https://www.webosbrew.org/rooting/
Not only do I not have to worry about this crap anymore, but I can now play Space Cadet pinball on my LG TV
Expected/10
Ars Technica recently wrote a very long article about how to tame smart TVs. At the very top it advises the reader to just get an Apple TV. They’re like $100 and have no ads whatsoever, but they support all the apps. Yes, including RetroArch (albeit with not all the cores, but a good number of them). It even explains how, if you use no other Apple devices, it’s still the best solution because it’s complete and effective.
It then goes into pages and pages of what you can do if you don’t want the simple and easy solution. It also covers projectors, most of which aren’t smart, digital signage (industrial TVs which are almost never smart), and computer monitors, noting that they don’t get very big, but have higher refresh rates, and notes that smart monitors are here now (Samsung makes one) so that will soon be a thing.
As an Apple guy, really, the only bonuses I get for having an Apple TV in the Ecosystem are… I can play the audio on multiple devices (my Mac, my MacBook Air, my HomePod Mini, plus the TV, and adjust each volume accordingly), I can connect my AirPods for private listening (though, this should work with any Bluetooth earbuds, albeit perhaps not as seamlessly), and I can use my iPhone to type, though a bug in tvOS sends the query after a few seconds or characters, not sure which. So that is broken. Oh, and I also have a remote on my iPhone… and one on my Apple Watch. But without all that, you still get the remote you can talk to, and I think the newest one (Apple TV 4K Gen 3) has a remote locator. Not sure though. AirTag cases exist for the remote for a reason.
Of course, Apple TV boxes put paid Apple apps, like Music and TV front and centre, but they can be hidden in a folder. You can put whatever you want on the dock, which sits at the top of tvOS, as opposed to the bottom, like on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Docked apps can display content above, like recommended videos or what’s next. Apps could put ads there, but nothing on the dock can display anything, so you can always kick it off the dock. Also, the remote’s Home button actually launches Apple TV by default, but you can make it actually go Home instead. (The Apple TV app contains the paid Apple TV service (used to be TV+), but it also aggregates all participating streaming services into 1 place, except Netflix because they won’t allow it, so the Apple TV app is a good app to have in your Apple TV’s dock, even if you don’t subscribe to Apple TV. (Yes, I’m being intentionally annoying here because they reuse the name for 3-4 things.)
The ONLY bad thing about Apple TV is, it can’t run an ad blocker. But you can roll a PiHole and solve that problem, too.
I wouldn’t use a TV without it, even if I weren’t an Apple guy. The best alternative to the Apple TV is the Nvidia Shield TV, which has more emulation options (being that it’s Android), it has some obscure Dolby codec Apple won’t pay for but I’ve never had an issue with lacking, and, it has ads (being that it’s Android). I don’t know what they cost, but I think they’re more than the Apple TV. I do think it is more powerful, though.
It then goes into pages and pages of what you can do if you don’t want the simple and easy solution.
Just plug a computer into the TV!
That’s my ultimate goal. While there are some good home theater PC options out there, I’m thinking a base M1 Mac mini (8GB RAM, 256GB storage) would be better than an Apple TV, mainly because it can run Firefox with uBlock Origin; therefore, ad-free YouTube with SponsorBlock.
There might even be better options for less money that run Linux on an x86-64 platform, which opens the doors to light PC gaming. That Mac retailed for $599 when it was new, but it would be cheaper now, especially if it’s used. Used opens the door to Intel Macs, but Intel Macs are typically more trouble than they’re worth, as I understand it. These could run Linux, but I heard the hardware has cooling issues that Linux wouldn’t solve (other than having the chance to run at lower overheads than macOS, perhaps).
Can’t wait until they brick my tv the same way they’ve almost done to my phone with update after update nobody asked for that it’s too fucking old for
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