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Comment by hultner | Hacker News Reader

I have two new LG TVs, never connected them to the internet. I do all my media consumption via a ATV and rpi

My new Sony TV wouldn't allow me to do anything without connecting it to the internet during initial setup. I just wanted to use it as a dumb screen to show HDMI signal. But even that wouldn't work without initially connecting it to the internet. I haven't connected it to the internet since and so far it hasn't stopped working, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it does as some point and forces me to reconnect and update it.

Did you return it? All manufacturers should be punished for requiring an internet connection for basic features.

I wanted to do a firmware update over usb but LG requires NTFS for it to work so I gave up.

I find it hard to believe there wasn't a work around for your tv to be set up without Internet.

For example the Sony web site doesn't seem to support what you are saying

https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/support/articles/00113...

I set up my grandmothers sony tv last year without Internet.

I was trying to avoid it. I am tech savvy. I could not find a workaround. There was no way, at least none I could find despite my efforts, to skip the screen requiring you to connect without connecting.

That's very strange. I'm too lazy to factory reset the Sony tv I bought this year to try it, but here's a link to a "q and a" from Best Buy saying someone set up my model without Internet during a hurricane, and Sony themself indicating it works without Internet.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/questions/sony-77-class-bravia-...

So assuming you are software savvy enough to not have missed the correct prompt, I have to assume there was a bug with the firmware version you recieved.

Some people like my 92 year old Grandmom don't have internet, and it would make no sense for Sony to have to deal with returns from them.

That is strange. I have a different model (KD65X80J), but it seems to have all the same options and software. Yet, even though I chose Basic TV instead of Android TV, the internet connection page did not have the option to skip. It might be a bug, as you suggest.

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