"Use some set top box and don't connect tv to internet" is a common advice, but what about ethernet through hdmi? Will the TV really not reach the internet through the box you use? If not, then what is the purpose of Hdmi HEC?

I allow my Samsung to connect to my local network, but then use openwrt and refuse to allow any outbound data from any IP using the MAC address of the television set. It cant update itself and no traffic suggests it can do anything regardless of what it might be collecting. Rooting it to prevent it from connecting to other wifi AP’s is probably the only better thing.

Idk why (apparently) no one has mentioned it yet.

Forget consumer TVs.

Get a commercial "display".

That's it. That's the solution.

Pros: dumb display. Longer warranty.

Cons: more expensive.

Curious -- Does Samsung smart TV (circa 2019) allow us to root? Where can I find the community and tools around Samsung devices.

I like LG OLED quality. My lg tv has never been connected to the internet and connects to a avr that handles inputs and 5.1.2 speakers Nvidia shield with hdmi-cec to turn on/off the receiver and tv. Jellyfin, android tv app for cable company, YouTube sans ads and projectivy launcher (Google one sucks). You can update firmware via usb stick. Would get an Apple TV if it died but like my Dolby vision HDR10 and atmos. Highly recommend.

Imagine you wouldn’t have this but technically the front two speakers are on a much higher end naim amplifier (connected to my audio stuff) but it has avr pass through. Sometimes an extra button to switch it to turn the front two speakers back to avr mode.

I have a TCL QM8, which until recently I was using for its full smart-TV capabilities, and always feeling rather icky about all of the stuff it was sending. I would keep getting notifications about the microphone being turned on even when I had explicitly disabled it at every level.

I eventually got an NVIDIA Shield Pro, for which I:

1) Blew away the default launcher and installed Projectivity

2) adb disabled nearly all of the background Nvidia/Google services, following a guide

3) Removed all of the preinstalled streaming apps and added back the ones I use, opting for more privacy-respecting alternatives like Smarttube over YouTube standard.

Finally, I then factory reset my TCL TV and put its Google TV into "Basic" mode, which makes it a dumb TV for all intents and purposes. The TV itself is not allowed to connect to the internet anymore for any reason--everything goes through the set-top box.

The skeezy thing is the TV still tries very hard to get you to enable regular mode. Like if you try to launch ANY app of ANY kind, it will throw some pop-up about needing to connect to the internet to do so, and then flashing some fine print about how this will revert the TV to normal Google TV/Android TV mode. I had a guest in my house using the TV while I was in another room and suddenly asking me for my WiFi password, and when I went to see what was up, saw that they were halfway through opening the floodgates again before I stopped them.

https://www.sceptre.com/ seems to be pretty much the only remaining brand of non-smart TVs left. However, I have no experience of them.

Keep the glass disconnected from the network forever and it will solve the vast majority of your concerns.

Jellyfin is the answer if you are looking to spend a premium on a privacy-focused media experience.

The Apple TV itself might be more privacy friendly or open about policies, but I have no reason to believe that any streaming app you’d install on it would provide for more privacy than the app installed directly on the TV.

Connect any TV to a laptop/desktop computer... running Linux, of course.