Show HN: RootMy.TV

[xanaxagoras]

This looks really cool, but after I first learned about Automatic Content Recognition and all the ridiculous anti-privacy things these smart TVs do, I adopted a policy: A TV is a big dumb monitor, that's it, and it never ever gets internet access. So, for better or for worse, all of my TV needs go through an Apple TV, and I block Apple's 17.0.0.0/8 for that client just in case it wants to get a little too chatty about my habits with Apple. YouTube is AFAIK the only thing on there that's able to spy on me, mitigated to some extent I hope with pi hole, and 90% of the time I'm in plex or an IPTV client.

[Retr0id]

You might want to build a faraday cage for it too - one can also exploit TVs that are not connected to the internet at all, via DVB-T.

https://twitter.com/David3141593/status/1481993413843161092

[lrvick]

There was a long history of "jailbreakme" sites where one would "slide to jailbreak" their Apple devices because of their long history of under-investment in security.

This site is a spoof of jailbreakme, so using Apple devices as a defense is an somewhat amusing choice.

[madduci]

Exactly, never ever connect a smart TV to internet. Instead, connect a Apple TV/FireStick/ChromeCast/Android TV/Raspberry Pi to do the "smart" things and if they break, they will be cheaper and easier to be replaced than a TV.

[w-ll]

Doesn't Plex report all your media content and metadata to their central servers? Why not use one of the XBMC forks?

[arkadiyt]

I feel similarly about all modern TVs but I'm not willing to go to this much effort - I think next time I need to buy a TV I'll just get a projector instead.

[mark_l_watson]

I gave my very nice SmartTV to a hiking buddy last year and bought a cheap dumb TV from Walmart for $190 that only has HDMI inputs. I bought the latest Apple iTV box, and I couldn’t be happier with this setup.

In addition to better privacy (don’t SmartTV manufacturers make 30% of the profit on a TV from your data?), the user experience is so much better, no comparison really.

My wife is not 100% happy with the screen quality so I might replace the TV with a studio monitor, but for my tastes what we have is close to perfect.

[joshink1]

I understand the instinctual irk of having one's habits monitored by a corporation but I'm curious about practical implications.

What are some concrete harms to the individual viewer in anonymously sharing TV viewing data?

[giancarlostoro]

I do the same, course I only have one Apple TV so for the time being I am using the smart TV features.

[clairity]

i seem to remember having issues with blocking 17.0.0.0/8 when i first tried it. don’t remember exactly, but probably with icloud and homekit at the very least. i wish we had better info on what services talk to which ip (plus port) ranges, and why.

[thinkloop]

Doesn't Apple TV need to access its network for the content?

[jonatron]

I'm still using an ancient netcast based LG TV, which it's also possible to root with a few different methods. AFAIK there's no public information on how to do it, maybe I'll see about making it public too.

[tentacleuno]

Please do! Fellow owner of a Netcast-based LG here.

[Terry_Roll]

I guess this would make it possible to ransomware LG tv's by simply visiting a website.

[pabs3]

It would be nice if there were proper open source distros for TVs. Hopefully the GPL lawsuit against Vizio will get source code and install info, so that distros can run on them, perhaps with Kodi as the UI. It also hopes to set the precedent that anyone can sue over GPL violations, not just the copyright holder, which could help increase the available TVs that can have an open source distros, through further lawsuits by other folks.

https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

[anonymousiam]

Just used this to root my 65" LG OLED. Works great!

Looks like you can't change the root password (error writing /etc/shadow), but as the documentation says, you can load your authorized_keys and the password login is no longer allowed.

I was sort of hoping that the cpu would still be reachable from the (wired) network while in standby, but it does not seem to be.

[Handytinge]

WoL does work (ethernet and reportedly over wifi too), so it should be fairly simple to remote control when off if that's your plan.

[hardenedmetapod]

Happy to have helped test this release. Bought a 43" just to mess with all of this on. Has been a fantastic experience. Devs are great and it has been fun seeing what all I can run.

[aorth]

Awesome project. You can already install third-party applications in LG webOS TVs after enabling the "Developer Mode" application, but you have to keep renewing your session every 50 hours or else your apps get deleted. Pretty annoying. Now we can circumvent that.

I'm wondering if we could use WireGuard on these TVs now. That would be sweet... Guessing the userland golang client would be trivial...

[323]

I have a 2017 LG 43" TV and I'm a bit disappointed.

Last year I think the back-light started breaking down - I see big square sections where the colors are less bright and purplish. The display seems to have a grid of 4x2 of these individual regions.

And the remote buttons are getting harder to press too (it's not the battery). I had remotes which worked for 12 years, this one is barely 5 years old.

