this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024

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Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse. (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 months ago by moe90@feddit.nl to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (3 children)

That's why I love projectors, they almost never have "smart" features built in. A Raspberry Pi can serve as a great HTPC running FOSS software like Kodi, connecting to a local, self-hosted Jellyfin server full of pirated content.

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[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (10 children)

"each new connected TV platform user generates around $5 per quarter in data and advertising revenue."

Fuck me, this is the amount of money that's enough motivation for them to ruin my experience and make me angry?

I guess regular users have much higher tolerance to ads than me, but our home has a strict zero ad policy.

[–] Zwiebel@feddit.org 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I've heard somewhere else that it's a 50/50 split between the TV sales and ad revenue

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (8 children)

A quick check online says that Samsung--which has about 25% of the global market--sold at least 1M OLED televisions and 8.3M QLED televisions in 2023. So, let's say that they sell 9.5M televisions annually (I'm not sure if the numbers are global or US-only); that's $190M in pure profit from advertising alone. For a billion-dollar plus corporation, that might seem small, but it's certainly enough to get them to take notice.

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[–] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dumb monitor > smart TV.

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[–] Eric_Pollock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Server to host media. Super easy to set up and can run on a Windows client. Don't even need an independent server to run it on. https://jellyfin.org/

https://kodi.tv/ (or https://libreelec.tv/ for an OS that boots to just Kodi)

Application to watch through Kodi https://github.com/jellyfin/jellycon

Client to run Kodi on: MeLE PCG02 Mini PC Stick https://a.co/d/1EGnekO

If you didn't want to install LibreELEC to the PC and just want to keep Windows, you could run Kodi in Kiosk mode and it would boot directly to it just like LibreELEC.

I have not watched normal TV in years, let alone an ad on my TV. I spoke to my neighbors one day and figured out they were paying ~$60 a month for all their streaming services, and they're STILL getting ads...

Stuff like this is unacceptable, and I refuse to partake in the lunacy and delusion that is modern television.

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Also Plex as an alternative to Jellyfin with a way better UI and better app support

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (6 children)

And also a good degree of bugs and enshittification

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Wait plex or jellyfin? Both?

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago

Plex. Its been getting shittier for years.

Meanwhile JF has been improving in leaps and bounds.

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[–] teft@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Mine is a monitor and nothing more.

[–] Dymonika@fedia.io 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Literally came here to say that. HDMI is king!

[–] Exec@pawb.social 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

DisplayPort is superior

[–] Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Definitely, but unfortunately TV's don't usually have DP.

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Any TV can have DP if you watch the right videos.

[–] yggstyle@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

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[–] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Average users will not have the knowledge or patience for work arounds.

Imo, the larger problem seems to be the majority of users appear to be fine with ads and data collection just to watch a movie or series.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yeah that's well put. All this advocacy for adblockers and not accepting the awful state of things fall on deaf ears, most people don't care, they accept the state of things as it is, and technology as magic.

[–] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago

People deserve better and should expect/demand better.

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[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Imo, the larger problem seems to be ~~the majority of users appear to be fine with ads and data collection~~ a lax and ineffective regulation.

"Voting with your wallets" is a false premise dreamed up by corporate to avoid govt regulation and has not and will never be a real thing that works in this world of monopoly and lack of option.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You can either vote with your wallet or do nothing...

Working people have no way to lobby government, shortage of a revolution, real people make decisions for benefit of other real people.

NPCs are just here to enrich them both.

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

You can either vote with your wallet or do nothing

I don't want to fight here, we agree. In fact i bet we agree on a lot. But VWYW is, i can not stress this enough, not a thing. If it ever was in our lifetimes, it ain't now. Its time the phrase was dropped outta everyone's mouth.

You can purchase something that thru your effort does not do most of the awful things you are trying to avoid, that's being a smart customer. It's not like I'm dismissing the entire idea behind VWYW, just that it is simply that now, it's an idea that doesn't work with the facts on the ground.

The power of our "wallet ballots" gets lower when Monopoly power gets higher. Monopoly power is very high. VWYW power is in this world, in this moment, not a thing.

My point, is a simple but strident one. VWYW is not voting! It just isn't.

It has absolutely no effect on the world around us. Puts no pressure on companies. Is not a thing except in our heads. It is time to let go of the idea.

And yeah...working people like you and me have no power period. "Voting with your wallet" is now simply a power fantasy pushed by capitalists to keep regulations at bay and held by the powerless clinging to an illusion of agency.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It only works in competition which we don’t have for the most part.

Instead we have the illusion of choice through multiple brand product names. There’s a couple choices, sure, but few enough to function as an effective monopoly.

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[–] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

GO AWAY!! BAITIN'!

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I unironically wanna watch "ouch! my balls", that looks like quality programming i could get behind

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[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Not mine. My TV's my absolute digital bitch. It lets me do anything I want AND nothing, unlike Warren Buffet's kids

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 0 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Problem is getting an 55+" Screen with an OLED panel and support for HDR in a non-smart package

[–] Zwiebel@feddit.org 0 points 3 months ago (3 children)

It's not smart if you don't connect it to the internet

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Don't give your TV the wifi password, kids. No, you don't need to 'finish setting up' your TV; it works just fine as a dumb display.

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[–] DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (6 children)

I pity the poor fool who sets up their smart TV instead of just grabbing an HDMI cable and plugging in their computer.

[–] ChillPill@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ive been pretty happy so far with roku and blocking stuff with pihole, but every day I am more and more tempted to build a media pc...

[–] yggstyle@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Currently trying that for the same reasons you are tempted. Roku was passable and even a good choice years ago and it's on a precipitous race to the bottom now.

Problem for me currently is finding a non windows solution that is navigable from a controller or remote is .. tough. Steam, emulation station, Kodi all have reasonable interfaces but there seems to be a gap in a unified launcher solution (as well as a decent 'app' for accessing YouTube.) I really don't want to spin up a single VM for each activity when they all in theory should play nice together.

[–] lemmy_get_my_coat@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Exactly what I've been looking for too, and have come up wanting. I got excited recently about finding KDE Plasma Big Screen, but then it falls at the last hurdle on the app selection.

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[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This is the way to go. I tried pihole using Samsung smart features, but if you block so the telemetry eventually your apps stop working and you can't get them working again without doing a factory reset with blocking down. It's prohibitively a pain in the ass, taking hours every time YouTube stops working.

Never had any issues with Roku on pihole.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I believe one reason maybe that the software is so garbage it can’t handle not being able to submit all its logging information when otherwise the system thinks it’s online.

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[–] yggstyle@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

Depends on your blocklist. It would freak out every so often on me when I was preventing it from bypassing my DNS with its hard coded ones until I added in a forced redirect instead.

[–] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (11 children)

That is beyond the capabilities of normies.

My wife would agree with this:

Media PC

And I've got Plex running on an always on NAS.

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[–] 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Pihole on your network... And block Internet access to the TV..

Tho.. a while back the wife and I bought a dirt cheap 32 inch TV from bestbuy.. it will literally turn itself on to deliver an advertisement if you power it off while in an app. (Skipping the home page)

Pihole crashes it.

We bought it for watching football outside so it's unplugged for the majority of the year.. but that's still absolutely unacceptable. Imho

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago

Ah that's a terrible sign of where things are going

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

That's some fucked up shit

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[–] FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 months ago

not if I don't have a smart tv

[–] Hector_McG@programming.dev 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

An article on Ars Technica, complaining about advertising.

What hypocrite posted this?

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago

"you participate in society? Interesting!"

[–] ZeroTwo@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

Smart tub and stremio. I'm good.

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