LG TVs Start Showing Ads On Screensavers (arstechnica.com) 60
LG has started displaying ads on TV screensavers, intensifying the proliferation of ads in smart TV software. The South Korean company quietly announced the move to advertisers on September 5, forgoing a public statement to consumers.
Well now. (Score:5, Insightful)
The South Korean company quietly announced the move to advertisers on September 5, forgoing a public statement to consumers.
At least we know who they think is important.
Thank you! (Score:5, Insightful)
You've not only convinced me that I should continue to stay on my older TVs, but you've also upped their resale value!
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I wonder if you never hook them up to the internet, will they still show ads?
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What if when it detected no internet, it's show you a video of how to connect your TV to the internet, over and over, every 10 minutes? Wouldn't that be something? I jest, of course. Or do I?
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The advertisement on the screensaver will mostly serve to remind people to turn off the TV when you're not watching it.
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It's actually important to turn off LG OLEDs and leave them on standby for a while, as that's when they recalibrate their pixels to prevent burn-in.
Probably the best solution is to just never use any of the TV's smart functions, including the screensaver. Use your own Android box with ad-free apps. You can use the CDC link to make sure they both turn on and off together.
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You've not only convinced me that I should continue to stay on my older TVs, but you've also upped their resale value!
My town has periodic recycling events where they'll take old TVs off your hands if you pay them $10. Maybe before too long, they'll start paying us cash for those old dumb TVs.
Second 2-letter company added to boycott list (Score:3)
LG is now the second 2-letter electronics company added to my list of companies I boycott, just after HP.
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wow, has LG swung that low... i mean it is one thing to be bad, but to be at HP level... flabbergasted.
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LG was the first TV company that introduced spying-as-a-feature, with TVs reporting your usage patterns back to the mothership (that was back in 2014 IIRC). At the time I swore a mighty oath that no LG product will ever darken my doors again. I still haven't seen any reason to change this.
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And, of course, Sony is still a four-letter word to me.
Time to disconnect (Score:4, Insightful)
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Stop watching the boob tube altogether.
Then where could you look at boobs?
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Re: Time to disconnect (Score:2)
My Fire sticks all started showing ads in the screen saver recently, unfortunately. It's not very practical to disconnect them from the internet. I may try blocking them in the firewall just to see if I can still access my LAN Plex server.
Block the ad ports (Score:2)
If you have one of these TVs, you should block the ports it is using to pull ads.
I would provide them, but I don't have an LG TV that does this.
Re:Block the ad ports (Score:5, Insightful)
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You over complicating it. Get an Apple TV and ditch the LG OS and shut off wifi on it.
I don't have Apple TV. Does it show related shows etc that are basically ads like Google TV does? It has a store in Apple TV right, with the subscription and buying movies. Does it push you there?
It does require you to create an Apple login to even use. Does Apple login require a credit card or using the Apple TV device require a credit card on file?
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An "AppleTV" is a little streaming media terminal. It plays content using one or more apps that are installed from the AppleTV app store. The apps are things like "AppleTV", "Hulu", "Netflix", "Amazon Prime", "Smithsonian", etc. The "home screen" for the device has a background that shows whatever content is "up next" in the app that is currently highlighted. I.e., if I was using Netflix when I last used the device, then the next time I turn it on it has a background that shows what content is "up next"
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Does it show related shows etc that are basically ads like Google TV does?
Only in the Apple TV+ app (Apple's streaming service). It does not do this on the hardware GUI.
It has a store in Apple TV right, with the subscription and buying movies. Does it push you there?
Yes it has an app store app. No, it does not push you there. You obviously need to use it to download apps for services you want to use but it's not forced on you and app ads are not in the hardware GUI.
Does Apple login require a credit card or using the Apple TV device require a credit card on file?
No. If you want to sign up for the AppleTV+ streaming app, yes. But if you don't plan on that, and don't want to buy any paid apps or in-app purchases then no.
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At least with Android TV boxes you can replace the default launcher with your own ad-free one, and then use ad-free viewing apps like Kodi and SmartTube.
