Self-hosted TV interface solutions

Hello!

Regarding what Gamers Nexus recently disclosed regarding LG TVs in their latest video I think its finally time to do what I can to mitigate it.

I cant root it since the firmware is too new and I cant afford a new TV either. My best bet would be blocking all LG IPs network-wide and disconnecting it from the network. (Although I understand even that might not be enough, its the best I can do right now)

I was thinking of using an old Raspberry to atleast access youtube and my media server, however I dont know what would be a good OS/distro to run this on. Preferably I would want to use something like an old PS4 controller as the remote.

Anyone here who has any suggestions or living room setups to suggest? Any and all tips are welcome.

Not a popular answer, but Apple TV is the best out of the box experience. Zero ads, massive longevity. Mine is like 7 years old and still running the latest tvOS.

If you have the cash and inclination, Nvidia Shield is the hackers choice. Zero hardware upgrades in years tho, but software aplenty.

Just don’t let your smart TV access the internet in any situation, there’s no need. It’s just a stupid display.

Are apple TVs not phoning home?

If anything I’d imagine they’re one of the hardest companies to block, considering most apple users have a thousand idevices that could smuggle messages, even with all communications turned off.

Not at this scale. Remember that Apple is a hardware company first. They make money from hardware and app stores.

Google is the worlds largest ad company who dabble in hardware and services to increase their ad revenue.

They’re still a public company, and Im sure the heat is on their C suite cause they haven’t had any successful hardware releases since the M series processor was first released.

Not selling “anonymous” data would look to shareholders as thrown away profit, which they’re even able to sue for.

So I’d be insanely surprised if they weren’t surveiling their users - but unlike google and all, they own their entire closed-source software and hardware empire, so the likelihood of catching them is also valuably low.

Just to check, would Apple’s commitment to DEI policies look as thrown-away profit to shareholders?

I got an even better question for you: Is that relevant here?

Cause I don’t think it is at all, but to answer anyways I think DEI is a valuable tool to assist picking the best person for a job, independent of race - as there is a racist bias in many hiring positions. I don’t think its perfect, but honestly I don’t think anything in US is.

And I think apple cares about DEI cause their marketing team said it makes money. Full stop.

People love when their obsession might align with their morals, but its important to remember if 2028 goes Republican in US they probably won’t even do a logo change that pride month, cause all rainbow capitalism ever is is marketing.