So, de-bloating the TV and removing all the ads, etc… is good. None of that requires an Internet connection, and no TV should ever need an Internet connection. And here, I can see that might take you writing some software to achieve that goal. I would try to just choose a better vendor of TV hardware, but I know that’s not always an option.
As for putting the smarts back in, why not just plug in a small but trusted device that can output HDMI and can give you the smart output that you want? This could be a media server front end (obviously not Plex, but one of the many Plex alternatives), or a trusted software solution from another source? This part doesn’t seem to require writing any software, just choosing a suitable alternative and configuring it.
For me, that would be an AppleTV device, but I know that this community is not going to like that vendor.
So they recommend that you debloat your TV by pasting a rather lengthy prompt into your coding agent, that'll take a long time to sort things out.
And then, near the bottom of the page, they provide a 9 lines of shell script that according to them does "everything the agent does". Uhh.. okay? I guess the agent would be for trouble shooting, but I'm not really sold on this modern of delivering software yet.
All I really want my TV to do is turn on, quickly and reliably, and display whatever is plugged into HDMI1. The market is flooded with “Smart” (actually Surveillance) TVs so not buying one isn’t really practical.
I wonder if your comment suggests a re-framing of the TV's name. Start referring to them as "Surveillance TVs" in all contexts. Maybe the idea will spread?
My Sony Google something or other from 2-3 years ago turns on directly to the active HDMI, more or less reliably for most devices, otherwise it'll turn on to the last used HDMI. I never connected it to the internet. I don't buy TVs very often so I was kind of shocked I didn't need the remote anymore to switch inputs when switching between devices. I expect every TV to do this now. It is sad to know that this may not be the case if I ever decide to buy a new TV.
You can buy what are called digital signage displays which are mostly just that. A quick search shows a 65" Samsung model available in US retail for $1400.
I have a 55" LG Wallpaper signage display on my living room wall right now, with just an Apple TV plugged in, and it's fantastic. Cost $5000, 3.65mm thick, no smart features at all.
Digital signage displays are not TVs though. They are much more expensive and frequently don't have features that dumb TVs had 40 years ago such as speakers, TV tuners, and multiple inputs.
That matches exactly how I've used every television I've owned for 20-ish years: I don't have the outside antenna I'd need for ATSC reception here so a tuner is useless, and I don't ever wish to hear the slightest utterance from a television speaker so speakers are useless, and I don't need it to have multiple inputs (but the digital signage displays usually seem to have a few, anyway, just as PC monitors do).
Ok, but in this context it's EXACTLY what the user wants for a TV. Everything can go to an HDMI switch, including external tuners, and you'll have a soundbar because TV speakers are GARBAGE today.
But I think that's the point? One thing I find silly is seeing all these smart TVs with "fancy" speakers sitting behind a sound bar that has a Roku/fire TV/Chromecast plugged in. Paying twice for devices with a large overlap in features...
The price of the median purchased TV in 1997 was ~$4000, in nominal (1997) dollars. The price of the median TV in 2026 is ~$800.
So before we account for inflation, consumers are paying about one-fifth the price for a TV now. When we account for inflation, consumers are paying 3.7% of the price for a TV that they did in 1997. And it’s not even the same TV!
An apples-for-apples comparison, a 44” flatscreen TV with 1080i input was $45,000 in 1997 dollars, whereas the current price for a comparable model is $220. (The 2026 model is still better, with a lower operating cost and no burn-in, but it was the worst I could find.)
TVs today are significantly cheaper than those in the 90s. It’s not the TV’s fault they’re unaffordable.
The Sony KV-32FS120, a high-end set in 2004, had an MSRP of 600 USD.[1] (remember, HD hadn't really happened yet, so anything with that feature wasn't a normal consumer item until at least 2005 (unles you were in Japan)) 1080i basically didn't exist in 1997, unless you lived in Japan, where it had barely got of the ground. The modern day comparison is a 100 inch 8K OLED. Your median is so far off base I have a hard time we live in the same world.
> The price of the median purchased TV in 1997 was ~$4000, in nominal (1997) dollars
I'm sorry, what? How does this pass the sniff test? Are you saying people spent four thousand 1997 dollars for a tv? Or the equivalent of $4000 of 2026 dollars? Either way, that is extremely high and 1997 was not that long ago.
Go buy an AVR and get yourself a proper 5.1.2 home theater (even in a living room); and then the TV will be just a dumb display with the AVR acting as multiplexer.
Does selecting inputs work? That's all I need from a TV. If anything, needing to sign in to use the native interface would be a bonus, because it'd prevent non-technical family members from accidently using it. "Babe, we have Netflix on [the dongle], why'd you sign in on the TV?" is a conversation I've had more than once.
My advice for everyone…. If you have to buy a new one …
just never connect it to the internet.
Wait 6 months or 6 days
And then root it till you own it for real.
Just used slopbro and did all 3 in my place. Kept on Ethernet point to point connected to my laptop until I had verified I had everything and every packet explained.
(Shout out slopbro and everyone else!!)
