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The good news: large-panel TV sets are inexpensive for their performance.

The bad news: like many modern products, and as freely confessed in the linked article, you don't own the TV, it owns you.

The remedy: Connect the TV to your computer as a dumb monitor -- make it show only content you directly control. And disable the TV's network connection -- without that connection, it can't show ads.

My large-panel TV serves only as a computer monitor. My Linux computer runs the Brave browser and has a frequently updated ad-block list in /etc/hosts. This means no "Scenic Mode" ads and no YouTube corporate ads, only ads embedded by video content creators, which I skip over with a pointing device because the video is being controlled by a browser, not a TV.

The FBI recommends use of ad blockers to guard against fraud and malware (https://www.pcmag.com/news/fbi-recommends-installing-an-ad-b...). On the other hand, some sites refuse to function if an ad blocker is in use. Those sites don't deserve access to my eyeballs.

If all this fails, I pick up a book. Books don't have ads ... so far.

- this scenic mode isn't an essential feature and can be turned off

- TVs are cheaper here in the US than they are in China (or at least they were when I lived in China), and these revenue opportunities are likely the reason

Preroll ads when playing videos or streams are normal. If you don't want to see them then don't use streaming services that do so. In this case it's the WatchFree+ streaming service.

Scenic mode is an optional feature that will open up a WatchFree+ channel from the Mood and Ambience category when the TV is idling.

Great. Another company to avoid and I'm going to spread the news to every friend and every colleague and every Internet forum. I'll just them frankly that Vizio steals and sells users' data -- maybe not 100% true but whatever.

Why so odd terminology for playing ad? Scenic more?

But its `free`

Aren't all videos in full screen on a TV?

I seem to recall that Vizio was added to my "do not buy" list quite a long time ago, when it turned out they were monitoring your watching habit (https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr...).

This seems to be more of the same I guess. Choice text from the link above:

Q: Why did I see an ad in Scenic Mode?

A: After Scenic Mode launches to full screen, you may see ads. We offer free, scenic content by supporting it with ads. These ads allow VIZIO to offer enhanced, built-in Smart TV features, 300+ live channels, and 15,000+ movies and shows at no cost through WatchFree+ while also helping keep the price of our TVs accessible and competitive.

Q: Can I turn Scenic Mode ads off?

A: No, not at this time. These ads allow VIZIO to offer enhanced, built-in Smart TV features, 300+ live channels, and 15,000+ movies and shows at no cost through WatchFree+ while also helping keep the price of our TVs accessible and competitive.

And possibly why this got posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/1jkwcbx/if...

If you have a "smart" TV you'd like to avoid connecting to the internet for reasons like this, you can try disconnecting the wireless module entirely. I had a Sony Bravia TV I didn't trust, and after popping off the back I disconnected the wireless module's ribbon cable. The android-TV OS handled it gracefully, and now I don't have to worry about it attempting to smuggle data through any other WLANs in my apartment building.

You can turn it off. This is just a poorly worded FAQ.

At the beginning, there is an FAQ that says you can't turn off ads in scenic mode.

  Q: Can I turn Scenic Mode ads off?
  A: No, not at this time... 

But in fact you can turn the Scenic mode off completely, but it buried later in the content of an FAQ about settings.

  Q: Can I change any settings for Scenic Mode?
  A: Yes. To use Scenic Mode with or without volume, navigate to the left side menu on the VIZIO Home screen, click Settings > Extras > Home Page Settings > Scenic Mode. Once you’re in the Scenic Mode section of Settings, scroll down and select either Volume On or Volume Off. You will see a checkmark appear, noting that you’ve correctly selected your setting. If you want to turn off Scenic Mode completely, follow the same instructions to get to the Scenic Mode section of Settings and select Disable.

I refuse to buy any “smart tv”. If that means going without a TV, then I’m going without one and will use the largest monitor I can use with a small beelink Linux box.

We’re prey for their bottom line as they can’t sell TV’s for a profit without running ads all over it. I’m done. I’m out. Back to books, vinyl, fresh press, gnu, board games, and going outside.

Unless there is massive push back from consumers and people outright refuse to buy these TVs Vizio wont be the last company to do this. Roku also pushes less intrusive ads at you when the TV is idle depending on your settings.

As much as I complain a lot about roku for their spying and ads (they deserve it and I'll never buy one) I do give them some credit for not filling that fish show they have with ads. I know people who have had those fish (or some version of them) on their screens for many years and it's a decent little virtual fish tank.

