I’m currently looking to buy a new TV. While I do use Jellyfin to watch movies and shows stored locally in my network, I still want to allow the TV to go on the internet, because I (and my girlfriend) like to watch YouTube, Netflix and such on the TV as well.
My main issue is that I’m looking to buy a Google TV, mainly because I think it’s easier to sideload apps like NewPipe or F-Droid. This is one thing that absolutely sucks on my current Samsung TV with its Tizen OS. However, like any Google service, giving it access to the internet is just asking to have your data exfiltrated.
So, I’ve been thinking about whether I can get a Google TV, but restrict its internet access enough to still use it normally, while blocking all telemetry. I don’t have an OpenWRT router or Opnsense firewall (and currently I don’t have the capacity, nerves and time to set one up), but I do have a pi hole. I was wondering whether a Pi Hole is enough to block any data exfiltration attempts of my TV? I could restrict the TVs DNS capabilities in my router, so it is forced to use the Pi for name resolution. Are the blocklists good enough for this?
I’ve also looked into de-googled Android TV builds, but I couldn’t find anything conclusive about their capability to display DRM’d media. Do apps like Netflix still run on those OS’s? Is a RaspberryPi enough to display 4K media, or would a more advanced mini PC be needed?
I’m a bit exhausted from my research into this topic, tbh, so excuse the rambly post. I just want help
All that research and you never considered just using an external TV box?
Which then also runs Android TV and phones home?
Not necessarily but…that is what you said you wanted.
My main issue is that I’m looking to buy a Google TV
Buy whatever TV you want and connect a Google TV box (or whatever TV box you want). Issue solved.
I mean, yeah, but the rest of the post goes on to outline the issues I have with Google TVs, and how to circumvent them. A Google TV box would just have those same issues, or am I not understanding correctly?
Whether I buy a Google TV, or a Google TV Box, or Chromecast, or FireTV or whatever, the issues are the same
It’s like you said, if you want to use NewPipe and F-Droid, that’s your only option. I wasn’t really speaking to the Google data issues but your Samsung/Tizen issues and your choice of hardware. I’m afraid there aren’t any good solutions for non-Google devices. You can block certain DNS/domains but you’ll almost certainly have functional problems.
What I did was to create a new Google account at setup (they’ll auto-generate one for you) and then just immediately log out of it after. Install apps through Aurora/F-Droid. That’s the best I’ve got.
Your next best option is just buying a cheap Linux computer and running your apps through a desktop browser with KBM. Obviously you’re making a bunch of compromises on convenience in that case. There are some TV OS’s like plasma bigscreen but you won’t be able to use a TV remote or watch Apple/Netflix/HBO/whatever because none of them have Linux apps. And further, most of them will limit browser to SD quality.
You run jellyfin already so I’m guessing you have a server. Put it under your tv.
YouTube is funner with an ad blocker and a keyboard.
The TV is the worst device to let handle everything because it can house plenty of equipment to listen to you. Using an Amazon Fire Stick is less bad, as options go. It also helps prolong the longevity of your TV, as “sorry, our app doesnt work on this firmware” means a $30 replacement, not a $1,000 replacement. Divide the labor and use a streaming device and TV as monitor with sound.
Thank you, I see this is probably the best approach. I still hate it, and the Smart TV market is completely fucked, but it’s probably the best compromise between privacy and comfort
No that’s dumb. Just get a PC. It’s 2025, you can use your phone as a remote control if you don’t want a keyboard. They even sell little remotes with the keyboard included (search tv remote for htpc on Amazon, I’m talking about the Rii i8 model).
The fire stick phones home and won’t let you do what you want with it either. It’s the exact same thing as a smart tv.
why yes of course, thank you, I will just enjoy my movies in potato quality then! I’ll tell my gf to just cope and enjoy the 720p netflix experience!
No, Tortenring isn’t the solution because again, I don’t live alone and my gf wants to watch Netflix. Easy as that.
The poet explicitly talked about Android TVs and TV boxes. A PC is not the solution to that, it’s an alternative that compromises on too many things
Bee link mini s12 pro, there’s obviously other options. It will cost more then a fire stick because it’s actually protecting your privacy and giving you control of the device.
Am I in the wrong sub?
tf is your problem, that’s just another PC. I already said multiple times that an Android TV is a hard requirement for me. If you’re not gonna suggest anything valuable, then don’t suggest anything at all.
Is a RaspberryPi enough to display 4K media, or would a more advanced mini PC be needed?
Your OP mentioned a PC. My point is basically that android tv boxes and even worse, commercial ones that lock you in, aren’t good solutions. You might as well get something that you can ssh into and do whatever you want with.
You will get a better experience if you treat your tv as a desktop instead of a phone imo. You can also easily get a UI that feels like an apple tv, but still be able to access your desktop or access it from a laptop if needed.
If you want to do fancy stuff, you will be stuck running around trying to find an app that doesn’t bombard you with ads while 10 lines of python would have done the job if you had something properly open and easy to use. There’s a bit of a learning curve I guess, but it’s nothing difficult.
Ed: that last one wasn’t my down vote btw, I was kind of being a dick and I can understand the mirrored tone.
Glad you mention that 3 comments down the chain. I’ll look into it.
Am I in the wrong sub?
No, just an annoying prick
Every single smart TV I’ve ever owned, from every manufacturer, with every OS, has been complete ass. Slow, clunky UI, poor updates, apps disappearing, etc. Don’t bother. Buy a TV for the picture quality and ignore the UI entirely, then plug an external box into it. I use Apple TV personally. The TV never gets connected to the internet at all.
