A reason NOT to purchase LG smart televisions

[SandEagle]

Your two best post ever on this forum.

see my new sig.

 

[rh71]

I'm not saying I like that this is happening, but aren't targeted ads better than non-targeted ads if you're going to be fed ads anyway?

 

[Number1]

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

Yes, THEY are all out to get you.
Be afraid, VERY afraid.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I'm not saying I like that this is happening, but aren't targeted ads better than non-targeted ads if you're going to be fed ads anyway?

Any ads are bad, period. However it's not about the ads, it's about the loss of control and invasion of privacy. So, NO, targeted is NOT better. It's an erasure of freedom and agency.

 

[TwiceOver]

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.

But that just sends the same controls right? How does it know when in press channel up 3 times that I'm now on TBS? Or really what channel I selected after hitting the guide button page down twice arrow down once? It's not like I'm saying "LG Play ESPN 8". That's a different device I guess.

 

[Aikouka]

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.

Yes. I'm guessing it probably shuts the player down when it's not playing a movie?

I like the idea of HDMI-CEC quite a bit because sometimes all I need to swap remotes for is powering on a device. I like that I can turn on my PS4 or PS3 and it just turns on my devices. To be clear, it actually turns on the TV which turns on the AVR as the TV serves as the master (address of 0), and the TV also sets the AVR to the proper input. So, all I needed to do was pick up my gaming controller! I can also do the same by popping in a Blu-Ray movie, which turns the console on.

Unfortunately, my issues with LG's Simplink lie with the fact that it has little to no options. I want it to manage my AVR like my Vizio does and my old Mitsubishi did.

EDIT:

But that just sends the same controls right? How does it know when in press channel up 3 times that I'm now on TBS? Or really what channel I selected after hitting the guide button page down twice arrow down once? It's not like I'm saying "LG Play ESPN 8". That's a different device I guess.

Based on the list of commands here, it should be able to access the tuner's information (such as the channel number) and provide that information. Also, the tuner will probably provide the channel's displayed name (e.g. "ESPN").

 

[highland145]

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.

You will be missed.

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.

This I would pay more for.

see my new sig.

Yeah, he's a bastard. Glad you and I are good.:wub:

 

[Jeff7]

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.

Yeah, the nearly-always-on Kinect sensor makes sense. Hmm.....a video camera in your home, always running whenever you want to use your entertainment center. Naaaaaahhhhh, no one out there would have an interest in getting hold of that information. Never.

LG Smart Ad analyses users favourite programs, online behaviour, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men, or alluring cosmetics and fragrances to women.

Furthermore, LG Smart Ad offers useful and various advertising performance reports. That live broadcasting ads cannot. To accurately identify actual advertising effectiveness.

So this is where companies have gotten to: If you shop online, they try to track every little thing you do. What you click on, what you hover over, how long you linger....
It's like going to Walmart, but then you notice that the greeter is now quietly following you, pen and paper in hand. Then another person (Google Analytics) joins the club, then another (Facebook), then another (Quantcast), and then another one slaps you in the face with a survey (Foresee).
Then you go to another store, but your entourage follows you around, continuously recording everything you do.
But it's ok, they don't know your name. Sure they might glance at a credit card or driver's license if you've got your wallet or purse open for a few seconds, but they totally wouldn't even dream of considering the possibility of perhaps thinking about writing that down.

Now with your Kinect or your Smart TV, they'll follow you home, too. The Kinect of course keeps tabs on the livingroom. A Smart TV in the bedroom snuggles in and starts primping itself for an evening of sweet, sexy advertising. A tablet sits patiently in the bathroom, eager to learn if you should consider trying something from Citrucel's SmartFiber™ product line.


"Futurama. The show that watches back."
Just think, we didn't have to wait a thousand years for it.



Yes, I know why Google wants self-driving cars.
- Cheaper Street View updates.
- Time spent driving is time you could be spending on a tablet or phone. Looking at ads. Google ads. Millions of Americans. Dozens upon dozens of hours of time spent each year, even more than 100 hours, or 200 hours. Per person. Hundreds of millions of hours more time spent online, time to look at ads, or be quietly surveyed by Google Analytics or Doubleclick. They would probably give those cars away.

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?

Competition. If your competition's keeping tabs on its customers and getting advertising money for it, wouldn't you want to get in on some of that action?
Or dangle a carrot: Car insurance companies are doing it. "Let us record and monitor your driving habits, and you'll get a discount."
"Let us record and monitor your viewing habits, and you'll get 5 channels of your choice," or unlock some other feature or some such thing.
The games industry is already doing it. Want to play SimCity 5 without an Internet connection? What are you, a filthy pirate? Burn in hell you criminal scum, or make the connection, and welcome aboard, friend!

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.

Who all objected to the Xbox stuff? A relatively small number of very vocal hardcore gamers, enough to spook a company that, in turn, does not want to spook its shareholders? Or was it the masses, who are ok with things like little in-game micropayment unlockables, or retailer-specific "exclusive" game add-ons? (I'm seriously not entirely sure on this....taking a stab at it though.)

