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.

LG to offer subscriptions for already purchased appliances and televisions, evolving into a provider for “Home as a Service”

LG to offer subscriptions for already purchased appliances and televisions, evolving into a provider for “Home as a Service”::Subscription fatigue is a thing and regulators are circling, but Korean giant reckons you’re ready to cough up after buying hardware

rm_dash_r_star ,
@rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee avatar

This thing with subscriptions has become insane. You can easily spend several hundred a month getting roped into all the subscriptions companies are pushing. It’s the latest way to squeeze as much money as possible out of the consumer.

I’ve gone into subscription boycott at this point. I had too many and said screw that. I still have Amazon Prime where I think I get my money’s worth. I shop there a lot and use their streaming so it’s worth it to me. Subscriptions for appliances? No way in hell.

NightOwl ,

It’s one of those things that was a shock at how prevalent it is on the Apple app store after so much talk of how much better the apps are compared to Android. There’s not even proper filter options to filter out apps that are subscription only. It was ridiculous how you could buy an app then get pop ups to get the subscription plan. It’s why I wish a foss app store like F-droid becomes available once slide loading becomes possible so I can avoid the appstore as much as possible when I need a basic app. Like a calculator.

rm_dash_r_star ,
@rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee avatar

Yeah phone apps are horrible, don’t know about iOS since I’ve always used Android, but they’re mostly bad. The apps geared to a company service are usually fine, but the rest are just ad support systems.

I actually don’t use third party phone apps that much, but the times I have it’s like an assault. You get a tenth of the screen for the actual function of the app with the rest of the screen gyrating ads. It’s especially a problem for me because I’m old and can’t see the screen that well. I don’t know how people put up with it. I can’t.

NightOwl ,

Good thing about at least paid apps on play store is that they usually don’t have subscriptions, and there are tags warning if it Contains Ads before you even install the app.

I don’t think Apple appstore even has ad warnings. Only in-app purchase warning. So using appstore was when I found out talking video ads exist.

Professorozone ,

Yeah, it’s bad enough that an LG TV makes you agree to have all of your data sent to them, but now they want you to pay for the privilege as well. Screw that!

I mean, i think all smart TVs do that now. Don’t know what I’ll do when my dumb one breaks.

Morbid_Corvid ,

Just don’t connect smart TVs to the internet. Get something cheap like a raspberry pi + wireless mouse/keyboard or an android TV box for the same functionality. (More functionality, actually)

Rai ,

Ugh I wish raspberry pis were still… anywhere… for reasonable prices.

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

Haha I accidentally bought an extra right before prices skyrocketed, and am just saving that bitch for when the right project comes along. Came close to returning it, but am damn glad I didn’t.

Professorozone ,

Man I had no clue they went up in price. I have a couple laying around here somewhere.

But you know, if you look on newegg.com, you can just about buy a full cheap motherboard with CPU for the same price and get more ports and probably more speed as long as you can handle the size.

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

Yep. I built a fully automated piracy machine that I can stream straight to any device with no hassle. Fuck subscriptions.

superkret ,

Can you expand a bit on how you did that? Sounds enticing and I do have a virtual server and a RasPi to play around with.

UntouchedWagons ,
@UntouchedWagons@lemmy.ca avatar

Sonarr, radarr, qbittorrent and jellyfin are what I use.

tookys ,
@tookys@fosstodon.org avatar

@UntouchedWagons

@superkret

Should also look I to ombi, it can tie into your jellyfish server to see what you already have, and you can have it send requests to sonarr if you find something new.

(Also has user management so family / friends can see what you got or submit requests)

Nioxic ,

Prowlarr

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

Definitely! Don’t listen to the folks behind me - Jellyfin can only be viewed outside of your network if you build your own website and host it there, and that’s way more trouble than you need to go through. Use Plex instead. You can just download the app and login and view your media from anywhere in the world without having to be a web designer/programmer.

Jellyfin is cool and all, but the functionality is severely lacking compared to Plex. Plex is getting pretty commercial, so I get it, but it just fucking works haha. Jellyfin will hopefully be there someday, but trust me, save yourself that headache. It sucks in it’s current form. It’s mostly just hardcore nerds that use Jellyfin, and if you’re trying to share it with others, it’s very complex. With Plex, I can just have my elderly mother or whoever download the Plex app on their phone, smart TV, game console, or anything else with internet and you can cast it just like Netflix.

I use unRAID as my OS, which is a Docker-based Linux kernel. I use Plex, Prowlarr/Radarr/Sonarr for indexing and organizing my library, sabNZBD and qBittorrent to download the files, and Overseerr as a search engine and request system for movies and TV. Basically I’ve got Overseerr reverse proxied and myself and all of the folks I share my Plex with can access it and request stuff from any web browser.

