Technology

59398 readers

2816 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

216

TV that doesn't require 'on-line activation' to set up. (midwest.social)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

78 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm going to buy my first new TV in years. Even if it's a 'smart' tv we plan to just use our Roku. I've heard that some TVs require you to connect it to the internet before you can even use a Roku device. For privacy reasons I don't want my TV to EVER have access to my wifi. Is anyone aware of how to know what models/brands of TVs allow me to use it without ever connecting the TV itself to wifi?

If necessary I guess I could connect it to my guest network to 'activate' the TV, set up the Roku to connect to my private network, then change the password to the guest network.

Would rather just have a TV that doesn't even 'phone home' once.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

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

So far all the Roku TVs I've tried will let you skip setting up Internet on them and then default to a dumbed down mode where the Homescreen is just TV inputs, and you can access the settings menu. Haven't had a chance to test a recent Android/Google TV.

Update: Seems Sony, TCL, and maybe some other Android/Google TV makers allow using the TV without linking a Google Account.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00115361

https://support.tcl.com/us-androidtv-common-questions/do-i-need-to-have-a-google-account-to-enjoy-android-tv-58

https://support.tcl.com/can-i-just-use-basic-tv-on-a-tcl-google-tv

Update 2: Samsung seems to let you skip logging into their TVs during setup via a Skip button in the top-right corner, but it's unclear if you can skip connecting to the Internet at all.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I got a TCL with Google TV earlier this year (the same model was available from both Best Buy and Wal-Mart), can confirm that I didn't have to sign into anything or even connect it to the net to use the coax or HDMI ports. Also it remembers the last used connection, so I don't even have to skip past the Google TV stuff when I turn it on.