I’m going to buy my first new TV in years. Even if it’s a ‘smart’ tv we plan to just use our Roku. I’ve heard that some TVs require you to connect it to the internet before you can even use a Roku device. For privacy reasons I don’t want my TV to EVER have access to my wifi. Is anyone aware of how to know what models/brands of TVs allow me to use it without ever connecting the TV itself to wifi?
If necessary I guess I could connect it to my guest network to ‘activate’ the TV, set up the Roku to connect to my private network, then change the password to the guest network.
Would rather just have a TV that doesn’t even ‘phone home’ once.
You can, they just cost more.
This isn’t really true, they don’t write a separate os for the fancier TVs. The $5000 83” oled still does all this. It’s not as bad as the $75 37” lcd that’s heavily subsidized but that’s only partially because of less intrusive ads. The ads are still there, just not as much, the data collection is still there, and the tv is just runs smoother because the hardware is generally (a bit) more powerful
I think that even the most expensive TVs have the same OS and data collection
Maybe, but no ads though. I guarantee Bill Gates does not see ads on his TV.