Op-ed: TV screensavers shouldn't show immigration ads from the Trump administration.
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Cheap TVs’ incessant advertising reaches troubling new lows
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Maybe, at least for the time being, but these days I've seen more device vendors using hard-coded DNS servers (like 8.8.8.8) or relying on DNS-over-HTTPS both of which would be harder than block with Pi-Hole (unless you're, say, forcefully redirecting all DNS queries to it and blocking all known DoH hosts).
I suspect if more advanced blocking becomes common (or not enough people connect them to the internet), they'll just start adding cellular modems to send data/fetch ads. I hope I'm wrong though.
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I just don't allow my TV to connect to the internet and use it mostly like a monitor, albeit one with a built-in tuner so I can use an antenna for over-the-air TV. I then use a separate gadget for streaming (my main TV has an Intel NUC hooked up to it as a HTPC for streaming, etc.). Hasn't been a problem for any recent TVs I've dealt with.
That said, if I ever come across a TV that requires an internet connection to work, it's an instant return.
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araczynski
Ars Scholae Palatinae
I'm sure they're already working on "must connect tv to internet at least once to register warranty and/or enable feature XYZ" or some such BS, during which they'll of course just download a large ad payload that ad buyers will pay a premium for as they might be the only ads ever to get loaded onto the tv, and from then on, they're repeated forever, or until the user breaks down and connects again for another update in a year or two.
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A quick search on B&H Photo for "commercial monitors" or "commercial tvs" shows quite a few in the 50" to 97" range. You can search for those with "wifi" but it's hard to search for those without it. I searched for 50" with speakers, and there are 16, 11 of which show up under the "wifi" checkbox, so there are some that are possibly quite dumb. They're not cheap, though, and I have no idea what kind of OS they use. Most seem to be for 24/7 display, like in waiting rooms, lobbies, etc.
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Connect it to your network but don't allow it internet access. My TVs are on my "no internet IoT" subnet. I wonder if that would satisfy it, or if it starts broadcasting if its connectivity check fails. You could poke a hole for that domain I suppose
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That's gotta piss off people who maybe want to get a TV for a location without internet access (vacation home, workshop, etc.).
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Can confirm the Noem ad does indeed exist as described. I don’t have a Vizio TV, but I was streaming Pandora (yes, some of us still like listening to Pandora) and the commercial aired. I turned down the volume to tune her out for what seemed like well over a minute and when I turned the volume back up she was still spouting off her fascist BS. I distinctly remember saying out loud “will you STFU you #@&^% see-you-next-Tuesday”, but the explicit version.
Perhaps even more disturbing, I should add this commercial aired while listening to the Buena Vista Social Club channel, whose commercials I’ve encountered are typically almost all in Spanish.
Perhaps even more disturbing, I should add this commercial aired while listening to the Buena Vista Social Club channel, whose commercials I’ve encountered are typically almost all in Spanish.
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Reason number 666 to literally never connect a "smart" tv to the internet. My gosh video ads alone is just vile let alone political ads suddenly blaring out in your living room let alone rageful hateful authoritarian ones. Big brother here we come
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This. So much this.
I'm baffled that this is such a hard concept for some people to grasp, especially here on Ars.
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Back before cable tv became prominent, the broadcast era, it was completely normal for every channel to broadcast POTUS live whenever he wanted to address the citizens, interrupting whatever was being broadcast. No matter what channel you switched to.
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As of the moment no. Ads will will not work if access is denied to the internet. My TCL is a really nice monitor and that is all it will ever be. Dread the day they come with cellular.
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Back then we also generally had sane people in the role of POTUS, whether or not you agreed with their politics.
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I just searched and filtered for 75-ish", "4k", and excluded "digital whiteboards" because I don't need to draw on my TV. Then I sorted by highest price. The first result that wasn't special order was a 77" Sony QD-OLED. Those special order displays ahead of it were touch screen or "window-facing" which sounds like paying a huge premium for something that is absolutely not what you want for a home theater.
That Sony looks just like their consumer line. It's running Google TV. Depending on what it's equivalent to on the consumer side, it's not even that expensive. Digging into the specs, it looks like it has a euro TV tuner, so hilariously it tries and fails to be a TV here.
The next non-special order display is from Planar. Clearly isn't meant to be a theater display. It supports just plain Jane HDR10 and it's a VA panel. It's rated for 24/7 runtime which is cool I guess, but again you're trading features you'd actually want for features that don't make sense for a home TV. It's only 700nits, limited to HDMI2.0, 60Hz, no DV, doesn't appear to have eARC, possibly doesn't even do CEC.
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Tangentially related, Disney’s push for live content in D+ plastered the orange one’s butthole mouth all over the Home Screen around the time of the inauguration because of their news channel feeds. It’s happened other times since, but it was a permanent fixture for a few days near the end of January.
Literally the last thing I want to see when I login to watch Star Wars and JoJo.
