Do not connect your tv to the internet. Period.

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

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

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.

Walmart acquired Vizio with the express purpose 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.

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

this seems like it might be a win

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

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

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

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

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

Main reason I want the steam machine to be a hit is just getting regular Linux boxes under people's TVs and that getting developer interest. KDE Plasma Big Screen too. Good TV interfaces for media software. Respond well to remotes and gamepads. Popular service apps like Netflix and Crunchyroll. It's jarring when I use other people's TVs and the default page screen is just a wall of advertisements. At least Android based TVs I can install projectivity launcher to get a clean interface

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.

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.

Welcome to Earth where using Smart features is Dumb.

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.)

This is why i don't like "smart" tv.

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.

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.

Buy commercial displays, not TVs

Does that mean it disables all Tue smart shit about f you don't connect an account? Nice.

My decade old TV is starting to show its age with a couple of dead pixel columns.

I'm a bit stressed about trying to find a new one that has none of this kind of enshittification.

I just want something with a couple of HDMI inputs and an antenna connector.

I absolutely do not want any ad servers or mandatory account bullshit injecting itself where it isn't wanted.

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

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.