A box like that which you control is pretty much the only way to guarantee an ad-free experience. Because Apple lock their stuff down and only let you run approved apps, it can't be trusted. It may be tolerable today, but you have no control over what they inflict on you tomorrow.
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I wonder if Pi-hole blacklists would cover this. At this point, with all the ads thrown at us everywhere, if you don't have Pi-hole installed as your at-home DNS, then that's on you.
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It works fine for me. I don't see any ads on Roku or LG.
This is why you leave the TV air-gapped... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wouldn't be surprised if the LG option to disable the ads disappears sometime. In any case, this is a good reason to leave the TV air-gapped and never connect it to a network. Instead, there are many set top boxes that are far better than the firmware on a "smart" TV that offer more usability, be it the Apple TV or other options. Even an OTA antenna or cable box would be better.
Re:This is why you leave the TV air-gapped... (Score:4, Informative)
Any other transmission medium, satellite, cable, you make more money if you carry more data, so they love to compress the fsck out of your program to jam more of them on the wire.
I use OTA and even in this provincial backwater I get about 15 channels.
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Has OTA improved dramatically in the last few years?
Because last time I used OTA it was pretty meh and suffered hard from artifacts in contrast change.
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Often OTA can't be received properly. A lot of people who had analog broadcast that was perfectly fine discovered that digital broadcast didn't work. A little bit of interference doesn't affect analog signal much but will make digital signals stop working. Especially in rural areas, which is where you would think that a broadcast signal is more accessible, when the traditional cable companies or ISPs refuse to serve low density areas.
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That's not the case around here. OTA is compressed to hell and back, far, far worse than YouTube and Netflix.
There is an even bigger incentive to save bandwidth than there is with streaming, because broadcasters have to pay for transmitter bandwidth and can't choose whose transmitters they use, so there is no getting a better deal or giving ISPs cache boxes. The higher the bitrate they want, the more they have to pay.
Long ago when digital HD broadcasts started, the quality was decent. Then the BBC decided t
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In any case, this is a good reason to leave the TV air-gapped and never connect it to a network.
They are just going to stick SIM and cell modem into it. They are cheap and prices constantly going down.
Christ on a unicycle riding the BART train (Score:2)
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Re:Christ on a unicycle riding the BART train (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm just something to be milked for $$$ all my life
Yes, yes we are -- from cradle to grave.
I was in my 40's when I figured out this was the game. That was only 15 years ago. Before that, I believed in the shiny, glossy veneer of life as it's presented to us on tv, movies, etc.
Now I see it for what it is. A machine to make money from you, from the moment you're born to the moment you leave.
People absolutely shit on boomers in this and other sites, but I'll remind all of you the first gen to be truly exploited like this was the Boomers, and it was done to then by the fine "Greatest" and "Silent" gens. What, you think it was Boomers on Boomers? Nah. They got "had" by their own parents and grandparents. Maybe not directly, but by people of those same age brackets.
I do honestly suspect it existed before, it's just that Boomers were the inflection point of tech that didn't exist prior -- radio, movies, especially TV.
I imagine in Roman times it was the same, only the advertising and such was much slower and narrower in reach.
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>I imagine in Roman times it was the same, only the advertising and such was much slower and narrower in reach.
FYI, gladiators were the WWE wrestlers of the time, and there were merchants in the streets around the Colosseum. Games were advertised on billboards. Sponsors hoped to rake in financial or political benefits from setting up a show.
Not all of them were captured enemies essentially being put to death in a public spectacle, many were volunteers. There were people who complained about the barbar
So what? (Score:4, Informative)
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I have an Apple TV on a 7 foot screen. I might have the screensaver up from the AppleTV if i'm doing something else.. oh, I don't know. Playing the violin. Reading something. Yes, with the projector on. My bulb, my terms.
As to being able to turn it off.. that's "now."
"Pray we don't alter the deal any further"
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So now explain to the class how seeing more unwanted advertisements is really a better experience.
