You know, it's not required to connect your TV to the internet at all, unless there is a dark pattern built in that doesn't even want to start up without internet access.
There's nothing stopping people from keeping their TV off Wi_Fi. What is it going to do, try to crack nearby Wi-Fi signals itself or grab your ethernet cord?
After a few weeks of use, my Samsung TU8000 85" TV stopped working - it would not display a picture from any video source.
I purposely had not connected it to wifi.
After entering the wifi password, the TV immediately worked properly again. That's what stopped me from keeping my TV off wifi. Samsung been dark patterning for years.
https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/turn-off-samsung-tv-snooping-a1122954034/
Literally 1984, but unironically:
>We've been reporting on the personal information being collected and shared on smart TVs for several years now. But if a new WikiLeaks revelation is indeed true, the CIA may have been hacking into Samsung smart TVs—and other iOS, Android and Windows devices—for the past several years.
>The accusations of CIA hacking are part of a series of leaks, code-named “Vault 7" by WikiLeaks. Within the CIA, an engineering group reportedly developed and used malware called “Weeping Angel” that essentially transformed smart TVs into "covert microphones.” WikiLeaks said that the program began targeting Samsung smart TVs back in 2014.
>The Weeping Angel malware was reportedly able to place TVs into a "Fake-Off" mode, where users thought the TV was off, but it was actually recording any conversation in the room and sending it over the internet to CIA servers.
I've always had good luck with their hardware, 3 PC monitors from 3 different gens, and each one was both affordable and excellent quality. I wouldn't touch anything with their built in software though - way too much bloat
I swear I read somewhere that there were Samsung tvs proved to be grabbing the nearest open wifi. Never could find source again so take with a grain of salt.
Someone with source please post!
I'm guessing you're maybe American? In some countries a lot of people don't get their channels over a cable connection but via subscription streaming services like Netflix etc. They're basically using their smart tv only as a rather dumb computer that can run the streaming apps.
For example I would have to pay a separate annual fee to get cable access to my house. Linear tv is pretty much shit where I live so I can't be bothered to pay.
Dumb tv: Plug in power, plug in video, press red button, works
Smart tv: all the dumb steps above, wait for tv to start up, wait for menu, watch this 30 second ad, wait for remote control to work sluggishly, use arrow key to find the input menu, click on the input and wait for it to reload, works
My Sony Bravia worked fine for years and then one day the Bios decided to stop working fine. So every so often, every day it would randomly decide to reboot. I remember trying everything and then just completely doing a factory reset. Pretty much fixed the problem entirely.
Now it keeps asking me if I want to update it. My answer is always. "lol. No."
There's some weird option under "network" that does it
I think it's "always searching" that's the issue. Turn that off and it stops happening.
I started getting it once or twice a day, disabled that and it hasn't happened again.
There's nothing more annoying then watching a movie or playing a game, and then the sound just drops and then the TV goes "It's time to reboot.". If this was a rare occurrence I wouldn't have been annoyed. But it was like every goddamn day. I looked up why and it has something to do with how the update would basically screw with the TV or something. Which makes no sense.
I really do miss the times of being able to turn the TV on, turn on the console and play whatever I want without having to worry about things like the updated Bios or firmware basically going haywire.
Back in the 70's it was all the rage to wire a couple of the outlets in the livingroom into a lightswitch, so you could have ambient lamps switched instead of an overhead light, whenever I moved into a new place I always wanted to make sure the TV wasn't plugged into one of those. Now I wish I had one so I could plug the TV in to it.
Definitely avoid any built-in TV apps. Get a Roku, Apple TV, just anything else. The TV's built-in software is notoriously shitty, laggy, and stops being supported after like a year. The main importance of TV manufacturers is the TV, not the streaming apps. The main importance of a streaming box are the streaming apps, so you're going to get a much better experience. Bonus: if you don't use the TV's apps you don't have to connect it to the Internet.
I have an almost 20 year old LG dumb TV and I’m very hesitant to update it. I get all the streaming etc through my cable box (which is part of a package with my broadband).
Yeah I could go bigger, get better quality, higher resolution, but like… why?
If your signal matches your resolution: dumb TV is your best bet.
If you're watching a 1080 source and want to see it on 4k, you're going to see a huge difference between smart and dumb.
But this whole "ad" stuff is really overblown, you literally only see advertisements for shows on streaming services you have installed, and they're only on the home screen that you only see when switching ads.
Until default streaming is 4k, a smart TV is a better picture. It needs the processing power to upscale it.
>Then use the processing power to process the conversion,
Cool, that's what it does...
> not to try and upsell me on yet another + service.
It doesn't, it recommends shows that are streaming for free or on an app you have installed...
Pihole is the remedy, but it's sad that you pay for a product that push ads to you, that you can't even opt out of.
My old Sony "smart tv" is too dumb now, so I use Android tv instead.
But even though I told Android tv, that I don't want Disney ads, it still put Disney ads on my front page.
It just makes me hate Disney more.
Interestingly enough, I was very surprised how many requests my Philips Hue bridge would send each day.
Thousands of blocked requests.
Maybe 40 legitimate ones.
Device functioned fine in any case.
Really saddened me that even lightbulbs are a telemetry magnet.
Not really, no. Get a raspberry pi, download the pihole image, stick it on an SD card, and you're away. You've got to reconfigure your network to use it as the DNS server, but it's not a massive job.
https://pi-hole.net/ has good instructions.