Landrin201 ,
@Landrin201@lemmy.ml avatar

I’m actually setting plex up within the next couple of days! I had to make some hardware changes first (mostly adding more storage)

Are there any good guides on how do to it the way you did so it can torrent the stuff you don’t have on demand? I assume that once you’ve torrented it, it keeps that torrented media downloaded for later use as well? Or does it automatically delete after a certain amount of inactivity on that file? Did you set it up with a VPN, and if so how did you get that working in Qbittorrent in docker?

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

Yep, this guide is a little outdated at this point, but still very solid. It does keep the file - Sonarr/Radarr actually have media management and you can clean up your media folder very nicely with them. There’s containers on the unRAID app store for both that already have your VPN integrated - you basically just plug in your VPN info. Highly recommend Private Internet Access for your provider - they’re the easiest one to configure and they’re one of the most secure. I’m at the office right now, but there’s two creators you want to look out for - hotio and linuxserver. Both of those guys make damn solid containers with this in mind.

Landrin201 ,
@Landrin201@lemmy.ml avatar

Thanks! I’ll read up on that tomorrow, though I’ll have to do something slightly different as I used proxmox as my base OS rather than unRaid. But that looks like a good stepping off point!

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

No problem! I’m not super familiar with ProxMox myself, but if it’s doable, I’m sure someone on the internet has written something up on it!

kadu ,
@kadu@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    WhoRoger ,
    @WhoRoger@lemmy.world avatar

    5 TV Streaming services? More like 25 at this point.

    matthew28845 ,
    @matthew28845@lemmy.world avatar

    What’s your issue with Spotify?

    kadu ,
    @kadu@lemmy.world avatar

    My biggest issue is how they took Podcasts, which have always been open RSS feeds for audio (and Apple, the largest player, kept open and public for decades) and started making exclusivity deals that only work through their app, with invasive analytics and monetization.

    My second issue is how Spotify wants me to manage my library the way they believe I should: emphasize playlists, kinda add songs to a library, ignore albums. For instance, on Apple Music if I add 3 songs from an album to my library, I can go to the Albums menu and the album will show up there - even though I only have 3 songs. On Spotify, I either add an entire album, or if I only add the songs, the album won’t show up in the albums view. In fact, the whole “liked songs” section feels like an afterthought they added after impementing playlists, while on Apple Music and most oldschool music library software the song library was the main view and the songs added there populated all other fields such as artists or albums. Ironically, Apple Music is got intelligent playlists that work way better than Spotify’s, with the downside being they can only be created via iTunes which is ancient software.

    My third issue is what are the value adds to the subscription as the years go by: Spotify added short videos, QR codes, inconsistent lyrics and digital stores that aren’t even converted to my local currency… While Apple Music added karaoke lyrics, lossless audio, spatial audio (even on my Android), remasters straight from the studio, and more. It’s totally subjective, but Spotify’s gimmicks aren’t worth it to me.

    My fourth issue is just the number of tracks that are no longer available on Spotify from my library. Apple Music lost a few, YouTube Music slightly less, and Spotify quite a lot which surprised me.

    As you can see, it’s not like Spotify killed my cat and replaced my audio library with a 10 hour loop of fart sounds… But I have deep concerns over their treatment of podcasts, I really dislike their philosophy on how to organize a music library (and they offer less customization than an Apple product, how crazy is that?), they’re becoming increasingly more popular yet their catalogue is actually shrinking for my music taste, and I don’t see real improvements in the service while their competitors keep adding actual value as time goes on.

    Either way, don’t mind me - I’m actually now using a huge library of FLAC files on my PC that get converted to MP3 and sent to my phone. Free, no songs vanish, no internet connection, no issues 😄

    DarkWasp ,
    @DarkWasp@lemmy.world avatar

    Good explanation. Apple Music is still solid for me and I greatly prefer it over Spotify since I prefer listening to and collecting albums over playlists. Am also not a fan of what they’ve done with podcasts, the overall sound quality or the integration with the products I use.

    While not ideal, I’ve found that most of the songs or music removed is due to some weird licensing issue and is still there. For example Wolfmother’s first album needing to be re-added as the 10th anniversary edition. Kind of annoying still but manageable.

    AA5B ,

    I also have no interest in the Spotify “value adds”: they add no value for me. Last year I did try to leave, with their focus on podcasts that seem actively harmful to society, but their play lists are just the way I like to listen to music. Apple Music kept annoying me with focus on albums, and iverly targeted play lists, so I did come back

    jeanofthedead ,
    @jeanofthedead@lemmy.world avatar

    For the same price, Apple Music provides lossless audio quality, Dolby Atmos, 4K music videos (you can’t even get those on YouTube), karaoke (Apple Music Sing), and a personalized radio station that doesn’t feed you the exact same stuff every week. Plus you can use third-party apps like Marvis Pro with your AM subscription, so you’re not locked to one app’s GUI.

