YHK - yet another hacker news clone

My honest answer at this point is none.

Keep the glass disconnected from the network forever and it will solve the vast majority of your concerns.

Jellyfin is the answer if you are looking to spend a premium on a privacy-focused media experience.

- Buy any TV you want

- Don't connect it to the network

A large format monitor that does not connect to the Internet nor has any smarts at all.

Also, do not plug any Internet-facing devices into it, have a captive SBC that connects to a LAN server hosting (legally owned) videos.

I just dont connect mine to the internet, hook up an Apple TV to it.

I went and researched this, and found that basically none of the TV brands were anything but creepy on privacy.

What I’ve ended up doing was I got an LG and never hooked it up to Wifi/internet, and then use an Apple TV to watch things on.

It’s a bit annoying if I want to switch to a game console as Apple TV can’t control the TV’s input channel, but otherwise works very well.

Make sure the TV supports HDMI CEC.

https://www.sceptre.com/ seems to be pretty much the only remaining brand of non-smart TVs left. However, I have no experience of them.

I rooted my LG C1 and honestly I can't go back to an unrooted TV. Game streaming works so much better(I can actually install the apps). I can control everything so Home Assistant automations are much better. Internet is blocked so no nagging or ads, But they are turn off via root just in case.

I recently was stressed about the same & ended up buying an LG C6, sticking it on an isolated VLAN, rooting it, then just letting it hit my NAS for jellyfin.

I’m sticking with my 2010 Toshiba REGZA until it dies. 1080p is fine for me.

Don't connect it to a network, buy a mini pc and install Linux on it. Get a Logitech k400 keyboard with an integrated touchpad to control it remotely

Personally, I used to be very privacy-conscious, but have given up on enforcing it everywhere over the years. I still care, more than most people I know in real life, but when it comes to stuff like TV's I just get whatever has the best panel for the lowest price. Last time I bought a TV, that was an LG TV running WebOS, which is not exactly the best from a privacy standpoint. Initially I used it with an Apple TV, but now I just use the native apps and try to disable the telemetry that I can in the settings panel.

I think the answer now changes with ability to root some of these tvs.

Still, might be best to run an android tv box yourself, and plug hdmi.

I don't know how true it still is, but dumb TVs have traditionally been marketed as "commercial displays". You'll pay more and have to bring your own media, of course.

Disconnect the TV from internet and use a solution like Apple TV for apps you would like in TV. Even better is a Mini PC connected to the TV if you are savvy enough.

If you are open to projectors they still make “home cinema” projectors that don’t have any smart features or connect to the internet.

I have a BenQ (710tki iirc) that is like this and I believe it meets all your stated requirements (size, resolution, etc). I’ve been very happy with it.

I shop for elite televisions at the “reuse” center, my latest score was a 2013 Panasonic plasma which is a perfectly good dumb TV hooked up to an XBOX ONE and a home theatre. Downstairs I have a big curved Samsung 4K attached to my big PC. Someday I’ll see the high end OLED that I crave.

If you have the room and price is no object you definitely want at least 5.1 theatre, both movies and TV programs sound great in 5.1. The next step up is a second subwoofer, even for music subwoofers take a load off your other speakers and reduce distortion.

Samsung is the worst by far. Samsung (TizenOS) does not respect even privacy opt outs. It seems like LG, Google TV OS (Sony) and Fire TV OS (Amazon) and VidaaOS at least do that.

https://allaboutcookies.org/smart-tv-tracking-privacy-opt-ou...

Never connect to internet is the best option.

Tvs can themselves have their privacy improved by never connecting it to WIFI, except, maybe for software updates, if needed (rare).

The smarts you connect to the TV can vary.

Apple Ts manage things in some good ways.

NVidia Shields are good in others for Android TV.

The Android TV platform is likely more customizable (check youtube the past few weeks) to get it how you want.

Last, but not least, some poeple may just hook up a web browser to the TV and then contain that.

I allow my Samsung to connect to my local network, but then use openwrt and refuse to allow any outbound data from any IP using the MAC address of the television set. It cant update itself and no traffic suggests it can do anything regardless of what it might be collecting. Rooting it to prevent it from connecting to other wifi AP’s is probably the only better thing.

Buy something used that was manufactured before ca 2018. Or get a projector that doesn't have any smart stuff built in.

I like LG OLED quality. My lg tv has never been connected to the internet and connects to a avr that handles inputs and 5.1.2 speakers Nvidia shield with hdmi-cec to turn on/off the receiver and tv. Jellyfin, android tv app for cable company, YouTube sans ads and projectivy launcher (Google one sucks). You can update firmware via usb stick. Would get an Apple TV if it died but like my Dolby vision HDR10 and atmos. Highly recommend.

