Disable your speakers and run your audio out through an amp/speaker-bar that has no internet connection.
You might not be able to stop Jack Bauer from personally tracking you, but the sort of dragnet surveillance most people are worried about can still, for now, be mitigated with effort.
Depends. If we’re talking about malware targeting a TV OS, doing that will not really improve things. Another side note, a soundbar might include a microphone. (Most do)
Overall, it is a viable solution, but I wouldn’t bet on it at all if I were to go for full privacy.
You’d have to pair this with removing the mics (as shown above) and clipping the speaker leads (or just damaging the diaphragm enough by poking something through the speaker grille).
After that?
Not an audio engy but I image a lot of external amps are built to prevent back-feeding out through the line in.
Worst case use s/pdif, and you’ll know that the only thing going through that wire is good ol’ one-way pcm-digital audio.
Also its not impossible to find a sound bar that doesn’t have smart features yet. Even if it is, they tend to age way better than TV’s.
Personally?
My living room has 480i and 1080i tubes at around 26/27inches each.
My bedroom has a dumb 1080p panel.
If I need something prettier I use my higher-res computer monitor (no baked in OS, just firmware for display settings.)
My tv has precisely 2 cables going in. One for power, one for HDMI from the receiver.
But what about the PS5, or the laptop, or the Xbox if I want to play something? I’ve air gapped the tv but the stuff it’s displaying is connected to the router.
Oh hell no but I haven’t bothered to take it apart yet, besides every every device in this household needs a fucking WiFi connection so it just feels Sisphyean trying to firewall it all
Disable your speakers and run your audio out through an amp/speaker-bar that has no internet connection.
You might not be able to stop Jack Bauer from personally tracking you, but the sort of dragnet surveillance most people are worried about can still, for now, be mitigated with effort.
Depends. If we’re talking about malware targeting a TV OS, doing that will not really improve things. Another side note, a soundbar might include a microphone. (Most do)
Overall, it is a viable solution, but I wouldn’t bet on it at all if I were to go for full privacy.
The TVos is the malware.
You’d have to pair this with removing the mics (as shown above) and clipping the speaker leads (or just damaging the diaphragm enough by poking something through the speaker grille).
After that?
Not an audio engy but I image a lot of external amps are built to prevent back-feeding out through the line in.
Worst case use s/pdif, and you’ll know that the only thing going through that wire is good ol’ one-way pcm-digital audio.
Also its not impossible to find a sound bar that doesn’t have smart features yet. Even if it is, they tend to age way better than TV’s.
Personally?
My living room has 480i and 1080i tubes at around 26/27inches each.
My bedroom has a dumb 1080p panel.
If I need something prettier I use my higher-res computer monitor (no baked in OS, just firmware for display settings.)
My tv has precisely 2 cables going in. One for power, one for HDMI from the receiver.
But what about the PS5, or the laptop, or the Xbox if I want to play something? I’ve air gapped the tv but the stuff it’s displaying is connected to the router.
Does it have WiFi? It doesn’t need cables to look for other devices to communicate through.
Yes it does which is turned off, ostensibly, I was more thinking of skynet crawling in through the Cat6 plugged into the PS5
You turned it off from their menu option? You’re a trusting soul aren’t you.
Oh hell no but I haven’t bothered to take it apart yet, besides every every device in this household needs a fucking WiFi connection so it just feels Sisphyean trying to firewall it all