A reason NOT to purchase LG smart televisions

[Aikouka]

Another reason to help solidify my decision to give my LG TV to my mom. I don't think the Koreans will be too interested in her viewing habits that mostly consist of daytime court shows, retro TV channels, and The Walking Dead.

 

[mmntech]

Depends on the router/switch setup. An ACL could just block the tv from accessing the WAN, while still being accessible via LAN.

That would block thing like Netflix. However, you might be able to track down the IP address of the server its phoning home to and block it in the router's firewall. In theory, you would still be able to access other apps. No guarantees though.

This is starting to become a pretty common practice. Neilson ratings aren't accurate because they only take a small sample of the population. Learning your viewing habits is big business.

 

[Via]

That's what tablets are for.

Yeah, but that would require me getting up and finding my ipad, which is probably on my nightstand (but maybe not),

and

I'm

sooooooo

tired.

 

[TwiceOver]

How does the TV know what channel my TiVo is on? I'm confusored.

 

[Aikouka]

How does the TV know what channel my TiVo is on? I'm confusored.

If you enable Simplink (name of LG's HDMI-CEC implementation), your TV remote should be able to change your cable box's channel so long as your box supports HDMI-CEC as well.

 

[Puppies04]

its only half as good as the real thing

B.S Everyone knows when things get smaller they get better. It is twice as good.

 

[highland145]

B.S Everyone knows when things get smaller they get better. It is twice as good.

Your woman tells you that?

 

[CA19100]

its only half as good as the real thing

It's better after a couple of drinks from the mini bar... :biggrin:

 

[PokerGuy]

Damn, that is very shady. I'm certainly going to keep that in mind, LG is excluded from consideration for my next tv, I'm not going to give my money to a company stealing my information.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This is really getting scary, can't even trust our own home items these days. Going to have to check if my TV does this, it's a Samsung. It's not connected though since I use my HTPC for movies and stuff, and it runs Linux.

 

[highland145]

Damn, that is very shady. I'm certainly going to keep that in mind, LG is excluded from consideration for my next tv, I'm not going to give my money to a company stealing my information.

A lot of companies sell your info. Order a pizza. You give your name/address/phone #. They sell it to the credit bureaus who sell it to me so I can track you down if you skip with my $$.

But, yeah, LG is off my list as well.

 

[clamum]

If you enable Simplink (name of LG's HDMI-CEC implementation), your TV remote should be able to change your cable box's channel so long as your box supports HDMI-CEC as well.

I have a LG television and LG Blu-ray player; is Simplink the reason why (sometimes, not all the time) hitting the power button on the TV's remote will shut off the Blu-ray player in addition to the TV? God that's fucking annoying.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Well, hell. I've got all of these USBs full of midget porn, and I'm not sure what to do with them now.

Just rename the files so they say gay porn instead of midget porn.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have a LG television and LG Blu-ray player; is Simplink the reason why (sometimes, not all the time) hitting the power button on the TV's remote will shut off the Blu-ray player in addition to the TV? God that's fucking annoying.

You can turn it off usually.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This is really getting scary, can't even trust our own home items these days. Going to have to check if my TV does this, it's a Samsung. It's not connected though since I use my HTPC for movies and stuff, and it runs Linux.

My Samsung Blu Ray player is connected to my router as is my son's xbox 360, all our phones, all our tablets and a laptop computer.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Sounds like it's time to reinstate a strict firewall and allow nothing to pass out from the consumer side of the network.

 

[lxskllr]

This is really getting scary, can't even trust our own home items these days. Going to have to check if my TV does this, it's a Samsung. It's not connected though since I use my HTPC for movies and stuff, and it runs Linux.

It's the way things are going. Everything's getting "smart", with smart being defined as trivial conveniences for the user, and your personal data for the owner. "The owner?" you ask? "Surely I'm the owner since I paid for it!" Incorrect. The owner of any computer is the one who controls it, and these are all embedded computers that take control away from the nominal "owner". I don't want "smart" devices. I prefer to control my computers myself.

 

[Puppies04]

A lot of companies sell your info. Order a pizza. You give your name/address/phone #. They sell it to the credit bureaus who sell it to me so I can track you down if you skip with my $$.

But, yeah, LG is off my list as well.

Pretty sure every manufacturer is either doing this already or planning on doing it. Seems to me paying companies money for things I want isn't enough anymore, now they have to make a bit extra on the side.

On a related note I had a text from vodafone yesterday which went something like.

HI welcome to vodafone select, please text back with the thing you like so we can send you information.

1. clothes
2. sports
3. holidays
etc
etc

I mean W.T.holy.F is going on, if my wife didn't work for them I would ditch them in a second after that stunt.

Someone needs to come up with a group of companies that have it written in their code of conduct that they will not try and scavenge information/sell customer info to advertisers. The same goes for companies outsourcing call centers to icantspeakenglishistan. I will pay good money to not get hassled with this crap and to be able to speak to someone who I can understand when I have a problem.

 

[Number1]

Personally, I would rather watch ads that are interesting to me than random advertizing.

 

[OutHouse]

its only half as good as the real thing

oh and I am now going to not buy that LG i had my eye on. Samsung here i come

Your two best post ever on this forum.

 

[poofyhairguy]

It's the way things are going. Everything's getting "smart", with smart being defined as trivial conveniences for the user, and your personal data for the owner. "The owner?" you ask? "Surely I'm the owner since I paid for it!" Incorrect. The owner of any computer is the one who controls it, and these are all embedded computers that take control away from the nominal "owner". I don't want "smart" devices. I prefer to control my computers myself.

Just don't hook it to the internet then. I have two smart TVs, neither are allowed a connection.

 

[lxskllr]

Just don't hook it to the internet then. I have two smart TVs, neither are allowed a connection.

That's fine now, but the day will soon come when it isn't optional.

 

[poofyhairguy]

That's fine now, but the day will soon come when it isn't optional.

Wait, why wouldn't it be optional to connect your TV to the internet? Just don't give it your wifi password and done deal.

What do you think will happen? That the NSA will stick a LTE radio in there or something?

 

[lxskllr]

Wait, why wouldn't it be optional to connect your TV to the internet? Just don't give it your wifi password and done deal.

What do you think will happen? That the NSA will stick a LTE radio in there or something?

It might have to check if you have the "right" to view whatever it is you want to watch. It might have to get keys to unlock the video you've already paid for. There's lots of ways to abuse technology, and only looking at the most primitive example is short sighted. What sane person would have thought you'd need internet for a single player game you bought off the shelf?

 

[poofyhairguy]

It might have to check if you have the "right" to view whatever it is you want to watch.

They can do that without a connection thanks to Cinavia. I think the bigger issue is: will consumers go for a TV that treats them like a kid? The Xbox One backlash tells me probably not.