You can root webos depending on what version you’re running but that more just lets you run homebrew (which is handy for youtube with Adblock and sponsorblock)

As others have said the best thing you can do is bypass internet connectivity altogether. I use the youtube app so I keep it connected with lg services and tracking blocked:

||snu.lge.com^
||su.lge.com^
||su-ssl.lge.com^
||snu-dev.lge.com^
||su-dev.lge.com^
||nsu.lge.com^

(Formatted for adguard dns)

But it’s easier to just disconnect entirely. Let it collect data but if it’s disconnected it can’t do anything with it.

For a box I use a Chinese google tv box - ugoos am6b+. It can decode almost any video format (including dolby vision and all lossless audio, can pass through) except av1 basically and there are some newer versions that can do that as well. Google is awful right? The ugoos is stripped back pretty hard though it does retain the play store but still block the following:

||androidtvwatsonfe-pa.googleapis.com^
||androidtvchannels-pa.googleapis.com^

Probably not necessary but just in case. Anyway, the Google tv side is just for streaming services (if you use them) and IPTV because Jellyfin and kodi are garbage at IPTV, tivimate on android is leagues better

Anyway flash the box to use Coreelec and copy Coreelec to the emmc, takes like 10 minutes and is pretty easy, just need an sd card. Now you use kodi as your Jellyfin app (or plex/emby but fuck plex/emby) by just installing the Jellyfin for kodi plugin in kodi and in jellyfin. Sign into your Jellyfin instance in the plugin, your library will import (can take awhile the first time if you’re like me and have a huuuuge library with like 1,000 movies, 10,000 episodes, and 300,000 songs)

Then look around on the kodi forums for a decent skin that looks nice for you bc the default one is butt, configure the menus to match your setup, adjust the skin settings to your liking, etc. backup your settings!

Now you have a Jellyfin client that plays back media directly without transcoding 99.99% of the time (assuming you have an avr that can play lossless audio), is far more mature than any of the shitty Jellyfin client apps (development started in 2003), handles stuff like subtitles far better, still syncs watched status, etc. and the worst part of kodi: library management and administration, is now handled by jellyfin, which does it much better.

If you have remote users or other TVs/phones/etc they can still use the client apps too

Downside is that you lose most plugin support. Like back before they started to roll intro skipper into Jellyfin or jelly scrub, those are useless to kodi. And a weakness of kodi is that with the rise of plex/jellyfin addon development for kodi has dropped off significantly so no introskipper plugin for kodi. Navigation features work well (pressing right on the remote skips forward 10s) so that’s close enough, or just download good quality rips with chapters

This except I use a laptop running linux mint.

Roku TVs did that

https://www.pcmag.com/news/roku-bricking-tvs-unless-users-accept-dispute-resolution-terms

But if you don’t have it connected to internet it works as intended. It says so in the article. So unless they force you to connect to internet to switch inputs it’s nbd if you never have it connected to internet at all.

Show me a link to a 4k 120 60+ inch monitor. I want to know what you'd specifically consider a reasonable alternative. None of this vague bullshit.

You realize I'm not the same person, right? So maybe change the attitude a bit.

120Hz wasn't in your original question. For that you'd need to be in direct view LED territory, which is going to be in the $150k+ range, like an FE012I3 (at least with Sharp/NEC).

Sony has a line of Bravia post production OLEDs, the FWD-##A95Ls ( the number is the sizing) which is going to be a phenomenal production quality display. $7k-$10k.

LG and Samsung are all WebOS and Tizen respectively, but the versions are different than the consumer version. So its "smart", but not in the same way as consumer editions - sampling content and other such things would be a legal nightmare for them. So if you want "smart" but not "consumer smart" you can go that route, but expect about twice the price.

Edit: I suppose I can toss Planar into the mix here, different business purpose and youre not buying them at best buy. They are more of a 24x7 operation design. I don't think 120hz is on the sale list yet though, those will be part of the UltraRes series.

Good tips. I mostly use it for YouTube and watching movies on Jellyfin. I already have a a PiHole set up so thanks for posting the domains, will make sure those are blocked properly.

And I will also look into rooting the WebOS, blocking the YouTube ads would be a godsend

Honestly the bigger thing is sponsorblock, blocking youtube ads is a big deal but it’s so much nicer to be able to circumvent the internalized advertising. Youtuber spends 4 full minutes plugging a vpn service? Automatically skipped seamlessly

Rooting ranges from very easy (literally go to a webpage, very unlikely you’re on a firmware this old), to medium (put stuff on a usb and try to play some music, may have to try a few times), to very difficult (connecting hardware to the tv), and in some cases is impossible. Don’t update your tv if you don’t have to, lg rarely fixes issues and never adds new features

https://cani.rootmy.tv/

https://www.sceptre.com/TV/LED-HDTV-category1category21.html

As far as I know, these have no smart functions. I believe the Walmart site carries them.

Interesting. Doesn’t look like that brand is available outside North America, but maybe there is hope?

This except I use a laptop running linux mint.

Hello! Ive had my LG Smart TV for almost 2 years now and i have some issues with it. Apart from the obvious data collection and shady opt-out "do not sell my data" settings theres just a bunch of other magical issues with Jellyfin, WebOS and their apps that annoy me.

Does anyone have any alternative Smart TV OS, tips or tricks? Would love to run another OS entirely that is privacy friendly but I dont even know if its possible.

This except I use a laptop running linux mint.