There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

I am going to miss the mute and power buttons when they take them away.

Edit: I guess this post is free advertising for these shitters, so I will describe what I previously linked.

There is this TV you can get for free but it has a ads on screen constantly and it has a camera pointed at you to record your reactions to ads and to ensure you don’t cover up the ad portion of the screen.

raynethackery ,

Isn’t that the world of Max Headroom?

Muscar ,

In their reservation terms of service:

“Telly takes the privacy of its users very seriously. For the current Telly Product Privacy Policy please visit [INSERT LINK TO UPDATED TELLY PRODUCT PRIVACY POLICY].”

I laughed so much at that, it’s just perfect.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I signed up for one.

Fuck it. Free TV. I can probably disable the ad screen somehow (even just covering it but leave the camera uncovered) Certainly would be fun to see if it can be hacked.

JustZ ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

Guess your time is free too.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Time to tinker with expensive hardware given away free in an attempt to break what is making it free in the first place? You bet.

JustZ ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

I’m sure that would be interesting, but if you have the skills for that, why not do something more productive? I don’t mean to insult. Are you making YouTube teardown videos or something?

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I can’t just have fun? And I mean, if I succeed it could be useful to people who want but can’t afford a TV but also don’t want the bullshit baggage. What could be more productive than sabotaging capitalism?

JustZ ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

I guess. Maybe since I don’t know how to do that sort of thing it feels like it would take a lot longer than it would for you. All for sabotaging the man.

JCreazy ,

I am more interested in the technology used inside the TV.

JustZ ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah but if you can get the same or even better tech in a dumb tv, why wouldn’t you get that?

JCreazy ,

I would, I just want to know how the tech. I don’t want to use it.

Ogeon ,

Ah, taking inspiration from late 1940’s literature, I see. Smart!

vrek ,

There were several isps that did this years ago… A banner at bottom is of your screen showing ads, free internet. They all went bankrupt I think.

ShepherdPie ,

Considering you can buy a decent TV for a few hundred dollars these days, I don’t see it going much differently for this company either.

GoTeamBoobies ,

Oh man the memories! My parents used NetZero

TexasDrunk ,

You can still get 10 free hours a month on their dialup. Over 10 hours and you have to pay for their super ultra extreme dialup.

Kbobabob ,

It’s “free” which means you’re paying for it a different way than money. If you don’t want the ads then don’t get the “free” TV.

r00ty Admin ,
r00ty avatar

Yeah. I'm completely behind the complaints people have with a lot of modern world problems in this regard.

  • Ads on TVs you paid for
  • Ads on streaming services you paid for
  • Actually, ads on cable/satellite TV with a subscription in general. What a ridiculous concept of paying twice!
  • Subscriptions for hardware features already installed (although I am fine with a one-off payment to activate them. I can see the argument for a single SKU with all features installed and deactivated for making the production line simpler)

But in this case, they're very clear. They are making hardware available at no monetary cost. Therefore, you MUST know they're monetizing you somehow, and this is the somehow.

Having said that, yes, the description does seem like the dystopian tellyscreens in nineteen-eighty-four. But they were mandatory for everyone, which is the main difference.

r00ty Admin ,
r00ty avatar

Actually looking through the site. I don't really see how they're going to make enough money on this.

I cannot see anywhere on their site that suggests the camera will be watching you (and there's probably laws against that, even in the USA!) and the FAQ specifically says the camera has a cover and only an app using the camera will make that open, and you have to accept the permission.

Also, it seems they play the ads on a separate screen. Which suggests there won't be sound either. So they don't even expect you to be paying attention to the ads, because it seems they won't block content for them.

I expect there might be an initial interest in advertisers. But if they don't see a decent conversion rate, I cannot imagine they will keep paying enough to cover the TV for ads.

Also, what happens when one of these breaks, they replace it for free? I'd imagine they would need to because otherwise the hardware they paid for is no longer generating revenue.

This sounds like a late April fool. :P

aleph , (edited )
@aleph@lemm.ee avatar

Having said that, yes, the description does seem like the dystopian tellyscreens in nineteen-eighty-four. But they were mandatory for everyone, which is the main difference.

