logoalt Hacker News

danguslast Monday at 4:34 AM0 repliesview on HN

I will point out, there are sometimes some really legitimate firmware updates that actually enhance or correct shortcomings on the TVs, especially for cinephiles on high-end units and for recently-released models that have firmware that needs work.

You can find people who cover the content of these updates, such as Vincent from HDTVtest.

What I tend to do is leave my WiFi off and then occasionally turn it on and connect for firmware updates, then disable it afterward.

I've also found that on my LG OLED that a lot of the crapware doesn't even have an option to function if you just never accept the terms and conditions or un-accept them. The UI doesn't make it perfectly obvious that you can do this but you absolutely can.

This stuff is very much anti-consumer, but can generally be mitigated by vigilant settings-chasing and a willingness to ignore the TV interface and use a dedicated streaming box with essentially no ads like an Apple TV.