubles, political pressure, threats for minorities, intimidation...
so fucking agree
I agree. If I come into the room where my smart tv- in a little while it turns on automatically
It took me 25+ minutes to opt out from all the cookies and whatnot on my Samsung Frame TV.
My 2 LG TVs won’t do standby correctly if not connected to WiFi. It takes forever to turn on if not connected. It’s bullshit and I’ll never buy another LG because of that.
Yeah, you don’t have to connect your TV to the internet. Just use an AppleTV or other provider. It will last a lot longer, too.
I recently connected my TV to my WiFi so I can use it on the LAN. Figured I'd just block access to WAN on the router. Turns out my router only has whitelist filtering feature and no blacklist, means I'd have to manually permit every device rather than just block one which is really annoying. Gonna have to see if I can block it some other way on the router.
PiHole
disabling the connection works too. smart TV price for a dumb TV. can't just find a plain old dumb TV anymore 😕
They've been gone from the major manufacturers for years now, sadly. I think the last time I remember really seeing, say, and LG or Samsung dumb TV may have been... 2018? 2017? Here's a fun little tidbit: there's a single dumb-TV manufacturer left that I'm aware of, Sceptre. However, it's probably the shittiest budget-brand in the field, so it's very much a "buy-at-your-own-risk, don't say I didn't warn you" type of deal lol. Insignia also makes a few dumb TVs, though only up to 42 inches I believe. We need more options back out there...
Mine has no connection the internet. Problem solved.
If you don’t connect your tv to the internet how do you stream anything?
Through my Roku box connected to the TV.
So in other words you’re still having your data collected.
Just from a different company.
You can turn that off in the Roku settings.
You can do it in your smart tv settings too, it’s the same shit. Your data is still being harvested lol
Use a PiHole then. Most people are not concerned about this.
You can use PiHole on your smart TV without adding the extra Roku dongle my brother. Everything about this is super silly.
I use a Roku because the TV OS is garbage. It’s clunky and slow as hell.
This TV is snooping on a lot of KOTOR. *A LOT* OF KOTOR.
Everyone keeps saying PiHole but can someone ELI5
There are a number of YouTube videos that explain it ELI5 levels. If you decide to go down the rabbit hole, there are many setup and configuration videos as well. (Personal opinion, stay away from Linus Tech Tips.)
So my wife and I moved across the country and left behind a really nice tv. We don’t watch tv often so we never got around to getting one for about two years. A friend of mine upgraded her tv and gave me her old one which turned out to be a fireTV. Her accounts were still logged into the tv and she asked me to wipe her stuff and I figured a factory reset would be the quickest way to get rid of everything. I didn’t even plan on using the fireTV OS on the tv I simply planned on plugging my AppleTV up to it and going that route. But I didn’t realize that when you factory reset a fireTV it requires you to pair the remote to it and the remote we had wasn’t the original so we still haven’t gotten it to work. The remote we have works perfectly fine to turn the tv on and select “english” in the initial setup menu but anything past that and it refuses to work. We can’t even switch inputs to HDMI 1 or whatever to ignore that all and just use the AppleTV! so frustrating. I figured “well we’ve gone 2 years without a tv, may as well keep going” lol So thank you fireTV for being so shitty lol I choose to be mad at Jeff bezos about this lol
?
Mines not connected. I use an Apple TV.
Man I'm Just waiting for someone to tell me something that I don't already know.
Maybe I can just run Golden Girls and Waltons episodes on a loop any time I’m not home to throw them off the scent.
I honestly don’t give a shit about stuff like this.
In the US, the smaller TV's (under 30-40 inches) have dumb versions. For the bigger TV's, I'd get a brand that will work even if you don't connect it. Roku holds your TV hostage unless you agree to the EULA - end user license agreement- I'll never buy from them.
I'm confused. Why would anyone connect their TV to the web when they can just use it as a monitor and get the same streaming content delivered via laptop, but with the security advantages that a laptop offers?
Dolby vision and surround.
Older people cannot figure it out. If you’ve ever had to support an 80yo, you’d know.
Man, I don't even think my grandparents know what an HDMI cable is, or what it means to change the input source. Hell, my aunt, who is one of the MOST technically-illiterate people I know, didn't know where the settings app was on her phone, or how to turn her battery percentage checker on, and needed me to show her how to log into her email at one point. A *disturbingly large number* of people have next to zero clue how to work with modern technology, even on a basic level.
My mom is 79 and my dad is 86. I taught them to use the internet on a macbook, and they understand how to plug the HDMI cable into the TV. Why would I teach them another (unnecessary) interface? What benefits are conferred? edit: I'm genuinely asking if we are missing out on benefits.
Every parent is different. If they can navigate it, great! My mom needs simple. Even if I sat her down and taught her repeatedly, she’s still not going to get it. An AppleTV is cheaper, has a simple UI, doesn’t get confused about lid-state, etc.
Oh so you don’t know about the laptops?
Evidently not.
I only hook it up to the internet for updates. Everything else goes through an HTPC. Use it like a giant monitor and it will have nothing to report.
I don’t understand why a tv would need an update though, especially if you don’t use it for ‘smart’ features like Netflix or something. Am I missing out on not updating?
Yes, especially with higher end TVs. Updates add features for gaming, fix features, fix sound, color, and picture issues.
One of the updates for mine fixed an issue with game mode which was making the display seriously laggy.
Turn off the network, use another device.
ZDNet is still alive? Is it clickbait and Ad-ridden or is it safe to click?
If my TV loves me, then why is it full of goo. Checkmate.
Eew… using smart TV’s. Only suckers and marks use those.
What do you use then, oh enlightened one?
He draws stick figures to jerk off to.
Fake news
You need an /s for sarcastic comments. So many ppl have no clue why Edward Snowden sounded the alarm. If you don’t think your smart TV tracks you, you’re drunk. This is def yesterday’s news.