I'm currently looking to buy a new TV. While I do use Jellyfin to watch movies and shows stored locally in my network, I still want to allow the TV to go on the internet, because I (and my girlfriend) like to watch YouTube, Netflix and such on the TV as well.
My main issue is that I'm looking to buy a Google TV, mainly because I think it's easier to sideload apps like NewPipe or F-Droid. This is one thing that absolutely sucks on my current Samsung TV with its Tizen OS. However, like any Google service, giving it access to the internet is just asking to have your data exfiltrated.
So, I've been thinking about whether I can get a Google TV, but restrict its internet access enough to still use it normally, while blocking all telemetry. I don't have an OpenWRT router or Opnsense firewall (and currently I don't have the capacity, nerves and time to set one up), but I do have a pi hole. I was wondering whether a Pi Hole is enough to block any data exfiltration attempts of my TV? I could restrict the TVs DNS capabilities in my router, so it is forced to use the Pi for name resolution. Are the blocklists good enough for this?
I've also looked into de-googled Android TV builds, but I couldn't find anything conclusive about their capability to display DRM'd media. Do apps like Netflix still run on those OS's? Is a RaspberryPi enough to display 4K media, or would a more advanced mini PC be needed?
I'm a bit exhausted from my research into this topic, tbh, so excuse the rambly post. I just want help
I mean, yeah, but the rest of the post goes on to outline the issues I have with Google TVs, and how to circumvent them. A Google TV box would just have those same issues, or am I not understanding correctly?
Whether I buy a Google TV, or a Google TV Box, or Chromecast, or FireTV or whatever, the issues are the same
It's like you said, if you want to use NewPipe and F-Droid, that's your only option. I wasn't really speaking to the Google data issues but your Samsung/Tizen issues and your choice of hardware. I'm afraid there aren't any good solutions for non-Google devices. You can block certain DNS/domains but you'll almost certainly have functional problems.
What I did was to create a new Google account at setup (they'll auto-generate one for you) and then just immediately log out of it after. Install apps through Aurora/F-Droid. That's the best I've got.
Your next best option is just buying a cheap Linux computer and running your apps through a desktop browser with KBM. Obviously you're making a bunch of compromises on convenience in that case. There are some TV OS's like plasma bigscreen but you won't be able to use a TV remote or watch Apple/Netflix/HBO/whatever because none of them have Linux apps. And further, most of them will limit browser to SD quality.