I go one step further and block the MAC address at the router
Aside: Have a look at SmartTube instead of NewPipe. It’s made for TVs and the devs are excellent at keeping it working despite Google constantly trying to block alternate front ends.
I’ll keep that in mind, thank you! I just assumed NewPipe was the go-to on all android platforms
About the Raspberry Pi running 4K stuff, as it is still a computer, I’d imagine only through official streaming programs and not through browsers or unofficial players. Now, through Grayjay for Android I can play Crunchyroll videos (tested on a vanilla phone but Grayjay build is the same), and was able to run Amazon videos on vanilla Android on the Raspberry Pi 5, so I think it has potential as a streaming platform.
LG has a series of devices that are lobotomized smart TVs, i.e. oversized monitors.
I’ve heard you could search for, like, commercial/office-use displays instead of “TV” and find dumb devices that just display things from whatever inputs you can plug in, but they are typically higher in price.
I haven’t been in the market for a new tv to have tried looking this up myself, but if available I would totally go that route.
I work in commercial AV and this is not good advice. Commercial displays are a LOT more money than consumer displays and unless you intend on watching 16 hours a day, there is no real benefit over a disconnected consumer display.
Fun fact: if you install a consumer display in a commercial setting, say goodbye to your warranty (Another reason commercial displays are more money)
You can run Kodi on pretty diverse hardware: old PCs, 1st gen Apple TV, SMBCs like the Raspberry Pi, etc. OSMC is a good option for Kodi, and they even have their own dedicated hardware if you want to go that route. Install the youtube addon if you want Youtube.
Kodi can’t run Netflix.
Smart TV without internet connection, and a minipc/raspberry pi is the way to go. Sure raspberry can do the work especially the newer versions.
And no, using a Pi-Hole for devices like IoT or TVs are not useful since these are hard coding their DNS servers
I don’t own android based TV. I was thinking about it when choosing my current one, but eventually I gave up and bought Vidaa based one.
If anything, google TV will also try to ping back home and deliver telemetry. Many articles I’ve read state that if said telemetry ping is prevented while keeping device online, device would stop working properly. So, worrying about that is pointless.
In my case, Vidaa TV would freeze and/or stop working until I powercycle it. I did not lock TV out of the world, just prevented it’s telemetry which was more than 80% of all network requests in my household according to Pihole. Disabling internet connection solved this issue. I barely even used built-in apps and mainly access Jellyfin/Streaming/Youtube through N100 cpu based HTPC.
I’ve seen that many, if not most of the people would suggest buying a TV that satisfies your basic needs (price, quality) and get a either FireStick or GCCWGTV that is easier to modify compared to inbuilt hardware specific TVs.
General consensus is: DO NOT connect your TV to the internet. Get a dedicated device instead.
Don’t those external boxes just run a Derivate of Android TV anyways, and have the same telemetry issues? But I guess they solve the freezing issues you mentioned.
I’ll have to read more about those, I only really looked at Smart TVs and the custom TV box solutions so far, both of which aren’t ideal, thank you
They do. Boxes almost always have same hardware and are updated more frequently than an built-in AndroidTV. Also, I would speculate that it is easier to cleanup telemetry off a dedicated box compared to a TV. It probably would be something along “community has already solved this” compared to a numerous TV brands and their proprietary software and hardware.
Boxes also in many cases have CEC that will allow you to use TV with only 1 remote if your TV has HDMI CEC port. If that is one of your concerns of course.
Hmm, okay this seems interesting. I thought TV Boxes would be just as locked down as TVs. I’ll do some more research in that direction then!
@Lauchmelder a Pi Hole should be enough imo.
I’ll try it out with the current TV and see how much traffic I can block with this method. I have high hopes, but am prepared to have them shattered
Just find an office TV. Those don’t spy on you as far as I’m aware, and plus, those aren’t usually too expensive. That’s what I heard, but I could be wrong.
You could try a raspberry pi with the Konstakang build of Android TV lineage os
Will that be able to play DRM protected content?
I think the unfortunate reality is that if you want full privacy when it comes to a TV, you have to go full pirate. Probably not what you want to hear.
Also not really feasible sadly, if I lived alone I could consider it. I’m just trying to find a good compromise between privacy and convenience
If its not feasable because your partner doesnt want to switch, I can say i was in the same spot as you a few years ago.
The key is to provide a better service than Netflix, then they will be happy to cancel it. Look into Usenet and the arr stack. My setup is fully automated. I almost never have to manually add shows to download. Sonarr/Radarr even add shows from Netflix automatically, everything just shows up on our TV.
Nope. I went down that path.
I still want to allow the TV to go on the internet, because I (and my girlfriend) like to watch YouTube, Netflix and such on the TV as well.
If you’re using a jellyfin server, why would you need your TV to handle these? Just use a fucking browser on your server.
Why even buy a “TV” instead of just a monitor and hook it up to hardware you actually control?
Because, as mentioned in the article, I don’t live alone and my girlfriend isn’t keen on using a keyboard and mouse to control a Linux PC, which must also be able to display 4K DRM’d content
Handheld keyboard with a touchpad mouse. It’s backlit and has a laser pointer if you want to amuse yourself with pets.
Also, if you’re using a linux pc you can 100% view DRM content on your TV. There is no barrier to linux playing DRM on a television.
