this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Enshitification

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/51919648

Reposting this from here from 2023, after I stumbled across it tonight and it hits hard.

The text in the image:

I love my smart TV. I love the way it takes a long time to boot up because it’s trying to refresh the advertisements on the home screen. I delight in the way it randomly restarts because it’s downloaded an update without asking me, each of which makes the TV slower and slower with every subsequent install. I adore the way it buries the apps that I want to use, and that I use without fail every single time, below the apps that it’s being paid to promote and which I have never touched in my life and would never use without the cold metal of a glock pressed hard against my sweating temple. I am infinitely thrilled by the way the interface lags constantly, due to the need to have one thousand unnecessary animations rendered on hardware ripped wholesale from a ten year old phone. I feel myself borne aloft on wings of pure joy when I am notified that my data will be collected and analysed to determine my usage patterns. Even now I am writing this from a field of beautiful flowers and soft luscious grass as I lie and look up happily at the bright blue sky, smiling happily to know that this is the future of technology

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Stop plugging in your TV to the Internet!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago

Came across a TV the other day, I think it was a TCL Roku? Couldn't rename the HDMI input while offline. Smart TVs were a mistake.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago

Just make sure it can't see your neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi and that it doesn't have an Amazon sidewalk radio embedded.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pro tip: Sceptre still makes dumb TVs.

(I'd love to list other brands so as not to give the appearance of shilling for a particular one... but I don't know of any others.)

Also, beware: not all of Sceptre's TVs are dumb; they also have some that run Android TV. Avoid any TV with a model number starting with "A".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Some commercial model displays are still dumb, although it's really hard to tell which ones by Googling.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Stop connecting TV’s to your network. Plug in a smart device in the hdmi port.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Apparently there are some more recently that ask to connect to the internet to allow you to use it at all, and will block you from doing anything without a network.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

Then return it.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago (3 children)

My TV is from 2012 I think, and it wasn't even a modern one back then. There are no smart features at all. I'll never upgrade until I've got no other choice.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My TV is. 27" CRT. I won't upgrade it because I sure as shit don't feel like moving it, and never will.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

You might enjoy this video.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

My dumb TV broke and I am still mad about it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My TV is a Samsung from like 2009. The bezels are massive but I almost never use it anymore and the way everyone bitches about new teevees, I'm not sure I'll bother upgrading.

Also, someone I live with got a cheap-o projector for Christmas and I'm liking that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I see myself going for a projector too, but my current flat just doesn't have a large wall it would work on.

[–] Kecessa 8 points 1 day ago

I've got a computer connected to mine, it boots to HDMI 1 where my computer is connected and when I want to watch something on a platform I use the shortcut on my remote, I never have to see the TV's home page...

LG C1

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

My TV is ten years old and "smart" only in the dumbest sense. How well do modern smart TVs operate when airgapped and only using an external device for files and streaming services? Is it still painful?

I realize the question is quite general!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I have an LG OLED with a lot of "smart" bullshit. It has no WiFi connection. Everything goes through my Google Streamer (far from optimal, I know) which keeps the enshittification somewhat in check.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

I also have an lg oled that is connected to the internet but it I have changed the dns server to one I manage through my own server that runs AdGuard and also blocks all lg related services. Runs pretty well as a result but still a bit laggy. No updates and it’s rooted with a lot of homebrew stuff which helps

I also have a cheap tcl/roku tv which doesn’t allow this, you are not allowed to customize wifi or Ethernet connections. Sucks if you need a custom dns or proxy config. You can only connect via dhcp. Changing it at the router level also makes the roku os go haywire, if it can’t load ads it goes nuts and none of the apps load correctly. Hostile bullshit and I’ll never buy another tcl or roku product again.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

How does the TV behave? Does it complain about not being able to update or connect, take a long time to do things, display default factory promoted content, or otherwise act hostile to you as the user?

[–] thetreesaysbark 3 points 1 day ago

I have almost the same setup. I just turned off the TVs menu on startup and now I don't have to deal with any LG bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Not at all. It just works.

[–] Reverendender 1 points 1 day ago

My LG C2 figured out it didn't have internet contention despite being on wifi, and so would frequently and regularly ask me to agree to the T&C in order to use voice recognition. I got fed up and fucking connected it back. I'm gonna try this other cat's DNS server thing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Recently bought a new LG. I have not connected it to the network and have it set to automatically return to the last input on startup rather than go to the home screen. May as well just be a really big monitor at this point, which is perfect. I never see the LG interface and it never prompts me for anything.

[–] Kecessa 1 points 1 day ago

Even if it was connected to the Internet you could skip to your last input, that's what mine does

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

In a general sense, airgapping with TVs is pretty effective. Just know that more modern TVs can still be a total pain in the ass with TOS popups and shit.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

When I first got a smart TV I experienced all of this in the first minute after setting it up, then factory reset it and never gave it (or its replacement) the wifi password again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Are there non-smart TVs these days? Whenever I go through Costco, I only see smart TVs. I don't own a TV so I haven't looked into any this in quite a while.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Some smart TV's are fine. Just never connect them to your network. It's the ones that won't allow you to use them/set them up without connecting that are the problem.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

You need to buy a professional display

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

This is why I ended up upgrading to a Nvidia shield, specifically because I can boot into whatever loader I want. When Amazon started live adverts for sports, which I've literally never shown interest in my entire life, and I couldn't disable or configure the apps it showed, yeah, I was done. My TV is next.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just wait until they try doing laundry.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Those are already kinda shit. I have a washing machine that doesn't let me disable the ridiculously long jingle that plays after finishing. If I want to do that, I had to have purchased a more expensive model...

Fucking Samsung man...