Using your old TV as a monitor
· 2 min read
This is where a fair number of people land after wrestling with the software for a while: the panel is still excellent and what has aged is everything else. So let the television be a panel.
It is also, word for word, what one of the comments that started this project asked for: "make them just a TV with hdmi input".
What you gain
- A modern, fast interface, whichever you choose.
- Actual security updates.
- Zero advertising and zero manufacturer telemetry, if you also take it off the network.
- You can replace the external device every few years without replacing the screen.
What to connect
A mini PC. A low-power small computer running Linux or Windows. The most versatile option and the most expensive.
An old computer. If you have an eight-year-old laptop doing nothing, you already have the answer. With a light distribution it is more than enough for video.
A Raspberry Pi. Cheap, silent, and with LibreELEC it is a media centre and nothing more.
A modern streaming player. The easiest, though you are back to somebody else's software — with its advertising — only updated.
A games console. If you already own one, it makes a perfectly good media player.
Setting up the television
Three things worth configuring:
1. Boot straight to HDMI. Many televisions remember the last input. If yours insists on returning to its home screen, disabling the launcher (or changing it) makes it start straight on the last source.
2. Take it off the network. If all the intelligence arrives over HDMI, the television does not need Wi-Fi. No network means no telemetry, no advertising and no attack surface. It is the most complete privacy measure there is and costs nothing.
3. CEC. Switch on HDMI-CEC so the television's remote controls the external device, or the other way round. Saves having two remotes on the table.
What you lose
- The built-in tuner, if you use it. Although it keeps working: it is just another source.
- The television's voice control.
Why this fits the project
Reducing a television's life to the life of its software means throwing away a working panel. A 2016 set can give another ten years as a screen, and that is probably the most sensible way to use what you already have.