- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- android@lemdro.id
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- android@lemdro.id
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Worth pointing out this isn’t any proper Android TV devices, but rather those cheap boxes that are often basically SBCs with AOSP installed on them which are predominantly sold as easy piracy boxes.
Edit: in fact, the article doesn’t currently have TV in the title
Leaving out the TV makes it less precise and more clickbaity because then it sounds like Android phones are affected.
I guess the problem is that “Android TV” is a specific thing that none of these devices actually are, they’re just dodgy boxes running Android that can be plugged into a TV.
For me it’s more clickbaity because Android TV isn’t actually involved here at all.
I’d say it would be more clickbaity if you just removed the “TV”, because it’d make you think of smartphones, and those would be much more concerning
Wait, smart devices might not be secure?! I’m shocked!
Are non smart TVs even still a thing nowadays? I don’t own or watch any TV so I honestly don’t know how the market currently looks like.
Yes. They are sold for commercial use, e.g., McD’s menu, and are quite pricey.
I think you meant to say not subsidized by ad tracking lol
Depends on your definition of “quite pricey.” There’s no equivalent of a $250 50" Insignia FireTV, but I’ve seen Samsung signage displays on Amazon for about a $75-$100 premium over their comparable Smart TVs. They also don’t come with a stand, so if you weren’t already buying a VESA mount you’ll need to add another $40-80. There is a significant premium, but it’s not necessarily orders of magnitude.
Apparently “smartness” has not invaded projectors…per a comment I read here on kbin a while back from a projector owner. This really encourages me to buy one.
It did though, last time I went to a tech store, there was a samsung smart projector that had all the capabilities of a smart tv
I hope it is not ubiquitous.
Not yet, but it is definitely heading that direction
Although a projector would need you to have a home with a whole spare wall. And would force you to dim the lights all the time.
They’re harder to find, for sure. Especially if you want a large screen.
When I was shopping around a few years ago, the only 65" TV I could find without smart features was a Sceptre, which is Walmart’s electronics brand. Speakers so bad that I had to buy a sound bar, and the display isn’t that great, but it gets the job done and I don’t need to worry about it being an attack vector.
They get called “monitors” a lot (depending whether you need them to pick up cable/airwaves of course)
China hacked my fucking coffee mug.
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These are just generic Android TV devices that use Allwinner board. Allwinner made these kind of generic boards for Android TV and Android Auto head unit and sell them to OEMs. The OEMs then “customize” it by adding their APKs into the ROM provided by Allwinner. I doubt the malware come from Allwinner. Maybe it’s just one (or more) OEM that include whatever APK they found on the internet without checking.
That’s why you should build your own media center from an old machine. Much safer and more private.
How?
Look into Plex servers, that should keep you busy for the next six months till you get it up and running.
Or Jellyfin. Because free.
That will keep you busy for a full year.
What are you talking about. First time I set it up, had it running on my local network in less than 5 minutes. 5 more minutes for external (granted, already had the infrastructure for that in place).
Then maybe 20min going through the settings to personalize my account? And maybe another 20min looking if there are any plugins I wanted to use.
- Connect old PC to TV. Both can be 15 years old.
- (optional) For better performance, get a small SSD alongside the big HDD (a 64GB
/partition will do), maybe have a homemade NAS ready too - Install Lubuntu, Mint XFCE, Puppy Linux or any other distro of choice
- Set up KDE Connect, qBittorrent and VLC
- Enjoy
Stremio on a old windows laptop is a good easy alternative
OK I’ve tried in the past to make a decent streaming box from both windows media center edition and various Linux distros. But I need something that is simple, can be controlled entirely from a remote, and has the major streaming apps (Netflix, disney, etc). I haven’t really found any solution that’s easy enough for non techie people to use. I have a standalone roku box that works ok we also have a roku TV which is a giant piece of garbage, and I’m considering buying an external roku or nvidia shield as a streaming box instead, I do have a couple of raspberry pi 4s I could use one but again I’m faced with the same issues.
You’re going to build your own smart TV that can handle new HDMI and Displayport advancements too?
Pff sure. How hard can it be? Few resistor thingies and some capaci-whatsists, and Arduino, done.
The correct answer is usually Raspberry pi + github.
Although I have no idea what those mean
Almost any ARM SBC and a dumb TV will do, install linux/a minimal wayland compositor and waydroid and youre laughing
Any time there’s a advancement you just update the board, instead of the whole TV (which its not like normal smart TV’s update their ports anyways?)
Owning a smart TV is one of the stupidest things you can do.
I’m admittedly this type of stupid, but I also know how to blacklist all the domains my garbage ass Vizio tries to phone home to.
They make the devices cheap so that they can spy on you. It’s the New Deal.
