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TCL TVs will use films made with generative AI to push targeted ads (arstechnica.com)

submitted 6 days ago by Alphane_Moon to c/technology

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[–] valkyre09 83 points 6 days ago (3 children)

For those (like me) who bought a TCL tv at a stupidly cheap price on Black Friday, you have options.

buy an AppleTV (even second hand) and don’t connect the tv to the internet. You won’t see any adverts on your Home Screen and be done with all this bullshit. What’s that? What’s the point in buying a £200 TV if you need to buy a £150 accessory? I hear you, read on…
if you’re broke like me, you can disable the stock launcher with adb and install projectivy launcher. I needed to use some software called launcher manager from xdaforums to replace the stock launcher. I also used adb to uninstall the pre-installed apps I had no intention of using.

Hopefully there are enough key words in there for you to google / research what you need to get going. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I recommend to replace the default launcher on every Android TV, replaced the default Google Launcher on my Sony TV and it feels faster and has no ads

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago

I remember when the Google launcher just worked fine. Suddenly, one update later, there's now ads for shows on services I don't even use taking up the entire top 2/3rds of the home screen. WTF google.

[–] ieatpwns 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You got any recommendations for an lg webos tv?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Not the OP, but connect a computer to it and set it to turn on to the last input. I've had one for a year and can't even remember what their interface looks like.

[–] ieatpwns 3 points 6 days ago

Dope thanks

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Gentle reminder Apple does actually take steps to protect you from tracking, the premium you pay comes with some protection from their need to sell you out.

It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the alternates by far.

1/1 mobile / OS security experts agree

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Note about the second bullet: Not all TCL TVs are Google TV, which can be switched to Protectivity - Roku TVs at this point, as far as I know, cannot disable ads if connected to the Internet.

[–] ocassionallyaduck 4 points 6 days ago (4 children)

If this is the case for you (I have both in my house), I recommend putting your RokuTV behind a Pi Hole DNS. It will block the TV ad requests at a DNS level while letting content and video go through.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The only problem I found with this is that Roku knows it’s being blocked so it’ll kill some apps over time (like the Plex app) in a way that forces you to fully reinstall the app. Which means unblocking their domain and allowing them to phone home (or disabling/bypassing pihole), because the app downloads go through that domain as well.

Before I just factory reset them and denied them any internet at all, Plex would break and need to be reinstalled about every 2 months like clockwork, and it wasn’t due to app updates or anything. I know this because I did a test once; reset on one tv, and 2 weeks later on another one. The first called for an update at roughly the 2 month mark, and the other exactly two weeks later. Meanwhile an absolutely ancient Samsung tv still has a copy of the Plex app that hasn’t been updated in like 5 years (it’s a fully obsolete tv)… works fine.

My speculation is that it records the data for that period, and then breaks things you use so it can phone home when you are forced to connect it to fix it.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I’m struggling heavily to find that OS to learn more about it (literally just got a google tcl tv delivered today, as my old one died last week), can you provide a link of some variety?

I was very heartened to find out that it’s just big android, so there’s likely a lot that can be done with it (but I got it to be dumb).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, do you mean a link to a Roku TV? Assuming you mean a link to Projectivity, here's a link:

https://xdaforums.com/t/app-android-tv-projectivy-launcher.4436549/

You can scroll to the bottom - basically you should just be able to enable installation from third party sources in your Google TV android options, and install the APK. I don't have Google TV, but worked fine on Android TV. I forget if you have to fiddle with any other settings to get it to boot into Projectivity, or if you just change the launcher app in settings.

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[–] Alphane_Moon 45 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

This is really the of stuff dystopian scifi.

A somewhat cliched saying comes to my mind when reading this article.

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” [1]

Hopefully, there will eventually be pushback against this techno-feudalism and oligarchy. For what it's worth this seems to always happen in history. Ruling elites (in our case oligarchs and their promoters; the media, economists, politicians) consolidate their power and start to become disconnected from reality.

As a side note, it's funny that AI-generated videos have themes of dystopia and rebellion against the system.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Just when we think it can’t get worse, some rich asshole has to laugh and say “Hold my beer and watch me enshittify even harder.”

[–] thehatfox 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A while ago a company patented a method using eye tracking to monitor whether TV watchers were paying attention to ads.

It can always get worse.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (3 children)

We also need to start mocking people who watch AI slop.

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[–] itsathursday 7 points 6 days ago (4 children)

When can we start to own things again?

[–] Passerby6497 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

As soon as you stop buying pre built SmArT shit and cobble the same together from regular components. I get a smart TV experience from a dumb tv/projector and a media PC with remote access or local kb/m. In the past I had a harmony remote that made it much closer to the real experience

Stop gobbling up corporate slop and these issues stop being an issue. You just have to deal with less slick experiences, but it's worth it imo.

[–] thehatfox 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

For TVs now, by buying used. Help yourself and the environment by buying an unwanted "dumb" TV that's free of this sort of crap.

Or if budget allows, look at industrial displays.

Supply answers demand, is we stop buying junk smart stuff and take our money elsewhere the market will eventually follow.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Smart TVs are honestly one of the dumbest inventions.

All they did was take power away from people so corporations could sell it back to them.

[–] TheLowestStone 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Streaming boxes and dongles are no better either. These days I use a laptop hooked up to the tv so I can block ads and limit tracking.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I will not use TCL then.