This is actually closer to Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the former, citizens voluntarily buy huge TVs to adorn their living room walls because their whole society is built around pleasure-seeking and entertainment. These displays are then used by the powers that be to distract and pacify the population, prevent critical thinking and reduce political unrest.

phoneymouse ,

You can mute, but the ad will pause until you unmute.

Viking_Hippie ,

Which makes the button almost completely useless.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

That would mean the “unintrusive ad screen” isn’t unintrusive, if the ads shown in it also play sound.

Endmaker ,

I wouldn’t have known about it if not for this post.

Now this post feels like an ad.

Ultragigagigantic OP ,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

Sorry, I didn’t mean to advertise, I’ll edit the link and the product name from my post.

Endmaker ,

Nah I think it’s ok since it provides context

But thanks for editing anyway

Jimmycakes ,

Same but I signed up for it

Endmaker ,

ROFL

De_Narm ,

“The smartest TV […]”

I’m already out. Give me your dumbest.

Chainweasel ,

Exactly, what’s the use of a smart TV when I have a game console capable of streaming everything a “Smart TV” can AND playing games/browsing the Web?
9/10 times people use a fire stick or cable box to watch TV anyway, all I need is volume, input selection, and power.

givesomefucks ,

You need that “smart” stuff to make smaller resolutions look good on a 4k TV.

Upscaling takes processing power, so adding in the smart functions doesn’t really need anything else.

Without the upscaling, it’s often a waste to buy a 4k TV because very few sources are in 4k. You’d be getting the same picture quality as 1080

Chainweasel ,

I have a 4K dumb TV with no Wi-Fi at all and I’ve never had any image issues.

givesomefucks ,

What does wifi have to do with anything?

And if it upscaled well, it’s already got the processing power to have all the apps installed. So, cool it doesn’t have that, but it’s kind of a waste you don’t… And seems a lot more likely you’re overestimating it.

But I have a feeling if you look up your TV on rtings you’ll be surprised, or find out you bought a weird Black Friday model that’s been feature stripped to be as cheap and low quality as possible while marking a couple highlights to advertise on the box.

Chainweasel ,

I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a “smart TV” is

givesomefucks ,

I think people don’t understand that the processing abilities upscaling needs means adding smart functionality is basically free.

That’s why I mentioned looking up the model number, I’m confident what that person said their TV was isn’t what it is.

No “dumb” TV is going to be good at upscaling because of that. OP might think it is, but they’re probably mistaken about something

Chainweasel ,

Smart TV defines the extra functionality, not the processing hardware. If a smart TV has the Wi-Fi and streaming services disabled it is by definition NOT a smart TV.

givesomefucks , (edited )

If a smart TV has the Wi-Fi and streaming services disabled

If it’s disabled that doesn’t mean it disappears…

And no one has linked or provided the model number of a good 4k that doesn’t have wifi.

Maybe that’s what happening? People think not connecting WiFi means something doesn’t have wifi?

Is that what you think?

Edit:

Oh, you’re the one who said they own a TV like that…

You could easily prove your point by providing the model number, but you’re not, you’re just trying to argue.

I don’t see the point in someone acting like that unless your trolling, so if you don’t want to say the model, I don’t see any point in trying to help anymore.

nomous ,

And no one has linked or provided the model number of a good 4k that doesn’t have wifi.

Not trying to necro a post but:

sceptre.com/…/U550CV-UMR-55-4K-UHD-TV-product959c…

givesomefucks ,

Thanks!

It’s good to see Sceptre is still kicking around, I couldn’t find any info on what kind of upscaling they’re using. But it’s probably decent. Good dumb screens have been their niche for at least 20 years.

Aceticon ,

Everything nowdays includes microcontrollers or microprocessors, and often even in-silico (i.e. as hardware not software) implementations of things like decoders.

However it’s a huge range of those things and the vast majority doesn’t have the processing power and/or hardware petipherals to support “Smart TV” functionality.

For example that upscalling functionality can just be implemented in-silico in a separate chip or as part of the die of a SoC microcontroller for pennies, whilst the actual programmable part doesn’t have anywhere the power or memory needed for the code implementing a fancy UI (such as that for a VOD provider such as Netflix) because that would cost tens or hundreds of dollars more (just go check the price of a standalone TV box).