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A. Doesn't matter. I bought a TV, not an in-home ad delivery service. I paid money for it, you don't get to advertise to me on it because you want more money after the sale - if you want to be an advertising-revenue supported business, than be one and stop charging me so much for the TV and then retroactively try to get even more money later by diminishing an already poor user experience.
B. I do. And many others do as well. Don't pretend that you get to speak for everyone, because it makes you look ridi
Re: Calm down you bunch of Karens (Score:1)
I intensely disliked LG because of a microwave... (Score:2)
I already disliked LG because of a microwave of theirs I had.. it'd pop breakers when the cooking would stop.
Now this. This is exactly how you alienate customers.
For those of you too young to remember, LG had a different name back in the day.. they were Gold Star.
I also had a Gold Star microwave and it was utter garbage too.
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I already disliked LG because of a microwave of theirs I had.. it'd pop breakers when the cooking would stop.
Breakers or ground fault interruptors? If it is blowing a breaker, there's something massively wrong, probably with the breaker, because there's just no way a microwave oven draws enough current to blow a breaker that is working properly. If it is a GFI, you might try changing it out. I've had some GFCI outlets that were excessively sensitive, and replacing them with newer GFCIs from a different manufacturer very nearly eliminated my false trip issues from a Tesla Mobile Connector, and those are notoriou
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Breakers or ground fault interruptors? If it is blowing a breaker, there's something massively wrong, probably with the breaker, because there's just no way a microwave oven draws enough current to blow a breaker that is working properly.
My best guess is the circuit is older and probably 15A. Some microwaves can run on a 15A circuit but newer ones especially ones that are mounted need 20A. The LG is newer and not a counter top model which means it needs a 20A circuit.
When will they be unable to be turned off? (Score:2)
So, when will they be on all the time and unable to be turned off?
Then they can go for no "mute" or 0 volume level next.
Then, you can pay to have it not on.
Then you can pay to not have one.
Perfection in a business model.
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When we bought new TV's recently, we got LG's since they were the only ones that had a power button actually on the TV. I don't know what will happen to newer models.
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A camera is already included in some models, ostensibly so it autoselects who is watching. You can see where this is going... :p
LG (Score:2)
Excellent. One more reason not to buy their TVs.
I already had them on the do-not-buy list due to their terrible UX with their weird mouse-scrollwheel-remote thing - it was a better solution to buy a 4k chromecast and hang it on an HDMI port than it is to use their garbage "smart" software and remote.
This.... (Score:2)
...is why my LG TVs aren't connected to the Internet, but rather are behind commercial-free AppleTVs which do the streaming. Nor have I ever accepted their privacy policy.
If you are in marketing (Score:3)
If you are in marketing then I would have to say you have surpassed the hatred level of automobile salesman and telecommunications companies combined. You are ruining everything people!
Can disable these -- for now ... (Score:2)
From the FlatPanelsHD [flatpanelshd.com] link in TFA:
How to disable screensaver ads
Luckily, there is a way to disable the intrusive screensaver ads on LG Smart TVs – at least for now.
If you go to Settings and navigate to 'Additional Settings', you will find a 'Screen Saver Promotion' toggle. It is on by default, so flip it off. While you are there, you might also want to disable the other ad formats from LG [flatpanelshd.com].
Hi, my TV is defective - Please full refund (Score:2)
At least in the article it says you can disable it (which I'd do in a nanosecond), but if not I'd return my product as defective and force the issue.
But - I won't buy a smart TV in the first place. I have streaming devices that do what I want it to do, and they're way better than built-in crap in TV's. However, I'm not sure how long the option of "dumb" TV's will last... especially if they see more opportunity in advertising than just sales.
We are the product, not the consumer. :(
Firmware update (Score:2)
Time to get out the old disassembler and get that firmware fixed...
Guess I don't buy LG anymore (Score:2)
I will not normalize other people feeling like they own the things they sell to me. I did not rent, nor lease the TV, I bought it and with that comes a transfer of ownership.