I asked the same question some time ago. I now use an old laptop with libreelec on it. https://beehaw.org/post/15312388
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
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Privacy
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Depends entirely what they are doing with it. If they are using services with DRM, e.g. Netflix or Disney+ I bet you will be out of luck because that pulls out an entire ecosystem, driven by Google, which is based on selling ads.
"not realistic to propose rpi and more complex systems"
If they have to install it, probably not. If they have to plug it on the HDMI port, power and optionally Ethernet honestly things like LibreElec or Kodi are pretty well done. Heck even a very young kid (talking not even 5y/o) can manage that (I've seen it, repetitively) or even start VLC to connect to DLNA server as long as it's properly setup.
I have an older Samsung Tizen device -- you don't have to worry about privacy because the piece of shit has basically 0 servers to connect to and most of the time if you set a DNS server manually it will completely fail to connect to the internet anyway
None. Don't connect it to the internet. Get a PC and use the TV as a glorified monitor.
If I'm not mistaken, many smart TVs tend to take multiple screenshots per second and send it back to base with other methods if wifi or ethernet aren't available, although I gotta research a little more on that.
So even then, don't connect it to a PC, you're just waiving your privacy rights
If they are connected to wifi...they can't send anything back.
They do thru other means, ex. Using your computer as the WiFi tether
What they usually do with their TV? Watch Netflix/YT? You are asking this for many technical users and your parents might not be up to the hassle.
LG is currently even worse than Android - it autoinstalls (gambling!) Apps(yes,we made sure there was no hack/malware), tries really hard to get into the network, etc. But I might be biased as I am very unhappy with their support as well - their display showed a faulty line exactly 10d after the guarantee/warranty ran out, they quoted more than the current retail value for the repair and 80% of the original retail value. For a problem that is very likely not even the display itself but a faulty cable. Fuck them.
Personally, if a Pi is out of the scope (which I totally understand) I would go with a Android box and any TV you like displaywise- while Android is as bad privacy wise as any other TV OS nowadays, it is usually far easier to lock it down at least partially so at least the worst problems can be avoided/most of them can be rooted or get linage OS installed. Just make sure the box you use can do that.
Because in the end it's also an usability problem - your parents will call you if Netflix, Disney+ or something like that refuses to play because they now require widevine in a newer version than LibreELEC offers,etc. If you want to support that, go for a Pi. If you don't, find a middle ground.
Real world, it's a royal pain in the butt trying to get a not-smart TV. There's a couple of companies that sell them at consumer-accessible prices and they aren't as frequently on the kinds of deep discounts bigger brands go for. You might just have to steer your parents towards using an Apple TV (the only ads are for Apple's own services plus nice integration with iPhones if your parents happen to be iPhone users) then set it up to boot straight to the Apple TV so they never see the Smart TV OS, and of course never connect the Smart TV to the Internet so whatever data harvesting it does do is useless
I would be careful of anything ‘smart’.
Home theater PC
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