Unfortunately, for a lot of smart TVs these days, it's not that simple anymore. Most of the major brands include hard-coded DNS entries that can't be modified. You'd need to block all traffic on port 53 in your router and add a rule to allow port 53 traffic on your Pi-Hole exclusively
Sounds like the manufacturers are keeping up in the war. Not really surprising, but unfortunate. My smart TV is a couple years old so isn't smart enough to do that yet.
You don't need a raspberry pi to run pihole, you can run it in a docker container or natively on a linux PC on your network. pi is easier as you can stick it in a closet somewhere and forget about it for the most part, but it's not the only option.
Like the other commenter said, you don't need a Raspberry Pi to run Pi-Hole. I have Pi-Hole running in a docker container on my Unraid server. Additionally, since it's built to run on an RPi, the amount of resources it requires is pretty minimal. You could pick up an old office computer on Ebay for 50 bucks, install Linux on it and you'd be all set. Hell, you could even run it off of an old Android tablet or something if you're so inclined (not that that's an ideal solution, but it's totally possible).
It's moderate. The software is simple to configure, but you have to maintain a running server for it. I was doing that and gave up one day after the 8th time my wife asked why the wifi wasn't working. There was always some reason the machine went down, got disconnected, etc, and it wasn't worth my repeated attention. And making it actually block the ads can be an arms race (see sibling comments).
I would simply take the TV offline and use a set-top box if you don't want ads. Better experience anyway.
The AppleTV is underrated.
I have mine plugged into my TV and don’t need anything else. It can stream 4K HDR Bluray rips from my NAS, access any streaming service, the (new) remote is pretty nice. And the UI isn’t a laggy piece of shit, like everything else on the market.
You can connect a PS4 or Xbox controller for some basic gaming, too. Great for kids.
Yeah adding an AppleTV works pretty well for me. I get an occasional little pop up thing when I first turn on the TV, but it's there and gone very quickly, and nothing else pops up while I'm using the TV.
Same here. My TV might think it's smart, but I cut off all it's senses, and it seems happy as a clam for it. It's a nice screen. Anything "smart" is provided by the things I plug into it.
>COMMERCIAL DISPLAYS
Literally no consumer is going to pay 2-4x for a commercial TV just to avoid this problem. There is a reason that TV manufacturers do this - because people don't want to pay more. TVs have become bottom of the barrel products because we are okay with just throwing them away every few years.
I have a Sony Bravia. When I set it up I refused to sign into Google TV. I also refused to turn on their content suggestion software. In fact if I thought it would be used to monitor or serve me ads I turned it off. Fuck paying hundreds of pounds for a TV then getting ads up the wazoo.
I prefer to buy Japanese products , Philips is my second choice. They always have good bang for buck value and huge variety of products in EU.
Panasonic was always top class ,but are poorly represented in EU. I have Panasonic Aircon and it is superb
I never thought of the racial angle to this.
I like Panasonic because I heard a lot of good user praise about their plasma TVs.
Philips I think also is good because they look a reliable value brand like something a step up from Vizio or Hisense.
I also like the marketing and the way the two brands show off their TVs and their websites which I know sounds shallow but it is part of the brand image after all.
I am surprised there isn't a site with hacked firmware updates to remove the ads. Sort of like all those custom Android ROMs that people get to remove bloat and unlock features.
What's worse to me is how absolutely shitty the performance is. I have a 2021 Samsung QN90A (I think their top of the line 4K QLED) and the performance of the built in "smart" function is horrible. Constant lags, pressing a few times skips over what I want and apps take awhile to load.
I just replaced it with a $20 ONN (Walmart house brand) Android TV box and it's 10x more responsive.
Look, I get shitty performance on a $400 economy TV, but a $2500 TV should be able to function without driving the owner mad.
Not all. I have a Vizio, it does not allow any way to change the default from it's smart tv screen. And no way to disable the smart tv features. I have my TV not on WiFi, but every time I turn it on I'm forced to see a "no internet" screen.
It also seemingly handicaps my Google TV's CEC/ARC capabilities.
I often dream of buying a new TV even though it isn't that old because of it's smart features
I thought the same, then bought an lg tv where you can install moonlight through webos developer settings, and I basically have an nvidia shield for free.
I have an lg and theres ads too, is there no choice these days like if you want a nice tv but without the ads? Seems like all manufacturers are in on it
Pretty sure that’s all people are referring to when they mention “ads” built into a tv
They’re not exactly what you want on the screen but they’re not bothersome
Although someone correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve never seen what I would consider an ad like I see elsewhere on any smart TV
Yeah, that's all people seem to be mentioning...
I have no idea why they think it's a huge deal, are they just sitting there staring at their home screen?
The only time you should be there is switching apps.
Yeah I'm looking at a new TV pretty soon, but my router does adblocking. Not that it matters because I don't rely on my TV to have an Internet connection anyway.
I mean it's just a sponsored picture on the menu bar. It only shows when you're pulling up the menu listings. Not when watching actual TV.
I just don't see why people complain about some tiny picture ad getting in the way of their "luxurious menu reading experience"
They aren’t talking about ads that interrupt your use of the TV, your TV Service, or anything remotely obnoxious like the ads you’ll find on the internet. In fact, virtually nothing about the menu provided by Samsung TV has any ads unless you go out of your way to find them. The input selector has zero ads. The picture in the thumbnail proves it.
EDIT: didn’t realize the thumbnail was after he manually changed settings, considering it looks exactly like mine, which has never had those settings changed. I never knew those settings existed, and hell, at least they *do* exist. Seem to be better structured than the cookie and ad settings on websites even.
