How standardized a lcd panels? Could I replace the controller in a smart TV with one of these HDMI to LCD controllers?
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I have rematched controllers to displays in the past. It’s neither simple nor easy. You’ll need to dig through spec sheets to ensure you’re sending the correct signals over the correct pinouts, at the correct frequencies and voltages. Be prepared to read some IO documentation for the sending and receiving chipsts, then verify pinouts with certainty. They are not always standard.
Here are 2 identical LCDs, with 2 very similar, nearly identical looking controllers. Note that one needed to be re-wired. It is not fun butt-connecting 2 dozen 28ga wires.
LCDs do tend to speak somewhat standardised languages, but there is a lot more to a modern TV than just an LCD controller.
Color and white balance calibration, image/motion processing, HDR Processing, backlight control/dimming zones, input management, audio decoding/encoding/passthrough, digitizing analogue sources, HDMI licencing, Dolby licencing, etc.
If you want a better smart TV the best thing to do is to get a hackable TV like most android based models, replace the launcher, strip out system apps and telemetry with ADB and start fresh, then either leave it offline or use filtering to only allow access to the services you approve.
@Faceman2K23
Do you know a list of hackable tv’s or at least brands?
I’m very interested in preparing for the moment my current tv break.
@HaywardTNot sure if there’s a list, but most Android based TVs can be cleaned and modded to some degree via ADB. If you can access the dev settings in android, chances are you can do a lot to make it better, strip out some google or branded packages, replace the launcher to block OS level ads etc. Projectivy usually works well since it supports input switching on many devices, but it’s still better to do all of this to a separate box and then plug it into a TV that is firewalled/filtered/offline. more control and less to fuck up.
Rooting and unlocking bootloaders is more complex as these android devices dont have normal recovery systems and require a lot of custom drivers to make the video and audio processing work, so it’s not worth going that far.
I wonder if anyone has made a custom rom for TVs, sort like Lineage or Graphene. These panels run Android, so why not?
I have seen some talk over on XDA forums, but since there is more to an android TV than just the basic android OS, it’s a bit trickier without risking losing licences/compatibility/DRM/features.
Some older LG webOS tvs can be rooted and custom apps installed too such as ad free youtube players etc.
Just found some LG business TVs/displays/signage that actually run Tizen. Remember that cool Linux distro that was supposed to take over the mobile world nearly 15 years ago? Well, turns out, it didn’t, but it didn’t it die completely either.
Hopefully those panels are a bit more hackable or more privacy oriented.
Gets even weirder when you see LGs webOS kinda started out as PalmOS
What are you trying to accomplish? Just reset the TV and keep it off the internet.
Many smart TVs require you connect to create an account. More might in the future.
Well you could not connect it to the internet…
Not anymore with sidewalk and other similar corporate networks bypassing any requirement for the consumer to connect the TV to wifi
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/everything-you-need-to-know-about-amazon-sidewalk
“How much of my internet bandwidth does Amazon Sidewalk require?”
“Very little. Sidewalk’s connectivity is distinct from your home Wi-Fi. If you choose, however, to enable Sidewalk on your eligible Bridge devices, those devices would use a small amount of internet bandwidth.”
This sounds like it still needs your internet to work unless I’m missing something.
If you don’t have a sidewalk bridge but your neighbour half a mile away has one, your device will connect to your neighbour’s bridge and send data to Amazon without you knowing
im sorry how is this legal?
Corpo exception.
Also, maybe it isnt; state isnt gonna stop em either way.
correct me if im wrong, but a device trying to connect to the network in order to analytics. Which can’t, which then defaults to a SECONDARY BACKUP mechanism, just to transmit ANALYTICS. Is basically just spying, and you cannot convince me otherwise.
I… Well I might try but only if it were funny. I agree. But its not effectively (and I don’t think technically) illegal.
Do these show up as networks on devices, or are they kind of hidden? I’ve looked before and never seen any open wifi around my house, but I am near a mall and lots of shopping.
They do not use wifi. They use BLE over short range, or LoRa or FSK on 900mhz over long distances. If you wanted to see them you’d probably need a scanner built specifically to find them but idk if anyone has made one.
