this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Does anyone got any television recommendations for dumb tv's or other words none smart tv's? Or even a tv that is smart but the software is open sourced making it privacy friendly?

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

TV's have become privacy nightmares in recent days.

One option would be any TV that works then simply keep it offline and stream from a device that allows you to have more control over your privacy.

If you're wanting to actually use a smart TV's functions, I think NextDNS can be set up to block most of the telemetry on whichever smart TV you have.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

Yep, my TV is the chattiest device on my network according to PiHole. Blocked all the telemetry and it still works fine.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is definitely the simplest approach, as you will be able to use any TV you come across.

As for a streaming device, some form of HTPC is likely to give you the best control over your digital privacy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Not any TV. You can't just use PiHole and similar if the TV uses DNS over TLS or HTTPS

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dumb TVs have gotten hard to find these days. Your options are to either avoid connecting the tv to the internet, or to get digital signage display (but they are pricier).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but monitors don't typically have a remote control or TV tuner embedded. But if that's not an issue, sure, a monitor would work.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

get any tv and dont hook it to the net. use a device like a nvidia shield, a game console or something similar if you want streaming apps

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You think consoles don’t track you? Also they are extremely wasteful when it comes to power consumption. Better just get a tiny streaming stick or a smart tv.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Have you considered that you can play videogames on them?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not everyone plays games or has time for it.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, but we are discussing streaming here. I also have several consoles and I play on them but for streaming they’re a really bad (expensive) option for the reason I mentioned: electricity.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Tgey can still connect to open networks in your area and send data, I personally disconnected the wifi&bluetooth chip from mine

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I asked this question a year ago, and was advised to buy a TV and never connect it to my network. That worked fine for me... But, one person told me they bought a TV that would not function until it was connected to their network to run "updates" so he took it back to the store and got a replacement. The replacement did the same thing so he took that back too. (I think he eventually got one that just "worked" out of the box without requiring an update just to work.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Till they release the next update. Why even support a brand like that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I mean the TV won't know they've released a new update if you never connect it to the net.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I wanted a cheap TV. To me it’s just a display. It’s been over a year and it’s never been connected to the Internet and it’s never bugged me about it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're looking for a computer monitor or a commercial display. Both should be free of all the "smart" features.

The downside is that both are far more expensive comparatively.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Warning, computer monitors tend to be missing speakers. I've made this mistake

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

you can get somewhat decent usb speakers for like 20 bucks though

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

"Digital signage" is horribly overpriced, and lacking in features you probably do want (like HDR, HDMI 2.1, VRR, etc).

Just buy a regular TV and don't let it on the internet.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use Raspberry Pi 4 + Lineage OS (Android TV version) + Jellyfin + SmartTube (open source YouTube client for Android TV)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you do about a remote control? Bluetooth? Or do you just use a wireless mouse and keyboard?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Chromecast Remote connected via Bluetooth

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can buy commercial signage displays like this one from Samsung which have modern display features. These are made to run 16 hours/day every day so the electronics are actually better than most consumer displays.

These don't have all the crapware of consumer smart TVs, but they also aren't subsidized by all the data gathering and ad pushing stuff so they cost more than smart TVs of the same size.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But do they come with stands? I spent a decade working in digital signage in Australia and I don't recall ever seeing a screen with a stand.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

A reasonable enough VESA mount or stand should be no more than $50 or $60. Looks like the linked display has VESA 200 mounting holes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You want to wall mount any decent sized TV anyway. My LG didn’t come with a stand either, only a wall mount.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would I want to wall mount a TV if it's large?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Several reasons.

First of all space: a wall mounted TV takes up less space, and this is especially true if it's a large TV

Second: safety. A large flat screen is at risk for falling over. Even the smallish (50") plasma I had a while back came with a safety warning that urged you to basically run a piece of rope from a hook at the top of the TV to the wall to ensure it wouldn't fall on anyone.

Third: it just looks better.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Have you looked at big-ass computer monitors? They probably have a lot of things you don't want, but I've yet to see a smart one. Maybe a cheap one would fit the bill?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

that's true

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What things do they have that you don't want?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

A much bigger price tag.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The PC monitors?

Depending on the type, they might be optimised for documents rather than multimedia. Look for a monitor that is intended for gamers/graphics designers. That way you get the color depth you'd also want for movies, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sceptre has some decent panels. Also look for business display units. You can find major brands like Samsung and Panasonic and Toshiba and they will be as good as the regular TV without the stupid bloated "smart" shit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Literally just don’t use the shit OS. Plug in a media system and you are good.

Who gives a shit what the tv OS can or can’t do??

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

If you want to have absolute privacy, then you want any TV, never hook it up to the internet, then probably just a raspberry pi hooked up with Kodi.

You won't have netflix or disney+. But if you want privacy that's the way you have to go

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I got a xiaomi smart tv, opened it up and disconnected the wifi&bluetooth chip. Making it a really annoying dumb smart tv, then just connected a laptop with Arch

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t think there’s anything you can reasonably do today to stop the privacy invasiveness. They can always use an Amazon Sidewalk-ish communication method. You’d have to faraday cage the damn thing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Simple solution. Don't have an Alexa etc type device that allows those silly protocols and constantly listens to you.

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