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Comment by wtallis | Hacker News Reader

The very simple solution that would work in practice is: don't give your TV your WiFi password.

Like everything in tech, they can be persistently annoying in asking. You may not do it, but can you be sure nobody in the house will?

My parents got a Samsung TV. At Christmas, I turned off all the data collection features (and some abysmal AI face filter that was ruining the latest Knives Out film). It very annoyingly started prompting to reenable them regularly.

Even simpler would be not to own a TV.

Sky TV the typical UK household satellite service now comes via your ISP as IPTV rather than dish. WiFi unfortunately then becomes the requirement.

Hooking up a streaming box is incredibly easy.

TV-free here for about 6 years. I'd recommend it. It takes some getting used to, but after acclimating, the presence of TVs has become annoying. I'm not sure why I'd want to lose myself for an hour or two to it when there's more fulfilling things in the world.

I can see where you're coming from with your "more fulfilling things" statement, but I disagree. After all, TV's don't spew noise they spew stories. I'm not gonna argue that all TV is fulfilling, but engaging with stories is one of the the things which separates us from animals and to me is one of the more fulfilling things in life.

> After all, TV's don't spew noise they spew stories.

Not really, TV in my experience it's all propaganda/stuff to keep you engaged and mad plus ads mixed in with some small content.

You're better off without broadcast TV... reading books, watching movies, socializing etc.

Have not had a TV in over 20 years. Fantastic quality of life upgrade.

They’re colloquially called “idiot box” in Australia for a reason.

So exactly where do I get a 60 inch monitor?

This is an area I'm keeping an eye on - currently this 55" Gigabyte one is about as good as it gets, but it feels like it's straddling the line between monitor and TV, as it runs Android and supports CEC and eARC.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/S55U

Once a company like Iiyama, Dell or Philips releases a 65-75" model with Display Port, I'm just going to buy it. Fingers crossed they do.

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