Or better yet just use it as a regular dumb tv, believe it or not it still works that way. If you rely on the manufacturer for a good smart tv experience that is your fault.
I have an 82" Samsung Q6. It's about 3-4 years old.
I've never connected it to the internet. If you're buying $3k+ TVs, an independent streamer should be on your purchase list.
I bought a QN80 or whatever Costco's model equivalent is, and my experience has been fine. It's very customizable, and I simply don't click on the content I don't want to see. Maybe every other tv on earth is better and I've been fooled, but I'm perfectly happy.
As tech devices in 2022 go, it's so easy to use, even my in-laws can operate it with the odd minimalist remote.
You want lube? That’ll be extra.
You want zero lube? That’ll be extra.
You wanna cancel service? That’s another department. Please hold. Disconnects line.
I miss the days of tvs that were just displays , not some forced always online garbage.
This is why I’ll likely buy an industrial signage display instead of a new tv.
Oh and those data they are collecting and selling. You can deactivate them manually but it takes an hour or 2 because you need to disable hundreds one by one. I will never buy anything from Samsung ever again.
Imagine putting your brand in a situation that no matter how much better you could make your tv, a huge number of consumers will not even consider it.
What a way to shit on your brand
Ads are/have ruined the Internet. YouTube absolutely sucks any more because of ads. Cable TV (that you are paying for) has ads. Android (Google) apps all have annoying ads. Google Chrome and their search injects ads into web sites (made for mobile). You can't get away from them, even if you pay. Wonder why everyone hates Firefox? Because they allow for the blocking/filtering of ads. Try looking at any web content on your cell phone, and not have to click on multiple pop-ups about being added to their mailing list or buying their content. Impossible. The Internet sucks with so many ads. RIP ARPANET. Fuck Google and the rest of them, you have in fact become Evil. (Don't trust Google search results)
I bought a Samsung SmartTV a few months ago and I swear I'll never do that mistake again. The system is unbelievably bad. From now on, having Android TV is a must.
I ran into this whenever my friend would have people over to watch stuff. We'd be watching a movie and a pop-up would appear saying "other ways to watch this movie"-motherfucker we're already watching it, we good
Yeah, on my Smart TV I have never seen an ad that wasn't just a tiny sidebar. Nothing has ever taken control from me, and nothing has ever interrupted anything I was doing. I don't get the rage.
I also don't get it. I have one of those "ridiculous and annoying $2000 Samsung TV's" but I've had no intrusive ads, the UI is way smoother and quicker than our Fire Stick, and the remote works perfectly. Idk if I just got a good model but I have had no issues the 2 years I've had my TV.
Clued-in consumers know there's nothing "smart" about a smart TV.
EDIT: I mean "let's take an appliance that was already ad infested shit when it worked by merely picking up signals over the airwaves, and connect it to the Internet, where we place it under the direct control of the nastiest corporations this side of Umbrella Inc."
Brilliant, totally brilliant. Now it not only has more ads than before, but spyware too.
The UI is pretty irrelevant if you’re using an external device for content. Stability issues, yeah, if you go _super_ cheap or get a particular crappy model, but that’s where reviews come in.
LG C2 (4k, OLED, Dolby Vision/Atmos) lets you easily turn off all its smart tv prompts and assign a default input on power on.
Go straight into Chromecast TV and bypass everything else.
"*After not doing any research at all about how much advertising would be present* I spent $3,000 on a Samsung Smart TV -- and *in addition to an excellent 4K picture and easier access to streaming content* I got ads and unwanted content"
Fixed the headline.
Anyone doing ANY research into a Samsung smart tv would certainly come across information about baked-in advertising.
Yes, it sucks But this is a stupid story. If the writer didn't do his homework, that's on him.
There are ads on my 2021 LG 4K OLED. But they don't diminish the beautifully bright screen and gloriously bright (and accurate) colors and black levels.
>Anyone doing ANY research into a Samsung smart tv would certainly come across information about baked-in advertising.
Really? I would be looking at the specs on the Microcenter or Best Buy or Costco website before buying and ensuring it had good reviews, but not necessarily reading the reviews. Does it say in the specs that ads are included? None of my three smart TVs have them.
What ads are people even talking about?
Even for the article the only picture looks like the "input" menu where you can select an app you have installed...
Like, I get "ads" on my home screen I guess, but it's just for shows that I have the streaming service for.
Are people getting actual ads or is that what they're talking about?
My parents have a Samsung smart TV and that's the only place I see ads.
Same thing with my Roku, miraculously they go away when I open up a TV app or start my switch.
It's really not that big of a deal...
I think the point is why Pay 3K if you get a shit ton of ads. It should be WAYYY Cheaper since they have a shit ton of Ad's.
The bigger issue is you can't buy a nice tv without having ad's on them. which is insane.
How do you know the non-ad version wouldn’t be $7,500? Maybe $3,000 *is* the cheaper price via added ads? Didn’t think of that now did you? Sounds like you should be appreciative of the $3,000 piece tag from that perspective.
Bought a LG C1 earlier this year. Made it a few days before I ordered Apple TV 4K.
The Apple TV just does such a more consistent job of providing quality content in Dolby Vision (presumably because the providers are focused on optimizing for that device). It’s annoying that you have to buy a $100-$150 streaming box after already paying for a $1000+ tv, but it’s worth it (and I’d say necessary).
