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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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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      • BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The best panels for gaming are on computer monitors, not tvs.

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      • grue@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        and lobby to get the behavior outlawed.

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    • moonshadow@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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

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      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You are paying for features you don’t use (such as Internet access). That’s not a win.

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      • grue@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        [Citation needed]

        There is zero fucking evidence whatsoever that the alleged “savings” from the ad “subsidy” are getting passed to the consumer.

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    • MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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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      • grue@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You used to be able to still buy ‘dumb’ TVs from Sceptre up until a year or so ago, but even they’ve stopped selling them now. (I’m kicking myself for not buying one when I had the chance…)

        But the important part of my comment was this:

        and lobby to get the behavior outlawed.

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• triptrapper@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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

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    • HumbleBragger@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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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      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Pi-hole blocks the name resolution. TV wants to go to Hisense.com, asks your Pi-hole where that site is. Your Pi-hole sees that Hisense is on a block list, so it says back to your TV “sorry, no idea how to get to that site, it must be offline.”

        If the manufacturer wants to get around this, they program a public DNS in, like 8.8.8.8, or they hardcore the static IP for their website into the TV. Now when it wants to go to Hisense, it never has to ask your Pi-Hole where that site is, and it doesn’t get blocked. Heck, it probably won’t even show up on your Pi-hole’s logs.

        If you black hole the site, then any traffic going out there gets dropped, and the hard-coded addresses on the TV don’t matter for shit.

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      • matlag@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        No, it’s not robust. It may work for your TV, but it can be worked around.

        DNS is like a phone directory for Internet: it translates domain name to IP addresses. If you block the DNS (what pihole does), it blocks the directory access. But if the IP address of the servers are hard-coded in the firmware, the TV does not need a DNS, it can reach the server directly.

        To trick the TV, you need to restrict the IPs it can reach. It might be delicate: it probably tries to ping some comme IPs to check it’s connected, then call the brand’s server for ads/updates/etc.

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    • SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yep, same issue with Firestick here.

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  • FG_3479@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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

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