Every smart TV I own never gets internet access, ever. I just plug a real device that connects to the internet instead, they're a much faster and better experience.
An ad-free Android TV (cretezy.com)
57 pointsby CraftThatBlock5 hours ago15 comments
giancarlostoro 2 hours ago
I just want to buy a "Stupid TV" I wonder if such a brand would sell very sell "JustWatch TV" people in stores seeing how quickly it turns on, and just works, no internet questions, just a TV working. Must be revolutionary, can't believe we never thought of having TVs without an entire invasive OS that slows down the entire TV...
cadamsdotcom an hour ago
You may want that but you won't like its unsubsidised price.
Like it or not it's no longer viable to sell to consumers at "cost plus margin" - you're sold a loss-making unit and the size of the loss is based on how much LTV they expect of you.
Be happy it's cheaper for you, but be aware that as an informed consumer who's not plugging in your device you have negative LTV and are thus not the product's target customer and sadly are actually kind of leeching off their business model.
I'm sure you wouldn't do that if you had a choice. But the old business model is unviable now so no one's left except these jerks.
But hey, cheap TVs!
ben-schaaf an hour ago
Monitors have also gotten incredibly cheap, and there's Sceptre who sell dumb TVs that are pretty cheap. So I don't really buy that they're selling TVs at a loss.
MrDrMcCoy 34 minutes ago
Consider the differences in hardware and customized software between a dumb and "smart" display. They are not the same.
NordStreamYacht an hour ago
It's getting hard to get a dumb TV.
Try getting a display panel, like one of those used in restaurants to display menus.
adamsmark an hour ago
There are stupid TVs but they're more expensive since they don't have an ad subsidy.
I'm doing what you are - just don't connect it and you can enjoy ridiculously low prices on TVs.
ethersteeds 27 minutes ago
I have a similar setup and want to mention Moonfin as another excellent alternative Jellyfin client besides the one recommended here, Wholphin. I just tried several and Moonfin was the only one whose UI didn't feel needlessly clunky to me.
y-c-o-m-b an hour ago
Oh wow, TIL about Wholphin. I'll have to give that a try. I wonder if this will finally resolve the issue with me having to login to JellyFin every few days for no apparent reason (it's not the server, I switched from Win to Linux and same problem).
EDIT: all that remains for this stack is a good browser that can allow usage of uBlock Origin. BrowseHere is a pain to use with its constant nags about allowing pop-ups on certain sites...
Hobadee an hour ago
Something is wonky with your setup... My Jellyfin apps stay logged in indefinitely... Phones, TV, pretty sure even my browser is perma-logged-in.
y-c-o-m-b an hour ago
Yeah I don't doubt that. My phones and PC are always fine also. I use an ONN 4K device for the TV. The first month or two was ok. Then I updated the app at one point and it's never been the same since. I've uninstalled and reinstalled and changed to Projectivy and tried some other loaders as well, and the problem just keeps coming back. We'll see if this Wholphin client changes anything.
edoceo 23 minutes ago
This sounds like your client-device is either aggressive in App Cache cleaning.
starky an hour ago
This is pretty much the exact setup I have on my Chromecast minus button mapper since I use a Sofabaton remote for control. I ended up finding Wholpin after getting especially angry one day at the horrible way that Jellyfin deals with seeking the requires manually pressing play to start the video again.
netsharc 3 hours ago
Hah, that's a first:
> Tip: Hand this article to an AI agent (like Claude Code) and have it guide you through the setup. It can run the ADB commands for you and adapt them to your device.
Like "curl | bash" but... with a million times more computation.
Hobadee an hour ago
> Like "curl | bash" but... with a million times more computation.
At least with `curl | bash` the originating website needs to be compromised. With AI, there are about a million different ways for it to go wrong and blow up your entire HDD.
Nursie an hour ago
> Google TV, the default interface on most Android TV devices, puts a large banner at the top of the home screen promoting whatever Google wants you to watch next.
You know, I don't give a shit about that, that's fine. Recommend me some stuff to watch, I'm here to watch stuff, I might even like what you're punting and give it a go. I might have forgotten there's a new season of whatever it is. I even quite like some of the inline recommendation stuff.
What made me switch to App-only mode was that ads started appearing for general consumer products. So this is interesting, if/when they make app-only mode advertise shampoo at me I'll probably have a go with that launcher.