No way to disable either, as far as I could tell.
Literally the last thing I want to see when I login to watch Star Wars and JoJo.
No way to disable either, as far as I could tell.
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I'd much rather these manufacturer's making "smart" TV sets just charge an appropriate price for the TV set and leave well enough alone. The forced advertisements and user tracking should not be legal, in my opinion.
Vizio's justification of rolling advertisements into a feature of the hardware that has nothing to do with their streaming service is frankly absurd anyway, but other manufacturers have their own "free" streaming services that I'll never have an interest in unless and until they provide an ad-free service tier(paid or otherwise).
I'm aware I can instead simply purchase a commercial display, but between the duty cycle being far beyond what I actually need in a TV, and the complete lack of the streaming apps I'm most likely going to be using anyway, thus necessitating the purchase of a separate piece of hardware, the price is far beyond what seems reasonable for home use, to say nothing of the lost convenience.
But if the manufacturers are intent to continue to degrade their own service with potentially malicious information embedded in it like that from the fascist orangutan, I guess I'll eventually be buying a commercial display.
Vizio's justification of rolling advertisements into a feature of the hardware that has nothing to do with their streaming service is frankly absurd anyway, but other manufacturers have their own "free" streaming services that I'll never have an interest in unless and until they provide an ad-free service tier(paid or otherwise).
I'm aware I can instead simply purchase a commercial display, but between the duty cycle being far beyond what I actually need in a TV, and the complete lack of the streaming apps I'm most likely going to be using anyway, thus necessitating the purchase of a separate piece of hardware, the price is far beyond what seems reasonable for home use, to say nothing of the lost convenience.
But if the manufacturers are intent to continue to degrade their own service with potentially malicious information embedded in it like that from the fascist orangutan, I guess I'll eventually be buying a commercial display.
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I was pretty horrified at the ads on the screensaver of my new LG C4 OLED...until I found I could disable it. Not shocked that the problem is getting worse and worse, often by the day...see also "Roku".
Best solution? Disconnect your "Smart" TV COMPLETELY from any and all internet access and connect an Apple TV or the streamer of your choice.
The reason I would recommend AppleTV over others is, as of now, there is absolutely NO advertising on the AppleTV, unlike most other platforms.
Best solution? Disconnect your "Smart" TV COMPLETELY from any and all internet access and connect an Apple TV or the streamer of your choice.
The reason I would recommend AppleTV over others is, as of now, there is absolutely NO advertising on the AppleTV, unlike most other platforms.
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Do not connect your TV to wifi. Use your own device on an HDMI input. Treat the TV like a monitor.
This is the way; it always has been the way (since they started shipping them without even over-the-air tuners and calling them "smart").
This is the way; it always has been the way (since they started shipping them without even over-the-air tuners and calling them "smart").
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Buy the cheap ass TV, never connect it to the internet and give them the middle finger every time you use your gaming console to watch your favorite streaming platform, hell hook up a raspi with some media center software and never look back.
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There are a bunch of good questions in the comments. It would be great if Arstechnica did an article with actual information instead of one that focuses on a random Reddit post.
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As is always my response to these articles:
1 Get an Apple tv (or preferred alternative)
2 buy whatever tv you want and don’t connect to the internet
3 problem solved
1 Get an Apple tv (or preferred alternative)
2 buy whatever tv you want and don’t connect to the internet
3 problem solved
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"Telly TVs are free to purchase in exchange for providing the company with user data, including disclosing your favorite news outlets, film and TV genres, foods, and services, your gender and race, and other -" OH FUCK THIS
...
...
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Apologies if ninja'd - but someone needs to come up with an open source firmware that does away with the BS - ALL of it - and strips it down to the bare bones.
Yeah, you can buy display screens or monitors, but that generally comes with compromises like smaller screens or lower quality or missing features (eg no HDR etc).
I - and I'm sure I'm not alone in this - I just want best in class picture quality in varying size options with decent connectivity so I can plug in whatever streaming/playback device I want * cough * Apple TV * cough *.
I get it will cost more. I do. But at least give us the option - AFAIK that option no longer exists. It used to be the likes of LG, but they've gone to the dark side too. Fuckers.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the current 'workaround' - just don't connect it to the Internet. But that doesn't allow for updates (which are increasingly necessary with them shipping with annoying bugs etc.) - and if you update, there's a chance they'll sneak in some ads (which then presumably become static and never changing if you unplug...). And there's always the continual enshittified future where they include cellular connectivity out of the box to serve the ads.
Yeah, you can buy display screens or monitors, but that generally comes with compromises like smaller screens or lower quality or missing features (eg no HDR etc).
I - and I'm sure I'm not alone in this - I just want best in class picture quality in varying size options with decent connectivity so I can plug in whatever streaming/playback device I want * cough * Apple TV * cough *.
