Smart TVs are like “a digital Trojan Horse” in people’s homes | 48-page report urges FTC, FCC to investigate connected TV industry data harvesting.

I just run an old PC plugged in to my TV. It's been running Windows, but I'm strongly considering switching it to linux now that it seems HDR on linux is getting stable. I might even use SteamOS directly since it's got a nice interface for controller use.

Honestly, the apple TV is the least spammy by a long shot. I also hear great things about the Nvidia shield, but it is pretty ancient by now. Or use a computer, but of course that's got its own annoyances. Of course these are all the most expensive options, apparently for a reason.

I bought an Apple TV after I had some smart tv related issues with my Samsung. I’m happy with it and it supports any app you’d want.

Apple TV has been reliable for many years. Don't even have an iPhone or iPad anymore but the OS gets the fuck outta the way and it probably has the least spyware of all the commercial options.

Building your own with like, a Pi or a PC is the best option if you mainly have pirated content.... If you stream anything that option isn't great because your device won't pass all the DRM checks to play higher definition/4k stuff. (Someone correct me but last I looked into it this was still true)

Join the darkside, and run something like a Raspberry Pi with Kodi, and/or Plex, etc.

I've been using a Chromecast for years. I cast whatever I want from my phone. It plays media and that's it.

Nvidia Shield

Another chiming in on the best device by a long shot is the AppleTV. It’s damn fast and its UI is actually nice to use. Oh and all the apps are always up to date. Zero ads just sitting on the screen anywhere.

I rooted my (Android TV based) smart TV, removed all the tracking (verified with PCAPDroid), and I use Stremio and SmartTube to stream everything. I also use AFWall as a firewall to whitelist only apps that I install to access the internet only through my VPN. I set my DNS to 0.0.0.0 to block all traffic outside of my DNS if my firewall ever fails because Android TV doesn't have that option unlike regular Android.

I have a Hisense TV if you're curious. You can also get a TV box that is supported by LineageOS and do the same thing on there.

Whenever Android 10 gets super outdated, I'm hoping that Plasma Bigscreen will be advanced enough to be able to replace it, then I will just use my laptop for TV activities instead. I also would need Linux to get better HDR support (currently it only supports HDR10 and not HDR10+ or Dolby Vision) and for AMD drivers to gain HDMI 2.1 support (which is being blocked by the HDMI forum for stupid reasons. The code has been ready for a while, but AMD isn't allowed to release it)

I use a rooted Xiaomi Mi Box 2S rooted and degoogled filtered by pi-hole and I only use stremio or jellyfin and smartube for youtube.

I usually hook my Steam Deck up to my TV via a USB hub and HDMI, and then fire something up on Plex, which I keep running on my desktop.

Bonus: Make it a wireless HDMI dongle (which I'm too cheap for but are a thing), and now using it from the couch is even more convenient.

My TV has always been run without the "smarts" ever since I bought it.

That said, recently I've replaced my TV Box and Media Box with a N100 Mini PC running Linux and Kodi plus a wireless remote and in addition to that the thing even works as my home server with additional functionality than just that of the devices it replaced.

For a cheaper/easier option try LibreELEC on top one of the devices they support (check the downloads page or the Wiki for the list). It's basically a Linux distro with Kodi, so open and with none of the privacy intrusion risks of Android. The same kind of wireless remote (example - note that you don't actually need to use the keyboard on the back or the air mouse) also works here since it just relies on standard shortcut keys of media programs like Kodi so works everywhere (even Android).

However what all these privacy-protecting non-enshittified options have in common is that they're not fully configured solutions that you just buy and use - as you've noticed, if you just buy a streaming stick or device it will likely be at the least "spammy" - and you do have to do some of the work to get them working.

Something like LibreELEC on a mini PC should be the simplest to put together as the hardware comes preconfigured in an actual box and all that's needed is to install the LibreELEC image from a bootable USB stick, but if you have a bit more technical know-how (not really that much needed, mind you) you can get something like one of the supported Orange Pi boards along with a box for it and it will cost you less than half as much as even a basic Mini PC - those boards are basically using the same chips as Android TV media boxes so you get the same performance without the "spammyness".

If you want customization and the ability to sideload apps, get an Nvidia Shield. There are custom OSes you can load which remove a lot of the spammy ad BS that the Shield’s default OS has baked in.

If you want ease of use and setup, get an Apple TV. It won’t natively run all of your pirated hentai apps, but it at least has Plex so you can stream custom content from a server if you set one up.

Never connected my LG TV to the internet. I got an Nvidia Shield TV Pro hooked up to it. The default home screen got riddled with ads as well after I got it, but at least you can change it to a third party one and never have to see it again. Otherwise a cheap used Xbox Series S might also work, but is much bigger and arguably less flexible. And if you want a truly privacy-respecting device you might have to go with a Linux mini PC, though that's much more involved to set up and many commercial streaming services won't give you the full quality streams you are paying for.

