[tassadarforaiur]

As long as it's possible, never connecting the TV to the home network, setting it to auto start to last HDMI used, and using a technician remote or HDMI arc control and mainly interacting with my apple tv / gaming console / audio receiver remote, has been able to suppress most of the TV OS garbage. Hopefully that continues to be an option.

[retrac]

Given the cost of an LTE modem these days I wouldn't be surprised if they start coming with integrated mobile service as a "feature" to ensure the ads and surveillance data always flow.

[cruffle_duffle]

Why would they ever add that? Mass market means every penny added to the BOM counts. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if some manufacturer added that but I imagine 99% of people who buy “low cost” TV’s walk right through the WiFi onboard screen and connect to the internet. The number of people who go out of their way to keep the TV off the network has to be incredibly low.

[7jjjjjjj]

People have been saying this as long as smart TVs have existed and it still hasn't happened.

[nerdjon]

I have heard that there are apparently some TV's that won't let you use them without connecting them to the internet. But yeah, as long as thats possible than its fine.

But if I am always put into their home system, or some other crap I don't want to interact with even if I am offline. Or I get regularly prompted to connect. It is going to be very frustrating and I am honestly not sure what I will do.

Thankfully it wouldn't be too hard to get around the auto start on the same HDMI with a harmony remote or something with a hub to automatically switch it. Annoying, but fixable as long as it doesn't put up a box prompting you every time to connect.

I have a Vizio tv from 2019, been looking at getting a new tv. and I am honestly starting to wonder if I have just been living in bliss that I can ignore its OS completely past my initial configuration.

[ukuina]

With many modern home theater setups relying on the audio return channel (ARC), you may need firmware upgrades to handle compatibility with your speakers. Sideloading these upgrades via USB is mostly deprecated across all major brands.

[Filligree]

Or in my case, my “TV” is a large monitor. It’s a bit more expensive, but in return you get no smart features whatsoever.