Edit: I see i’m not the only one who gave up on finding a reasonable TV and just opted to neuter a Smart TV instead. Now that I’m not in a position of “me want now, nothing in local store”, I think Ill take a few moments to do some research for everyone, and myself, just to highlight that there actually are still options. Heres a few brands I found that still offer Dumb TVs. I know nothing else about these, and am not in any way promoting these brands or claiming they are good at all. IDK.
This is not endorsement
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Sceptre, breaks “Smart TVs” out as separate “android TVs” group, From “4K UHD” and “LED” offerings: https://www.sceptre.com/
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Supersonic, breaks out “smart TVs” from "4k " and “HD/FHD” TVs: https://www.supersonicinc.com/
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Caixun, breaks out “Linux” and “Android” TVs, from “4k” and HD" TVs: https://www.caixun-global.com/
If anyone has relevant info about these brands, related to if they are good or suck… let me know.
Do modern TVs even come in non-smart variants anymore?
yeah I have 3 connected to this PC
Edit, i felt bad about being a smart ass, and edited my parent comment to be more… helpful
But they’re expensive.
A 50" TV is about $220. (smart TV)
A 50" monitor is $650.
Yep. Thus why i edited my comment in an attempt to back-wheel a little.
Monitors are more expensive because of:
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Monitors generally higher refresh rates (images displayed per time interval) with Monitors being from 60-240Hz, and TVs generally only being 60-120Hz (Hz = number per second)
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Monitors typically have calibrated/better color accuracy and white balance versus TVs
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Monitors have ~141PPI, TVs ~86PPI (Pixels Per Inch: Measurement of pixel density). A 24" monitor is basically the same thing as a 40" TV where pixel density is concerned.
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Monitors generally have much better response time (how fast a pixel can change colors) with Monitors being ~5 milliseconds, and TVs being ~16 milliseconds.
The additional hardware requirements to meet the higher specs necessarily drives up the cost of computer monitors, when compared to TVs. Sorry.
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It doesn’t really matter, just don’t connect them to the internet. Our TV just has a 14 year old computer that plays media perfectly, and is completely cut off from the internet.
It’s hard to buy a dumb TV now
its called a monitor
Edit, i felt bad about being a smart ass, and edited my parent comment to be more… helpful
new Moto G phones come to mind lol
just got one and dear lord so much adware
deleted by creator
Admittedly I haven’t been looking that hard, but I don’t think I’ve seen a TV for sale in the past 10 years that wasn’t a “smart” TV.
I’ve updated my comment with some info, Hope it helps next time you’re in the market.
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In total the researchers confirmed eight devices with backdoors installed—seven TV boxes, the T95, T95Z, T95MAX, X88, Q9, X12PLUS, and MXQ Pro 5G, and a tablet J5-W.
The other thing discussed is fraudulent android apps that have been removed from the play store.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This week, cybersecurity firm Human Security is revealing new details about the scope of the infected devices and the hidden, interconnected web of fraud schemes linked to the streaming boxes.
“They’re like a Swiss Army knife of doing bad things on the Internet,” says Gavin Reid, the CISO at Human Security who leads the company’s Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team.
“This is a truly distributed way of doing fraud.” Reid says the company has shared details of facilities where the devices may have been manufactured with law enforcement agencies.
In the second half of 2022, Human Security says in its report, its researchers spotted an Android app that appeared to be linked to inauthentic traffic and connected to the domain flyermobi.com.
When Milisic posted his initial findings about the T95 Android box in January, the research also pointed to the flyermobi domain.
The company’s report, which has data scientist Marion Habiby as its lead author, says Human Security spotted at least 74,000 Android devices showing signs of a Badbox infection around the world—including some in schools across the US.
The original article contains 455 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I rememberLinus Tech Tips talking about that month ago:
Do you have a credible source instead?
Lmfao
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/1vpepaQ-VQQ?si=t52OHvJ79nnXSsYC
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Good bot
My OctoPrint server runs on one of these (previous homeowners left it lying around), but I completely nuked Android and installed the Armbian distro for the Inovato Quadra (itself just a carefully sourced and rebranded TV box). It was tedious though, and I’d never buy one for that purpose when there are dedicated SBCs.
Personal opinion: if you’ve got a decent pi kicking around, it makes a better media server than any smart TV ever has. Bonus points for running pihole.
4k though
I’m simple, I know. Idc if I get 2k or 4k. Never even owned a 4k TV. I see no need.
I miss having a dumb tv
Definitely not unkillable tho
installing your own OS and/or bootloader is a pain and most of the time unfeasable. And that’s the only way to safely kill software based backdoors.
Where are the hackers when you need them?
Every laptop, mobile phone, TV, smart home devices and their mothers have an unkillable backdoor. What’s new?
Its called google and it infects all stock android devices
Anyway I actually have one of those devices. It was support to be a birthday present but it came with some baggage. By the time I realized it I couldn’t return it
