And possibly why this got posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/1jkwcbx/if...

I used to feel bad for South Dakotans. Now I feel bad for all of us.

God that’s another level of dystopian. Not just ads but political propaganda.

Geez, is someone paying George Orwell his due royalties...

Someone below mentioned Vizio monitoring your viewing habits. Looking forward to the SS to threaten TV manufacturers with tariffs unless they give up data on who watches a lot of foreign-language content, and who switches channel when dear leader or one of his oligarchs shows up on screen...

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.

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.

Sure seems like a "wonderful" company. Their Wikipedia page lists the personal data collection lawsuit and them also likely being GPL violators at that with a court date in September this year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizio#Legal_issues

You can however turn scenic mode off which I would do immediately. That said, probably would never consider a Vizio tv.

All TVs at home are blocked by MAC on the wifi router, so there's definitely a way to turn off this bullshit.

It’s funny because I always remember the one time Vizio tried to become the Apple of PCs

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4123166

(the actual Verge link needs to have mobile. removed or changed to www.)

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.

We bought a projector. Would definitely recommend this if you have a wall that works for it. No unsettling frame smoothing, a minute or two warm up that adds just enough friction and no smart functions or ads.

I have too much light but otherwise, great suggestion. Short throw laser projectors are the brightest I have seen but even they get washed out in this Florida sun.

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.

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.

You can buy a "smart" TV with ads for cheap, and get a generic replacement motherboard to dumb it down.

This is remarkably dystopian. ‘Bought our tv? We are going to show you ads and you can’t even turn it off’

It sounds like you can turn the feature off entirely, which seems semi reasonable — the ads support the updated scenic content, and you can opt out. but i’d bet it shows ads in other places too.

My favorite development is ads interrupted by ads.

This is most apparent when watching movie trailers.

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...