I completely understand what you’re saying; in general, I tend to agree that if a firmware update is available, it’s best to install it. I keep the firmware up to date on all my networking equipment, and the first thing I do when I set up a new PC is install Windows updates (or apt-get update in Linux).

I have two TVs. One in the living room, and one in the bedroom. After the brief time I had my bedroom TV connected to my network, it immediately started serving me advertisements. I hate ads with a passion. When it comes to network security, privacy probably comes second to blocking ads in terms of priority. When it came time to replace my living room TV, I first tried to repair it, but after spending too much on a replacement mainboard that didn’t do shit, I just bought a new TV. There was no way in hell I was letting it connect to the internet and download advertisements.

I have an extensive Zigbee network for home automation, 10GB fiber links between my servers and my home office, etc. My home is very much “connected.” TVs are just one of those things that I will never, ever, under any circumstances, allow to connect to anything other than a video cable. If I’m paying $1000 or more for a device, I’ll be damned if it’s going to show me advertisements.

I use my TV as basically just a dumb display panel. If it can display 4k/60, then there is no bug that needs to be fixed. I don’t even use built-in audio.

I connected my other TV to my network once when my Nvidia Shield wasn’t working. That TV is still showing advertisements in the main menu for shows that were released 3 years ago.

I’m in this same situation and at least for me, no, not even once for a firmware update.

If the TV is displaying the image that’s coming from whatever input source I’m using, then the firmware is already just fine.

I canceled Netflix several years ago after having used it as my primary source of media almost since they first started their streaming service.

The problem I had is that the quality of their content decreased so dramatically that even though it worked fine from a technical perspective, there was nothing I wanted to watch. They used to have extensive back-catelogues of shows from all sorts of different national cable networks, tons of interesting foreign shows, documentaries, obscure indie films, etc.

Slowly but surely this all disappeared. Networks stopped licensing content to Netflix. As soon as they realized that streaming was the way of the future, they wanted to capitalize on it with their own streaming services. In a way, Netflix was a victim of their own success.

Now they’re essentially just a TV network of their own and not the aggregator of media that they used it me. The few decent originals that they have were just not justification enough for me to pay for a service I might use a few times a year.

I love it, and for anyone else who does, I have a suggestion.

Get a SodaStream (or whatever your carbonator-of-choice is) and a cheap adapter to run it from a standard CO2 tank. Not only do you save money on CO2 refills, but you save money on buying cans of seltzer, too. The concentrated flavor additives are only a few dollars at the grocery store.

I think my SodaStream was something like $100. The adapter and hoses were $50-ish. The flavor syrup costs around $5 for enough to make gallons. Every few months or more, I might pay $50 or so to refill a 20lb CO2 tank. It’s already paid for itself, and it’s incredibly convenient.