[drnick1]

The issue is that (some) smart devices are known to bypass local DNS servers entirely. They either use a public DNS server or hardcoded IPs. The best thing would be not to connect any "smart" TV to the Internet. These are closed firmware devices with cameras and microphones and they just can't be trusted.

[accrual]

> The best thing would be not to connect any "smart" TV to the Internet.

Agree! I regret letting my Vizio TV stay online for as long as I did.

At first it was fine, and I did get a UI refresh a couple years back that was OK.

But then some update caused it to start ripping control away from whatever my last HDMI input was so it could show me ads (which fails). Even though it's perma-offline now, it still messes with my inputs sometimes.

[encom]

>bypass local DNS servers

There are easy ways to fix that at the router level, but DNS-over-HTTPS clowns ruined this.

[account42]

Smart devices always had the option of using their own resolver mechanism that you can't interfere with or just hard-code the IPs.

I don't like DoH due to the central gatekeepers its current implementation in browsers encourages but I don't think it really changes anything here.

[fluoridation]

I thought Pi-holes were supposed to block connections to blacklisted domains, not merely serve as local DNSs. Is that not what they do?