My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?
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My TV started playing a video in full screen by itself. What happened?
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22 Comments
pmags
I seem to recall that Vizio was added to my "do not buy" list quite a long time ago, when it turned out they were monitoring your watching habit (https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr…).
This seems to be more of the same I guess. Choice text from the link above:
Q: Why did I see an ad in Scenic Mode?
A: After Scenic Mode launches to full screen, you may see ads. We offer free, scenic content by supporting it with ads. These ads allow VIZIO to offer enhanced, built-in Smart TV features, 300+ live channels, and 15,000+ movies and shows at no cost through WatchFree+ while also helping keep the price of our TVs accessible and competitive.
Q: Can I turn Scenic Mode ads off?
A: No, not at this time. These ads allow VIZIO to offer enhanced, built-in Smart TV features, 300+ live channels, and 15,000+ movies and shows at no cost through WatchFree+ while also helping keep the price of our TVs accessible and competitive.
deadlinermusic
[dead]
jwjohnson314
This is remarkably dystopian. ‘Bought our tv? We are going to show you ads and you can’t even turn it off’
CamperBob2
It's like getting an unending dystopian sci-fi series, free with your TV. Guaranteed to be renewed every season. No risk of writers' strikes, cancellation, or preemption by sporting events.
"Scenic Mode does not require payment and is part of our mission to continually make your Smart TV better than when you bought it."
That'll teach me to buy a TV from Lumon Industries…
nosrepa
And possibly why this got posted:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/1jkwcbx/if…
econ
My favorite development is ads interrupted by ads.
reactordev
I refuse to buy any “smart tv”. If that means going without a TV, then I’m going without one and will use the largest monitor I can use with a small beelink Linux box.
We’re prey for their bottom line as they can’t sell TV’s for a profit without running ads all over it. I’m done. I’m out. Back to books, vinyl, fresh press, gnu, board games, and going outside.
userbinator
You can buy a "smart" TV with ads for cheap, and get a generic replacement motherboard to dumb it down.
sxp
This is why I haven't connected my smart TV to my WiFi. It just has a Google TV + HDMI from my PC. At least with Google TV, the only ads I see are random sportsball ads when YouTube has some partnership deal and those are easy enough to ignore.
someonehere
Before anyone asks, you can buy a TV that’s dumb. Look on Sony or Samsung or business kiosk TVs. I bought some Sony kiosk TVs for conference rooms when building out an office ones. They can be left on forever have the same great quality and cost a little bit more. But they’re dumb in the end and they turn on fast.
tzs
My TV occasionally turns on unexpectedly. I'm pretty sure it is the Xfinity Flex streaming box that is connected to it telling it to do so.
It used to happen between 3 and 4 am, if I remember correctly, and was very annoying because the TV is in the same room I sleep in.
I guessed that it might be the Flex box doing it after I remembered that the Flex box was scheduled do to automatic updates between 3 and 4 am. My guess was that sometimes when it reboots after an update it turned on the TV.
To check that I changed the update schedule to do them between 2 and 3 pm. Sure enough the unexpected turn ons then started happening between 2 and 3 pm which is pretty good evidence my guess about the Flex being responsible was right.
NotYourLawyer
[dead]
spl757
Just remember that while you are watching the ad, the ad is watching you.
Actually anything you do on your internet connected Smart TV is being collected and sold by the TV manufacturer.
Smart TVs should be called Surveillance TVs at this point.
charcircuit
Preroll ads when playing videos or streams are normal. If you don't want to see them then don't use streaming services that do so. In this case it's the WatchFree+ streaming service.
Scenic mode is an optional feature that will open up a WatchFree+ channel from the Mood and Ambience category when the TV is idling.
hnthrowaway0315
Great. Another company to avoid and I'm going to spread the news to every friend and every colleague and every Internet forum. I'll just them frankly that Vizio steals and sells users' data — maybe not 100% true but whatever.
throwaway519
Wasn't Vizio the company that sold a box letting you skip ads? What happened?
jamesy0ung
Just don't connect it to the internet and use an Apple TV instead.
autoexec
Unless there is massive push back from consumers and people outright refuse to buy these TVs Vizio wont be the last company to do this. Roku also pushes less intrusive ads at you when the TV is idle depending on your settings.
As much as I complain a lot about roku for their spying and ads (they deserve it and I'll never buy one) I do give them some credit for not filling that fish show they have with ads. I know people who have had those fish (or some version of them) on their screens for many years and it's a decent little virtual fish tank.
jmward01
Sadly people keep buying these types of devices. Every time I walk by modern devices all I can think is how I wish I could buy them without the fear of what they will do once I turn them on. I don't want a new car because of the spying it does. I don't want a new TV because of the spying and advertising it does. I don't want any part of the current crop of smart speakers because of the spying/advertising they do. The problem is I will eventually have to buy some of this junk as my old stuff slowly breaks. If I am forced to buy something spying on me because there is no alternative, is it illegal to poison the data sent back in some way? Is it time to go on the offensive?
neilv
When my very nice Sony Bravia vintage dumb-TV did something like this last year, it was due to a streaming service running on my PS5, which service I canceled, with extreme prejudice.
(Right now, the ad-free Netflix that I pay for is testing limits sometimes, of how much they try to control my experience for their own whims, but it's tolerable, and there's potential obnoxious things that they tastefully haven't done.) (Though they did briefly give me two creepy categories, for about a day, but then maybe someone realized their mistake, or got the Netflix fired-fast.)
greatgib
So fun (when you don't have this shitty tv) to read this FAQ.
A wtf at each paragraph:
– question1: video starting alone to "provide you a relaxing experience". I'm totally so relaxed by that unexpected kind of things…
– question2: suddenly ads can show up in this video to be able to provide you a more relaxing experience. Sure sure, how relaxing to be force fed ads unsolicited on your own tv…
– question3: can I stop that? No you can't because we are forced to impose you these ads for your own good…
ortusdux
I've said it here before, but I wish a consumer focused org would create a 'DUMB' certification. "Don't Upload My Bits"