[–] Stupidmanager 4 points 5 days ago

Yep. This is the new answer. Either buy a model assured to have jailbreak and replace the stock privacy nightmare; or spend more $$$ on a dumb tv.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

God this shit is sad, I can't believe anyone involved (besides the few making all the money) are remotely proud to have worked on this. I get that its a trope to not accept new technology/trends but ai always makes me put on a face of disgust without trying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

are remotely proud to have worked on this.

Usually the people working on this are too afraid of their financial standing to care about what they're actually working on.

I don't want to say they "need" the money, because odds are they can do with less. They are likely on the consumer bandwagon without even realizing it and want to make as much money as possible so they can spend as much money as possible.

The means are irrelevant.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I have a TCL running Google TV that I use Flauncher on - a nice little FOSS lightweight launcher that I like a lot. However, I am only able to switch inputs (for gaming etc.) when using the default launcher. Anyone found a way around this? Pretty sure its a Google/TCL hardware thing and not due to any alt launcher just not wanting to include that

[–] ThePowerOfGeek 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, I might be able to help. I changed my Onn set top box (which uses Android TV) fairly recently to use FLauncher (or Projectivity, I don't remember which one I chose in the end), but it kept defaulting back to the default launcher. So I jacked it to change what the detail launcher was. After enabling some options ( developer options, USB debugging, verify apps over USB) on my Onn box, I plugged the box into my computer and then used the adb command line tool to change the default launcher (launcherx).

I imagine you could do the same to your Android TV. As long as it has a USB port.

Hope this helps.

ETA: Here are some more detailed instructions I took when I did this:

On the ONN tv box installer flauncher and/or projectivity launcher via the Google Play store
Make sure developer options is enabled on the ONN tv box (hit okay on Android TV OS build several times)
Look up IPv4 address on the ONN TV box under Settings > System > Status
Go to the new Developer Options menu item on ONN > settings > system, and make sure: a) Enable developer options is set to on b) USB debugging is set to on c) Verify apps over USB is set to on
Download adb platform tools on windows from here: https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools8
Plug in usb cable between PC and ONN tv box
On the ONN tv box go to Settings > System > Developer Options and make sure Select USB Configuration is set to MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)
On Windows, open a command line as administrator and go to the adb path
In the command line window on windows type: a) adb start-server b) adb connect [ONN ip address] (Note: it might initially say "failed to authenticate to [ip]", that's okay, see the next step)
On the ONN tv box a pop-up window should appear asking to allow access from windows pc IP address, say OK
In the command line window on windows type: adb devices
You should see the device as active on the ip you stated and on port 5555
Next in the terminal window type the following to disable the default ONN tv default launcher and listener: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx
Then in the terminal window type: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
On the ONN tv box click the home button. It should now either a) go to the additional launcher you installed or b) prompt you for the home app (if you installed multiple additional launchers) so select the one you want (e.g. FLauncher)
Now when you hit the home button on the ONN tv box it should always take you to the FLauncher launcher, not the default ONN launcher

Note: If you need to re-enable launcherx, you can use these commands in adb:

adb shell pm enable --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

adb shell pm enable --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith

My adventures with doing this were based on this post on reddit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Thanks for the detailed response will look into it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Try Projectivy.

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[–] 2ugly2live 12 points 5 days ago

I bought a cheap TCL TV last year. If you can, turn off the wifi (I literally just wanted the TV, not the "smart" part). I play everything either through a hard drive, laptop or my PS and that works for me. You can also change the settings to open up to the last channel instead of the landing page. I can still connect my TV to Bluetooth. When I turn it on, I see the TCL logo, but after that, nothing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

Does anyone know if there's something similar to universal android debloater for android tvs?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (3 children)

This is annoying. Idk how we fix it.

Product placement was the least annoying. I’m pretty sure we all wanted to know why the original Daredevil law office had Progresso bread crumbs in their coffee corner, so it’s not like it went unnoticed.

[–] IphtashuFitz 21 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Idk how we fix it.

Simple. Don’t buy a TCL television. If you do have one, or any other brand of “smart” TV then for gods sake do NOT connect it to the internet.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (3 children)

And even then, there have been smart TVs caught sniffing for same brand devices and open networks to connect to the web.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I bought a Philips one. Turned off WiFi cause my mom doesn't use streaming much, and to get rid of those effing "accept cookies?" pop-ups. Every once in a while it suggests to connect to the network. 😑😑

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Buy a large flat computer monitor and plug a small PC into it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

i wonder how long until they start putting shit to those too

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Apple's monitors have an entire OS in them. They have much of the same internals as an iPad. Honestly, I have no idea why, because they don't do anything especially fancy.

Samsung makes "smart monitors" with Tizen or some shit like that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Apple wants you buying from them. Remember how a simple charging cable was a problem back with the first iterations of the iPhone.

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[–] Lifecoach5000 9 points 6 days ago

TCL - That Cheap Life

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Can I just get a goddamned monitor? Like, please can my TV just be a damn 70" monitor with hookups for whatever actual tech I want to use to watch stuff?

Is that too much to ask? My TV has to have its own shitty, unintuitive, slow, buggy OS stuffed with ungodly amounts of bloatware and bullshit?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

For some eyebleach:
A film written by AI, 11 years ago (it was Cleverbot).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNA7sy5M5s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I wish i could wipe the OS on my TCL tv

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I have a tcl tv but it uses a roku os. Not sure how this will play into that

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