Getting Llm + ghidra to check every and document every binary, etc and make sure startup to a running system is understood, logs are rotated properly.
After this … all 3 will probably run one giant rust binary from startup lol
For anyone that can read this, if you have one connected to your network, change your WiFi password and don’t update your devices or bring them on the internet until you pwn/root them yourself.
From here out … everything only via tailscale and nothing should be able to connect inbound. Setup some firewalls.
it is rooted; am still maintaining the original settings as a backup on laptop and not flashing the TV memory; however, the current code is persistent.
Not to be that guy, but: a debloated TV is a screen or a projector. There are many great open source solutions for running or hosting media player software yourself.
I have not owned a TV my whole life, because I don't get what it is supposed to add that I can't get with a computer screen or a projector with a retractable screen as well. The latter has the advantage that it does not take space when not in use.
a truly smart tv can be a real enabler especially for kids navigating it. As more and more streaming services take exclusive rights to games/matches, it becomes hard to keep track of where to watch an event. A Smart TV with personalization can help - as long as you can keep it private.
Typing for TVs is hard with a remote. Even Apple TV can be cumbersome. imho, voice is the ideal input source for a tv. But making it truly functional requires connecting to good models!
This is a side topic, but relevant to those of us who care about UI/UX:
I have a webos TV and notice that it comes with free Samsung IPTV channels. But they are unusable because of the delay in switching between channels! This relatively minor detail could be the difference between a killer app that could grow and monetize, vs something that users try and give up on.
I'm sure there are ways to make it as fast as cable TV, even if it initially degraded the video or had other consequences.
Hopefully you're somewhere that the cello site the other fella posted ships. Sceptre probably also sells them in your locale but I wouldn't know about that.
Getting CRTs from yard sales is getting surprisingly hard if you're in the right (or wrong) part of the world. 1080p flat panels have been in common use for over 15 years by now. It shouldn't surprise you to see some for dirt cheap at yard sales.
I got my last two dumb-flat panels from either Craigslist or yard sales. They're out there. Not too many Yard Sales have CRTs any longer. Or at least, the flat-panels are more common by now.
Does DolbyVision or HDR10+ content work in this setup? My understanding is that they won't.
I also got a lot of stuttering issue with 1080p x265 content last time I tried hooking up the Pi with my TV.
I would love to get Kodi working with HDR10+ on my Samsung TV without buying those expensive android boxes (which are very expensive and difficult to obtain in my region anyway).
> Does DolbyVision or HDR10+ content work in this setup?
I don't know what these things are but I just plug the hdmi cable to my laptop and use a wireless keyboard+trackpad combo[1] as a remote. Never understood the need for a "TV" interface or TV box. I tried Kodi and its alternatives years ago but never found them to be faster to load the apps and browse for content than loading the netflix/prime/hbo web pages in a tab or freetube in a dedicated window, switching tabs or virtual desktops is usually faster than switching apps on one of these interfaces, same for browsing on your filesystem for local content or run a music app.
But what do I know, I am a simple person who likes simple solutions.
[1]the microsoft one that look nearly the same as a Logitech K400. Not sure if it is still sold.
Both of those are HDR standards. If you're using g a good OLED or even mini LED with enough zones, it makes a pretty big difference in the visuals. The support for both are usually locked down unless you're using a compatible device.
I mean: I can be very happy just plugging my laptop into the TV and using mplayer from the command line. That works great for me.
But sometimes, other people (often referred to as "family" and/or "friends") come by and hang out. A TV-centric interface driven by a simple remote is more familiar and easier for them to understand.
(And frankly, I don't want anyone but me futzing around with my laptop at all, ever.)
I hit the same stuttering with 1080p x265 on a Pi 4 and it turned out to be software decoding; once hardware HEVC decode was actually enabled in Kodi it played 1080p smoothly, though 10 bit content was hit or miss. HDR10+ is the harder wall: Kodi on Linux basically drops the dynamic metadata and passes plain HDR10, so your Samsung just applies static tone mapping and you lose the peak brightness tricks. If most of your library is HDR10+ rips, a used Shield may still cost less than fighting this despite the price. Curious what your source files are, because remuxes that keep the HDR10 base layer look fine, it is only the dynamic metadata you lose.
I have a mid range samsung (that I bought without much research due to some circumstances) on which HDR does not look good at all, way too dark, but HDR10+ is just amazing.
So right now I am using Jellyfin with HDR10+ web-dls (when I can find them) and blu-ray remuxes for old stuff. But Jellyfin triggers transcodes for vobsub and FLAC/DTS audio which I am trying to avoid if possible.
Kodi on my older Sony Android direct played anything I threw at it flawlessly for years. So the only option I found was finding or importing a decent android box, which is a bit difficult and expensive in my region.
Can Kodi use widevine yet? I did this years ago, but it was a game of cat and mouse I kept losing. Right now we just plug a linux laptop into the TV via HDMI.
As for putting the smarts back in, why not just plug in a small but trusted device that can output HDMI and can give you the smart output that you want? This could be a media server front end (obviously not Plex, but one of the many Plex alternatives), or a trusted software solution from another source? This part doesn’t seem to require writing any software, just choosing a suitable alternative and configuring it.
