The Verge:
Samsung has reminded owners of its smart TVs that they should be regularly scanning for malware using its built-in virus scanning software. “Prevent malicious software attacks on your TV by scanning for viruses on your TV every few weeks,” a (now deleted) tweet from the company’s US support account read alongside a video attachment that demonstrated the laborious process.
The obvious question here is why in the world doesn’t Samsung automate this process. When so many people don’t even know how to turn off motion smoothing, what are the chances that they’re going to be mindful of security practices? It also illustrates how dumb some smart TVs can be.
No, that’s not the obvious question.
I first saw this on Twitter from Dave Nott who said, “Pro tip: keep your tv as dumb as a bag of spanners (and use an Apple TV).” This is another reason why I refuse to have a so-called “Smart TV” in my home. I just want a big, dumb piece of glass to show me pretty pictures.
Agreed. People look at me like I’m crazy when I say I don’t want a Smart TV. I hope someone still offers a decent dumb TV when it comes time for me replace mine.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I have a Samsung ? but it’s not connected to the internet – that’s AppleTV’s job!
The challenge is that almost all of the good TVs are ‘smart’ in some way, i.e. have this crap. As long as I can turn the smarts off and keep the thing from connecting to the internet, that’s fine. I’m kind of annoyed to be paying for something that I’ll never use, but… eh.
« keep your tv as dumb as a bag of spanners» might be quite difficult in practice.
On the samsung tv i have, it is not possible to disable any smart function.
The only way i found is to force Internet by ethernet cable without any cable plugged = Disable wifi internet connection.
I have a Vizio, but it’s not connected to the Internet. That’s Apple’s Mac mini’s job.
“Scan for viruses on your TV.” Wow. Didn’t take long for that bar to get lowered, did it?
Pathetic, lol.
My smart TV is unplugged from the network. Apple TV piping video output, only.
Disabling smart TV functionality is easy — If you don’t join a wifi network, and you don’t plug it into ethernet, it’s offline. No smarts.
Yes, but all the ressource allowed to the smart function are still there.
I always presumed the lag of my menu/tv was linked to the Android OS/equivalent loading in the background for smart feature such as casting / mirroring, DNLA Server,
etc…
Seems most people agree here already, so I’ll just add a me too. I don’t want my TV connected to the outside world in any way, any more than I want my blender connected. It’s a dumb monitor, not another access point for malicious incursion.
Agree. I never connect my TV to internet. Never!
That’s an Apple TV job.
I realize that this sounds extreme, but I don’t want a TV that could connect to the Internet at all. I will have hardware that is connected to the TV that is also connected to the Internet…I wouldn’t want a TV that potentially has nefarious means to use that connection to gain its own access.
Similarly, I don’t want a TV with a microphone, or a camera. I can cover them up, sure…but I would prefer a TV that doesn’t have it in the first place. I’m coming to the realization that I the marketplace is such that I would probably pay MORE to have a dumb one.
With Apple’s ever-increasing public emphasis on privacy, perhaps now is the time for me to hope that they in fact do come out with their own TV, since it appears imminent that I won’t be able to get a “dumb” one soon.
I think Gene Munster still runs a support group for that. 😉