I currently have a similar setup, but with a very old TV (that served me well for 16 years). Not easy to find good dumb TVs these days though.

I hear you, but I’m not an example of this. I have a Pi-hole set up, firewalled my phone, happily use LibreWolf, etc.

Besides that, I also want to do the research on what screen to get. If a worse screen (small one, monitor or digital signage) is the only acceptable solution, then that’s what I’ll pick – but having some idea of what it would mean to pick a typical smart TV and try to limit the consequences is also something I want to consider. The only frustrating thing to me is that it’s hard to find out details about this (and that includes details about digital signage screen quality, for instance, since businesses don’t seem to care all that much).

Thanks, very helpful! I’m dubious about Samsung because of robolemmy’s experiences (https://feddit.nl/post/22838850/13086582), perhaps that differs per TV.

I get what you’re saying. What I’m running into is that there is little information on what happens if you ‘dont connect it to the internet at all’. I would happily do that, but as another comment notes, some devices keep whining until you do connect them, while others don’t. I can also easily set up a separate ‘fake’ network to black-hole all the communication attempts of the TV, but I have no idea whether that would stop the nagging – or the attempts for it to connect to public WiFi access points.

It would be really cool if people experimenting with this kind of thing could pool their findings, that’s all.

Thanks! See, that distinction is super helpful. I’ve found (old) lists of Smart TV OSes and how their privacy settings work (or don’t), with some details on what happens when you decline EULA’s, but not many and not very useful ones.

The answer may well be that anyone that actually cares about this stuff just doesn’t buy any smart TV (or otherwise hasn’t had to in the last few years). Still, with the answer ‘just don’t connect it to the internet’ being the most common, I’d expected to see a bit more information like you’ve given.

So the Samsung keeps nagging even when you’re watching direct HDMI input? And does the LG need to boot up the entire (Web)OS to view HDMI input?