I'm going to buy my first new TV in years. Even if it's a 'smart' tv we plan to just use our Roku. I've heard that some TVs require you to connect it to the internet before you can even use a Roku device. For privacy reasons I don't want my TV to EVER have access to my wifi. Is anyone aware of how to know what models/brands of TVs allow me to use it without ever connecting the TV itself to wifi?
If necessary I guess I could connect it to my guest network to 'activate' the TV, set up the Roku to connect to my private network, then change the password to the guest network.
Would rather just have a TV that doesn't even 'phone home' once.
I was a roku fan for s long time until they really enshittified (which sucks, since their UI overall is superior and their products are supported for a really, really long time)
I dont see moving away from android any time soon, and i'm not quite ready/willing to take the plunge into alternate ROM's (the pixel festures are really nice!) so I figure google TV at least isnt going to learn much about me that google doesnt already know. The newer OS iteration isnt that bad a UI, either.
I do think all this will motivate me to get a kodi device set up and use the smart TV stuff a lot less, though, and I dont think I'll be in a rush to replace my existing roku TV's/boxes for secondary room use. I can tell they have a bit of targeted ads, but it mostly seems based on content I watch on the TV itself. Probably helps that most of my online life on home-based internet usage is very filtered of tracking through my router, though i haven't put a ton of effort into blocking roku specifically.