I'd like to let people know that Sceptre still makes dumb tvs and they're pretty good.
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
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I'm feeling a lot less crazy having my strict rule on AV equipment:
It should work out the box without connecting to the internet, and it shouldn't be connected without a damned good reason.
To the point that I insisted on setting up the PS5 and playing a game on it before connecting, just to be sure.
How hard is it for companies to just make a good screen screen with the necessary ports any nothing else.
We are all losing our minds.
It's textbook rent-seeking behavior. They discount the TV $201 to undercut someone else, and make up the difference selling the ads over the life of the TV.
This is how SO many things work, it's only surprising that it's taken this long. If you watch YT on this fancy TV, you're getting the same thing.
I guess it's hard when they've probably factored in ad revenue in the pricing. It's not a new practice - it's been done with cheap Chinese smartphones that were sometimes sold below the cost of hardware and production.
It's terrible, I agree. Brands like this go into a list of offenders that I'll make sure to avoid in the future.
My Hisense TV screen also broke in half by itself and they refused to honor the warranty.
"Brand denies wrongdoing"
Of course. "Use is consent to the user agreement."
They could get you to swear eternal fealty to Lord Xenu, Alien God of the Universe in the user agreement that you consent to by connecting the TV to the internet.
Thats why you dont get smart tvs.
We're all going to be buying computer monitors to watch TV soon.
They're becoming "smart" as well, unfortunately.
Genuine question, is there a downside to a HTPC?
I mean... good luck finding a 65 inch PC monitor.
That does seem like a bit of a downside.
Storage management.
Stremio/Kodi exists though.
Don't let your TV be on the internet.
changing the TV's DNS servers or disconnecting it from the internet entirely.
Chiming in as an Australian budget VIDAA owner.
I spotted that this TV attempts to query 8.8.8.8, regardless of your DNS settings. I implemented a port 53 (DNS) redirect so those queries get resolved by my local server.
I also figured out which servers are serving up ads/tracking. I fired an email to Pete and got them added to his list. You're welcome. I'm guessing a pi-hole would work with it.
https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php
I didn't install the latest update, and probably never will. My TV contacts the unruly ACR servers, but the later firmware probably contacts nexxen.
I fear the day these fucks figure out DOH or something. Not sure there's any way to suppress or intercept that, short of just blocking all external traffic to the TV.
You need plain DNS to resolve the DoH server. Just block that.
Setting up DoH, I already provide the expected name AND an IP. No need for plain DNS at any step. There's no reason a corporate TV can't do that either.
A hardcoded IP is even easier to block.
People like you help to make the internet a better place — which matters a lot to me, because one of my most desperately held beliefs is that it is possible to take the hopefulness of the early internet and combine it with the wisdom of the last few decades to produce a more robust kind of hope
For other readers here is a tutorial to do DNS capture into a pihole server or other DNS
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Not trying to be a Sony Bravia shill but I have two Sony Bravia XBR (X950G and X900H) TVs. Neither of these has ever attempted to show me an advertisement. They aren't the newest versions nor the most expensive. I don't include YT ads since those are YT generated.
You might like to learn about Smart Tube. It's a front end for YT on Android TV, but it cuts the ads and sponsors. You have to download the APK though and load it that way (I refuse to say side load. side loading implies perhaps you're not supposed to do it. I paid $1K for this tv. I'm going to do what i fuckin want to, not what google tells me I'm allowed to do), because you sure as shit know that google wouldn't allow that app on the play store. I've been using it for a year or two, and i have yet to see an ad.
Sony pissed me off a few years back. Day one: wanna share data with us? No. Year later: data? No. Year 3. Your tv will no longer accept internet connections unless you agree to share your data. Ok, fuck. Year 4. 30% apps no longer work due to system requirements. You - bastards. I just used a firestick in it until it died on year 6. Which also sucks since it was $3000 in 2017.
Get 'em while that last:
“In a major industry shift announced in early 2026, Sony is entering a strategic partnership where TCL will take a 51% stake in its home entertainment division, including Bravia TVs, with a new joint venture expected to be fully operational by April 2027”
It’s the end of an era for the Sony Bravia.
This is misleading.
TCL will only be manufacturing the panel. Sony will continue to perform integration.
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They can’t force me if I don’t connect it to the internet
Bet there are children that need protecting!
I can imagine future TVs refusing to work without an always-on internet connection.
I can imagine them shipping TVs with built in cellular data just for ads
... and exactly 2 weeks later modders will have figured out how to get their hands on the yummy free unlimited data inside it.
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Or having prebaked fallback ads.
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