I am posting it here since I think it’s the most proper place.
We’re talking here a lot of DeGoogled OS and our privacy when it comes to use of or mobile phones. What about another source of data that Google can collect - our smart TVs? Do you know any modern TV with smart functionality that doesn’t require us to use Google account? Maybe there is even one that runs on some alternative OS? Can you post here any piece of information?
our smart TVs? Do you know any modern TV with smart functionality that doesn’t require us to use Google account?
So…I think there is a mixed bag of news here - this is what I’ve come across…
First off, let’s help improve what you’re searching for. The terminology has largely changed; what used to be called a “TV” (i.e. a display panel that shows a signal given to it from a composite/component/HDMI source) isn’t called a TV anymore - it’s called a “Digital Signage Display”, or possibly a “Commercial Signage Panel”…something to that effect. They’re dumb displays - they show the input they’re given, and that’s it…can’t get much more de-googled than that, so if you’re searching to purchase something, that’s a good place to start.
Assuming you have your own TV…the answer is a bit trickier. My GoogleTV based TCL TV is ‘degoogled’ in that I’ve denied it access to the internet. Can’t send Google any data if there’s no network connectivity. I was relatively fortunate though, in that there was a ‘set up without internet connection’ option. If your TV doesn’t, then you may have some luck with a bait-and-switch - change your wifi password, set up the TV, get to the point where you can choose an HDMI input, then change your wifi password back to the original. So far, I haven’t seen any TVs that prevent a setup in this manner.
In terms of replacing firmware, that’s much more complicated to do on a TV rather than on phones. The single biggest issue is fragmentation - TV manufacturers change up their models multiple times a year, usually per-retailer - you won’t find the same model TV sold in two different places, which means that every year, there are hundreds of different models, from hundreds of different vendors, all of which are just-different-enough to make modding a much more difficult proposition, and only a few dozen people at most would use it because of that.
The second big issue is that streaming services require WideVine. While a phone can be entirely useful without Netflix/Hulu/Disney+/HBO Max, a Smart TV…basically isn’t. Aftermarket firmware would have to support WideVine, which is so dependent on Google’s Play Services, that there’s really no way to make an AOSP TV that is anything other than a signage display with a web browser…puts a bit of a damper on the proposal.
Now…assume you’ve got something that can show HDMI1 and do little else…that’s fine, because we can have the OSS-part on the far side of the HDMI cable. No problem. LibreElec runs on a Raspberry Pi; grab a Media Center remote and receiver for $25 on eBay, sounds great…sort of.
I did that for a while, and - at least at the time - it wasn’t worth it. It’s great if you have a Plex/Emby/Jellyfin library, but it goes downhill fast after that. Youtube requires a developer account (i.e. login + connection; no ‘guest mode’ viewing). Hulu worked, but Netflix requires a whole rigamarole that involves pulling some files from a ChromeOS installer (not-very-degoogled), plus I had some issues with TV episodes randomly playing in black-and-white. Disney+ was a cat-and-mouse game. Amazon Prime Video wasn’t available at all. Standard cable TV was out too; I always wanted to set up MythTV with an HD HomeRun Prime, but sadly my cable company added the CopyOnce flag to everything (even public access!!), so that was a nonstarter. This kinda makes the core utility of LibreElec as a frontend for Plex/Emby/Jellyfin; the utility is rather limited for official streaming services. As an added bonus, a Raspberry Pi + accessories will run about $75, give-or-take, while a Roku (and all its proprietaryness and analytics, etc.) is less than $30 most of the time, AND it works with everything.
So, I think there are a number of parameters involved with why it’s not more popular…but hopefully that information will help you decide what you’d like to do.
Yes, the whole area is a minefield. I settled for a Roku device and Pi-Hole. It works and I’m holing plenty of ads. But really it could be slurping all sorts of data without my knowledge. I used to just use a Raspberry Pi and web browser but the user experience was too poor for the woman in my life. I have the Roku, and other untrusted devices, on a separate subnet with firewall rules to limit what they can discover about the rest of the network. If anyone has better solutions I’d love to hear about them.
Thank you guys for the detailed info, I rather hoped there is a solution closer to complete consumer product than just a screen that could receive signals from external sources. If I was the only user - no problem, but for my wife it must act more or less like a regular TV set.
Not already mentioned you might experiment with using / hacking Infomir, beware of hidden costs (network “leakage” as Roku unknown).
