If you have a "smart" TV you'd like to avoid connecting to the internet for reasons like this, you can try disconnecting the wireless module entirely. I had a Sony Bravia TV I didn't trust, and after popping off the back I disconnected the wireless module's ribbon cable. The android-TV OS handled it gracefully, and now I don't have to worry about it attempting to smuggle data through any other WLANs in my apartment building.
I have an 6 yo LG OLED and bought a Xbox series x on release. I've had the firmware update disabled too, because I couldn't think of a reason why I would want it to update. I'm not using it as a smart device after all.
Well, when I got the Xbox, it worked. But a few months after, it wouldn't receive any signal on my TV.
After some googling, it turned out that the Xbox had a firmware update which now made them incompatible. Incompatible, yes. HDMI. And incompatible.
So I updated the firmware on the TV for the first time and it worked again. A few months later, the same happened again and I was forced to update another time.
So, just as a cautionary message: if your TV has appliances which need to be updated connected to it they might become unusable/essentially bricked if you decide to do that.
I wonder if the incompatibility was due to something like HDCP, and needing new keys or something similar. The Xbox is fairly strict on enforcing DRM, and that might be why it wouldn't output to the TV after a while.
I recall that when I was doing console gamedev stuff, some monitors would not work if you set the console devkits into 'retail' mode, especially some of the old cheap LCDs that IT had stashed away to use as temporary loaners if someone's monitor was broken.
I avoided firmware updates on my Samsung TV and removed as many built-in apps as possible. It used to start in quiet mode looking for a source. Then my renter updated the firmware because of a popup. Now I’m forced to start one of the commercial flow tv channels. Somehow I’m allowed to play the same episode of Baywatch, progressing 10-15 seconds before I start whatever app I actually want to use. David Hasselhoff hasn’t left the beach yet.
This is because some idiot introduced KPIs like “minutes streamed”. Can’t you just be a dumb device?
I imagine that in ten years, every electric appliance is infested with chatbot-level sentience and constantly wants to engage in conversation. EU will introduce laws that force electronics to STFU.
> Then my renter updated the firmware because of a popup.
And this is why all of those people who say "just don't connect it to the Internet" are wrong.
You can decide not to connect, but are you going to tell every single guest not to, and have them think you're a crazy person because they don't understand the problem?
For those that say, I just won't tell them the WiFi password. I have news for you: many phones have hotspot and data plans where streaming to the TV won't be an issue.
TVs should have brightness controls the same way they have volume controls on remotes. It’s great having a >1000 nits display, just like it’s great having a 500W subwoofer, but it doesn’t mean I want to blast it full power all the time and changing it shouldn’t require digging into slow menus.
I have a few extra buttons on my gayming keyboard that I pretty much never use, so I assigned three of them to a script that uses the above app to change brightness between 30/50/100.
