Next up: debloating phones & carrier unlocking them.
I’ve had my 2007 Sony Bravia hooked up to my PC for almost 2 decades, because I absolutely refuse to buy a smart tv.
If, God forbid, that TV fails, and you find yourself being forced to buy a new one:
Use the hot spot on your phone if an online account is required for set up. Change the SSID to something that you would never use like newTV.
Set up the TV as needed on the input you want and then revert your hotspot settings.
Tin foil hat time: I’m not 100% convinced that there isn’t a way for data to travel in reverse across the HDMI connection back to the computer, but I would say that risk is much smaller than the known risk of it sending data points on what you’re currently watching back to some corporate server. If you are at the point where you are truly concerned that that is a possibility, you could probably put a cheap Chinese HDMI switch between them of the type that breaks HDCP.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but HDMI is bidirectional, it’s fundamental to how it works.There is a data channel between the devices, even ignoring things like ARC and CEC. A device would have to be VERY naughty to use it to smuggle out data and have software on the computers side to receive it, but it’s absolutely technically possible. The manufacturer also controls at least half the hardware in the equation, so it’s possible (though farfetched) they could do other less obvious stuff outside of standard HDMI behavior.
HDMI also has a feature to tunnel Ethernet over the cable, though it’s so rare for devices and cables to implement it that the chances of it working are near zero.
I would wager with as much as is known today, in the near-ish future it will be nearly unavoidable. Devices with their own cellular connections, or devices meshing with other smart devices. Imagine your neighbors washer connecting to your TV to share data, and vice versa.
You’re not wrong, HDMI has Ethernet capabilities. Can’t say I’ve seen it used before, but it’s there.
That’s what I was thinking of when I was saying it. I would guess that the likelihood of a TV manufacturer paying the fee for a SIM card to be added is much lower, but not impossible.
I do know that with the LG TV’s downloading drivers for a TV connection that the risk is higher, although that might have been cut off somehow by the outcry against it.
Wow. Thank you for that. That’s definitely better than nothing.
Sceptre still makes dumb tvs, btw
Last time i looked, they dont.
Just checked, there’s none currently available, but their stock has always been spotty. Check again in a couple months and I bet what’s available will change.
