So fun (when you don't have this shitty tv) to read this FAQ.

A wtf at each paragraph:

- question1: video starting alone to "provide you a relaxing experience". I'm totally so relaxed by that unexpected kind of things...

- question2: suddenly ads can show up in this video to be able to provide you a more relaxing experience. Sure sure, how relaxing to be force fed ads unsolicited on your own tv...

- question3: can I stop that? No you can't because we are forced to impose you these ads for your own good...

About 2 years ago we got a deal on a smallish Samsung for our nursery. The thing is haunted.

On more than a couple occasions in the middle of the night I've heard people talking. On working up the courage and getting out of bed I've found the TV tuned in my daughter's room to one of those Samsung Internet TV channels.

My wife and I never use those, so it's absolutely bizarre.

Once Mi smart TV in holiday rental I stayed switched on itself on early morning playing TV channel at high volume, interestingly web search specifically has results for "Mi smart TV switching on at 5am". The TV also had internal microphone and physical switch to toggle the microphone. It was literally Chinese invigilation device.

Preroll ads when playing videos or streams are normal. If you don't want to see them then don't use streaming services that do so. In this case it's the WatchFree+ streaming service.

Scenic mode is an optional feature that will open up a WatchFree+ channel from the Mood and Ambience category when the TV is idling.

One super annoying issue I've found is that if you enable Smartthings on Samsung TVs, and you try to use your phone app as a remote, they ask for microphone access EVERY TIME I USE THE APP. The options are "Enable" and "Cancel". I click cancel, the remote works for 3 minutes, then stops working and I have to force restart the app and do it again. All for a feature I use if I can't find my physical remote.

Seriously. I hate these companies with a passion. It's crazy that right now the only alternative is to not use smart features / wifi. There's not even a good Android TV option. The best I can do is just run VLC on a computer connected to the screen (Kodi has an awful UI/UX, in my opinion). Plex used to be good before they became awful. AppleTV is the only semi-decent device, but it requires a iCloud login.

Great. Another company to avoid and I'm going to spread the news to every friend and every colleague and every Internet forum. I'll just them frankly that Vizio steals and sells users' data -- maybe not 100% true but whatever.

I'm super grateful for the webOS Homebrew[1] community for allowing me to wrangle control of my LG TV and giving unfettered root access to the device.

[1] http://webosbrew.org

This is why all of my TVs are airgapped. I don’t understand why some people don’t just get an Apple TV or similar and keep their TV completely ignorant of the LAN and internet.

At least they have an FAQ about it... not that I endorse ads baked into your TV