Your TV is watching you

I’ve come across this interesting report:

I haven’t yet read it in full, and probably not all of it is applicable in Europe 1:1, but it paints a rather scary picture.

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Frankly, I am amazed that televisions survived to this day and age. Gazillion-channel subscriptions are usually only available in a location that has decent (if not stellar) internet, giving you access to content without ads on demand. Choosing between them should be a no-brainer.

I never had a television and would not consider buying one as I don’t see the purpose, I already have a good 27" screen for any content on my desktop. I am even giving up on movies, as they are getting to be extremely long (2 hours is the new minimum) and there is so much you can do with that time.

So, a “smart” television is a purpose-built computer that users have no control over. It stands to reason it is spying on its users. Even if you are using only FOSS on a PC, if you are browsing the internet you have to take extreme measures to prevent all kinds of actors spying on you.

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I use my TV as just a display (I do not allow it to connect to the network). I suspected that if I used the TV’s OS and software, they’d be reporting on usage habits, but doing image capture & analysis, even if playing via an HDMI input?! (Yes, I have a Chromecast and an Apple TV hooked up to it, and again, I’m not surprised if those report on the streams.)

As for movies: if they are long, we may watch them in two parts, filling two evenings. In Switzerland, it’s anyway customary for cinemas to have a break in the middle of the movie (often not even synced with the story, like abruptly in the middle of a scene).

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I still don’t get the point of a “TV”. Given that signal these days is coming from a set-top box via HDMI or similar, it is just a monitor with integrated speakers and a remote control.

But you can get good quality monitors with integrated speakers too cheap these days (especially if you don’t care about color accuracy), or if you want a “cinema experience”, a reasonably priced class D amplifier and some speakers.

Yes, you can certainly take a break in movies. It’s just that there are very few movies I have seen recently that would make me want to go back after the break. Perhaps I am not their target audience — I am OK with watching a 20-minute nerd cartoon occasionally, but given 2 hours, I would rather curl up with a book, play board games, cook, go take photos, or even just wash the dishes.

Note that I was kind of OK with movies when they were 90-100 minutes or so. Then it became 120 minutes to tell a simple story. Now 140 minutes is not that unusual.

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Because they don’t really sell a 55" monitor.

On one side of the living room is the sofa; on the other, 3 m away, is the TV. On the sofa(s, there are 2 of them), 2 to 5 people.

And they want to watch the same thing? :rofl:

Not necessarily want, but they tolerate the agreed-upon choice for being together.
Seriously, though: as our children are now teenagers, we do find that our tastes overlap more. With our eldest, for example, my wife and I have just started one of the greatest series of all time: Northern Exposure.

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There is more than 100 years of film and documentary history to delve into if you so desire, and imo it’s as a noble an art form as any other.

That said TV’s are just better display for the money compared to monitors. Especially if you want a larger screen, or newer display tech like OLED, better contrast etc.

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I think we’re rather off-topic now (yes, I know it’s the Lounge :slight_smile: ).

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On the TV spy topic: I use an LG C4 42 as a “monitor” for leisure like gaming, light computing, editing some photos, and most importantly watching movies/documentaries. I always create a separate network when I need/want to update it, this way it stays sort of isolated and doesn’t spy on me “that much”. I realize it may store tons of data and then upload it when it gets eventually connected, but what can you do. I use my desktop running linux and also an nvidia shield for Jellyfin.

I would not buy another LG based on what I know now, they spy on you in every way they can and have horrible consumer practices. It sucks that the best companies have the best displays :frowning:

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If you have the nvidia shield and your linux box, what and why are you updating the TV at all?

We also have smart tvs, but they’ve never been connected to the network and never will be, we use them as dumb displays.

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We have a projector instead of a TV; the fact that projectors are still “dumb” is part of the reason we like it. Of course it’s debatable whether the AppleTV we have connected to it is that much better. At least it doesn’t have a microphone and camera, I suppose.

Probably that’s not much of a victory, what with all the phones and computers in the house with all their spyware potential.

But the bigger reason for choosing a projector over a TV, for us, is that we don’t like that “TV altar” that modern homes are often built around. Our projector screen is instead rolled up over a window, and the couch can therefore face a window, which feels better.

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Mostly for display firmware, not much else since I don’t use any other features.