Is this a TV with some kind of Roku software built in? I thought Roku was a physical device that you could just unplug.
This is why I will only buy "dumb" TVs that can only display input from external sources.
This is why I will only buy "dumb" TVs that can only display input from external sources.
To quickly include the comments which often come up in similar threads -
There are some TVs you can find at BestBuy without smart features, but they're usually not 4K.
In many cases you can use a "smart" tv, and avoid putting it on your local wifi. Some TVs reportedly require internet access to work at all.
In other cases people have said that the device jumped on a neighbors open wifi without prompting.
People often say that including these "smart" features makes a TV cheaper for a manufacturer, since they can then sell your viewing data.
During setup, I declined to connect to WiFi and then set the TV to automatically switch to HDMI 1 when it turns on, and to honor CEC over HDMI so that my external AppleTV box can power it on and off. Taught the AppleTV remote how to handle the volume on the TV, and that's it. The Roku remote is in a drawer, and the TV behaves as a dumb monitor.
I'm not even sure whether it's possible to buy a large TV without software loaded on it, but you don't have to let that software run!
Whether TCL will someday close that loophole for future models remains to be seen.
In my opinion, a "right" price would not encourage the kind of behavior that puts bullshit software on a device in the first place. Also, your TV could be connected to mobile networks and you would not know, although I'm not sure what information they can divine from the TV being on or off, other than the times someone is home or not.
My TV could have a secret mobile chip, it's true. So could literally anything brought into my house larger than a chip+antenna. I don't think that a TV would be the first thing I'd suspect.
I agree with only buying "dumb" TVs
It's probably about time for someone to figure out the firmware update process and come with a DD-WRT style open source firmware that doesn't have all of this nonsense.
Yes, most people may not realize that's an option. But also, yes, the TV price already factors in the financial benefits of getting people's personal information. I remember reading an article on this, oh yes: https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-tv-data-collection-adv...
""" It's not just about data collection. It's about post-purchase monetization of the TV. """