Nvidia shield with a custom launcher. Google updated their Android TV home which made 60% and More of the dashboard just ads so I added projectify as my launcher. There are now only 2 apps being shown on my screen. Plex and Google Play (for updating apps).

But what device do you use to stream?

Raspberry Pi with a bare image of Android TV installed. The result is a Roku without any attempt to serve home screen ads.

Old laptop connected to tv through hdmi + cheapest wireless mouse I could find. If you want to get fancy you can also get a wireless keyboard but screen keyboard does a good enough job

Nico Semsrott (Kabarettist and member of the EU parliament. Yes, both) proposed in jest sponsoring placement on the jackets of the political members that got donations by companies.
The jackets should then look like the race overalls from Formula 1 or (not US) football players.

And I am fully supporting this.

Edit:
Like this:

Not mine! But my hobby is making my own smart devices.

God damn! You know things are god damn grim when even Oswald Cobblepot has gone woke!

Please drink verification can.

So with all the recent drama I learned that some TVs look for other open networks or other same brand TVs in range, and if found will join those networks and still share data.

So not connecting it isn't enough in all cases.

A pihole wouldn't solve this either if it was smart enough to know it's blocked and look elsewhere.

I went ubiquity with my entire network. Can recommend

I recently picked up a GL-iNet Flint 2 because it's a powerhouse and one of the easiest routers to flash Open-WRT onto. If you don't want to mess with firnware flashing, it comes stock with their fork of Open-WRT. So, either way, you have a ton of control over your router, including setting up VLANs and running AdGuard.

I have the Ubiquiti Edgerouter X. I got it mostly because at the time it was on sale 😂 but it seems to have decent support. Note that you will have to get a wireless AP as the Edgerouter is a pure router without WiFi function. Lots of people also like Mikrotik products.

For consumer grade gear, Ubiquiti is probably the best bet. Unless you want to get into the commercial side of things, but that’s prohibitively expensive for the average person.

Personally I run a GL.iNet system. I like it being completely open source, and the Flint 2 is a workhorse of a router. But as far as ease of use and config, Ubiquiti is certainly more straightforward.

Is it encrypted?

How many times the cost of a comparably-sized Trojan TV did that run you?

Data mining. They know what you watch, when you don't and any other habits you have.

If you have a microphone on your remote or tv, then they also send that data over.

Knowing the distribution of what entire households watch is very useful. It's not about spying on you personally.

One is a Samsung, and the other is a Roku. The Roku is a little bit noisier, but not by much.

You don't need a high bandwidth connection to do emergency notifications, and considering it might be in a remote area satellite would be better than LTE.

For the diagnostics you could log events internally and then collect them with OBD-II readers, though I'd like to force car makers to use open data formats so people can see for themselves what's collected.

That said, this data should be limited in scope and use...

Yep, anonymized, limited, non-distributable, and secured, with severe penalties (on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per person, paid to the harmed party) for failure to adhere.

Civilians used to own canons. For blowing up ships. And the occasional home invader. Doesn't matter if it has sailed if we sink it. We should sink that ship.

It's exactly that. Detect where there are ads in a scene ( a panel for example) and replace the space with their own ads.

Simpletons LOL get a grip

What happens when it no longer needs your WiFi and uses something like LoRa to phone home with your data and location? It may not know who you are exactly but it’ll have a good guess.

I mean....what happens when it becomes sentient, sprouts legs and you catch it sleeping with your spouse?

Let's deal with the here and now.

Screwdriver.

What's Lora?

We have wins before, via groups like EEF. There are Pirate Parties and all kind of Right To Repair and digital freedom groups. The corporations don't want us to fight or even have a voice.

There are ways, yes

if people like Louis Rossman can change legislation in our favor (talking about right to repair), I don't see why not

Apple TV doesn't try to do much other than being a very technically capable passthrough. You get pretty much every streaming service, multiple Plex clients etc. And no ads.

My 1st Gen ATV4K is 7 years old now and was buttery smooth until last tvOS update, now it's only slightly smoother than most high end TVs. That's quite a good run.

Agree, of all the companies out there, Apple isn't the one I entrust with my data. Pretty happy with my Nvidia Shield instead, the OS is open enough to allow monitoring all telemetry, and I'm happy to say that after switching everything off that Android enabled by default, nothing really gets out there. I've sniffed connections on my router as well, and it only really connects to where it should.

Edit: Aww look, I've triggered the fanboys ¯(ツ)/¯

I'm not even Canadian and the CTV television station is what came to mind. Have also never heard "CTV" to mean connected TV.

Thanks. Anything more specific in mind? I know Eizo for their monitors for colour-critical work and from looking on their site I'm only able to find a 50 something inch model that's probably very expensive (I think it was in their medical lineup). As for iiyama, they have some 65 and 75" models for e-signage, but they're running Android.

For smart tv, they recommend just never give access to internet. And look if it has some kind of monitor mode so it always launch display on the hdmi port.

Video projectors are available, though.

Buy a monitor, not a TV

Roku’s patent

Samsung tv, after a bad update.