Technology

Do not connect your tv to the internet. Period.

Walmart acquired Vizio with the express purpose of of using TV's to serve ads. In fact, that is exactly what they said they were going to do.

No surprises here.

Don't plug in a Ethernet cord, and don't connect it to Wifi.

Now you have a fully functional TV screen that wont be artificially bricked with OS updates.

Get a dedicated "streaming device" like a Nvidia Sheild, Android TV, Apple TV, or Roku and you are good to go.

Sounds like the trash taking itself out, no? If I don't want smart features in the first place, then I see this as an absolute win. Nobody should be connecting their TV the Internet in the first place. Always make sure to use things like android TV boxes, fire sticks ect.. over using the built in "smart" features as those TVs will be phoning home all day and serving you ads the minute you connect it to the Internet lol

And if I don't want to use their smart features?

this seems like it might be a win

Roku is every bit as bad. They bricked all customer's previously purchased TVs by implementing a new user agreement through their UI without warning. It couuld not be bypassed. Opting out required first opting in, agreeing to those new terms and then mailing a letter within a very short window with explicit, detailed requirements.

My next TV won't be connected to the Internet and definitely won't be a Roku or Visio product.

So Vizio is offering dumb TVs without Walmart accounts? I am actually kind of interested.

Welcome to Earth where using Smart features is Dumb.

The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.

– George Orwell

I just use my PC through my TV.

Also don't buy tvs with voice activation.

That means they have mics on 24/7.

This is how you get me to never buy a Vizio TV.

You'd be better off buying a non-smart Samsung commercial TV from eBay and getting a $20 Onn 4K TV Box from Walmart. The latter can be Degoogled and sideloaded with Stremio, Cloudstream, or your streaming app of choice to make it the ultimate privacy-respecting media center.

TVs are screens or privacy nightmares. You get to choose as the consumer.

My mini pc or laptop connected via HDMI to a projector setup makes me more happy every day when I see crap like this. Bonus is you can move it to the patio for outside movie night and it's a whopping five pounds. Same goes for moving apartments because I've always moved too often.

good. maybe people will stop buying them then.

Excellent News ! Finally, an easy way to disable every smart feature !

So Vizio is a donmart brand? I wish they'd make up their minds.

This is fine IMO, because you shouldn't use the smart features in the first place. Just get a 3rd party streaming box. The ONN one is like $25. (Or if you're a giant nerd hook your computer to your TV.)

You should suggest this as an article on the Consumer Rights Wiki

Joke's on them, I don't want any of the smart features

Its been so long since ive had or bought a tv, what are the brands that are the least shitty now? I used to always be a samsung everything kinda guy but fuck them now. I wish they never started fucking around with software and stuck to just hardware. Their products from strictly the hardware side are still excellent. My zfold7 is amazing the older gens started rickety but each version i got (so the 3, the 5 and the 7) has been a respectible improvement but the 7 really stepped up the quality. The last samsung tv i got was like 65" curved screen amazing picture but the fucking interface was pure cancer and i will not buy another. My samsung 4k monitors, non-smart normal fridge, and my equally as dumb oven are great and dont have any stupid shit so Ill buy more dumb samsung products lol.

I use a TV for my monitor - last job I worked I really needed the screen real estate for excel.

I hate hate hate when I shut the computer off or power goes off and when the TV comes back on, it auto-plays some "free" streaming channel, which is ALWAYS fascist propaganda. I rush to turn that shit off just as quickly as I can. Fuck that shit.

so don't make an account and it's a normal tv?

My first two questions when buying a tv is

How many HDMIs does it have? Where are they located?

Last question, How to disable most features?

WTF? And Walmart of all things. Fuuuuuck them.

I'm tempted to go back to htpc lol. The tracking is so bad these days. I need to block the mac of my tv (Google tv) and just do a tiny PC or something instead.

I think I prefer my 14 inch CRT

I have an extremely expensive smart TV that probably cost around £4,000 (I didn't buy it so I don't know what the actual price tag was) and it's UI is awful because of stuff like this and it's all stupid. It has an app, it's a TV, I already have a method of controlling it why do I need an app?

As a result it's purely a media streaming platform I don't use any of its smart features. It's just hoocked up to a mini PC and it's just been a display.

My "big" TV is a dumb 55" Toshiba I bought in 2012. It works just fine plugged into my computer to display VLC. I don't need anything else. I don't bother with Jellyfin anymore, because all I do is "acquire" the content, watch it immediately, and delete it. I don't keep anything apart from a few old movies, because I don't rewatch anything.

Tonight I'm watching the next episode of Survivors, a BBC series from 1975.