I think Apple’s strategy here is going to pay off. Provide a box with an actual fast processor in it, a simple Home Screen with no ads, and an OS with no tracking. Somehow this is a revolutionary idea in this industry.

But slowly I’m seeing more people recommending the AppleTV, even amongst enthusiast circles which tend to be rather anti-Apple.

How would that help? You plug your AppleTV into a smart TV (to be able to use it) and the TV takes tracking snapshots anyway.

You don't connect your TV to the internet.

A report of a Samsung TV automatically connecting to a nearby unsecured network: https://web.archive.org/web/20210912135232/https://forum.dev...

Not as common as I thought though: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25275350

We're linking to a random forum post as "proof?" If this was a widespread problem, we'd know it, but all we get is conspiracies which this is.

Kind of the opposite. I had heard of it happening, so looked for evidence, and found that HN post asking for evidence, with that random post seemingly the only bit supplied.

Shouldn't be hard to honeypot your TV into doing that - just set up a network and check if the TV connects to it, or set up sniffing at the gateway and see if there's any traffic that seems unaccounted for (as in not coming from your set-top box and suspiciously large for the periodic software update checks).

no obviously apparent tracking*

Do you have a source for the hidden tracking in Apple TV you’re referring to?

I don't have much hands-on experience of Apple TV's, but the internet is full of mentions of a "Limit Ad Tracking" option that defaults to off (more tracking).

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/limit-ad-tracking-on-roku-a...

apple's own privacy policy, have a fun read https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/

Yeah TV is not something everyone wants to play around with. Not even nerds. Especially if you have a partner which just want to watch tv. You just want to relax and watch tv without any issues.

This is a very fuzzy memory, but I remember a report of a smart device that "helpfully" automatically connects to other devices nearby, forming a mesh network.

In other words, even if you never connect your TV to your WIFI, it might be enough that your neighbour does.

If anyone has any more info on this I'd be very interested in seeing it

The parent post is probably referring to Amazon Sidewalk, a mesh network formed from Echo devices and other Amazon smart ~~garbage~~ devices, launched in 2021: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/amazon-devices-will-...

I don't think that's the same. Amz Sidewalk is very slow, low bandwidth over sub-GHz. What GP is thinking about is probably along the lines of, if not getting Internet access by the owner, willy-nilly connecting to any open wifi network it finds, and uses that.

But "meshing" with other apparatus from the same manufacturers is a clever and evil idea - perhaps another TV from the same brand is in range and has Internet, then they can proxy that way.

All these probably break some regulations or laws.

I tried searching for it, without much luck. I don't think I was thinking of Sidewalk, though. It was more like some TV manufacturer like TCL, LG, etc. The best I could find are some unconfirmed reports of devices automatically connecting to open WiFi, which doesn't quite match.

But I can't find anything now, so it might be best to consider it apocryphal.

Did you know that HDMI cables have Ethernet running over them?

My TV is a Raspberry 3B+ with a TV Hat and TVHeadend on my Android phone and tablets. My disconnected LG smart TV sits in a corner connected to an old PlayStation. I can use it to watch movies with friends if I want to: I connect to it either my laptop or my tablet with a HDMI cable.

BTW: why a smart TV? Because for only an extra 50 Euro I got a much better screen (subjective assessment) than the best dumb TV on sale when I went shopping for them years ago.

Meanwhile my 70 year old something mother wants to watch TV not having to rely on me for tech support when she does.

For nerds, brilliant. I love such setups myself but for the household consumer it's an no-go.

the bane of my existence. I have some older family dealing with serious cognitive decline and when it comes to my parents or in-laws I'm "the guy" so they will ask for my help navigating the TV because they are still understandably clinging onto satellite/cable while being forced to learn streaming.

I'm more than happy to help as this is an area of interest but man, what I would do to be able to set my father-in-law up with a TV, streamer, remote he can use consistently. When I bought an Apple TV I thought that would solve his problems when they housesat for us but his motor issues get in the way and he always forgets Siri. I raised this question of how do we better serve older adults a few times at an assistive tech conference and no one seems to have cracked the code yet.

FYI you can use a universal infrared remote with Apple TV, which might have larger buttons or a more familiar interface. I have mixed feelings myself about the "touchpad" in the apple remote.

Definitely. I'll be in that place if VR eventually takes over and I'll have to wear something to get anything accomplished.

They are making this increasingly difficult, though. I bought a Vizio TV years ago that came with a physical remote. At some point the firmware was updated in a way that the physical remote could only perform limited function, and to do anything slightly advanced (changing the input, brightness, things like that) you had to use their app. Which, of course, required connecting to the internet. Obviously this could have been avoided if I hadn't connected it to the internet in the first place and upgraded the firmware. But I didn't have that hindsight at the time. And I think some newer models don't even come with a physical remote. But, lesson learned: I will never even consider buying a Vizio ever again.

Vizio are GPL violators too BTW:

https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html