Comment on Hisense TVs force owners to watch intrusive ads when switching inputs, visiting the home screen, or even changing channels — practice infuriates consumers, brand denies wrongdoing

NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  They’re not alone, either. I had to downgrade my Visio just to use the features that it shipped with. I’m sure this is illegal, but no one cares unless you’re rich.

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  • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I outright told them it’s illegal, since they are unilaterally altering the terms of any T&C agreements when we started using the TV and materially interfering with our ownership and use of the TV we purchased. They didn’t care. I then sent it to our state attorney general and nothing happened.

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    • rainwall@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      You can likely sue them in dmall claims court. Many states let you file for a couple hundred dollars and will give you 3x damages if you win. The most likely outcome is they settle when theccourt date approaches or dont show and you win hy default.

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      • FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        There was a guy in Texas who thought a big tobacco company would settle out without showing, but instead he got counter sued to the tune of millions. That man? Rusty Shackleford.

        There’s a good documentary about it.

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• roofuskit@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I know they’re different manufacturers, but TCL tried this shit and I just factory reset and never setup the Internet on it. I use an android TV box for the smarts.

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  • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Unfortunately the firmware was the issue, not just OS software. So factory-resetting didn’t help us. But yeah, that definitely radicalized me to the “never connect it to the internet” camp for future TVs.

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    • grue@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Buying the TV and then not connecting it still rewards the bad behavior.

      We have to boycott these fucks and lobby to get the behavior outlawed.

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      • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I mean, that’s great in theory. But the amount of manufacturers of non-smart TVs is tiny, and if you are interested in the best panels and display technology, refresh rates for gaming, etc (even removing affordability), it’s very very hard to just boycott if you want to have a modern TV at all.

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      • moonshadow@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Getting the ad-subsidized tech without the ads sounds like a win to me

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      • MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        You’re implying there is an option other than not owning a TV. Please send us specifics so we can join you.

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  • triptrapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I got a TCL last year and it wouldn’t let me use the TV until I set up the internet. After 4 factory resets I figured out how to put it in store demo mode, and plugged in a separate streaming device that connects to the internet. Now I realize I could have connected the TV to the internet and then blocked it at the network level.

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    • Peffse@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      If you are using a network level block, make sure it’s a black hole and not just a DNS filter. I tried a DNS filter with a Roku and found that they bypass it with hardcoded values, even when the DNS server was statically assigned and DHCP assigned.

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      • rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Wait till they start paying netflix to relay data for them :)

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      • HumbleBragger@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        What you mean by black hole and filter? I blocked a bunch of tcl domains on my pihole and made my router drop everything in port 53 coming from every other device that wasn’t pihole. It seems to have worked for now.. Is that a good solution?

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      • SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Yep, same issue with Firestick here.

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    • FG_3479@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Their Google TV models have a basic mode which lets you use it without internet with no bypassing.

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      • reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        As do the Roku TCL models. I currently have mine disconnected and plan to keep it that way.

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  • OR3X@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Unfortunately manufacturers are starting to get wise to this as well. I recently bought a new Vizio smart TV with no intentions of connecting it to the internet and during the initi setup it kept very persistently insisting that it needed to be connected and after setup it constantly bitches at me that it’s not connected.

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  • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I did the same thing, their bullshit ad infested updates were the final straw,

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• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  My mom has a Hisense TV (because my parents invariably buy the very cheapest they can. They’d get a B&W if they could), and it just started something new - on start up, it now shows a static page of color wash, then you choose a channel. It doesn’t start on the same channel you turned off last night. Must be a new update came through. She let it sit on the screensaver all day, because it never occurred to her to try to change the channel.

  Not a big deal, but weird, and NOBODY asked for this.

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• frongt@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Chargeback?

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  • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Would have loved to. It was just over one year (right after the warranty ended as well), though.

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    • frongt@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Is that your card issuer’s policy? I’ve done a chargeback past a year.

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      • Peekashoe@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I am trying to recall, I think I did look and it was past the time period. I should have tried. It’s +2 years now, though.

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• leoj@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Was gonna say, LG does the same thing.

  So far my only TV that hasn’t forced things in an absurd way has been my Sony… Guess what Sony just did? (Sold their Bravia TV line to TCL…)

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  • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I’ve never connected my LG TVs to the internet and they work pretty well.

    I hear you can jailbreak them, which is appealing to me.

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    • njordomir@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Are people loading AOSP on there or something? I’m tired of the telemetry and ads LG built in, but my blocklists have seemed to block one of my LG TVs from working. I have a disabled adult in my home and I think Kodi might be too complex for them.

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      • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Nothing like Android no. You get the ability to install apps not available in the webOS store, homebrew basically. I haven’t peeked in that scene in a year or two but last time I did, the latest TV’s or latest updated TV’s were not easily hackable.

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      • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        The person I was talking to just said they had jailbroken WebOS (LG runs webOS not android) and could do whatever.

        Mine’s never connected to the internet before, so I don’t really feel any need to jailbreak it. Though apparently you can ssh in and do stuff, and that sounds kinda cool.

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    • leoj@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      No shit? I might have to try that, only problem is my spouse will kill me if I break it… (primary TV)….

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  • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Sony offloaded manufacturing to TLC. They made a joint venture and TLC gets to manufacture and distribute them, Sony does development. Sony still has control. What we may see in the future is build quality decline. I doubt it’s gonna effect the software much.

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    • leoj@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      that is comforting to hear, I had not heard any further details about the deal. Curious how it turns out for everyone.

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  • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Um…no they don’t?

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    • leoj@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Mine definitely does, disables applications and will lock the screen on update demand if you go long enough. At the bottom of the tv says it LG.

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• midas22@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Hisense are also selling their TVs with different specs on different markets which is really annoying. In the United States you get Google TV but in Europe you get the awful Vidaa OS where you can’t install Google Play Store. And the big national TV streaming apps are missing in their own app store where I live.

  I talked to a retail seller and he said that they ultimately had to stop selling them because they got so many complaints and returns. Maybe it’s a licensing issue or something but it’s just such a braindead decision that is damaging the brand.

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• amorpheus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  My Hisense got worse in some ways after an update, support provided a file to get the previous firmware back and told me to disable updates. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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  • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Funny story, they actually did this to me before this all happened, and I was on a “I’m never going to update again” beta firmware that they gave me a link to, when the forced-update happened that broke my wifi. I didn’t disable any ADB-level processes, and I don’t think the system let me disable updates.

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