    Acid ,
    @Acid@startrek.website avatar

    You know my story isn’t very different from yours.

    As a teenager I massively pirated everything, became an adult with a paying job streaming was sensible so I paid for Netflix/Spotify eventually adding in Prime video + the occasional thing like P+/disney+ or whatever flavour of the month I wanted to watch.

    Then earlier this year I realised I was paying for 6 different movie/tv streaming subs and when I went on holiday none of the services I had worked properly and I couldn’t continue watching the show I had been watching at night before bed and I just went nah fuck this. Blew about 2 grand on a Mac Mini m2 and a ton of hard drives and just went full on Arr stack + usenet + plex lifetime.

    It isn’t even about the fucking money anymore it’s just how inconvenient they make everything, I’ve had enough and I don’t think I’m ever going back.

    magikmw ,

    Disney Plus straight up refusing to run anything while we were on vacation just made me really mad. Here I am setting up the tablet for the kid, and then - nah wrong region mate. Even VPN didn’t help somehow.

    Acid ,
    @Acid@startrek.website avatar

    Yeah Disney+ legitimately made me mad also. Fuck the streaming services.

    I think they use the tablet location info to block you.

    Cryst ,

    What about a VPN?

    violetgreendev ,

    We have a group of friends who all pay for one family subscription service each, then we all share the passwords. If password sharing goes then I’m back to the high seas.

    thecoolowl ,

    Curious, what’s wrong with Spotify?

    can ,

    They pay artists the least, fund the US war machine, inundate you with podcasts when you just want music, etc.

    o2inhaler ,

    Just curious why the hate for spotify?

    Tandybaum ,

    Did you start with Jellyfin or go there from Plex? I’ve been thinking about setting it just as a backup in case Plex gets shitty.

    Vilian ,

    what’s the problem with spotify, i never used it, but it isn’t the first time i read about someone complaining about them

    april4356 ,
    @april4356@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    RustyWizard ,

    Nah, smart TV with media box. You get the ad adjusted price, you merely don’t hook it up to the Internet.

    Nioxic ,

    What is “media box”?

    RustyWizard ,

    Chromecast, Kodi, Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia shield, fire TV, etc.

    eleitl ,

    Fire TV firmware also just gets worse and worse with each new version. Netflix app also follows suit.

    RustyWizard ,

    Does it? I’ve never had one. I have a Kodi box and a Chromecast. I’ll be sure to avoid the fire brand, then.

    eleitl ,

    The one saving grace is that it’s cheap and you can install Kodi on it.

    AA5B ,

    I have a Fire Stick and a newer Vizio TV. For a while I could tell Alexa to turn in the TV: the Fire Stick would turn on, then use HDMI-CEC to turn on the TV and select its input. Worked great and I didn’t have to deal with Vizio

    Then at some point Alexa started controlling the TV itself instead. Now I have to choose whether to deal with Vizio or to do more clicks to get to my streaming device. I really need to figure out how to get the original configuration back

    LiquorFan ,

    I’m never buying a “smart” anything, aside from phones. I put up with Android and it already feels like too much.

    RustyWizard ,

    By all means. But “smart” TVs come at a discount because they believe they’ll have opportunities to make revenue off of those features. However, if you prevent the thing from connecting to the Internet then you get the best of both worlds. Cheaper and ad free.

    d0m ,

    You don’t get any dumb TVs in my country anymore. I’d assume its the same everywhere else unless you’re going back a minimum 5 years of tech evolution, which might not be all too bad.

    Wolfen ,

    Great. Gonna have to get rid of my LG oled now huh?

    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    Just castrate its access to internet. Initially you can full block it, in time people will figure out which domains need to be blocked. If they can’t upgrade your firmware, they can’t install these new features.

    bill ,

    I suspect they’ll include cellular radios in the near future so the appliance does not depend on the “consumer” to provide data access.

    ZC3rr0r ,

    With a cellular data subscription that we will then be required to pay a monthly fee for, to make sure the TV continues to work. You didn’t think they’d be giving this away for free, right?

    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    We’ll see. I think they will use the route of least resistance. But subscription based services are here to stay.

    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    That is unlikely to happen as it would require contract with local providers, expensive GSM hardware, etc. Luckily at the moment they still don’t know just how much they can push, so they are testing the waters by dipping fingers in it.

    Wolfen ,

    I may be lucky. I am an expat, and I bought mine in China. Now I am in Malaysia. So I may not have this issue. But your points are likely true.