For me, that would be an AppleTV device, but I know that this community is not going to like that vendor.
I am also developing a harness for coding and chat so it helps a ton to have a local model and fine tuning it for cases.
Additionally am trying to wean off homekit/googlehome and build a local network (possibly air gapped from internet), so the device helps experiment.
https://github.com/Gathin23/cleanyourtv/tree/main
And then, near the bottom of the page, they provide a 9 lines of shell script that according to them does "everything the agent does". Uhh.. okay? I guess the agent would be for trouble shooting, but I'm not really sold on this modern of delivering software yet.
https://github.com/Gathin23/cleanyourtv/tree/main#doing-it-b...
And the result I didn't find particularly pretty to look at
Also, it says you have to have system root of the tv, how does one get root access to the LG TV?
https://cani.rootmy.tv/
I’ve noticed that very few people recommending signage displays as a substitute for a traditional TV ever say, “here’s the one I bought…”
That’s because one will quickly discover that signage displays aren’t very good TVs.
That matches exactly how I've used every television I've owned for 20-ish years: I don't have the outside antenna I'd need for ATSC reception here so a tuner is useless, and I don't ever wish to hear the slightest utterance from a television speaker so speakers are useless, and I don't need it to have multiple inputs (but the digital signage displays usually seem to have a few, anyway, just as PC monitors do).
So before we account for inflation, consumers are paying about one-fifth the price for a TV now. When we account for inflation, consumers are paying 3.7% of the price for a TV that they did in 1997. And it’s not even the same TV!
An apples-for-apples comparison, a 44” flatscreen TV with 1080i input was $45,000 in 1997 dollars, whereas the current price for a comparable model is $220. (The 2026 model is still better, with a lower operating cost and no burn-in, but it was the worst I could find.)
TVs today are significantly cheaper than those in the 90s. It’s not the TV’s fault they’re unaffordable.
[2] https://crtdatabase.com/crts/sony/sony-kv-32fs120
I think you added a zero, where is this figure from?
I'm sorry, what? How does this pass the sniff test? Are you saying people spent four thousand 1997 dollars for a tv? Or the equivalent of $4000 of 2026 dollars? Either way, that is extremely high and 1997 was not that long ago.
just never connect it to the internet.
Wait 6 months or 6 days
And then root it till you own it for real.
Just used slopbro and did all 3 in my place. Kept on Ethernet point to point connected to my laptop until I had verified I had everything and every packet explained.
(Shout out slopbro and everyone else!!)
Getting Llm + ghidra to check every and document every binary, etc and make sure startup to a running system is understood, logs are rotated properly.
After this … all 3 will probably run one giant rust binary from startup lol
For anyone that can read this, if you have one connected to your network, change your WiFi password and don’t update your devices or bring them on the internet until you pwn/root them yourself.
From here out … everything only via tailscale and nothing should be able to connect inbound. Setup some firewalls.
I have not owned a TV my whole life, because I don't get what it is supposed to add that I can't get with a computer screen or a projector with a retractable screen as well. The latter has the advantage that it does not take space when not in use.
Typing for TVs is hard with a remote. Even Apple TV can be cumbersome. imho, voice is the ideal input source for a tv. But making it truly functional requires connecting to good models!
I have a webos TV and notice that it comes with free Samsung IPTV channels. But they are unusable because of the delay in switching between channels! This relatively minor detail could be the difference between a killer app that could grow and monetize, vs something that users try and give up on.
I'm sure there are ways to make it as fast as cable TV, even if it initially degraded the video or had other consequences.
I got one two weeks ago when my previous dumb tv packed up after 14 years. No complaints so far.
I would love to get Kodi working with HDR10+ on my Samsung TV without buying those expensive android boxes (which are very expensive and difficult to obtain in my region anyway).
I don't know what these things are but I just plug the hdmi cable to my laptop and use a wireless keyboard+trackpad combo[1] as a remote. Never understood the need for a "TV" interface or TV box. I tried Kodi and its alternatives years ago but never found them to be faster to load the apps and browse for content than loading the netflix/prime/hbo web pages in a tab or freetube in a dedicated window, switching tabs or virtual desktops is usually faster than switching apps on one of these interfaces, same for browsing on your filesystem for local content or run a music app.
But what do I know, I am a simple person who likes simple solutions.
[1]the microsoft one that look nearly the same as a Logitech K400. Not sure if it is still sold.
But sometimes, other people (often referred to as "family" and/or "friends") come by and hang out. A TV-centric interface driven by a simple remote is more familiar and easier for them to understand.
(And frankly, I don't want anyone but me futzing around with my laptop at all, ever.)
So right now I am using Jellyfin with HDR10+ web-dls (when I can find them) and blu-ray remuxes for old stuff. But Jellyfin triggers transcodes for vobsub and FLAC/DTS audio which I am trying to avoid if possible. Kodi on my older Sony Android direct played anything I threw at it flawlessly for years. So the only option I found was finding or importing a decent android box, which is a bit difficult and expensive in my region.