Every day I turn on my LG TV, it wants an update. It's been doing this for like 3 years now. Given the article, it won't be getting that update any time soon!
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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A year or two ago my LG B8 automatically bricked itself unless I agreed to the new terms and conditions. Literally something like "to continue using your tv please agree to the new terms", and if I didn't it was just bricked. They could have put anything in there and it was just "click agree or never use this device again".
It's not been connected to the internet since.
The fact that shrink-wrapped agreements aren't automatically void worldwide is a fucking abomination. No you shouldn't get to push a legally binding contract on me after I paid for the product. It's my property now and if you want to require a license agreement after the sale then I should be able to decline it for a full refund fuck you.
I pirated for a long time, and even though I had(have) large media libraries and the home server capacity to manage everything just fine, I stopped.
Not sure when, or why, I'm guessing a service broke and I just said fuck it, I already have Prime+Netflix, and that was years ago at this point.
Netflix's password policy and Amazon showing adds had me spin them up again, and even migrate over to Jellyfin because Plex is just another enshitified privacy nightmare.
Which was a pleasant surprise, because the last I tried Jellyfin years ago, it was not worth the hassle. Also, Plex wasn't nearly as bad as it is now.
To swing this back around to this article, I'm betting eventually they'll force their TVs online by disabling features, capabilities, or even the device itself, if it's not phoning home.
Your TV doesn't need a screensaver. You can just... turn it off.
Well that sucks, ironically I connected my C2 to the net for the NFL gamepass sub I'm actually paying for. Guess it's back to illegal streams on the desktop PC
Oh the irony. The site reporting LG’s ads wants people to remove ad blockers.
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Not only do I use pi-hole, my so called smart TV never connects to the Internet in my household. Hell, I don't buy any smart devices period.
I don’t use pi-hole currently, but have managed access via my router. My LG C1 has been locked down to LAN access only for a long time.
It’s kinds great this way. Since it has an IP it doesn’t give me any bullshit about network, but no traffic escapes the home network.
I was always torn over what TV brand to buy. This helps narrow it down further.
They all will do within 2 years because fuck u peasants... Ain't the free market grand?
There are some large computer monitors, depending on how big of a screen you want. There's no smart crap in those, just DisplayPort and HDMI inputs.
Selection is an issue. Doubt they got large oled formats.
Depends on your definition of large; I've got an amazing 48" 4k 120hz OLED monitor that does no "smart" features.
Alienware does a 55" that I think is the largest available rn though I can't vouch for the inclusion or lack of ads or smart features.
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Thank you daddy capitalism.
I hope I can continue to make the smart TV dumb by never giving it network access. When that fails I'll have to hope the pihole handles some of it. The other fun option might be to put it on a VPN in the EU and hope that it enables some gdpr options.
Either way you're right, it's likely inevitable.
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Unfortunately LG makes the best panels, and many other brands use LG panels(not as good as what LG puts in their own units).
The solution here is to buy their ad subsidized tv and never connect it to the internet.
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Disconnect your TV from internet. They are slow & limited, have ads and a lot of data harvesting.
Get an Android device that faster and give you more control (not firestick etc.)
As if android tv isn’t also loaded to hell with ads and reliant on streaming networks that basically all have increasingly obtrusive ads
Either only buy physical or pirate all of your media, set up a jellyfin server, set up a dns server that blocks ads (adguard, pihole) and point any device that can connect to the internet at it. Cancel all of your streaming subscriptions and use a coreelec box to watch your media from your jellyfin server. There are literally no other ways to not get obtrusive advertising.
If you have an lg webos tv like me you can keep it connected to the internet but root it, block updates in homebrew channel, install YouTube with adblocking and sponsor block, and then again make sure it’s getting dns from your ad block server. Add in custom rules for
us.ad.lgsmartad.com us.info.lgsmartad.com ngfts.lge.com lgad.cjpowercast.com edgesuite.net us.rdx2.lgtvsdp.com us.info.lgsmartad.com us.ibs.lgappstv.com us.lgtvsdp.com ad.lgappstv.com smartshare.lgtvsdp.com ibis.lgappstv.com us.ad.lgsmartad.com lgad.cjpowercast.com.edgesuite.net ngfts.lge.com yumenetworks.com smartclip.net smartclip.com
snu.lge.com su.lge.com lgtvonline.lge.com
These block ads and the last three block the update servers. The update blocking isn’t strictly necessary if you have rooted and blocked updates in homebrew channel but it will get rid of the annoying “new version” nag that pops up when you turn on the tv. You may have to clear caches on the tv
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Bingo. Shield pro, and blacklist the MAC address of the TV and NEVER update the firmware.
NEVER update the firmware
...bacause that would add ads. I hate this whole ecosystem.
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If I'm not watching it, my TV stays off. But for how long anymore, I wonder..
Side thought: the smartphone ROMs/roots scene has slowed down, recently; maybe it's time to start with TVs rooting.
One of the concerns I would have with custom ROMs for TVs is that I think a lot of the image processing magic that makes the image look good on these high end displays is done in some proprietary method that the custom ROM wouldn't be able to use. Either in software or in hardware.
The magic of the high end TVs isn't actually in the panel itself as much as in the driving of the panel.
You guys are going about this all wrong. All you gotta do is connect your smart tv to the internet. Don't use pihole. Let your tv communicate exactly how it wants to. Then buy some DVDs of local indy pro wrestling. The kind where women staple each other with staple guns, and smash light tubes over each others heads and bleed profusely.
Now......why would you do this? Because advertisers HATE advertising with pro wrestling. They also have nothing TO advertise for women with bloody faces, and broken noses.
Let THAT data get back to them. Who's going to advertise to the guy who watches pro-wrestling from a high school gym where women leave pools of blood on the ground??? If everyone did this, for 10 hours a day, advertisers would deem the American market not worth the money to advertise to.
Sure, waste electricity while being unable to use the TV as intended, and cause some additional wear & tear. Great idea.
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Where are all the hackers out there that have the skills to crack a TV to load something open source? They're computers. There has to be a way to jailbreak/root then.
Sure, it's being done. Xiaomi TVs have custom ROMs available, and I'm sure a bunch of others. Thing is, state of the art TVs are are not exactly cheap, and you need one to hack it in the first place. Most hackers do it for free, so they can't exactly go on a spending spree.
They don't cost much more than a flagship phone, which are the best supported in custom roms while cheaps ones are barely.
Guess it's more an issue of hundreds of ARM chipsets with proprietary drivers.
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The fabled HTPC is a fix that few people know exists for a problem that few people know they can do anything about.
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