Probably not but you can buy digital signage. You will pay upwards of $4k potentially based on your needs.
Remember when you didn’t need this shit to just watch a movie?
I 'member
Seriously. Go back to the 90s, do this about anything, and Kevin mitnick will vanish from everybody’s radar just about instantly.
Now we need to do this shit to fucking watch TV. I need complex filtering software, anonymization tools, and a signal bounced off three continents to watch a video of a cat climbing into a box. A video that was recorded five feet away from me.
If I want to do it on a TV, I need to start soldering and hope to fuck I don’t touch the wrong capacitor.
I’ve always wondered this, figure this is the thread to ask it.
I’ve been using the same dumb TV since 2013 it’s great, but eventually it’s gonna die an I’m scared of what pieces of shit smart TV’s are.
Could I not just use a computer and run it through the smart TV and bypass all the smart bullshit by using it as a monitor?
Some smart TVs require you to connect them to the Internet before you can even use them with HDMI. It’s a changing world. This post has a lot of interesting comments.
I would immediately return that crap to the store.
Where I first caught wind of this was in the return line at Walmart where a guy was returning a smart TV because he wanted to hook up to his Dish receiver and couldn’t without creating an account.
Every one I have encountered only requires that for use of the smart TV features. And if you have one that requires Internet just to use HDMI to connect to a device, your TV is 100% spying on you and you should return it.
I don’t buy TVs but I quized the guy pretty heavily thinking that was an option. He seemed to know what he was talking about about. This was an Onn Roku TV.
Why go through all of that when you can just block network access, or not even connect it at all? Hell, just get a Blocklist that includes the bad URLs for your TV you don’t want it using, and run it on AdGuard or Pihole. Lots of easier ways to work around this.
Why go through all of that when you can just connect the board to the panel.
Why go through all that when you can just build a time machine and go back in time to be in the boardroom when someone presents the concept for a smart TV and then hide under the podium and tickle their genitals to distract them during the presentation and then spend the next 20 years in prison for sexual assault where none of the televisions have smart features?
Yeah, I am definitely going to open up my $400 tv and replace the LCD controller with this sketchy piece of hardware instead of, checks notes, just not activating any of the smart features and not connecting the TV to the internet at all.
Until you get a Roku where you literally can’t use the TV without accepting an arbitration clause.
Here’s an idea for you, don’t buy a Roku TV. Visio is pretty much the exact same price and you can just not use the smart features and just connect HDMI.
Yeah but what if you already had one. Or bought one without knowing it’d pull a fast one on you.
“Here’s an idea for you; how about being aware of every single company you might interact with and all the shitty ways they try to screw you over.”
That’s a little crass, but I hope you understand my sentiment.
Also how can such arbitration clauses be both legal and binding, I don’t understand it.
Did you know: you can look up a review of any piece of hardware out there that you wish to buy and gather info on it before making a purchase.
I love looking up reviews for every little thing I purchase, and even when I do ads nor microtransactions ever get patched in at a later date! Same goes for those service agreements which aren’t ever updated!
Oh, wait, no. That’s exactly what happens.
Nor do I want people who aren’t as tech savvy/in the know to get preyed upon/swindled.If you are incapable of sussing out the mindless morons who write reviews from the people who actually know what they’re doing that’s more of a you problem than anything else.
And buying a TV is not a little purchase unless you’re incredibly rich in which case why would you even fucking care. But hey, if you like rolling the dice on your hard-earned money to buy something that’s not going to work the way you want it to and then break it trying to “fix” it with some sketchy hardware from some rando online who thinks they’re “in the know” be…my…guest.
This is such a stupid argument. Not everyone is tech-literate. Ideally people wouldn’t have to look out for this because the practice wouldn’t exist. “Just don’t get robbed/swindled lol, you should’ve known better”.
And no, I’m not trying to advocate for whatever sketchy device is linked above. What I am saying is that I understand the sentiment, because that manufacturers are increasingly encroaching on our ability to own what we buy with parts pairing and always online requirements.
You are an Eloi not a Morlock.