Very afraid we will get to the point where new TVs will refuse to boot and let you use external inputs unless they have network connection.

I’ll live with watching Plex on my phone before I buy a TV like that.

You can buy a "smart" TV with ads for cheap, and get a generic replacement motherboard to dumb it down.

Motorola rolled out basically the same feature to my phone with its latest "security update".

They even went so far as to patch the Android System UI to send you notifications nagging you to enable their Taboola Lockscreen video ad things. So even if you uninstall the actual adware app, you still get nagged to use it.

Seems like this might perhaps just be the new-ish idea that got cooked up somewhere and now all suits are copying each other?

I regret giving my TV my Wi-Fi password. By default, it has some knock-off Alexa assistant that triggers a couple times a day, even when I'm sitting in silence.

It also warns me it will auto-updates the software 1-2 times a month. My TV was perfect out of the box--it doesn't need an update. When I disable Wi-Fi, I get notifications that my TV is disconnected. Can't win.

Just don't connect it to the internet and use an Apple TV instead.

Speaking of Vizio, what happened to the SFC vs Vizio GPL violation case? Last time I checked : https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2024/01/sf...

About 2 years ago we got a deal on a smallish Samsung for our nursery. The thing is haunted.

On more than a couple occasions in the middle of the night I've heard people talking. On working up the courage and getting out of bed I've found the TV tuned in my daughter's room to one of those Samsung Internet TV channels.

My wife and I never use those, so it's absolutely bizarre.

Am I the only one here that read the part where you can absolutely disable this? I don't understand the performative outrage. The TV has an ad-supported screen saver, which they claim is used to support free streaming content. You can disable the screen saver entirely. No, you cannot just disable the ads but keep the screen saver. What is the problem?

Meanwhile half the posters here work for Google or other ad-surveillance purveyors. I watched a short YouTube video today with half a dozen unskippable ads. If you had a hand in normalizing this then you can't claim to be upset by it.

My TV occasionally turns on unexpectedly. I'm pretty sure it is the Xfinity Flex streaming box that is connected to it telling it to do so.

It used to happen between 3 and 4 am, if I remember correctly, and was very annoying because the TV is in the same room I sleep in.

I guessed that it might be the Flex box doing it after I remembered that the Flex box was scheduled do to automatic updates between 3 and 4 am. My guess was that sometimes when it reboots after an update it turned on the TV.

To check that I changed the update schedule to do them between 2 and 3 pm. Sure enough the unexpected turn ons then started happening between 2 and 3 pm which is pretty good evidence my guess about the Flex being responsible was right.

Wasn't Vizio the company that sold a box letting you skip ads? What happened?

This is remarkably dystopian. ‘Bought our tv? We are going to show you ads and you can’t even turn it off’

At least they have an FAQ about it... not that I endorse ads baked into your TV

Once Mi smart TV in holiday rental I stayed switched on itself on early morning playing TV channel at high volume, interestingly web search specifically has results for "Mi smart TV switching on at 5am". The TV also had internal microphone and physical switch to toggle the microphone. It was literally Chinese invigilation device.

Just add Vizio to your ... nope ... list.

This is why all of my TVs are airgapped. I don’t understand why some people don’t just get an Apple TV or similar and keep their TV completely ignorant of the LAN and internet.

"... a FREE, new feature ..."

Why are you complaining about this punch in the face? It's a FREE new punch in the face you ingrateful parasite!

https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/1jkwcbx/if...

One super annoying issue I've found is that if you enable Smartthings on Samsung TVs, and you try to use your phone app as a remote, they ask for microphone access EVERY TIME I USE THE APP. The options are "Enable" and "Cancel". I click cancel, the remote works for 3 minutes, then stops working and I have to force restart the app and do it again. All for a feature I use if I can't find my physical remote.

Seriously. I hate these companies with a passion. It's crazy that right now the only alternative is to not use smart features / wifi. There's not even a good Android TV option. The best I can do is just run VLC on a computer connected to the screen (Kodi has an awful UI/UX, in my opinion). Plex used to be good before they became awful. AppleTV is the only semi-decent device, but it requires a iCloud login.

OK, related, so I have to share, because it's driving some valley residents crazy.

It is currently the portable air conditioner season in Arizona. Home Depots now have them stocked in the front of the store.

All Wi-Fi enabled Toshiba models (which are white-label rebranded Midea units,) their overwhelming predominate stock, are susceptible to a bug where your unit can be remotely turned on or off randomly, without your input. Presumably mismatched accounts on their back-end.