>complete consumer product
Sadly this will probably never exist. The business model of these companies has long since stopped being about selling devices to people. It is now about selling people to other companies. The devices are just the bait to hook the fish before reeling in. It was all described in a 1999 documentary. I think it was called The Matrix.
there’s still an open topic on this, with an official acknowledgement and lots of crosslinks:
lineage amlogic and rpi tv-dongle builds are linked in this forum. But as lots of commentors point out, the widevine level could suffer and thus playback resolution. Lineage 23 brought along Catapult, the tv launcher, so things could be more ergonomic with those builds. I’d checkout xda anyway.
also ronnz98 made some /e/ versions :
Search results for 'unofficial tv #e-devices:unofficial-builds' - /e/OS community
Why not run your TV off an eOS device like a tablet and stream that to the TV? I mean we all connect different devices to out TV’s why not use and external eOS device.
Building an privacy OS for TV’s would need a base OS to build from, so that would be the start point for the OS. Would it be an LG TV built from webOS or a Samsung with it’s OS? It’s a large field of devices for sure. Maybe devices with the android kernel of some sort, not sure?
Edit: There are forums and such for jail breaking TV’s so maybe search that and pick a starting point. For sure you TV would be leaking some nasty stuff depending on the manufacture.
I’ve started to ask in middle 2020…
…anyway - AFAIK - everything seems to be mutch LineageOS-dependent.
Thanks for that thread, very interesting & I have a lot to go through there. Presently use a Pi device running konstakang android TV (LOS) along with some DNS filtering. Would absolutely love to see a dedicated e/OS device or image for Pi type devices.
As anside, using NextDNS filtering, a massive 70% of my TV traffic is blocked, backing up what we all know - it’s just a goldmine of spyware/tracking data for companies.
please share build name and sources if possible,
Presently running ver 22.2 from konstakang.com with the widevine addon, on a Pi 5
The idea that there is possibly an e/OS unofficial build is new to me and I need dig into
from XDAforums [OFFICIAL] LineageOS 22 for Amlogic GXL/GXM/G12*/SM1/NE Family Devices [Android TV/Tablet]
I went years ago without actually having a traditional TV device (meaning what we all understand by “a TV”) and instead decided on a combo of Home Theater + TV Box device - I get 120’’ screen size, 4K, 5.1 Dolby Surround, etc. This isn’t a setup for everyone but what matters here is the “TV Box” device itself, and these can be attached via HDMI to either a projector or a traditional TV. In order to have this setup a bit more private-friendly I run AdGuard Home from my router (a Pi-Hole would work as well).
However, as good as having a network-wide tracker removal (AdGuard Home or Pi-Hole) is, this is just one barrier and it isn’t able to block everything. So recently (a couple of months) ago I decided to fully ditch the spyware TV Box and replace it by a Banana Pi M5 device running the official LineageOS TV build. This requires installing a few apps by hand (i.e. F-Droid, microG, etc) as the LineageOS build comes quite barebones but I’m pretty happy with its performance right now.
Sadly, no Android TV build is available with /e/OS if that’s what you are looking for.
do not forget that a standard PC running “scrcpy” can cast / mirroiring
from your /e/ phone or tablet screen through USB or WiFi on one side,
to the TV screen through VGA or HDMI cable on the other side…
I have a Philips TV running Titan OS that I am happy enough with. The 2 things that bother me slightly is that there is no VPN software for it and I can’t cast from my Murena phone to it.
I found this thread an interesting read because we have never had a smart TV.
We no longer use a traditional TV. When we did, it was quite an old non smart Samsung but, when it needed to be replaced, we didn’t because we really had only used it as a monitor for years, connected to a linux mini PC to play our own DVD’s and content (mainly mp4 files)from an external hard drive. And we wanted something more portable.
We now use a pretty old 17 inch Chromebook that we already had and stopped using when we started de-googling. We reset it and use it, logged into the guest account, for the same purpose of media consumption (it not used for any other internet access). I am sure than even the guest account is not as private as I would like. But, most of the time, it is not connected to the internet unless we want to watch a youtube video. Now, this is also pretty old, and could do with replacement. I was intending to just get a refurb laptop with a large screen and install with a Linux distro, to be our ‘TV’ machine. We could use a raspberry pi setup but, really wanted a single device that could more easily be moved to where we wanted it.
But, if anyone else has any other suggestions, of how to set up such a laptop, configured in a more suitable way purely for media consumption (with the emphasis on privacy), please do let me know. Could I, for example, install the Lineage OS TV software that you mentioned on a any laptop and would this be fairly straightforward?