These TVs can capture and identify 7,200 images per hour, or approximately two every second. The data is then used for content recommendations and ad targeting, which is a huge business; advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads in 2022, according to market research firm eMarketer.
So… Can someone explain how this is legal if you’re watching DRM content? Capturing and uploading copyrighted, protected content doesn’t seem very kosher.
advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads
Jesus. Spend a fraction of that developing good products that people will actually want to buy so you can end this unethical, scumbag way of making a buck.
Obviously
Honestly the least I’d expect of a smart TV.
I have my old (stupid) tv from like 2013, works perfectly fine. No apps, no firmware, no ads, no tracking. Never felt the need to buy a smart tv, but I’m afraid it’d be near impossible to find a new one that isn’t nowadays I’d mine broke down.
This is the only reason I have a smart TV. I didn’t want one, in fact it prompted me to make an SSID and VLAN just for it, then applied a bunch of DNS blocks. Unfortunately my old 2012 TV wasn’t worth shipping across the country and the image was getting pretty dim and it had started developing dead pixels.
If you want anything above 1080p that’s a dumb TV you have to go commercial like the hospitality market and they charge you way more for it. And they won’t even sell it to you without a corporate account in most places.
The only way to get 4K and HDR without the smarts as a consumer is to buy a giant gaming monitor… and those too ask for quite a premium, because gamers.
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Yeah but they do still end up pretty expensive. I was able to score a black friday 65" 4K HDR 1000 nits 120 Hz FreeSync TV with local dimming for $700. Not the best but given I don’t use it that often or for very long I didn’t want it to turn into a big investment.
I’m sure it’s pretty average but for my use case it worked out pretty good.
Have you tried just not connecting it to the internet, and using a streaming box?
I opted to connect it because it’s the only device in the house Netflix is willing to give more than 720p. I hate DRM.
That’s just some epic bullshit. Netflix’s tiering is just asinine.
They come with the crap built in these days.
I know. Don’t connect it to the internet, and don’t use the crap
NextDNS has a blocklist you can enable to block telemetry for Roku TVs FYI. You can also get a dumb TV or keep your TV offline and have a separate Kodi box for your shows.
surprisedpikachuface.webp
God damn webp, why is support so inconsistent?
Good. Have fun uploading any information about me without wifi or an ethernet cable. Smart TVs were a mistake, even the most expensive ones are slow and trash.
That’s why i don’t connect mine to the internet and I black hole suspicious traffic
just plug a SBC running Kodi/jellyfin/whatever non-proprietary to a regular tv
It’s extremely difficult to find a dumb tv in sizes larger than ~55”. You really don’t have much choice at the moment. I personally host a jellyfin server and play that via apple tv over hdmi, but content recognition still does its thing. Best i could do was deny wifi/ethernet to the tv and have no open networks.
Yes, do exactly this. If you have AppleTV connected to your TV over HDMI or whatever, why does your TV need an internet connection?
It’ll never tell anyone because it’ll never be hooked up to the internet.
I really likr the last few firmware updates that my TV received. But apart from checking for updates every few months, I agree that keeping it blocked in my router settings is ideal.
Doesn’t that kind of beat the purpose? The device can just store telemetric data and send them in batches whenever you connect it.
My Sony runs AndroidTV and uses NextDNS to block telemetry and the like. The features that I received with the last few updates enabled VRR, improved clarity and Dolby Vision, etc. So it was definitely worth it.
I am so glad I don’t have a TV. It’s just the Internet with even more ads, minus the Internet.
It doesn’t have to be. I get everything for free, no subscriptions, no ads. I’m pretty happy with the deal.
Mine doesn’t
care to share?
Most likely offline or firewalled to Hades.
fair.
genuine question: is it still considered ‘smart’ if its fully offline? what can it do that a ‘normal’ tv cant? can it connect to a local media server or something?
Play media from USB or local Plex yes.
Display IP cameras
Really expensive alarm clock
Is an airplane still an airplane if it never flies?
Mine’s a crt with an hdmi converter. I’m untouchable
VLANed off with no internet. Can only see my Plex server. No other access
It says in the article there’s a privacy request option if you own a samsung tv. I went ahead and sent a request to not sell my data, although not sure if it’s effective since I’m not in CA.
You could always use a large monitor but the problem with that would be affordablity.
A TV that is not connected to the internet is effectively just a large monitor.
I understand that some TVs lock functionality and coerce you into connecting it to the network, but most of them function well as monitors. I know it’s tempting to make use of the “smart” features since it’s included, but if you care about privacy, it’s better to keep it off the internet.
on our vizio, from the settings side panel: all settings->admin/privacy->viewing data. turn it off.
I leave the TV on all day for the cats, I’m sure they’re getting lots of useful data while they sleep in front of MASH reruns