    Saneless ,

    LG PowerPoint:

    Problem: People buy our TVs

    Real problem: People pay only once for our TVs

    Solution: Make them pay money each month for their already purchased TVs

    Psychopaths

    spaghettiwestern , (edited )

    This little tidbit is left out:

    In order to use LG’s smart appliance features you must agree to allow the company to track your precise location 100% of the time via phone app.

    I have 2 wifi enabled LG appliances, a refrigerator and a washer. A couple of the smart features are useful such as the end of cycle notification on the washer and a high temperature / door open warning on the fridge. Unfortunately those features don’t work very well and there can be very long delays between an event (such as an end of cycle) and the app notification.

    So not only is LG’s implementation poorly done and not very functional, customers are expected to give up any semblance of privacy to even use them.

    Fuck that. I disconnected my appliances from wifi and deleted the app.

    Paying a monthly charge for the extremely limited smart features on appliances is nuts, even if you didn’t have to allow LG to constantly track your whereabouts. I hope the general public is smart enough to make LG’s subscription service a complete failure.

    Saneless ,

    My fridge drops its wifi setting constantly. Luckily it’s the dumbest thing ever so I don’t miss it. I only set it up because I was curious wtf a fridge would need to be connect to wifi for

    Turns out it loves watching The Bear. Gues it makes sense

    ToAllPointsWest ,

    Who asked for that?

    CADmonkey ,

    Shareholders?

    TWeaK ,

    They likely didn’t even ask, but by law publicly traded companies must pursue profits above all else, on behalf of shareholders.

    TWeaK ,

    *Hugs my old ass Samsung 40" TV

    AngryAnusHornets ,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    Block their access to internet and problem solved.

    AngryAnusHornets ,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    Ouch then. Already a slave.

    Mdotaut801 ,

    BUT HOW WILL HE SURVIVE WITHOUT THE ALERTS ON HIS PHONE TELLING HIM HIS WIFE’S BOYFRIEND’S LAUNDRY IS DONE?! We don’t want Craig smelling all mildewy whilst digging out this dudes wife.

    ChemicalSlippers ,

    “Also, I depend on phone notifications so I don’t forget about the load.”

    You know you can set alarms on your phone to remember to check on stuff.

    Pika ,

    This post alone just told me that I am never buying an LG washer or dryer, that is fucking stupid. you can:t change the settings without being connected to the internet? Yea hard pass

    dangblingus ,

    Already was off LG products, now I am again!

    LiveLM ,

    Home as a Service

    This has triggered a Fight AND Flight response in my brain. I want to smash everything with a mallet then run to the mountains.
    I hate “as a Service” so much!

    Venomnik0 ,
    @Venomnik0@lemmy.world avatar

    Soon we’ll have breathing “as a service”.

    Regnil ,

    Please don’t give them more ideas

    rustydrd ,

    FOAAS (Fuck off as a service)

    Chickerino ,

    it’s a shame most people just don’t care, this has been slowly consuming and devouring every single service online and recently offline for the past decade

    DogMuffins ,

    in 2022 it revealed a scheme called “Evolving Appliances For You" that promised software upgrades to home appliances. The company offered the example of a family that moves to a different home, and different climate, and upgrades its clothes drier with routines suited to local conditions.

    This is fucking hilarious. Nobody, and I really do mean nobody, actually wants a dryer that you need to pay a subscription fee for just in case one day you move house so it can try to reconfigure itself.

    This and this article might be a little more concise.

    It sounds like more ads for smart tvs, and a subscription service for extra features for smart appliances - like a chatbot for your fridge or dishwasher or something.

    It doesn’t necessarily sound evil to me it just sounds completely retarded. I’m all about tech making life easier but it’s genuinely hard to imagine why I would want a smart dishwasher. I want a dumbass dishwasher who’s actions are solely determined by the 3 buttons on it.

    It will be interesting to see how the market responds to this. It’s hard to imagine that really anyone will be seduced by the idea of a “smart” home with these sorts of intangible benefits.

    Hackerman_uwu ,

    Well, as someone who moves between Africa and Finland with my tumble dryer twice a month this will be a godsend.

    DickFiasco ,

    Until they region-lock your dryer.

    pinkdrunkenelephants ,

    Wait until they program the devices to lock down until you pay a fee to turn them on.

    DickFiasco ,

    It’s a solution in search of a problem. May as well start selling home appliance NFTs while they’re at it.

    LillianVS ,
    @LillianVS@lemmy.world avatar

    I used to like LG products they were often really good quality and lasted a long time.

    That’s pretty much over now, not touching new LG products anymore. That’s for sure!

    I had an LG CRT and it was as old as me. Never died. It’s a real shame the planet is suffering because of greedy business practices. They put climate change on the consumer but more needs to be done to big corporations to punish this kind of behaviour.

    This is why I like dumb products. The smarter they are the more they tac on this kind of crap to them.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •