Interesting blog post about LG TVs

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Mark

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#136245 20-Nov-2013 11:57

I came across this while browsing /.

LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to LG servers

Interested to know what people here with "Smart" TVs think of that and how many of you just clicked "accept" on the Terms and conditions.

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#937833 20-Nov-2013 12:20

I believe smart TVs are a waste of time, and prefer my smartness to come from a computer, which can deal with much more obscure codecs or bad files, does a better job interpolating for telecine/detelecine etc., is connected to the INPUT of my amp - not the OUTPUT - and is far easier to navigate for all smart-related stuff than a TV with a remote control and on-screen keyboard.

Have a smart TV. Never even bothered to plug in the ethernet cable.

But maybe that's just me.

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gehenna

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#937858 20-Nov-2013 12:34

^But what's your thoughts on the question the OP actually asked? Personally I'd be blocking the ability for the TV to communicate with those servers from the firewall level - though not many people have a gateway device other than a router which might not be very good at those kind of restrictions.

SaltyNZ

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#937861 20-Nov-2013 12:44

gehenna: ^But what's your thoughts on the question the OP actually asked? Personally I'd be blocking the ability for the TV to communicate with those servers from the firewall level - though not many people have a gateway device other than a router which might not be very good at those kind of restrictions.

Yes... sorry. :-)

Personally I'd black-hole it. But that's not an option for most. I think it is a bad call on LG's part, and one that seems inexplicable in the present climate of somewhat heightened privacy awareness. It's none of their business, and they should stop it immediately. It my even be in violation of local privacy laws (here at least) as it would be very difficult to argue that it was information required in order to provide the service.

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ubergeeknz

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#937866 20-Nov-2013 13:00

The detail the blog goes into leads me to believe that it's true. Therefore LG - d*ck move guys. Sending information about online channels etc is not so bad, if it can be disabled (actually disabled!) but sending filenames of private video? That is so not cool.

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#937882 20-Nov-2013 13:24

Lg copying google?

Seriously i am more worried about random android apps that requires access to my phone! But that's because i don't use a smart tv :D

toyonut

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#937889 20-Nov-2013 13:27

This sort of thing is really annoying to me. Why should a TV or anything else I buy need to display adverts to me. It is just greedy to my mind. Its like paying for sky and then still having huge blocks of ads in it. The gmail app is going to be going the same way from the look of things displaying adverts in the app. Glad google still allows imap access to mailboxes.
I liked the phrase that if you are not paying for something, you are the product, but it seems increasingly we are the product whether we pay or not. Our information is bought, sold and mined for detail to display adverts. It bugs me just a little bit.

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#937894 20-Nov-2013 13:37

Maybe they will give away TVs in the future. If they are doing that sort of thing, then I think the tv should be heavily subsidised. Yes, anything that is 'free' , you are usually the product being sold.

reven

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#937896 20-Nov-2013 13:38

personally I just think its the times we live it, it really doesnt bother me all that much. as long as there is some restrictions to what the collect. But showing me relevant ads compared to completely rubbish ones, im fine with that.

as to the smart tvs being a waste of time, couldnt disagree with this more. Completely dumped all my HTPCs in favour of samsung smart tvs, best experience ive ever had. a true all in one solution with zero maintenance and a lot easier to use (since its a single standard remote and everything is just "apps" launched by simple interface).

TinyTim

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#937905 20-Nov-2013 13:50

I wonder if other brands are doing it as well... Sony? Panasonic? Samsung?

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#937907 20-Nov-2013 13:51

reven: personally I just think its the times we live it, it really doesnt bother me all that much. as long as there is some restrictions to what the collect. But showing me relevant ads compared to completely rubbish ones, im fine with that.

as to the smart tvs being a waste of time, couldnt disagree with this more. Completely dumped all my HTPCs in favour of samsung smart tvs, best experience ive ever had. a true all in one solution with zero maintenance and a lot easier to use (since its a single standard remote and everything is just "apps" launched by simple interface).

Well, I have a Mac, an XBox and a Blu-Ray player all plugged into either the amp or the TV (because both only have 2 HDMI inputs, so the Blu-Ray goes straight to the TV). Arguably the Smart TV could replace the Mac, but not the other two. And also arguably the Blu-Ray player could (largely) replace the Mac, but it's absolutely rubbish at playing media files, even ones I've ripped myself in high quality direct from DVD or Blu-Ray. I have no reason to think the Tv would be any better. But the Mac is a breeze with VLC, especially since the Mavericks upgrade made Dolby Digital pass-through over optical actually work. Now if I can just get DTS to work too...

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reven

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#937912 20-Nov-2013 13:58

SaltyNZ:
reven: personally I just think its the times we live it, it really doesnt bother me all that much. as long as there is some restrictions to what the collect. But showing me relevant ads compared to completely rubbish ones, im fine with that.

as to the smart tvs being a waste of time, couldnt disagree with this more. Completely dumped all my HTPCs in favour of samsung smart tvs, best experience ive ever had. a true all in one solution with zero maintenance and a lot easier to use (since its a single standard remote and everything is just "apps" launched by simple interface).

Well, I have a Mac, an XBox and a Blu-Ray player all plugged into either the amp or the TV (because both only have 2 HDMI inputs, so the Blu-Ray goes straight to the TV). Arguably the Smart TV could replace the Mac, but not the other two. And also arguably the Blu-Ray player could (largely) replace the Mac, but it's absolutely rubbish at playing media files, even ones I've ripped myself in high quality direct from DVD or Blu-Ray. I have no reason to think the Tv would be any better. But the Mac is a breeze with VLC, especially since the Mavericks upgrade made Dolby Digital pass-through over optical actually work. Now if I can just get DTS to work too...

i have a 2013 (dual core, so is fast) samsung tv, plugged into receiver via single HDMI + ARC (audio return channel) which feeds sound from tv/apps (netflix,plex etc) into my surround sound. so setup was simple, just the one cable. i can play netflix, plex (so all my local media + streaming services), hulu etc all with surround sound on that single device. I do have a xbox360 for gaming and a ps4 on the way (just for gaming and i suppose the odd bluray). I have rented movies through xbox before, but most of the stuff I watch is on netflix. only have about 10 blurays at home, all that have been backed up to a NAS (4 year old == destroyer of physical media)

i had htpcs for years (started in 2002ish i think with them). you always needed a keyboard/mouse every so often (sure they ran great when working fine, but could get messy closing down one app to launch another for bluray playback or netflix etc) and they would always break down with updates requiring a reboot, or would crash etc at the worst time (sunday night, jumping into bed to relax...).

so if they can tell which ads i want to actually see (like for a new ps4) vs ads I dont care at all for (makeup) then great, show me that instead. just dont steal any identifying information about me.

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hashbrown

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#937913 20-Nov-2013 14:01

mattwnz: Maybe they will give away TVs in the future. If they are doing that sort of thing, then I think the tv should be heavily subsidised. Yes, anything that is 'free' , you are usually the product being sold.

That paradigm is long gone. It's now "If we can get away with tracking you, we will." Services like Google and Facebook at least have a decent amount of oversight and scrutiny.

How do you know there isn't an LG employee in NZ with access to this data? Around the holidays they look for TVs that stop connecting, cross reference the serial number with the warranty registration address information, then hand the data to their mates to go rob your house?

SaltyNZ

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#937915 20-Nov-2013 14:03

reven: i can play netflix, plex (so all my local media + streaming services), hulu etc all with surround sound on that single device.

Interesting. Did you have to jump through many hoops to get Netflix? I didn't mention it before, but that was one other big reason why there is a computer required on the TV - Netflix and Hulu. I suppose I could get them both on the XBox if I could be bothered making a second account and convincing it it should be a US account, but it's easier just to point a computer web browser at it.

As far as HTPCs being broken down requiring updates ... yeah, that's annoying. It's just as annoying when the XBox and Blu-Ray player insist on updates when I want to use them. Doesn't your TV do it too?

Edit: I mean Netflix on the TV itself. Obviously there are hoops to jump through to get it at all in NZ. I believe the international version of my Panasonic has it, but not the NZ version.

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Bung

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#937916 20-Nov-2013 14:04

Speaking of "Smart" tvs, do brands other than LG provide a decent EPG? The LG range in Australia use the EIT data that isn't available here. LG have made vague promises to look into using the Freeview MHEG5 info for their scheduling but nothing seems to be happening.

reven

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#937920 20-Nov-2013 14:15

SaltyNZ:
reven: i can play netflix, plex (so all my local media + streaming services), hulu etc all with surround sound on that single device.

Interesting. Did you have to jump through many hoops to get Netflix? I didn't mention it before, but that was one other big reason why there is a computer required on the TV - Netflix and Hulu. I suppose I could get them both on the XBox if I could be bothered making a second account and convincing it it should be a US account, but it's easier just to point a computer web browser at it.

As far as HTPCs being broken down requiring updates ... yeah, that's annoying. It's just as annoying when the XBox and Blu-Ray player insist on updates when I want to use them. Doesn't your TV do it too?

Edit: I mean Netflix on the TV itself. Obviously there are hoops to jump through to get it at all in NZ. I believe the international version of my Panasonic has it, but not the NZ version.

no hoops really, my router has dns set to unblockus so when i first bought the tv it detected i was in america so defaulted to american store, so i didnt have to do anything, netflix, hulu were there. vudu doesnt work though as they check the serial number of the device and see if it is a american device (vudu has always been a PITA though).

the tv asks to update with the option to "Update Now", "Remind Me Later" and "Update Later when tv is turned off". but ive only ever seen that once, updates are pushed that regularly (had tvs for about 4 months).

i was running netflix on the xbox, a lot easier than a computer + browser (interface wise), wasnt hard to do (create american account, sign into that account, download netflix, sign into standard account, done.)

samsung (i think LG as well) let you write apps in html5/css/js, so its very easy to create apps for it (well if u can put together a webapp). i'm working on a nextpvr app which allows me to have nextpvr running on the same server as plex which takes care of all my recordings/live tv and just then watch it on any samsung tv/bluray. way nicer setup IMO.

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