It's much easier to run a HTPC on something small like a Raspberry Pi, or an NVIDIA Shield. The hardware on your TV is probably the bare minimum to run its own smart features, and replacing the firmware doesn't guarantee that the TV isn't still phoning home with your data.
this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
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If you literally replaced the firmware, what else could possibly be phoning home?
The lower level firmware, your pc is probably doing the same
Best is to try to get the dumbest TV you can and plug in an android tv streaming box to it imo
I believe that's called a monitor. Just buy a bigass monitor or projector.
A TV usually comes with a remote, a monitor doesn't. Additionally, you can use it to watch linear TV if you don't feel like making a selection.
I have a "smart TV" and I plug it into my receiver and use it as a monitor. I use the term smart TV that way, because it is more than 10 years old when TVs were just starting to have these features. I should also point out that the receiver does all of the spying that the TV isn't doing. Not sure what I'll do when the TV dies.
Similar for me. I have an old Philips "smart" TV (actually today it is very dumb as basically all services are disabled and all apps heavily outdated) which I occasionally use for watching TV, but most times I use the attached Raspberry Pi with Kodi for watching German public broadcaster's Mediathek, Youtube or Amazon Prime.
Like a TV that flunked kindergarten? j/k
A Phony
This is a damn good question that I would also love an answer to!
I have another question.
Can we reprogramme the remote buttons that open Netflix, YouTube etc., so that they open other apps like Jellyfin or something?
Those companies paid to have their buttons on the remote. Your TV manufacturer is not going to threaten their sponsorship deal by letting you use those buttons for anything else.
you can! (at least on googles android tv, not sure about amazon's bastardized version) I use an app called button remaster, available from the play store, to switch my chromecasts youtube button to smart tube and netflix button to stremio
I don't know how remotes work, physically, but they gotta send some sort of code to the TV. If your TV's OS can intercept that message it can choose its own response mapped to whatever you want to happen. Something akin to remapping keys in your keyboard.
I would assume, anyway. I could be wrong.
Yes. What brand or model number do you have?
I was thinking that if somebody knows how to do that, they probably also have an opinion on which brands of TV are better or worse for it.
I don't own a TV right now but plan to in the future.
Ah, well, the biggest thing you have to worry about is that most vulnerabilities that would allow users to get ROOT access have been patched for old and new TVs, so you might want to be selective if you don't want to do it the hard way. You need to know which TV OS you're dealing with before you can look for the necesary tools.
The hard way is removing the SoC processor from the board, buying a custom mount for it, and using the debug pins to flash the OS. Most of the legwork has been done already for this method. https://www.synacktiv.com/en/publications/i-hack-u-boot
Something to keep in mind is that the processors in smart TVs are almost always pathetically slow. Also, the streaming services compatible with these TVs require hardware encryption so if your modified OS mimics the old one but isn't verified then they will refuse to run. You would get better performance from using a computer connected to the HDMI port, or even a Raspberry Pi as your TV Box.
Replacing the OS completely is likely possible for every single TV on the market, but not very likely for any of them because nobody with the skills sees any value in it.
It is possible but it needs people to develop the OS for each brand of TV and jailbreak the TVs to run another OS.
Most TVs are like phones in that they have a locked down system and their bootloader/BIOS/UEFI is also locked down which is what ultimately needs to be unlocked to allow another OS to be installed.
Why there isn’t?
Just not really many developers interested in creating an OS for it. Probably because of so many different brands and models of TVs that would require lots of work since each one is pretty different from another.
I would think that'd be pretty tough!
Install pi hole at home, force the TV to use that for dns, block some shit but not all, build on that, report back
Seriously, buy an AppleTV. It works standalone without the need for other apple products. Has a fast processor, ability to disable telemetry, good track record of software update support etc. and NO.ADS.IN.THE.OPERATING.SYSTEM.
Using an Android box will result in the same issues you’re trying to get away from with SmartTVs.
If you’re technically capable enough you can build your own HTPC, but due to DRM you’re going to run into issues streaming 4K content from streaming services. And PC and Linux HDR and Dolby Vision support is a rabbit hole.
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