Separately, but related, they also have universally paired remote controls, so your next door neighbor who also has a very popular Toshiba portable AC unit model can accidentally turn yours on and off without your input, and adjust your temperature any time, too. And you can accidentally do the same to them.

Oh, and their remote controls work across all unit models, so it doesn't matter if you have a window unit instead, either.

Whoops!

Never buy them.

Reminds me of, "You are not using a product, you are the product"

>> We offer free, scenic content by supporting it with ads.

Sheesh

"You may see an ad"

They keep pushing. We keep tolerating.

Every Tv in my home is paired with an Apple TV. I leave the display unconnected to the internet.

The day when TVs require an internet connection to show external inputs - that will be a sad day.

Or when they come with cellular modems.

Before anyone asks, you can buy a TV that’s dumb. Look on Sony or Samsung or business kiosk TVs. I bought some Sony kiosk TVs for conference rooms when building out an office ones. They can be left on forever have the same great quality and cost a little bit more. But they’re dumb in the end and they turn on fast.

I'm super grateful for the webOS Homebrew[1] community for allowing me to wrangle control of my LG TV and giving unfettered root access to the device.

[1] http://webosbrew.org

So fun (when you don't have this shitty tv) to read this FAQ.

A wtf at each paragraph:

- question1: video starting alone to "provide you a relaxing experience". I'm totally so relaxed by that unexpected kind of things...

- question2: suddenly ads can show up in this video to be able to provide you a more relaxing experience. Sure sure, how relaxing to be force fed ads unsolicited on your own tv...

- question3: can I stop that? No you can't because we are forced to impose you these ads for your own good...

I've said it here before, but I wish a consumer focused org would create a 'DUMB' certification. "Don't Upload My Bits"

Sadly people keep buying these types of devices. Every time I walk by modern devices all I can think is how I wish I could buy them without the fear of what they will do once I turn them on. I don't want a new car because of the spying it does. I don't want a new TV because of the spying and advertising it does. I don't want any part of the current crop of smart speakers because of the spying/advertising they do. The problem is I will eventually have to buy some of this junk as my old stuff slowly breaks. If I am forced to buy something spying on me because there is no alternative, is it illegal to poison the data sent back in some way? Is it time to go on the offensive?

This is truly dystopian.

Also this sad excuse for an FAQ:

Q: Is payment required to receive Scenic Mode? A: No. Scenic Mode does not require payment and is part of VIZIO’s mission to continually make your Smart TV better than when you bought it.

Smart TVs are really and truly awful.

It's like getting an unending dystopian sci-fi series, free with your TV. Guaranteed to be renewed every season. No risk of writers' strikes, cancellation, or preemption by sporting events.

"Scenic Mode does not require payment and is part of our mission to continually make your Smart TV better than when you bought it."

That'll teach me to buy a TV from Lumon Industries...

This is why I haven't connected my smart TV to my WiFi. It just has a Google TV + HDMI from my PC. At least with Google TV, the only ads I see are random sportsball ads when YouTube has some partnership deal and those are easy enough to ignore.

When my very nice Sony Bravia vintage dumb-TV did something like this last year, it was due to a streaming service running on my PS5, which service I canceled, with extreme prejudice.

(Right now, the ad-free Netflix that I pay for is testing limits sometimes, of how much they try to control my experience for their own whims, but it's tolerable, and there's potential obnoxious things that they tastefully haven't done.) (Though they did briefly give me two creepy categories, for about a day, but then maybe someone realized their mistake, or got the Netflix fired-fast.)

Ah, so now Vizio is taking pages out of the technology rapist playbook, too.

“You’re forced to take this and you can’t say no.”

My favorite development is ads interrupted by ads.

Just remember that while you are watching the ad, the ad is watching you.

Actually anything you do on your internet connected Smart TV is being collected and sold by the TV manufacturer.

Smart TVs should be called Surveillance TVs at this point.

Unfortunately, I expect consumer-hostile behavior like this to become more common. The path that consumers take from intent-to-purchase to transaction will radically change over the next 5 years. It will result in less time shopping and better purchasing decisions for consumers, while diminishing the role of marketing/advertising. As that river runs dry, there will be desperate and intrusive attempts to monetize users like we’re seeing here from Vizio.

This is why one should never, ever, allow their television to connect to the internet.

Feed it via HDMI from whatever device you choose, but DO NOT let the TV connect to the mothership...

Or, just accept the consequences...