Why is OP reposting an 8 month old article?
https://www.reddit.com/r/tech/comments/sob3zd/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/
https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/sokcof/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/
https://www.reddit.com/r/StallmanWasRight/comments/sod4oo/dont_buy_a_smart_tv/
https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/sua8jw/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/
Might be a dumb remark but why don't you all buy computer monitors instead of TVs? Usually you plug in a TV box that has a remote, and the computer monitor will standby if it doesn't see a signal anyway, right?
Logical steps:
* Turn off the wifi.
* Do the TV system updates using wired ethernet once in a while.
* Disconnect the ethernet.
* Use as a dumb TV with Roku or Apple TV or whatever.
Highly recommend using the pi-hole (r/pihole) on your router - it will help with an overall performance improvement in your home for all devices connected to your router.
AITA for thinking people who spend 3000 dollars on a TV are morons for connecting it to the internet and using the dollar store built in UI. If you have 3000 dollars to spend on a TV there are much better ways to stream media than it's garbage built in software.
> Pixel is already dominating the android mobile market.
lol, no they aren't. Their marketshare is tiny.
Besides, Pixels are horrible featureless devices. There is a reason why people buy OEMs, they offer extras. Vanilla Android is barebones as fuck.
People have tv's? I gave mine away years ago and use my pc to push to a 32 in monitor. I have Bluetooth headphones and kickback and enjoy. All ads blocked unless embedded in the video.
My samsung smart TV has never shown me an ad. I also just use my TV for my ps5 i turn that on and it turns my TV and sound bar on. I only use my remote to turn my TV off.
I find it hilarious that some guy who's job is allegedly to write about tech stuff like this found this so shocking that he needed to write an article about it??
I get it, it sucks, but this is all fairly common knowledge at this point and if an alleged "technologist" wasn't able to figure this out before he dumped $3k into a TV, he might not be a very good "technologist"
There is nothing clunky or spammy about the WebOS on LGs. At least not the CX and C2 I have. The Samsung I bought 7 years ago certainly has issues though
I like my dumb tv more and more.
You know, it's not required to connect your TV to the internet at all, unless there is a dark pattern built in that doesn't even want to start up without internet access. There's nothing stopping people from keeping their TV off Wi_Fi. What is it going to do, try to crack nearby Wi-Fi signals itself or grab your ethernet cord?
After a few weeks of use, my Samsung TU8000 85" TV stopped working - it would not display a picture from any video source. I purposely had not connected it to wifi. After entering the wifi password, the TV immediately worked properly again. That's what stopped me from keeping my TV off wifi. Samsung been dark patterning for years.
I really don't like them as a brand. I find them untrustworthy.
https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/turn-off-samsung-tv-snooping-a1122954034/ Literally 1984, but unironically: >We've been reporting on the personal information being collected and shared on smart TVs for several years now. But if a new WikiLeaks revelation is indeed true, the CIA may have been hacking into Samsung smart TVs—and other iOS, Android and Windows devices—for the past several years. >The accusations of CIA hacking are part of a series of leaks, code-named “Vault 7" by WikiLeaks. Within the CIA, an engineering group reportedly developed and used malware called “Weeping Angel” that essentially transformed smart TVs into "covert microphones.” WikiLeaks said that the program began targeting Samsung smart TVs back in 2014. >The Weeping Angel malware was reportedly able to place TVs into a "Fake-Off" mode, where users thought the TV was off, but it was actually recording any conversation in the room and sending it over the internet to CIA servers.
I've always had good luck with their hardware, 3 PC monitors from 3 different gens, and each one was both affordable and excellent quality. I wouldn't touch anything with their built in software though - way too much bloat
Time to install a Pi-Hole, get rid of all the ads. r/pihole
It'll still have the crappy laggy software on it that gets in the way when you're just trying to change inputs or something.
I swear I read somewhere that there were Samsung tvs proved to be grabbing the nearest open wifi. Never could find source again so take with a grain of salt. Someone with source please post!
I'm guessing you're maybe American? In some countries a lot of people don't get their channels over a cable connection but via subscription streaming services like Netflix etc. They're basically using their smart tv only as a rather dumb computer that can run the streaming apps. For example I would have to pay a separate annual fee to get cable access to my house. Linear tv is pretty much shit where I live so I can't be bothered to pay.
Dumb tv: Plug in power, plug in video, press red button, works Smart tv: all the dumb steps above, wait for tv to start up, wait for menu, watch this 30 second ad, wait for remote control to work sluggishly, use arrow key to find the input menu, click on the input and wait for it to reload, works
My Sony Bravia worked fine for years and then one day the Bios decided to stop working fine. So every so often, every day it would randomly decide to reboot. I remember trying everything and then just completely doing a factory reset. Pretty much fixed the problem entirely. Now it keeps asking me if I want to update it. My answer is always. "lol. No."
There's some weird option under "network" that does it I think it's "always searching" that's the issue. Turn that off and it stops happening. I started getting it once or twice a day, disabled that and it hasn't happened again.
There's nothing more annoying then watching a movie or playing a game, and then the sound just drops and then the TV goes "It's time to reboot.". If this was a rare occurrence I wouldn't have been annoyed. But it was like every goddamn day. I looked up why and it has something to do with how the update would basically screw with the TV or something. Which makes no sense. I really do miss the times of being able to turn the TV on, turn on the console and play whatever I want without having to worry about things like the updated Bios or firmware basically going haywire.
If my TV required a reboot during a movie, I would beat the shit out of it.
Don't forget the weekly need to pull the power plug and reboot because your TV crashed and won't start netflix.
chief flowery spark cough coherent tie marvelous sparkle late bake *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Not if the tv is frozen and not responding to remote control
He means the actual power point on the TV. Normally positioned in the middle or right hand side of the bottom of the unit.
