this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Technology

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Reposting this from here from 2023, after I stumbled across it tonight and it hits hard.

The text in the image:

I love my smart TV. I love the way it takes a long time to boot up because it’s trying to refresh the advertisements on the home screen. I delight in the way it randomly restarts because it’s downloaded an update without asking me, each of which makes the TV slower and slower with every subsequent install. I adore the way it buries the apps that I want to use, and that I use without fail every single time, below the apps that it’s being paid to promote and which I have never touched in my life and would never use without the cold metal of a glock pressed hard against my sweating temple. I am infinitely thrilled by the way the interface lags constantly, due to the need to have one thousand unnecessary animations rendered on hardware ripped wholesale from a ten year old phone. I feel myself borne aloft on wings of pure joy when I am notified that my data will be collected and analysed to determine my usage patterns. Even now I am writing this from a field of beautiful flowers and soft luscious grass as I lie and look up happily at the bright blue sky, smiling happily to know that this is the future of technology

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[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 30 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I honestly wonder how hard it would be to do a full lobotomy on a smart TV and if there would be a big enough market for that kind of service.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 26 points 2 days ago (11 children)

best thing is to never hook 'em up to the internet. provided the manufacturers don't all start requiring internet to 'set up' a tv.

next best thing would be a revert of firmware or a full 'reset' of settings; if possible. to return it to an 'out of box' state--then above, never connect it to the internet.

replacing a cheap streaming device is a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing the tv once the software gets obsoleted for whatever reason.


my coworker (and boss, technically) just casually mentioned that her inlaws 'updated' their tvs when they were visting over the holidays. i cringed so fucking hard because i have the same model, just smaller--so i know what happens.

they had just recently hooked-up wireline internet and could actually stream stuff now.. so i had just given them a new streaming stick to use instead of connecting their now 3 year old tv to the wifi.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You'd still have the TVs default OS running on a potato. I'm thinking more along the lines of replacing that with a bare bones old school OS that was responsive.

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[–] perishthethought@lemm.ee 16 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I have mine disconnected from the network, but a certain non-techie member of my household (who doesn't understand this stuff) keeps re-connecting it when they want Netflix to work, even though I've shown them how to do this without connecting the TV to the network.

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[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Sounds like an obvious spot in the market for a bullshit-free smart TV. You'd just have to get the UX right.

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[–] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 4 points 2 days ago

I'm actually quite happy with mine I don't think it's shown me a single ad, the only nuisance is it doesn't stay connected to my WiFi and only joins when I launch an app or something.

Its a Toshiba with Vidaa Os I think, not saying it's perfect it has all the UK channel apps but not Stremio which I would like it to have.

That said it hasn't done a single thing ad wise to annoy me unlike my firetv cube.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 14 points 2 days ago (3 children)

And it won't stay on the selected input. No signal? Gotta go back to the screen with ads.

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[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Luckily the YouTube app gets way worse with each update. Mine now tries to dark pattern you into signing in, and now features extra ads when you pause a video.

I'm switching to sideloaded SmartTube on a GoogleTV with Chromecast dongle.

[–] runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago

I've been using smart tube on my fireTV for about 6 months now and it's amazing. No ads, so many playback options that YouTube doesn't offer, built in sponsor block is a godsend.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How about using computer for all the smart stuff and leaving all the visual stuff to the display? Besides, you can run Firefox and ublock origin to watch YT without ads, so what do you need a smart TV for?

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have a cheap N100 mini-PC with Lubuntu on it with Kodi alongside a wireless remote as my TV box, and use my TV as a dumb screen.

Mind you, you can do it even more easily with LibreELEC instead of Lubuntu and more cheaply with one of its supported cheap SBCs plus a box instead of a mini PC.

That said, even the simplest solution is beyond the ability of most people to set up, and once you go up to the next level of easiness to setup - a dedicated Android TV Box - you're hit with enshittification (at the very least preconfigured apps like Netflix with matching buttons in your remote) even if you avoid big brands.

Things are really bad nowadays unless you're a well informed tech expert with the patience to dive into those things when you're home.

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Because it's "convenient" and people are lazy.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 13 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Last time I was looking for a TV I couldn't find a single dumb TV unless I wanted to roll back to standard definition, which makes the text in a lot of modern video games unreadable.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (6 children)

But you don't need a dumb TV.

The smart part isn't what makes those TVs bad. It is the internet connection that sends you ads, scrapes your data, causes lags and reboots because of updates, and makes your network less secure.

Just connect an other device over HDMI like you would a dumb TV, and never connect it to the internet like you would a dumb TV.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 1 points 1 day ago

That's true. I was even more tech illiterate back then than I am now and couldn't figure out how to switch inputs without going through the menu, which I couldn't get to without connecting to the internet and going through the whole setup process.

No going back now since I mostly cast from my phone these days since it's the laziest way for me to watch without ads.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

Except some models won't let you do anything until you "activate" your smart TV, which requires an internet connection.

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 12 points 2 days ago

Because finding dumb screens is actually difficult and smart TVs are cheaper.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

People don’t hate ads enough to go through the trouble of using better options. Once you’ve lived without ads for a while, there’s no going back.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago (4 children)

i haven't even turned on my tv in over a year because of that bullshit. i've just been using a monitor + laptop + 2.1 pc speakers.

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[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Or: buy a computer, once

It's not that hard, the original author is just lazy or ignorant or both.

My smart tv is a mid ranged i5 from 2012.

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[–] haverholm@kbin.earth 8 points 2 days ago (12 children)

OT, and I'm usually not the type that comments with gun trivia, but

the cold metal of a glock

Wasn't Glock famously made of ceramic polymer and became popular for evasion of metal detectors?

Sorry for the sidetrack, that single point irks me even if it's way outside my wheelhouse.

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[–] termus@beehaw.org 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We have an older 2012 1080p Sony 55" TV. Super thin, still works great. It had a few "smart" things it could do, like local tv guide, weather. Very simple stuff, nothing like streaming apps. Those basic smart things haven't functioned in a while. Support ended for them a long time ago. I've had a negative opinion for smart TVs since then. Having those functions sitting there broken drives me nuts.

We always used some type of streaming box. Started out with some Roku's for a long time that worked okay until they updated them enough to run like shit. Ads were never egregious but you could tell where the trend was going. A friend let me have an older Nvidia Shield TV. It was FILLED with ads for shit we didn't care about. Google Play store shit, Nvidia shit, advertisement shit, AHHHHHHH. It too eventually was updated enough to where everything runs like shit. I looked into a lot of self contained media systems from no names on Amazon, but I just didn't trust them. I could set up a PC to do it all and I'd be fine with it but my wife wants something easy to use.

Sooo I ended up going with an Apple TV. So far it's been really nice. Zero ads on the home screen. It lists the previous content we were watching and then our streaming apps below it, that's it. When you move the cursor over the Netflix or other apps it lists what you previously watched and some recommendations for other shows but it's not in your face or moving anything around to do it. There are some apps you can't remove, but I just made a folder and threw them all in there. It's nice but it's costly at around $140. So far for me, I'd say it's worth it. We only use Netflix, Hulu and Plex on it, but all of them work great. It also supports the Steam Link app. I use it some, but I've started to use Moonlight that is installed on my Steam Link device instead, since the picture and stream quality is a lot better.

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[–] Steve@communick.news 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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