[chitza]

The LED strips are replaceable (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003706329242.html?spm=a2...)

I had my TV (similar to yours) fixed by replacing those bars, check with a TV repair shop in your area.

[3guk]

The LED strips are somewhat replaceable - you should be able to find them on either eBay, AliExpress or ShopJimmy.

I will warn you however that it's quite an involved process - I know a fair few people who have managed to crack their LCDs or rip ribbon cables in the process of trying to fix backlights.

Unfortunately it seems that backlight issues are becoming more and more common - especially as most sets have a "Dynamic" mode or similar which sets the backlights to full brightness and drastically shortens their lives.

[wildzzz]

At least a remote is easy to swap out, either just replace from Amazon or eBay or just use a universal. Even my old HTC M8 had an IR blaster.

[tehwebguy]

Have already committed to trying to fix my ~2012 dumb Samsung myself when it eventually fails, was happily surprised to find one or two solid YouTube channels dedicated to this.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

Aw, darn; I was hoping for a generic wiki of TVs and how to root them and (in my dream world) alternative firmware options. Not that rooting webOS isn't cool, just not what I expected based on the domain.

[trevcanhuman]

Yeah. Anyone know how to root a Sony Bravia TV ? It’s running Android TV. But it’s slow and lags and don’t know why.

[mnd999]

Me too. Anyone know how to root an old Panasonic plasma?

[kkarpkkarp]

exactly the same here :)

[johnnyApplePRNG]

Can any website gain root access to your television simply by visiting/drive by download?

[_jal]

https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io#mitigation-no...

[aidenn0]

My understanding is that it pops up a confirmation dialog for connecting to the remote service.

[seFausto]

What are the advantages of rooting a WebOS tv? I tried googling, but didn't find anything concrete.

[Retr0id]

Our "killer app" thus far, in terms of useful things that actually require root, is PicCap [1] - which enables low-latency framebuffer capture for DIY Ambilight systems.

In the just-for-fun department, you can replace the default screensaver animation with a bouncing DVD logo. [2]

You can see a list of currently available homebrew apps here: https://repo.webosbrew.org/apps/

You can also block telemetry, updates, etc. (without relying on something like a pihole).

[1] https://github.com/TBSniller/piccap

[2] https://github.com/webosbrew/custom-screensaver

[AshamedCaptain]

Stupid things blocked by the default software on my webOS LG TV that would probably be single-line patches if I had access to the source code:

- Support for simultaneous audio output on both headphone port and internal speaker

- Support for arbitrary bluetooth headsets instead of only LG-approved headsets

... sometimes I just think StallmanWasRight.

[gattilorenz]

Installing the non-ad-crippled YouTube alternative client, for example

[mrweasel]

Just wait until someone release a PornHub application, 50% of LG TVs will rooted over night.

[milkytron]

This is great, and makes me regret switching to Rokus. When I had an AndroidTV and could root, so much capability was unlocked, I really miss it.

I also loved WebOS since it's mobile days, will definitely consider getting an LG WebOS TV as my next.

[hatch_q]

I got WebOS TV solely because it's the only TV OS which you can use even if you don't accept TOS/EULA.

[jonny_eh]

> When I had an AndroidTV and could root

I haven't rooted my Sony Android TV since it already lets me install apks and emulators.

[candiddevmike]

I have a TCL Roku TV and would love to convert it to a dumb input selector. Not sure how you could flash the OS of it but I'd gladly contribute money or code to make it happen.

[hestefisk]

This is very cool. What I hate the most about my LG is the ad bar that shows up on the left side of the screen as well as automatic installation of new apps. Will this jail break kill it?

[awiesenhofer]

Something I sometimes wondered but never really researched: are there any custom Roms like LineageOS etc. but for AndroidTVs?

[DavidKarlas]

Could I change functionality of buttons on remote with this? For example Amazon, Netflix or “Movies” with different app?

[DavidKarlas]

I’m aware of shortcut long press # keys, but that only works once TV is powered on…

[f0e4c2f7]

Wow. This is amazing. I guess I have to buy LG tv's from now on.

[wodenokoto]

I saw a retro station icon on the home brew channel. Can you connect a 8bitdo/PlayStation/Xbox controller to the tv?

[account-5]

It should be RootMyLG.TV

I can here for general TV rooting advice hoping I could sort out my rubbish Samsung. Anyone know anything about that?

[November-Echo]

I only have a problem with the ads or so called "Trending" section. I do not have a subscription for Amazon Prime, Disney+ or whatever. Can I use this exploit to block the "Trending" section? I just want to see the apps that I have installed when I press home and nothing else.