cross-posted from: https://monero.town/post/431688
Does anyone got any television recommendations for dumb tv’s or other words none smart tv’s? Or even a tv that is smart but the software is open sourced making it privacy friendly?
If you want a 100% safe option don’t connect the tv to the internet. Then use your own kodi box or alike.
There is commercial TV/Monitor but last I checked, a 70" SHARP was like $4000.
Or do as I did, I bought a smart TV, did the setup (it needs internet at first to update firmware) then went into the settings to forget network info, and that’s it. The TV is a big monitor used with HDMI for a chromecast or BD player.
I have a small dumb TV I got fairly recently from Best Buy. It’s their store brand and has no smart features. Only 720p but they had some 1080p ones too. They’re nothing special but very cheap. Mine was an open box and I got it for maybe 40 or 50 dollars.
Depending on what you’re looking for, you might just want a computer monitor. Those are essentially “dumb TVs” without Internet connectivity or an operating system, and they have HDMI connections, so there you go.
You can also look into commercial TVs, although more and more of those are “smart” these days. Even if they’re smart, and they tend to be a bit more pricy, they aren’t preloaded with crapware and usually have excellent warranties. So that’s another option.
You are unlikely to find a new non-smart TV… the TV manufacturers get kickbacks from the streaming services for bundling their apps.
If you did find one, it would be more expensive than the dumb TV because you don’t have a bunch of streaming services subsidizing the price of the TV for you.
A computer monitor may work for you, or just buy a smart TV and never connect it to a network. You should be able to set it to automatically start up on the last-used input so you never see the built-in UI.
With sidewalk, weave, and other networks similar popping up, how long until TVs send telemetry through your neighbors Ring doorbell, whether you hook them up to the Internet or not? Or does this happen already?
Snip snip. No antenna, no network.