The economics of the thing nowadays do make it worth it for a TV manufacturer to add the extra hardware needed to make the thing a Smart TV (the kinda crap one only costs maybe $10 - $20 or so more) especially if they can use it to shove adverts in front of people to recoup it or sell “Smart TV” as a premium functionality, but that’s not at all the same as the HW for stuff like hardcoded algorithms such as upscalling being capable of running the software implementing Smart TV functionality.

Your “argument” is built on top of a serious misunderstanding of modern digital systems.

umbrella , (edited )
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

you dont need to shove “smart” features into them to have upscaling

any dumb computer monitor has it

givesomefucks ,

any dumb computer monitor has it

?

I googled, and found one high-end monitor with any kind of native upscaling…

And saying something that is on the most expensive monitors has to be on the cheapest TVs doesn’t make a lot of sense…

And that’s not even getting into what kind of upscaling or how a bigger screen size makes upscaling more important.

Like a 22 inch it doesn’t matter, but an 80 it’s really important

Aceticon ,

Hardware upscalling isn’t needed in a monitor (unless maybe in really really special situations) because it’s almost invariably connected via a digital connection that supports multiple resolutions to a device (such as a computer) with more than enough processing power to do the upscalling itself.

The only situation I can think of were upscalling would be useful in a monitor is one with a VGA connection (mainly to use with really old computers) since that protocol is analog so pretty much any random resolution can come down the pipe quite independently of the monitor’s native resolution so the digital side of the monitor is forced to adjust it (and a proper upscalling algorithm is a lot nicer than something like double sampling the analog signal)

The previous poster was wrong about upscalling being common in computer monitors nowadays (I vaguelly remember it in the early LCD monitor days because of that VGA problem), but that doesn’t mean you’re right about upscalling support being present in a device beimg the same as there being everything in there necessary for full Smart TV functionality - I’m pretty sure upscalling comes as an hardware implementation of an algorithm, so it’s not a generic computing unit with e the right peripherals, computing power and memory to run an Android system or equivalent that just so happens to be running software upscalling.

Meron35 ,

The use of a smart TV is to make manufacturers money by selling your personal data to advertisers as part of their post purchase monetisation strategy. Literally admitted by Vizio’s CEO (who are really following other brands).

forbes.com/…/how-a-texas-oil-billionaire-hit-a-gu…

Chainweasel ,

I meant they used to me, I understand their use for it.

Meron35 ,

You get a cheaper TV. Just disable all their smart features.

JustZ ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

Look into a hospitality tv. Just dummy tv monitor.

padge ,

What’s stopping me from buying a smart TV and never taking it online?

Sam_Bass ,

Been doing it with mine for 3 years mostly. Jack-in just long enough to update firmware and software then disconnect

rtxn ,

Isn’t it to stop being polite and start relentlessly mocking anyone who voluntarily buys this shit?

elshandra ,

For free? Surely there’s some way to get that shit out… Or at least, the panel.

rtxn ,

I’m sure there’s some gotcha in the contract that says you don’t actually own the hardware and modifying it is a breach.

RvTV95XBeo ,

Of course you don’t own it, you didn’t even pay for it

elshandra ,

“It broke”

InfiniteStruggle ,

I lost the second monitor in a boating accident.

SomeGuy69 ,

People encourage this as “I got the device for cheaper, so it’s you who’s wrong.” you can’t stop morons with logic or mockery, you need laws restricting companies. It’s something the US has big trouble with and that’s not supposed to be bashing.

Adderbox76 ,

Up until a few years ago, I honestly thought that the best thing we could do with stupid people (conspiracy theorists, flat earthers, fundies, etc…) was to bring back public shaming. Make them so damn embarassed to believe what they that do that they just shut the fuck up about it for fear of mockery. As a result, at least their children might see them as being the backwards ones and we nip that shit in the bud in a generation or two instead of each new generation seemingly witnessing their parent’s idiotic beliefs being seemingly validated in public by being treated with any validity at all.

But then MAGA arrived, and I realized that many of these people simply have no shame, so ruthlessly mocking them won’t work.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

“McDonald’s!” \o/

Jimmycakes ,

I understood this reference

Viking_Hippie ,

Drink the confirmation can now.

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