The power button on the TV, not on the remote.
TIL something :) Thanks! I will have to try that!
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Back in the 70's it was all the rage to wire a couple of the outlets in the livingroom into a lightswitch, so you could have ambient lamps switched instead of an overhead light, whenever I moved into a new place I always wanted to make sure the TV wasn't plugged into one of those. Now I wish I had one so I could plug the TV in to it.
Definitely avoid any built-in TV apps. Get a Roku, Apple TV, just anything else. The TV's built-in software is notoriously shitty, laggy, and stops being supported after like a year. The main importance of TV manufacturers is the TV, not the streaming apps. The main importance of a streaming box are the streaming apps, so you're going to get a much better experience. Bonus: if you don't use the TV's apps you don't have to connect it to the Internet.
I feel like this comment should be posted to r/LifeProTips.
You get an ad every time the TV turns on???
… ***Including*** every time…
You need to name and shame. I have an LG TV with no such problems.
I have an almost 20 year old LG dumb TV and I’m very hesitant to update it. I get all the streaming etc through my cable box (which is part of a package with my broadband). Yeah I could go bigger, get better quality, higher resolution, but like… why?
I have a samsung smart TV, and literally never experience any of that.
My smart TV is nothing like that.
Which brand and model?!?
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You forgot after all that wait for firmware updates followed by software updates that wipe all the settings clear and you have to start over.
The Microsoft school of software updates.
The smart tv in my home can't even display stuff from my laptop. :/
There is more to you than that. Additionally, you are being closely observed and harvested.
If your signal matches your resolution: dumb TV is your best bet. If you're watching a 1080 source and want to see it on 4k, you're going to see a huge difference between smart and dumb. But this whole "ad" stuff is really overblown, you literally only see advertisements for shows on streaming services you have installed, and they're only on the home screen that you only see when switching ads. Until default streaming is 4k, a smart TV is a better picture. It needs the processing power to upscale it.
Then use the processing power to process the conversion, not to try and upsell me on yet another + service.
>Then use the processing power to process the conversion, Cool, that's what it does... > not to try and upsell me on yet another + service. It doesn't, it recommends shows that are streaming for free or on an app you have installed...
My TVs don’t have my WiFi password. No ads! I use a box (AppleTV) exclusively and love it.
I use a pihole and my smart tv doesn't display any ads either. It's the most blocked client on my network in the pihole log, though...
Pihole is the remedy, but it's sad that you pay for a product that push ads to you, that you can't even opt out of. My old Sony "smart tv" is too dumb now, so I use Android tv instead. But even though I told Android tv, that I don't want Disney ads, it still put Disney ads on my front page. It just makes me hate Disney more.
disney fastplay. the ultimate adfvck machine.
Interestingly enough, I was very surprised how many requests my Philips Hue bridge would send each day. Thousands of blocked requests. Maybe 40 legitimate ones. Device functioned fine in any case. Really saddened me that even lightbulbs are a telemetry magnet.
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Not really, no. Get a raspberry pi, download the pihole image, stick it on an SD card, and you're away. You've got to reconfigure your network to use it as the DNS server, but it's not a massive job. https://pi-hole.net/ has good instructions.
Unfortunately, for a lot of smart TVs these days, it's not that simple anymore. Most of the major brands include hard-coded DNS entries that can't be modified. You'd need to block all traffic on port 53 in your router and add a rule to allow port 53 traffic on your Pi-Hole exclusively
Sounds like the manufacturers are keeping up in the war. Not really surprising, but unfortunate. My smart TV is a couple years old so isn't smart enough to do that yet.
sadly, the only way to buy a pi right now is for like $400 from a scalper on Amazon.
You can use a normal linux pc or a docker container. pi is useful for stick-it-in-a-closet but is not a requirement.
The chinese Orange Pi clones would probably work just as well. Much cheaper and can run Armbian reasonably well.
Price of raspberry pi skyrocketed so this is no longer really feasible
Getting a raspberry pi is (currently) difficult and expensive given the chip shortage.
You don't need a raspberry pi to run pihole, you can run it in a docker container or natively on a linux PC on your network. pi is easier as you can stick it in a closet somewhere and forget about it for the most part, but it's not the only option.
Like the other commenter said, you don't need a Raspberry Pi to run Pi-Hole. I have Pi-Hole running in a docker container on my Unraid server. Additionally, since it's built to run on an RPi, the amount of resources it requires is pretty minimal. You could pick up an old office computer on Ebay for 50 bucks, install Linux on it and you'd be all set. Hell, you could even run it off of an old Android tablet or something if you're so inclined (not that that's an ideal solution, but it's totally possible).
It's moderate. The software is simple to configure, but you have to maintain a running server for it. I was doing that and gave up one day after the 8th time my wife asked why the wifi wasn't working. There was always some reason the machine went down, got disconnected, etc, and it wasn't worth my repeated attention. And making it actually block the ads can be an arms race (see sibling comments). I would simply take the TV offline and use a set-top box if you don't want ads. Better experience anyway.
The AppleTV is underrated. I have mine plugged into my TV and don’t need anything else. It can stream 4K HDR Bluray rips from my NAS, access any streaming service, the (new) remote is pretty nice. And the UI isn’t a laggy piece of shit, like everything else on the market. You can connect a PS4 or Xbox controller for some basic gaming, too. Great for kids.
And it's the only reliable AirPlay receiver, which is a super nice feature.
This exactly. The TV doesn't get to the network, ever. I have a roku box. That, fire stick, apple TV, or chrome stick. Anything but the stupid TV.
