Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

Re:Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African w... by hilbert42 on Tuesday August 24, 2021 @11:32PM (#28297779)

My solution to get a new dumb TV is simple. I don't want and would never own a smart TV so I use a standard monitor with a PVR/STB (Set Top Box). It works perfectly - I've used that solution for years.

The real problem is that governments have allowed the free-to-air (dumb) TV service to be bastardized, there's no regulation to protect it.

A very simple solution that would end the practice immediately would be for governments to put say 20% tax/duty on all smart TVs made by manufacturers who don't ALSO market dumb TVs.

Blame your governments for the lack of dumb TVs!

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Re:Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African w... by wwn_se on Wednesday August 25, 2021 @02:22AM (#28298556)

I usually just connect the "smart tv" to the internet once a year and update the firmware (after checking the change log for useful fixes). Then I disconnect it again and use my chromecast to stream.

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Re:Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African w... by hilbert42 on Wednesday August 25, 2021 @10:24AM (#28302073)

Good idea, but before I'd update I'd doubly check the net to see there are no new/hidden gotchas as some have reported (like the way some manufacturers have coded around Pi-hole, etc.).

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