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kempbellt • today at 12:38 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

LG makes the best panels, in my opinion, but they’re also the most customer-hostile when it comes to privacy.

The easiest solution is to never give the TV network access at all (no WiFi, no Ethernet) and only drive it over HDMI, via an Apple TV for example. The onus then shifts to how much you trust Apple, and the TV becomes mostly a dumb display. That still isn’t a 100% guarantee, though, since the TV has radios and could potentially talk to other networks or devices without your knowledge. If you want certainty, the only real option is to remove the radios entirely, which can have side effects, like the remote no longer working if it relies on BLE.

Personally, I don’t like LG’s “smart” apps, so never using them isn’t much of a loss.

But if you’re more technically inclined and want to use a product you paid for the way you want, you can do what I did with my C1:

Root it, put it on a restricted VLAN with no WAN access and no outbound privileges to any device on the LAN, and enable SSH. These displays run webOS, which is Linux-based. Yes, you can literally SSH into your TV. :)

That let me deploy my own custom app that I drive over the network. My display also never actually turns “off”. I just paint black pixels when I’m not using it, so it’s very snappy when I want something on the screen. It works as a spare data and metrics display while I’m working, and as a media player (a simplified DIY Plex) when I’m not.

So I get the “smart” part of the TV without the privacy concerns.


Replies

spear • today at 2:51 AM

I think you'll find most experts now agree that Samsung's QD-OLED panels have surpassed LG's WOLED panels.

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...

https://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-s-s99-h-qd-oled-tv-w...

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olyjohn • today at 12:46 AM

Don't give LG your money. Jesus people stop it.

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