Imagine you wouldn’t have this but technically the front two speakers are on a much higher end naim amplifier (connected to my audio stuff) but it has avr pass through. Sometimes an extra button to switch it to turn the front two speakers back to avr mode.

Buy any TV you want, ignore all instructions to connect it to the internet, then look for an HDMI port on the back. Plug an HDMI cable into one end, and in the other end plug in a cheap Linux computer like a used Intel NUC from ebay. Then use a nice air-mouse remote like the Pepper Jobs W10.

I watch any movie or TV show I want in 4k via Kodi, but then can alt tab to a Terminal or a real web browser.

Privacy, and dramatically more functionality than any TV would ship with anyway.

Using this setup to type this message right now on pc hooked to a projector in my garage from my couch.

It turns out we never needed Smart TVs in the first place. Just treat it as a screen for a desktop computer.

As everyone is saying: just don't let it on the network. It's a little annoying because you can't have smart home stuff like "turn off the TV when I leave the house" working, but that's it.

My thing is, don't use an Apple TV. For the last 15 years or so I've just used a Mac Mini plugged into a big TV, and it's perfect. Get a wireless keyboard and trackpad and one of the many available trays that will hold them together. I'm literally typing this right now on this exact setup.

LG Ultragear 48GQ900-B

Ok I'm cheating, it's a monitor. Only it's the size of a TV and there's a remote.

But no tuner and no ARC.

But I don't care.

Zero smarts, boots in a millisecond, auto-wakes on device power-up, input switching just works, no half-baked HDMI-CEC hell. No wifi. No network. Nothing to spy on me because it's a FUCKING MONITOR and THAT'S IT.

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-48gq900-b-gaming-monitor

just pick a PC screen with TV sizes, although they might max out at 55 inches. displayspecifications.com has many hits for what has no FRC then.

Any AndroidTV and then run CleanYourTV [1] on it, gets completely rid of all Google ads and additional bloatware by the manufacturer. Maybe run Claude against the repo first to check for malware but going by the number of stars it seems to be solid.

[1] https://github.com/Gathin23/cleanyourtv

Anybody has experience with TCL and Spectre? I'm seeing them a lot, even saw one really big TCL TV in a local shop and loved the colors and the FPS, but no idea how good are they really, are they longer-lasting, are they annoying if you don't give them network access etc.

A solid late 80s RCA Colortrak 2000 with down-converter is a solid choice and excellent conversation piece. Hardwood finish, or go for the full console experience. Best part is it can't call anything.

Just open up whatever you buy and pull the networking components, microphones, and covert cameras. Leverage HDMI after that. Problem solved.

Digital signage displays are dumb PC screens in giant sizes, like you are looking for.

Got a Bravia TV for cheap back in 2014 that happened to be pre-Android TV (and pre-Google TV) so Android TV was just released and those something-else-os were "outdated".

Sony stopped releasing security patches a while back and there are no longer apps whatsoever and they all were crap - the youtube one was pure torture because of how slow it was and the web browser was just as miserable as ie6.

But besides that I can send it commands to it via its IP and control it, consume stuff via a DLNA daemon, do screen mirroring, and all the usual tv stuff. The image quality and sound are still great after 10+ years though I can't care less about oled 4k 120Hz and all that stuff. So it's no longer a "smart" tv but it's not also so "dumb" for a now dumb tv.

You can use a Sony Bravia connected to an Apple TV without connecting the Sony to the internet.

The fact that we even need to have this conversation is messed up...

Thanks everyone for more practical comments, definitively bookmaking this post.

Huge fan of "never give it wifi, hook it up to a little linux box, remote control it via input leap" myself

Sadly the Samsung TV I have was the best display for the price by a mile, so I've done what i can to balance usage and protection. Its connected to the wifi to allow for AirPlay natively. The tv has a fixed IP at the router to block all traffic in and out of the network, and as a visibility layer its DNS'd through a PiHole too.

Its unbelievably talkative over the network! In the 7 days just passed, its been 90% of the blocked requests by volume (there's no allowed domains from that IP).

I'm still not convinced it isn't sneaking out data somehow - piggybacking off a connection somewhere to the neighbors TV. Its HDMI runs through a stereo amplifier, so it can't piggy-back off the connected PC that runs it.

Maybe the PC (Mint) can run AirPlay somehow and I can disconnect it entirely from the internet?

I feel overly paranoid about this device relative to everything else in the house, I'm not sure how justified that is.

I'd recommend a search, this gets asked at least once a year