I just finished setting up a custom router with dns ad blocking. Next comes a media player so I can purge this smart TV filth from my household.
Huge shout out to Louis Rossmann and the FUTO communuty contributors, check out the wiki on self-hosted software if you haven’t already.
Return it. If you hold on to it (even if you block the ads and all) it will signal the manufacturer, that this practice is fine.
Sounds like they might have the capability to just network block the device from their router too. At least that’s what I do, just in case someone tries to use it.
And then buy a non-smart TV instead. At least one company, Sceptre, still makes them. (I don’t want to make it seem like I’m shilling for a particular brand, but I genuinely don’t know of any other options, aside from commercial signage displays.)
Commercial displays might be the answer, all the smart bullshit goes against their use case so they need a way to go around it in case they still have it, and every brand have them.
Last time I looked into it they were more expensive and had to be bought through an agent but that was a few years ago, thing might have changed.
Again, the brand I mentioned in the previous comment is a consumer-oriented one, that you can simply buy off Amazon etc., that still sells dumb TVs. I’d only suggest resorting to commercial displays if you’re boycotting that brand for some reason.
They don’t seem to be available in Europe.
Ah, that’s unfortunate, and another good reason to consider resorting to a commercial display.
'Course, it’s also possible that a commercial display is so much more expensive/a hassle that it might be worth figuring out how to buy a Sceptre TV in a country where it is sold and then importing it yourself.
The funny thing is that I can find all sort of accessories for those TVs on Amazon but not the TVs.
…Oh no. I just checked, and some of the TVs that did have Amazon listings as recently as a month or so ago (which I think was around the last time I mentioned this sort of thing) are no longer available, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Sceptre-U550CV-U-Ultra-2160p-60Hz/dp/B01CDC49E0
There are still a couple of “Komodo by Sceptre” TVs left, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Komodo-Sceptre-KU515R-Ultra-3840x2160/dp/B07W68VFGL , but that’s it. I hope they aren’t in the process of exiting the market entirely, but I’m worried! 😟