It's just a matter of time until Smart TVs deactivate themselves if they can't connect to their telemetry and ad servers -- or the manufacturers enter into agreements with streaming services to proxy ads through the same IPs used to stream video.

This would not be without precedent. Some Samsung TVs already refuse to exit setup mode if they can't connect to the Internet after initial power-on to geo-lookup their IP to make sure that they're being used in the country they're sold for.

The best solution for streaming is a low-end PC with hardware video decoding and the ability to run Ublock Origin.

.

.

.

Edit: I see from other comments that Samsung TVs already go into degraded functionality mode if they can't connect to their ad servers, and already serve some ads from endpoints used for necessary functionality.

I recently built a HTPC/home server based on a Gemini Lake Celeron ITX board in a compact case. The CPU/GPU is passively cooled and can decode 4 simultaneous 4K streams in realtime. It has hardware decoding of x264, x265, VP8/9. All-in, aside from the storage disks (for a Btrfs RAID1 pool) that I took from my desktop PC, it cost me less than a QNAP/Synology NAS with room for a similar number of disks.

I still use my Chromecast for Youtube, because the UI in a browser isn't great for couch use. On the CC, multiple people can add videos to the playback queue, I haven't found a good replacement for that yet.

For anything longer than a typical Youtube video, it's not an issue finding a movie and starting it from a wireless keyboard.

Our current TV is a 42" LG that I got for free from work. It's old enough to not have any "smart" features, it has no networking at all. The picture quality is great and no ghosting unlike a lot of older LCDs. I am not looking forward to the day I eventually have to replace it.

This was my setup recently too but then Amazon disabled their cast button inside their prime website a few months ago which meant we had to switch to the app route. Despite their fuckery, we've found streaming from the phone apps (Amazon, Netflix, + Plex for torrents) is actually a better experience than the laptop on the couch or wireless keyboard option. Also YouTube Vanced + nextdns.io takes care of YouTube ads.

WE NOTICED YOU'VE BLOCKED OUR AD SERVER - covers entire screen

I haven't seen any of this behaviour on my Samsung TV yet, but I'm going to pay more attention to it now. And definitely avoid Samsung in the future.

What gets lost in degraded mode?

Anything that requires Internet connection (i.e. Youtube, including casting from mobile device).

I just found out this weekend; with an older, cca 2013-ish samsung tv, connected to a network that has OpenWRT router with Adblock, and forced redirect of all port 53, 853 traffic to the local resolver. It cannot resolve its mothership (the rules were already in the Adblock list, I didn't add anything). The TV shows up a messagebox that it cannot to the Internet and asking the user to check the connection.

The local DLNA sources work.

I have also a LG TV, and I used to keep it disconnected at all times as all my streaming comes from the nVidia Shield anyway.

However recently I wanted to setup my home automation system to automatically turn the TV off when I go to bed or outside, and for that I needed to connect it to the home network.

I solved this by confguring the router firewall to drop any package from the TV to the internet. It works!

Sadly google has started serving ads on the android TV home screen, which will presumably affect the shield.

Mine doesn't show ads (yet?). I hope that means pihole is effective enough in blocking them.

One could use a separate box for all the smarts.

Integration brings unneeded obsolescence and reduces choice and control. May be hard to avoid in space constrained phones but should not be needed on tvs.

I’m shocked to hear you say that the smart TVs ui is better than an AppleTV. Would love to know more.