“Smart” TVs are such a waste when they lock all the hardware and firmware into a device that’ll either be unsupported in a few years or too slow to work with new apps.
I’d much rather a dumb TV and stick a Roku/Raspberry Pi. via HDMI. You get all the same control but none of the bullshit
I’m against Android but I admit it’s getting harder and harder to get “connected” (not to say “smart”) device without it on. Anyway I did give up on my 55" Samsung TV for a video projector from Nebula. It’s so compact it sits under the former TV stand. I installed VLC on it and connect to my RPi4 with a DNLA server on it and watch content I downloaded before. Not a perfect setup but quite happy with it. Until then I was using LibreElec on the RPi to drive the TV.
Whenever I’ll hit a limit with Nebula I might tinker to see if I could replace Android with Linux proper. It might be all supported hardware but I truly don’t know.
PS: iirc the Samsung TV was Tizen, it was a relatively old model but now it’s gathering dust so I don’t know.
I specifically do not use streaming services. I don’t have the discipline to avoid binge watching and I trust dark patterns to be too good to keep me hooked. I only rely on files I download. I believe, maybe naively, that the extra step keeps me in check.
IMHO VLC as a UI is sufficient and it works well with the remote of the Nebula video projector. I don’t need Kodi anymore. Sure sometimes you don’t have nice covers but if your filesystem hierarchy is clear, directories are sufficient. It does look less “sexy” but again in my context of being mindful of screen time that’s a feature.
I’m really happy with my android TV, but it makes me feel bad to know that my computer is free from GAFAMs but my TV keeps telling them what I’m watching and doing.
About the mini PC on the side, the ecological impact of having a second device turned on is preventing me from doing that.
Something like a ASRock 4x4 with a 5800U should draw about 10W in idle, but you can certainly shut it off when you’re not watching. I use a small tower because it also holds some storage for my home NAS and jellyfin server.
A small secondary device is not going to hurt your power consumption just for video playback. ARM chips are capable of 1080p playback just fine and have really decent power consumption numbers to boot.
Android TVs are also Linux TVs, in fact I have a good degree of certainty that most smart TVs are Linux, developing a whole OS from scratch is hard, much easier to use one that already exists.
That article made me realize how old my TV is, and certainly made me appreciate WebOS compared to the previous OS I could have had if I had gotten my TV two years prior.
WebOS isn’t based on PalmOS. PalmOS was it’s own completely unique OS for PDAs and phones, WebOS was Palm’s Linux-based successor to PalmOS for the Pre. Eventually LG ended up with it and turned it into a TV and watch OS.
WebOS is such a sad story. It started as a pretty innovative and interesting mobile OS at a time when phone manufacturers bothered to innovate. Then it ended up being owned by the grossest software company ever, HPE, and now it’s a pathetically crappy TV operating system. What is LG even doing?
Yeah if it could use modern cell networks and the like 3 apps I actually need I would switch from my modern android phone to a Pre in a heartbeat. It is by far my favorite mobile os
Plenty of them will auto connect to what ever open network. So you can’t guarantee that. Or various exploits that could exist in the wifi stack. It’s not the same as buying a “dumb” tv.
No it isn’t, there’s no hacking involved in connecting to a wifi network. Plus different jurisdictiona might see it differently anyway. And good luck with your lawsuits against mega corps.
This isn’t some hypothetical, this is something smart TVs are known to be doing, right now.
No it isn’t, there’s no hacking involved in connecting to a wifi network. Plus different jurisdictiona might see it differently anyway.
Most western jurisdictions define hacking as accessing computer resources without permission. So yes, at least in the west, such behaviour definitely counts as hacking. Doesn't matter if there's no encryption breaking or brute forcing going on. If it's connecting to a network that it doesn't have permission to be on, it is breaking the law.
And good luck with your lawsuits against mega corps.
It is possible to get entire products pulled from stores if they are breaching hacking laws.
Maybe you can trick it by using a private DNS server. Maybe someone already cracked their API and has a manual how to run your own server telling the tv „bro, everything easy“ Just google jailbreak (insert tv name) this should be a good start for digging.
No, but you can likely remove the Wi-Fi and any other Wireless chips that you don’t need (other than the IR). That, and use it as a display for a computer through HDMI
This is true and something to consider. There’s also no app for Crunchyroll which is personally a huge downside.
It’s still the best user experience and I seriously dread having to use other people’s TVs now. Even major players like Samsung are seriously lacking in comparison.
The chinese-spyware repo has been deprecated, the new spyware is under tiktok-py-systemd. Be sure to update so you’re protected against the latest anti-spyware being developed.
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