I’m going to buy my first new TV in years. Even if it’s a ‘smart’ tv we plan to just use our Roku. I’ve heard that some TVs require you to connect it to the internet before you can even use a Roku device. For privacy reasons I don’t want my TV to EVER have access to my wifi. Is anyone aware of how to know what models/brands of TVs allow me to use it without ever connecting the TV itself to wifi?
If necessary I guess I could connect it to my guest network to ‘activate’ the TV, set up the Roku to connect to my private network, then change the password to the guest network.
Would rather just have a TV that doesn’t even ‘phone home’ once.
I haven’t gotten my shit together and researched specific models yet, but I’ve been looking into this a bit myself, and from what I’ve read, Sceptre appears to be one of the better brands for completely dumb TVs these days.
Can definitely vouch for Sceptre. Have a computer monitor from them and a TV as well. Absolutely love them both. My concern is actually tracking down Sceptre anything though. They’re constantly out of stock on their website
What the hell sort of TV are you looking at that requires an online connection to use it as a simple display device?
That’s a serious question. I want to avoid whatever brand you’re talking about like the plague.
Some food for thought. Vizio made more money selling ads and the data from their customers than selling the actual TVs.
With TVs you are paying to be the product.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773073/vizio-acr-advertising-inscape-data-privacy-q3-2021
Walmart is in the process of acquiring Vizio for the express purpose of using TV’s to serve advertisements.
Most brands make it seem impossible to setup without connecting. I got a free TCL/Roku and it was such a massive headache to avoid connecting that I connected it. I just skip the ARC HDMI and pretend it’s just as good since I don’t use the built in apps. ARC ports read your content to “better serve you content” (ads)
Roku is horrible. I bought a Roku Soundbar (speakers) for my TV and for reasons unknown, I had to (temporarily) hook it up to the internet to “activate” and download the firmware.
It’s such a horrible glimpse of the consumers future.
I thought LG and Sony and a few of the other big players still had the self respect to sell TVs that can just be… you know… TVs
LG C series OLEDs are a pain. If you connect them to wifi, they’ll give you Apple TV and other “promotions” as pop up notifications at random times.
These TVs also have Bluetooth which cannot be turned off and any device can try to connect to it, giving you a non intrusive pop up of 20% of your screen area.
And their customer support is absolute garbage. In my area, you’ll have to call them a few times before anyone picks up, then there is a 50% chance that the clerk doesn’t speak English nor your local language. Sometimes you’ll give up on calling them, as no one responds. You’ll be happy to know that they will call you back in about a month.
These TVs also have Bluetooth
It’s really nifty to wardrive those and play Tool at max.
You can fix the always-on BT wirh a screwdriver, can’t you?
I hope most of these have discrete hardware, but i won’t disregard SoCs…
I bought a cheap Vizio, and never connected it or let it connect to anything. All it does is power on, and go to HDMI-1. My pc it connects to does everything else.
If you’re concerned about privacy on your tv, I would recommend migrating away from Roku as well.
Ditto, I did the same. FYI, you can’t use bluetooth or screencast unless you connect it to the internet, and I didn’t really need those features.
I have a pair of LG tvs that didn’t require any activation. Might wanna take a look at those?
Definitely stay away from Samsung. All my encounters with Samsung have required some type of sign up-activation process.
I’ve seen some users here also recommend checking out monitors as tvs but I’m not well versed in that area.
That’s what I ended up doing. A dumb monitor is just fine, as long as you don’t need a huuuge screen. The main thing is to find a good external speaker though that doesn’t auto-sleep in the middle of one’s show…
I just moved and wound up getting an LG C4 65", put off getting internet service, TV worked fine
I have two Vizio panels, a 2017 and a 2023. Neither are connected to my network. The 2017 got a couple of firmware updates via wired connection in the first year but I nixed that after an update nearly bricked it. The 2023 will turn itself back on for a few seconds occasionally (just the electronics, not the panel)… possibly looking for an open network but I have no way to verify. Neither complain about a lack of connection unless I accidentally select their streaming input.
Most recommendations I get for TV’s like this are to buy a display meant for digital signage or conference rooms. They’re usually a little more expensive but also made to last. They’re also mostly just dumb monitors.
I haven’t gone that route yet, but it’s on my roadmap. My current “TV"s are just a projector connected to my HTPC and a 32” PC monitor in a similar configuration upstairs.
My solution for this is if you absolutely cannot bypass the connect Network to set up function, set up a hotspot on your phone. Let it download it’s you know what 150 MB update and then turn off your Wi-Fi hotspot
You could take it a step further and set a temporary network name & password for the hotspot, and then change it back afterwards
that way you can use your hotspot near your TV in the future without worry
The last time I activated a TV was in 2022. It was a Sony X85K and it didn’t require a connection. I’ve subsequently only used it with a CCwGTV.
Before that I activated a Samsung U…7300 or something like that in 2020. That didn’t require connection either. I also used it with a CCwGTV.
I’m gonna start selling smart TVs and call my company Orwellian Enterprises.
Bought a Panasonic with Android TV about a year or two ago, and used it for a while solely as a screen for my Kodi box, no internet connection. Worked perfectly. The TV’s image quality leaves something to be desired (especially backlight uniformity), though.
For a TV that can be set up as a ‘dumb tv’ and you can even reject the terms and conditions: Hisense surprisingly.
My partner got one a month ago and it was stupid simple to set up and asks you if you want to set up as a Smart TV or as a Basic TV.
Also ditch the Roku, that’s absolutely just as bad as using the onboard smart tv functions. Theres NVidia Shield, Apple TV, or with a little setup a Raspberry Pi running Kodi.
So far all the Roku TVs I’ve tried will let you skip setting up Internet on them and then default to a dumbed down mode where the Homescreen is just TV inputs, and you can access the settings menu. Haven’t had a chance to test a recent Android/Google TV.
Update: Seems Sony, TCL, and maybe some other Android/Google TV makers allow using the TV without linking a Google Account.
https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00115361
https://support.tcl.com/can-i-just-use-basic-tv-on-a-tcl-google-tv
Update 2: Samsung seems to let you skip logging into their TVs during setup via a Skip button in the top-right corner, but it’s unclear if you can skip connecting to the Internet at all.
I got a TCL with Google TV earlier this year (the same model was available from both Best Buy and Wal-Mart), can confirm that I didn’t have to sign into anything or even connect it to the net to use the coax or HDMI ports. Also it remembers the last used connection, so I don’t even have to skip past the Google TV stuff when I turn it on.
