Advertising platform The Trade Desk is building its own smart TV OS | Hacker News Reader

Advertising platform The Trade Desk is building its own smart TV OS

lowpass.cc

32 pointsphantomathkg30 comments

So basically it's Android but with extra non-Google advertising on top? Maybe it'll be popular with bottom-tier junk TV makers like RCA and other recycled brand names from ages past. I can't imagine why any decent TV maker would want this.

> Maybe it'll be popular with bottom-tier junk TV makers

I think the bottom-tier brands offer much better value for money, if you ignore the spyware, and probably represent a large percentage of sales. In New Zealand I am sure one or more of these off-brand TVs were running Roku, but a quick google suggests they are now all Android.

Android is fine; it's what I use, and unlike the highest-end brands, it's a more open OS that allows you to load apps of your choice, including open-source YouTube clients like SmartTube.

But I'm thinking the bottom-tier brands might switch to this AdwareOS because they'll get more money from users by having it. And even though it's supposed to be based on Android, I wouldn't be confident that it'll actually run Android apps.

I could be wrong but I have always assumed the budget android tv distributions are crammed with spyware.

Vizio at least lets you skip everything entirely - if you don’t accept the agreement it just becomes a dumb TV. Perfection.

At one point in time some TCL TV's were sold below or at the cost of manufacture. All the profit came from advertising and selling user behavioral data.

Sounds like Windows computers: if you check the prices of a laptop that has a Linux or no-OS option, it'll be more expensive than the same laptop pre-loaded with Windows, because the factory Windows install is loaded with pre-installed 3rd-party crapware. The crapware companies pay MS to include their crapware (which is usually just teaser software to get users to buy the real thing) in the base OS image, and MS pays the PC makers (or gives them a big discount) to include Windows by default. And of course, Windows itself now has built-in ads and spyware too, so MS gets money from users using it.

I'm not convinced that the bottom tier brands provide good value for the money. Their picture quality is generally very poor relative to the more expensive TVs. (i.e. a bottom tier brand tv vs a bottom tier samsung/LG TV might be competitive in terms of price/quality, but the jump in quality to the higher level TVs they make is huge relative.

Also the bottom tier models are not well supported at all (i.e. security updates and the like).

In the US the mid tier (i.e. upper end models from TCL/Hisense and the like) are where the real question of bang for the buck can be applied.

Oh, joy. Another "TV OS" from an ad company.

How about a "TV OS" that isn't from an advertising company? People might pay for that.

Would they? People don't pay for shit.

It would be a feature on the TV, probably.

The long tail of the Internet theory says there's a market for it, but there are just so many sizes and the initial outlay is so expensive. I don't feel there's a big enough market for me to buy a bunch of TVs, reflashed them to not have adware, and then resell them.

What about an Apple TV-like set top box? Maybe an ASOP based replacement for Android TV ala graphine.

You mean like taking a Chromecast and putting it into "Apps only mode"? :)

It's a setting right there.

Putting Android TV into "basic TV" mode pretty much does that. Disable the internet connection for sure, but that's a cheaper option than going for those business display models that will charge you through the nose.

Android TV itself is open source, and I've seen a few people running LineageOS on their TVs. Anyone can make a TV OS based on it and it comes with an SDK already, but nobody is incentivised to do it.

You don’t even need to take Android TV offline. Just replace the ad-ridden launcher with ATV launcher, and remove the default one with adb. Also replace the youtube app with SmartTube. Very happy with this setup.

I didn't even bother using ADB with Projectify launcher from the Play Store (it just has a couple settings I needed to enable to take over the home button) and I haven't seen the default launcher once. I am using an Onn Pro 4k on my main TV (for Ethernet) and CCwGTV on the others.

Incredibly snappy setup with detailed customization options, I switched all my TVs over to use it. I also recommend Button Remapper to customize the remote app buttons to your liking.

For a short time I was thinking perhaps Ubuntu Core [0] could be such a thing. But the focus is different now (TVs perhaps never were). Still, Nvidia really mascaraed their shield line with (inappropriate at times) ads on its home screen, and they aren't even an ad company...

[0] https://ubuntu.com/internet-of-things

Ubuntu TV was such a shame that it basically was a tech demo, and died there.

TIL it's actually a thing [0]. It's not official (as in Canonical sanctioned) though, and relies on Unity (the old DE).

[0]

The customers for this would be TV companies looking for a revenue share agreement.

> How about a "TV OS" that isn't from an advertising company? People might pay for that.

Then after the suckers buy it, boom! We update it to have ads.

Like the nVidia Shield.

TTD's CEO denied these rumours:

https://live-adexchanger.pantheonsite.io/daily-news-roundup/...

At the end we are really needing to have a big monitor and connect a tv decoder: https://www.iiyama-monitors.co.uk/products/large-format/digi...

Ah, digital signage:

> With the built-in media player you can play your favourite music and show your most beautiful videos, photos and images directly on screen.

> connect a tv decoder

For home usage this one's pricier but definitely higher specced, and the dumbest you can get (just a plain monitor):

https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/25/23141765/lg-48gq900-oled-...

I wouldn’t call customizing Android has building their own OS.

The same site is claiming Sonos is working with them to make their own tv box https://www.lowpass.cc/p/sonos-the-trade-desk-tv-streamer-os

Cutting roku out .... and trying to capture all the value for themselves

Leech ditches single large host in search of many smaller hosts.

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