This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
...ok I've never felt more justified in completely turning off my TCL's ability to connect to the internet, then.
damn. the only reason I initially did it was because they'd introduced an update that put ads on the bottom of the screen every hour or so.
factory reset, internet gone. dumb TV is the best TV.
Oooooooh let it be something class action I can get money for. I have three rokus and a TCL.
Granted, none of them are on my network; the rokus were removed from it when that update came out that would brick the tv if you don't accept them spying (fortunately roku was blocked on my pihole except occasionally when they wanted to be updated to repair the apps that stopped working every month forcing online connection to syphon data) and the TCL was never allowed on the network in the first place because i learned my lesson..
But I still want money back from them for their anti-consumer choices, because fuck them.
In case anyone wants more information from a couple of other indirect sources:
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/8:2026cv00748/1012972
No connection,no issue.
A couple months back, I had an Internet outage, and decided to just watch some over the air TV. My TCL TV wouldn't even display the standard TV broadcast without an Internet connection.
The tcl doesn't have this issue source: hotel stay
I had to give Roku internet access to scan over the air channels for "reasons"... however, I am able to watch OTA channels now with no access for Roku TV
If I bought a tv the required internet access, I'd return it.
I agree with the sentiment... sadly it's almost getting to the point where if you stuck to your guns on that one, you may not find a TV you could buy
Not with that attitude you won't.
This is why the smart bet is to never give network access to your tv, it will only get enshittified.
Everyone wants to access Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, etc through their TV interface and I just don't get it. The best experience is when you hook up a PC to your TV... not some TV-centric Android OS or Roku's thing.
Install Kubuntu on some old PC with a GPU that can handle 4K @60Hz and you're good to go. KDE and Firefox let you crank up the zoom so everything's easy to read and it even has HDR support (though I prefer going without it... Old person eyes).
It's such a vastly superior experience. Not only do you get the usual stuff, you can use a real keyboard to type into that search bar. You can also access all those pirate streaming sites and do normal PC stuff like play games.
As an early adopter of the whole whole "just plug a computer into the TV thing" going back to the early 2000s, I will say that its kinda shocking that no one has developed a really solid 10-foot interface that doesn't need a shit-ton of tweaks to work right.
I understand that people want to just be able to plug shit in and go. I have an HTPC hooked up at my house, but for family members that aren't interested in tweaking shit and troubleshooting, they get a firestick with stremio on it.
I mean, a shield TV pro with custom launcher is really really good. Kodi, stremio and what have you, makes it very easy and enjoyable to watch tv. And Nvidia just keep on shipping updates.
Betting on Nvidia to not hop on the enshittification train seems like a supremely bad decision at this point in time
would locking usage behind an account post sale be concidered bricking devices? because if so they should add those customers on.
no internet connection for my Roku TV until the heat death of the universe arrives
