alt Hacker NewsIt frustrates me that this is where we have come too.
I refuse to connect any of my TV's to the internet but I have to wonder how long until a few different things happen:
- The TV's just connect to unsecure Wifi and collect the data anyways (I think there were reports of at least one manufacture already doing this at one point?). Or just make a deal with xfinity to use their mesh network that seems to be everywhere.
- The TV's don't work without being connected to the internet.
- The manufactures find out that the cost of adding in a cellular modem is justified by the increase in data they can collect.
I would love the idea of buying a modern TV without any of this crap shoved in, I happily use my Apple TV for everything that isnt video games.
It bothers me though when it seems like to fix an issue with HDR or something I need to update the firmware. I have wondered on occasion if this is intentional to "force" people to connect. If I have to do this I will run an ethernet cable to temporarily connect.
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99.999% of TV's are connected directly to the Internet by their users without any restrictions. Investing in additional hardware or operator deals to capture the remaining .001% isn't typically worth it, for now.
For one of our Samsung TVs, we were able to put the update on a thumb drive (we're old, we still have some around) and then use that to install the update on the TV.
It's kind of funny, we bought these TVs because they were "smart" (when they first came out) but they were so clunky and unreliable we disconnected them and used either PS or Apple TV for other things. Now we wouldn't connect our TVs to the internet for anything, and only use PS5s for specific things. We mostly just use our Apple TV.