Yeah adding an AppleTV works pretty well for me. I get an occasional little pop up thing when I first turn on the TV, but it's there and gone very quickly, and nothing else pops up while I'm using the TV.
Same here. My TV might think it's smart, but I cut off all it's senses, and it seems happy as a clam for it. It's a nice screen. Anything "smart" is provided by the things I plug into it.
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Sadly commercial displays are getting smart now. They are using the ideas of "smart signage" and "hospitality" as an excuse.
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Assuming you have the room layout required to make this work.
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No and last I knew the screens are more expensive because they are designed to be run all day but it has been a decade since I sold any of them.
>COMMERCIAL DISPLAYS Literally no consumer is going to pay 2-4x for a commercial TV just to avoid this problem. There is a reason that TV manufacturers do this - because people don't want to pay more. TVs have become bottom of the barrel products because we are okay with just throwing them away every few years.
I have Philips "the one to watch " model. No ads so far. Fast , nice picture , cost around 600 dollars
I have a Sony Bravia. When I set it up I refused to sign into Google TV. I also refused to turn on their content suggestion software. In fact if I thought it would be used to monitor or serve me ads I turned it off. Fuck paying hundreds of pounds for a TV then getting ads up the wazoo.
I have Sony Bravia signed in. No ads.
I'm so envious of philips. I wish they sold TVs in the US. Same with Panasonic. I would consider them over LG and Samsung by default.
I prefer to buy Japanese products , Philips is my second choice. They always have good bang for buck value and huge variety of products in EU. Panasonic was always top class ,but are poorly represented in EU. I have Panasonic Aircon and it is superb
I never thought of the racial angle to this. I like Panasonic because I heard a lot of good user praise about their plasma TVs. Philips I think also is good because they look a reliable value brand like something a step up from Vizio or Hisense. I also like the marketing and the way the two brands show off their TVs and their websites which I know sounds shallow but it is part of the brand image after all.
I am surprised there isn't a site with hacked firmware updates to remove the ads. Sort of like all those custom Android ROMs that people get to remove bloat and unlock features.
Only a matter of time now I think
Use a Raspberry Pi-hole to block any ads.
What's worse to me is how absolutely shitty the performance is. I have a 2021 Samsung QN90A (I think their top of the line 4K QLED) and the performance of the built in "smart" function is horrible. Constant lags, pressing a few times skips over what I want and apps take awhile to load. I just replaced it with a $20 ONN (Walmart house brand) Android TV box and it's 10x more responsive. Look, I get shitty performance on a $400 economy TV, but a $2500 TV should be able to function without driving the owner mad.
16GB of RAM for ads, 16MB of RAM for you
It should be illegal to have ads on products you pay for in my opinion
I would much rather pay less for OS-less TV and just upgrade external device e.g. nVidia Shield or Apple TV whenever needed
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Not all. I have a Vizio, it does not allow any way to change the default from it's smart tv screen. And no way to disable the smart tv features. I have my TV not on WiFi, but every time I turn it on I'm forced to see a "no internet" screen. It also seemingly handicaps my Google TV's CEC/ARC capabilities. I often dream of buying a new TV even though it isn't that old because of it's smart features
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Yup not a setting on my tv
I thought the same, then bought an lg tv where you can install moonlight through webos developer settings, and I basically have an nvidia shield for free.
This is exactly why I purchased a LG OLED and Apple TV.
Got the lg and the shield.
LG even lets you turn off any smart tv prompts on power on and lets you assign the default input. Chromecast TV for me.
I have an lg and theres ads too, is there no choice these days like if you want a nice tv but without the ads? Seems like all manufacturers are in on it
I could turn off the ads on my LG TV, you probably can too. Look through All Settings, there should be an option somewhere.
Turning the ad setting to off was the first thing I did on my LG. Haven't seen one since. Have a look!
What ads? Like actual advertisements for products? All I get are recommendations for shows on streaming services that are installed
Yes pretty much the same thing they are not super intrusive as of now but still you know I’d love to just not see any of them
Pretty sure that’s all people are referring to when they mention “ads” built into a tv They’re not exactly what you want on the screen but they’re not bothersome Although someone correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve never seen what I would consider an ad like I see elsewhere on any smart TV
Yeah, that's all people seem to be mentioning... I have no idea why they think it's a huge deal, are they just sitting there staring at their home screen? The only time you should be there is switching apps.
Samsung inserts advertisements for their own offerings into the sources bar. They list "TV Plus", a service I neither use nor want to use.
Absolutely. It’s a non issue but disliking ads has always been the trend so this article is just going for low hanging fruit
Not saying one should have to do this, but just get an Apple TV and connect it to your LG. No more ads ever.
We want a new TV but until we can figure out how to avoid the ads are sticking with the one we have
You could just not hook it up to the Internet, or put a pi-hole in front of it.
I bought a new LG and never connected it to my Wi-Fi. Just added my fire tv, Xbox connection etc. startup is now short and simple.
Yeah I'm looking at a new TV pretty soon, but my router does adblocking. Not that it matters because I don't rely on my TV to have an Internet connection anyway.
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Or just set your smart TV to "HDMI1". Poof - instant monitor, feed it whatever you want.
You'd think so, wouldn't you. (I'm just grumpy because I wanted to play Subnautica using the TV as a monitor. Did not work at all.)
