• nothingcorporate@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        I do this. It’s the best. You can buy used HP or Dell mini workstations on eBay for super cheap.

        Full Linux, full ad blocking, full access to every streaming service instead of just whoever makes an app for your particular TV.

        And with the enshittification of smart TVs injecting ads everywhere they can, keeping it disconnected is the only way to fly. Modern tech is like Skynet, you can’t let it connect or it’s the end of the world.

        • zarkony@lemmy.zip
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          20 hours ago

          Only problem is streaming services like Amazon that purposefully limit the quality on Linux.

          • Kaityy@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            11 hours ago

            This is the point where you download qbittorrent on the machine, and hop on your favorite torrent site to go get whatever show or movie you want for free, and play it on VLC. Just make sure to use a VPN if you live in a country that enforces piracy law. My reccomendation is Mullvad VPN ($5/month) if you care about privacy, and literally whatever’s the cheapest if you don’t.

            • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              You can get a seedbox for $10-$15 and set up the arr stack to automate everything. I think we watch YouTube ad free more than anything though.

          • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org
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            15 hours ago

            That is why I’m not subscribed to any of them. If they don’t want to offer me the same bare minimum, it’s on them. I mean why are they even doing that? To protect against piracy? Yeah, that seems to be doing absolutely nothing then.

          • brown567@sh.itjust.works
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            19 hours ago

            Get a browser spoofing add-on! I have google fiber, and I’ve found that my internet is faster if it thinks I’m using chrome 🤷‍♂️

            • fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de
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              13 hours ago

              That doesn’t make sense, a “browser spoofing” addon most certainly doesn’t do anything that would be detectable by an ISP listening in on your encrypted connections.

          • bizarroland@fedia.io
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            18 hours ago

            And it also depends on your version of Linux as sometimes they don’t play well with the copy protection software.

            I had a lot of issues getting some videos on Tubi to play just because I was playing it on a Linux.

            I was using mint cinnamon.

      • Some cheaper brands, which are subsidized via ads, actively search for unsecured networks. Disabling the Wi-Fi as completely as possible might be worth the time, if you have such a model.

        • evidences@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          I don’t even think it’s limited to the cheaper brands. I thought I heard about Samsung (or some other similarly large vendor) TVs connecting to networks their servers knew about for updates and stuff all of course without your interaction/consent. I might have just read that as a possible future thing though it was a while back that I saw it.

        • Kowowow@lemmy.ca
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          22 hours ago

          If it’s aggressive enough might have to damage what it uses for an antenna