I just finished setting up a custom router with dns ad blocking. Next comes a media player so I can purge this smart TV filth from my household.

Huge shout out to Louis Rossmann and the FUTO communuty contributors, check out the wiki on self-hosted software if you haven’t already.

Wiki link

  • Dickarus@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    A cheap computer/laptop. HDMI cable. Ublock origin (sprinkle some sponserblock and privacy badger in there). A TV that is never connected to the internet. Voila. No ads. None. Zilch. Zero. Ad free.

    Streaming platforms that have gone to ad supported formats make me laugh because it’s just a 3-5 second black screen, not the ad, and it’s back to the content. Been doing it for decades. Don’t sit there and get reamed by their bullshit.

        • notfromhere@lemmy.ml
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          52 minutes ago

          Detailed instructions for things like this will need to documented. It starts with ads… does it evolve into 1984? Who knows, but it seems more likely in light of recent events.

  • wazoobi@lemm.ee
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    31 minutes ago

    I’m trying to understand why this is marked as NSFW… I must be missing something?

    The intrusion of ads is annoying AF, I agree. I’ll have to look into that link for DNS ad-blocking, thanks!

  • GooseFinger@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    2 hours ago

    Oh, and if anyone knows why pfBlockerNG might fail to update some DNSBL AND IPv4 feeds during cron events, I’d be forever grateful. I’m getting tired of my router crashing every hour.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 hour ago

    People who don’t have the tech chops for self-hosting can also check the market for shop displays (like you’d see above the counter in a fast food joint). Those are “dumb” displays, no ads bs built-in because they aren’t expected to be used outside of a commercial environment.

    They cost more than smart tvs because the ads subsidize consumer models. Rather, they cost as much as tvs this size really cost (after markup). $1700 is not realistic for a huge screen if it didn’t have ads. Also, fuck ads.

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    I made my Smart TV into a dumb TV by never activating the smart TV functions. And then I plugged a relatively cheap computer into it. So I don’t have this kind of problem.

    • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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      58 minutes ago

      I have a very old 4K Toshiba TV with a built in “smart browser” that, due to me never plugging into the Internet, has a home page with news about how well Obama’s doing in the polls for being a relatively unknown junior senator.

  • SlapnutsGT@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    I recently took my brand new stupid fucking tv off the grid. I use Apple TV so not a big deal with the ads and shit but the damn thing forced an update mid movie, reset, and black screened. Couldn’t get it back on and went to bed, figured I’d deal with it in the morning. Luckily it worked the next day after that no more internet for you.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      3 hours ago

      If you think that’s bad, my Denon receiver had to update itself which for some reason fails 100% of the time when using wifi so I had to find the longest ethernet cable I have to connect into the back (or disconnect 20+ wires from the back to move it closer to the network switch) so that it could finish downloading the firmware and complete the update before it would start working again.

  • richardisaguy@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Get a cheap computer and connect the tv to it; get a mouse and bluetooth keyboard or an air mouse if your want to; install kodi perhaps, or just have your bare desktop. Problem solved

    Disconnect the tv to wifi too.

    • TheOSINTguy@sh.itjust.works
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      4 hours ago

      There are some cheap Bluetooth TV remotes so if you want to take some time out of your day, there’s a few Linux distros that ship with similar GUI to some TV’s.

  • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I mean… Historically I find the superbowl ads (and the halftime show) more entertaining than the actual game, but damn that is shitty.

  • Disable all internet functionality, set the time to the 1990s to prevent many timers from going off, attach the tv to another device that doesn’t have ads via your cable of choice. But why was your smart tv 1700? Did it have some special features?