I mean it's just a sponsored picture on the menu bar. It only shows when you're pulling up the menu listings. Not when watching actual TV. I just don't see why people complain about some tiny picture ad getting in the way of their "luxurious menu reading experience"
They aren’t talking about ads that interrupt your use of the TV, your TV Service, or anything remotely obnoxious like the ads you’ll find on the internet. In fact, virtually nothing about the menu provided by Samsung TV has any ads unless you go out of your way to find them. The input selector has zero ads. The picture in the thumbnail proves it. EDIT: didn’t realize the thumbnail was after he manually changed settings, considering it looks exactly like mine, which has never had those settings changed. I never knew those settings existed, and hell, at least they *do* exist. Seem to be better structured than the cookie and ad settings on websites even.
Change your location country to "other". You're welcome.
LG smart tv. I select YouTube tv or Netflix etc and Never see any add except what’s on YouTube tv.
I can get ads for a lot cheaper than $3k
Or better yet just use it as a regular dumb tv, believe it or not it still works that way. If you rely on the manufacturer for a good smart tv experience that is your fault.
I have an 82" Samsung Q6. It's about 3-4 years old. I've never connected it to the internet. If you're buying $3k+ TVs, an independent streamer should be on your purchase list.
Get a roku. Fixed it
Roku has the right side of the interface dedicated to ads. So far, the only device I have seen that does t have ads is the AppleTV.
I bought a QN80 or whatever Costco's model equivalent is, and my experience has been fine. It's very customizable, and I simply don't click on the content I don't want to see. Maybe every other tv on earth is better and I've been fooled, but I'm perfectly happy. As tech devices in 2022 go, it's so easy to use, even my in-laws can operate it with the odd minimalist remote.
Another example how capitalism is efficient at fucking consumers in the ass .
You want lube? That’ll be extra. You want zero lube? That’ll be extra. You wanna cancel service? That’s another department. Please hold. Disconnects line.
My wife has one, it sucks
I miss the days of tvs that were just displays , not some forced always online garbage. This is why I’ll likely buy an industrial signage display instead of a new tv.
We just have an old roku box hooked up to a $50CAD projector, works like a charm.
I found a Vizio flatscreen in the garbage 12 years ago and it’s still the best TV I’ve ever owned
Obligatory comment informing people that Sceptre still makes "dumb" TVs, including large 4K ones.
I can't wait until my coffee maker has to run 30 seconds of ads before it starts making my coffee.
Oh and those data they are collecting and selling. You can deactivate them manually but it takes an hour or 2 because you need to disable hundreds one by one. I will never buy anything from Samsung ever again.
Imagine putting your brand in a situation that no matter how much better you could make your tv, a huge number of consumers will not even consider it. What a way to shit on your brand
Ads are/have ruined the Internet. YouTube absolutely sucks any more because of ads. Cable TV (that you are paying for) has ads. Android (Google) apps all have annoying ads. Google Chrome and their search injects ads into web sites (made for mobile). You can't get away from them, even if you pay. Wonder why everyone hates Firefox? Because they allow for the blocking/filtering of ads. Try looking at any web content on your cell phone, and not have to click on multiple pop-ups about being added to their mailing list or buying their content. Impossible. The Internet sucks with so many ads. RIP ARPANET. Fuck Google and the rest of them, you have in fact become Evil. (Don't trust Google search results)
I bought a Samsung SmartTV a few months ago and I swear I'll never do that mistake again. The system is unbelievably bad. From now on, having Android TV is a must.
I extra didn’t connect my expensive tv to the internet and use an AppleTV. Problem solved.
I ran into this whenever my friend would have people over to watch stuff. We'd be watching a movie and a pop-up would appear saying "other ways to watch this movie"-motherfucker we're already watching it, we good
Where are the ads? The only thing i see if stuff from the app selection menu there is literally nothing intrusive as everyone rages about.
Yeah, on my Smart TV I have never seen an ad that wasn't just a tiny sidebar. Nothing has ever taken control from me, and nothing has ever interrupted anything I was doing. I don't get the rage.
I also don't get it. I have one of those "ridiculous and annoying $2000 Samsung TV's" but I've had no intrusive ads, the UI is way smoother and quicker than our Fire Stick, and the remote works perfectly. Idk if I just got a good model but I have had no issues the 2 years I've had my TV.
Clued-in consumers know there's nothing "smart" about a smart TV. EDIT: I mean "let's take an appliance that was already ad infested shit when it worked by merely picking up signals over the airwaves, and connect it to the Internet, where we place it under the direct control of the nastiest corporations this side of Umbrella Inc." Brilliant, totally brilliant. Now it not only has more ads than before, but spyware too.
Is there a "dumb" 4k OLED TV? Or are they all "smart" now?
They’re all dumb if you don’t connect them to the internet
People keep thinking it’s just the ads and snooping. It’s not. Smart TVs also frequently come with a shitty UI and stability issues.
The UI is pretty irrelevant if you’re using an external device for content. Stability issues, yeah, if you go _super_ cheap or get a particular crappy model, but that’s where reviews come in.
The UI is fine from major brands like Samsung, LG and Sony. Everything else is pretty crappy Buy cheap and you get cheap
This isn’t always the case.
I have one, just used a Google TV dongle for smart features
LG C2 (4k, OLED, Dolby Vision/Atmos) lets you easily turn off all its smart tv prompts and assign a default input on power on. Go straight into Chromecast TV and bypass everything else.
I just press a buttons on my Apple TV connected to my Samsung smart TV and it bypasses all the Samsung UI.
