“Smart” TVs are a terrible idea.
Once more people are being given the option of not having to learn how to use technology as long as they accept invasive spying.
It’d be like if your utility company offered you free electricity in exchange for them being able to install audio and video recording equipment all through your house “for quality control purposes”.
Or preferably, don’t allow your TV to access the Internet at all.
All my content comes from the internet. I guess I would have to have a middle man device for content like roku. Probably not much better.
Any laptop from the last decade? HDMI cord, congratulations! You now have a smart TV that does not require an internet connection
You don’t need to connect your tv to the internet. You just need to connect a streaming device to the internet and plug the video output into the TV. The TV does not need to talk to anyone. The TV has one job: to display video content. If a firmware update is necessary for any reason (and it generally isn’t), you can do that with a USB drive.
Check out kodi. I run that on a raspberry pi.
This is what I think every time I read to not hook your TV to the internet. Everyone’s next statement is to use a roku type device. I’m like, it’s the same thing?
I have my TV connected to the internet, but I only have 2 of the 8 or so terms and conditions selected. The bare minimum to just make the TV function. I get prompts every day to select the advertising, voice activation, etc. terms, but it still works when I hit cancel.
If your TV is known/open HW and you’ve installed the OS and software and configured it to do exactly what you want, then yes.
Or, alternatively, if you’re using a random shady media box from an appliance manufacturer or advertising company, yes.
Otherwise, no. The idea here is that the media box you use will not be one designed to make you the product as they say. It will be your tool that does what you want it to instead of leaking your data and showing you ads. But YMMV. Maybe your smart TV is good enough. Most people don’t seem to be happy or comfortable with theirs.
I get using your own home brew box. I specifically was calling out people who say to use an external Google, amazon, roku style box vs connecting your TV to the net.
You can build your own media pc, but the user experience is not at the level of a streaming device. Meaning that you might be able to work it, but grandma won’t.
If you are setting it up for Grandma, then something like Jellyfin or Kodi will make it more familiar for Grandma. She doesn’t need to touch or know about the backend.
