Is there a way to de-google a smart TV?
I have an older Sony TV which has (what I can only guess to be) Google's Android TV app installed on it. I'm sick of getting new recommendations from Amazon and Disney+ and all those services. Is there a way to strip it down bare bones and get everything I need from another app repo - kinda like with Graphene vs Android?
If you buy "digital signage" or "commercial display" monitors, they won't have built-in ad-tracking; some models have a recent version of Android built-in that makes it easy to load Jellyfin, Kodi, and other such apps; and they'll be built to commercial specifications, meaning they'll last longer. They can also have better screencasting features.
On the downside: they are more expensive, you'll need to check their specs for things like bluetooth, wifi, HDMI, and other things you need; the built-in speakers are not good. The TV of course doesn't stop any particular app from serving you ads on its own, unless you load in another app to block them.
I have a setup like this, connected to a seedbox with transcoding, and it works great.
Factory reset it and don't connect it to the network.
If you want to stream, use a Chromecast. I've been using the same one for like ten years now, never an issue. Pick the media on my phone, hit cast, done.
Basically, the only way is to disconnect the TV and use it as a dumb screen. Lineageos supports a few set top boxes (see here).
I heard (take it as hearsay) that some smart TV periodically capture screenshots of what's on screen and upload it, so it actually disconnecting the tv from the network could (again, hearsay) make a real difference.
I do not know but what I'm doing on my "smart" video projector is :
then I basically "ignore" their custom launcher and go straight to my local content instead.
It's impossible to de-google or meaningfully remove unwanted stuff from Smart TVs while keeping them usable for streaming purposes.
What you want to do is factory reset, don't connect to the internet, go into settings and turn off whatever you can, and then use a streaming box.
Yes it's an additional cost but it's BETTER. The processors and memory in those TVs are lousy, the apps are often sluggish, the experience is simply not great. Frankly the hardware was built not to be usable for you, they are data collection platforms that include minimal low quality streaming experiences in order to collect data. No software is going to fix that.
Want something that "just works" and supports all the major streamers? Get an Apple TV 4k. It's pretty private but importantly no ads, clean interface, powerful hardware. Is it maximally private? No. But it is easy.
Want to put in effort? You can get either a Dune-HD box (some have dual-OS without reboot where one is Netflix certified to get you full resolution while passing DRM checks while another is unlocked bootloader which you can install all kinds of things like Plex and Kodi on) or get some other Android streaming device of your choice (Walmart's Onn brand 4k devices used to be very good and cheap though you might need to check as I heard rumors the latest devices can't be unlocked).
You'll have a better experience on more powerful hardware and will never want to go back to the bad on-board TV experience.
I dont think any smart TV's even allow you to unlock the bootloader, even if you did somehow find a way to unlock it there arent any custom roms for smart tvs. Apparently some smart tvs have unofficial bootloader unlocks through exploits but unless you want to fiddle with a GSI its useless.
Afaik they dont do completely custom firmware but just mods
Disconnect it from the network, and maybe do a factory reset. Set up some sort of set-top box (a raspberry pi or similar works great, or any old PC).
Pretend it is just a boring TV and use an OSMC box or some other HTPC solution.
There is very little you can do to the default OS other than not give it access to the Internet.
Another option is using an alternate launcher. I've used Flauncher and ProjectIvy to bypass Google's default launcher.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spocky.projengmenu&hl=en-US
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.efesser.flauncher&hl=en-US
APKs are available wherever you'd like to source them. F-droid should technically work on Android TV, as well. Android TV OS is a different OS from original Android, so I've never seen an alternative like Graphene.
I used to be annoyed by an old Samsung "smart" TV ('15 or '16 model). Most things didn't work on it, yet it kept demanding my data and playing ads constantly. So I built my first pi-hole, it stopped most of the ads but broke the TV in the process. Long story short, I went down every rabbit hole I could and no solutions were found. Granted, different brand and era so maybe you'll have better luck...but the solution for me was simply to ditch the apps altogether
I was in the same boat. If on android you can install a third party launcher. It gets rid of everything you are talking about.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/1d3ub1m/recommendations_to_replace_tv_home_launcher_in/
this appear to however only be a frontend ui and doesn't change anything on the data collection / OS right? still - looks very cool, will definitely check it out.
I installed projectivy on my android tv and it's great. Just a simple dashboard that only shows the things I put there.
Projectivy app and you can set tv to launch to that and disable the google launcher
Don’t connect it to the internet at all. Use a computer/appletv/roku whatever. A computer with your favorite Linux distribution to use just as a video player might be ok, I don’t know if you can get all the Dolby/HD stuff setup though unless you use a “commercial” solution. I use a w10 machine for the hd video sparkles.
I had a hisense TV and I once blocked all of the VIDAA domains in DNS and did a factory reset. The UI didn't pull in all the crap that it puts on the homescreen.
I should probably try it long-term and see if it's usable for everything else.
Last I checked there is some work being done but it is not prosumer ready.
Hopefully it will get there soon since console are now going down enshitification route... Endless fucking corporate slop being spammed on every section of the screen 🙄
Sorry doesn't really answer the question, but is it feasible to buy a large computer monitor and use that rather than a TV if you're going to use a set top box or old PC anyway?
We have them at work in the meeting rooms. Unsure of price however?
Skipping the smart in TV and connecting my own box on a HDMI was a godsend. My current TV has never had network connectivity.
What kind of box are you using?
I use one of those beelink / minisforum boxes with kodi installed. Never seen an ad in forever.
Pretty much the same for me except I use a pc to run the tv, with a wireless keyboard and mouse.