I get it will cost more. I do. But at least give us the option - AFAIK that option no longer exists. It used to be the likes of LG, but they've gone to the dark side too. Fuckers.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the current 'workaround' - just don't connect it to the Internet. But that doesn't allow for updates (which are increasingly necessary with them shipping with annoying bugs etc.) - and if you update, there's a chance they'll sneak in some ads (which then presumably become static and never changing if you unplug...). And there's always the continual enshittified future where they include cellular connectivity out of the box to serve the ads.
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Fair enough, though for my taste, that size of TV is just way TOO much screen. My entertainment center is pretty big and made with fairly modern screens in mind, but I'd need to do some serious work to get it to fit something above 65". Not just that, I couldn't really see much advantage to going above that size, so to me, a 55-65" is my ideal size, hence why I went with a PC monitor solution.
I do remember my first LCD screen had an annoying mandatory "splash screen" advertising the very product I JUST BOUGHT every time I turned it on, but my current one forgoes that nonsense and just shows the image the very instant it's able to as a good display should. I pray I never see the day this "smart TV" nonsense is forcibly integrated into PC monitors, but I fear that's exactly what we're in store for.
It's a shame no console supports DisplayPort. I know there's a handful of devices that cooked up a unique port that allows both HDMI and DisplayPort to plug into it, but unfortunately it's an unlicensed "nonstandard" port because HDMI's consortium specifically forbids that kind of behavior. At the very least, the adoption of "duel mode" USB-C connections that can output HDMI as well as DisplayPort means that soon enough we should get to a point where a single USB-C port supports BOTH of those protocols, so long as HDMI "allows" it. At that point, consoles would have no reason not to add that standard as part of their output support, and that'd finally put pressure on TV makers to adopt DisplayPort as well. It's not a huge quality issue or anything, literally just my desire to move away from such highly controlled standards.
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Easy fix for your edit, connect to the internet, update it, disconnect it, factory reset it (to clear any weird leftovers) and continue using the thing offline.
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Same. I need a higher resolution TV with HDR capability, because modern TV shows are just too badly lit, but I don't want a Smart TV. I have a Smart TV box I can use for the apps, etc, (that doesn't currently show ads in standby mode). I kind of still want the option of getting TV "over the air", for the increasingly rare occasions there's something on broadcast TV I want to watch.
The annoying thing is that it's probably going to work out more expensive than buying a "smart" TV with all that extra crap on it, once you hook up the full set of components.
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Samsung are likely the worst offenders with their constant surveillance and monitoring their users through the TV OS, and they've even ported these 'features' to their "smart" PC monitors
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Haven't there been reports/rumours of updates adding ads to things like the homescreen? I can imagine they'd also add some "default" ads to the firmware, so you'd be stuck with the same handful of ads rotating through if you then disconnect the thing.
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That'd be pretty cool, in theory.
In practice perhaps this is a failure of imagination on my part but I can't think of anything I'd want my TV to do that my AppleTV can't already do.
But other people would benefit and that's fine with me!
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Our living room TV is 75" and it honestly doesn't seem that big. It's a large room open to the rest of the house though, so it's not hard to make just about anything fit. There's probably room for an 80-85" to fit comfortably with the existing shelving.
I think we might go for 100" for the basement "theater" experience.
Funnily enough, even though Type C had an alt-mode for HDMI, no one used it. It has been deprecated since it saw no adoption. It was easier to just do DP alt mode and throw a DP to HDMI converter in the cable.
I don't think TVs will transition though. It's a chicken and egg thing. I remember the early days of HDMI. It took awhile to grab on even though it was objectively leaps and bounds better than what we had. Now that it's here, I don't see it changing. Devices aren't going to switch to DP when no existing TV can use it, and there's no reason to add DP to new TVs when HDMI does what you need it to do and there are no home theater type devices that use DP. It's a bummer, because like you, is prefer the more open standard. If it was extended to support features critical for a home theater setup, of course, which it certainly could be.
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Well i use a relatively recent Samsung QN800B TV as my daily Monitor. As long as you just plugin a HDMI device, it works just as a monitor. Just don't expect to do any PIP on two HDMI sources, somehow Samsung TVs seem unable to display two simultaneous HDMI streams.
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DP->HDMI or DP->VGA pigtail adapter $15.00-25.00. Works great. Use them at work for the monitors that don't have DP inputs.
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There have been several posts basically like this (computer/game box/etc), but what do you do for OTA capability? I get it that TVs make nice large monitors (I use one as such, but it's a Chinese zombie "Polaroid" TV fed through a digital converter box, so no smarts). If I wanted to watch streaming, I'd use it or another existing computer monitor. But I live in a metro area, so there are a lot of OTA stations, and OTA would be the primary use (aside from being a monitor).
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Careful disabling that Vizio idle setting which feeds you Kristi Noem — you could get hauled in front of Congress and accused of censoring conservatives!
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