Or look outside of games - expensive cellphones with contracts which guarantee that, one way or another, the cellphone provider is going to get a substantial chunk of your money. Or printer manufacturers that deliberately make it difficult to refill their ink or toner cartridges, under the guise that it's to entirely used to monitor the level of the consumable, thus improving the user's experience - monitoring which will, interestingly enough, stubbornly refuse to allow you to proceed if it believes that the cartridge has already emptied.

There are plenty of policies like that which do little more than present a middle finger to consumers, and they are readily accepted.



So, "Will consumers go for a TV that treats them like a kid?"
Yes. Yes they will.

 

[Red Squirrel]

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?

Look at gaming consoles now. You pretty much can't use them without an internet connection. The first thing it asks when you turn it on is to make an account. This stuff pisses me off. TVs and appliances will soon be that way too.

Now the concept of stuff having an ethernet port and some network stuff is cool... *IF* it is strictly to be used on a LAN. Ex: SNMP traps and other management stuff. But the way things are going it's all about cloud stuff and spying and tracking and all this BS.

 

[destrekor]

Yeah but it is AWESOME for pushing a streaming and ala carte lifestyle.

Maybe a Roku or an Apple TV (or especially my custom XBMC HTPCs) are better, but the biggest holdup with most people for such equipment is the fact it is another input that you have to switch to.

By making Netflix a button on the TV remote, that is quickly pulling us to a more modern future.

This may be true for most - but yet another reason I love my setup.

Watch Roku is a button on my remote - much like Watch TV, Play PS3, and Watch Blu-ray
I love my Harmony One

If only more companies made Windows 8 apps. Now that so many made media apps with what must be mostly WinRT code for the Xbox One, hopefully more of those show up on the Windows Store sooner rather than later. The media app selection is atrocious. I bought a Roku because of that. I could setup a few approaches to make navigating between Windows MCE and the "Metro" apps mostly easy.

 

[DrPizza]

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

You'd rather be denied ever having the opportunity to become interested in something new to you, because the advertisers decided what you're going to be shown?

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

Why would you pay for the extra features in a smart TV if you're not going to use them?

 

[who?]

With all the surveillance in stores these days why would they need to follow you in person?

 

[dbk]

love my LG plasma.. not a "smart" tv

 

[irishScott]

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.

That's what you think...

 

[poofyhairguy]

Why would you pay for the extra features in a smart TV if you're not going to use them?

Higher-end TVs have it part of the package, like 3D.

 

[Nebor]

its only half as good as the real thing

Good one. That puts you at 1 hit out of 15,082 swings! :biggrin:

 

[Nebor]

You'd think people would just realize by now that no electronic information\communication is private. There's no expectation of privacy.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Awesome, now they can see that I don't watch their ads.

 

[DrPizza]

Awesome, now they can see that I don't watch their ads.

:thumbsup:
Best reply yet.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I don't own a smart TV, don't plan on it. this seals the deal.

 

[Pacfanweb]

That's what tablets are for.

Yeah, who isn't already on a tablet/phone/laptop while watching TV anyway?

 

[Raduque]

I hate ads, of all kinds. It's one of the reasons I stopped watching TV and started using Netflix. I just moved about a month ago, and the only cable provider available in the apartment complex is Suddenlink.

Those fuck tards have banner ads in the guide on the cable box. You can't disable them. You get 3 lines of channels, then the ad, and you have to select the ad to scroll to the next 3 lines of channel listings. Unbe-fucking-lievable.

 

[Jeff7]

Awesome, now they can see that I don't watch their ads.

And just wait until they start blocking content if you don't sit through the commercials.
Plus with electronic volume control, they can tell if you're being naughty and muting the audio.

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.

Does she purchase any manner of thing at any point in time? If so, she's a target audience for advertisers.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Or dangle a carrot: Car insurance companies are doing it. "Let us record and monitor your driving habits, and you'll get a discount."
"Let us record and monitor your viewing habits, and you'll get 5 channels of your choice," or unlock some other feature or some such thing.

Which is fine if you can opt out.

The games industry is already doing it. Want to play SimCity 5 without an Internet connection? What are you, a filthy pirate? Burn in hell you criminal scum, or make the connection, and welcome aboard, friend!

They caught a lot of flack for that game.

Who all objected to the Xbox stuff? A relatively small number of very vocal hardcore gamers, enough to spook a company that, in turn, does not want to spook its shareholders? Or was it the masses, who are ok with things like little in-game micropayment unlockables, or retailer-specific "exclusive" game add-ons? (I'm seriously not entirely sure on this....taking a stab at it though.)

It was enough MS changed gears late in the process on something pretty major.

There are plenty of policies like that which do little more than present a middle finger to consumers, and they are readily accepted.

Sure, but ones that force a connection? I have had a 360 for years, love it, and have never gotten on Xbox Live. It can be done.

 

[BergeLSU]

I remember when people thought it would be an amazing technology for a fridge to be able to "know" when you were low on certain foods and could automatically order more for you.