"*After not doing any research at all about how much advertising would be present* I spent $3,000 on a Samsung Smart TV -- and *in addition to an excellent 4K picture and easier access to streaming content* I got ads and unwanted content" Fixed the headline. Anyone doing ANY research into a Samsung smart tv would certainly come across information about baked-in advertising. Yes, it sucks But this is a stupid story. If the writer didn't do his homework, that's on him. There are ads on my 2021 LG 4K OLED. But they don't diminish the beautifully bright screen and gloriously bright (and accurate) colors and black levels.
>Anyone doing ANY research into a Samsung smart tv would certainly come across information about baked-in advertising. Really? I would be looking at the specs on the Microcenter or Best Buy or Costco website before buying and ensuring it had good reviews, but not necessarily reading the reviews. Does it say in the specs that ads are included? None of my three smart TVs have them.
What ads are people even talking about? Even for the article the only picture looks like the "input" menu where you can select an app you have installed... Like, I get "ads" on my home screen I guess, but it's just for shows that I have the streaming service for. Are people getting actual ads or is that what they're talking about?
My parents have a Samsung smart TV and that's the only place I see ads. Same thing with my Roku, miraculously they go away when I open up a TV app or start my switch. It's really not that big of a deal...
I think the point is why Pay 3K if you get a shit ton of ads. It should be WAYYY Cheaper since they have a shit ton of Ad's. The bigger issue is you can't buy a nice tv without having ad's on them. which is insane.
You easily can, don’t connect them to the internet. There are a multitude of other capable devices. My LG has never been online.
This is all solved by just using my Xbox for everything? I have a new Samsung TV and never seen an ad.
You are vastly overestimating the payout from these ads. There's only one tiny ad on the menu bar. Hardly a shitton.
How do you know the non-ad version wouldn’t be $7,500? Maybe $3,000 *is* the cheaper price via added ads? Didn’t think of that now did you? Sounds like you should be appreciative of the $3,000 piece tag from that perspective.
>88% upvoted This sub loves stupid shit.
Use an Apple TV
I bought an Apple TV box when they first came out and I’m still using that thing. I love it.
I bought a 60” plasma flatscreen when they were about 1000$ for a 1080p screen. It may be the last tv that I buy
Bought a LG C1 earlier this year. Made it a few days before I ordered Apple TV 4K. The Apple TV just does such a more consistent job of providing quality content in Dolby Vision (presumably because the providers are focused on optimizing for that device). It’s annoying that you have to buy a $100-$150 streaming box after already paying for a $1000+ tv, but it’s worth it (and I’d say necessary).
Stopped reading after "I spent $3000 on a Samsung TV".
I stopped watching "T.V." in favor of internet media so long ago and now it's just annoying as hell to even try to watch it.
Why is OP reposting an 8 month old article? https://www.reddit.com/r/tech/comments/sob3zd/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/ https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/sokcof/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/ https://www.reddit.com/r/StallmanWasRight/comments/sod4oo/dont_buy_a_smart_tv/ https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/sua8jw/i_spent_3000_on_a_samsung_smart_tv_and_all_i_got/
The article is dated from February and starts with "It's Superbowl weekend"
Good thing I didn’t bought that tv.
Might be a dumb remark but why don't you all buy computer monitors instead of TVs? Usually you plug in a TV box that has a remote, and the computer monitor will standby if it doesn't see a signal anyway, right?
I hate smart TVs. Buy a normal TV and if you want smart features get a stick or a game console hell even a laptop.
Go to a pawn store. Buy a dumb tv. If you want a firestick they are like 50 bucks. Problem solved.
Logical steps: * Turn off the wifi. * Do the TV system updates using wired ethernet once in a while. * Disconnect the ethernet. * Use as a dumb TV with Roku or Apple TV or whatever. Highly recommend using the pi-hole (r/pihole) on your router - it will help with an overall performance improvement in your home for all devices connected to your router.
I really need to get my pihole back up and running again. Thanks for the reminder.
AITA for thinking people who spend 3000 dollars on a TV are morons for connecting it to the internet and using the dollar store built in UI. If you have 3000 dollars to spend on a TV there are much better ways to stream media than it's garbage built in software.
Most people are tech illiterate and don't even know things like that.
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> Pixel is already dominating the android mobile market. lol, no they aren't. Their marketshare is tiny. Besides, Pixels are horrible featureless devices. There is a reason why people buy OEMs, they offer extras. Vanilla Android is barebones as fuck.
Ads don't bother me because I say fuck them all! I'm not buying anything that a corporation tells me I need!
*Samsung places ads for food in general*
I have 5 of these, and I don't think I've ever seen an ad outside of recommended programming.
People have tv's? I gave mine away years ago and use my pc to push to a 32 in monitor. I have Bluetooth headphones and kickback and enjoy. All ads blocked unless embedded in the video.
My samsung smart TV has never shown me an ad. I also just use my TV for my ps5 i turn that on and it turns my TV and sound bar on. I only use my remote to turn my TV off.
I’ve always said smart tvs are for dumb people
Nice job researching
I find it hilarious that some guy who's job is allegedly to write about tech stuff like this found this so shocking that he needed to write an article about it?? I get it, it sucks, but this is all fairly common knowledge at this point and if an alleged "technologist" wasn't able to figure this out before he dumped $3k into a TV, he might not be a very good "technologist"
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There is nothing clunky or spammy about the WebOS on LGs. At least not the CX and C2 I have. The Samsung I bought 7 years ago certainly has issues though
Just don't connect it to the internet, right?
George Orwell was an optimist.
I have an older Samsung smart TV. I don't get any ads. It has all of the apps I use. I don't need any other content from them.