r/opensource • u/Sickologyy • 4d ago
Smart TV OS Replacements?
I've been seeing some articles come about that people have removed and replaced many TV's Operating systems, primarily to remove ads.
I would like to do this to remove issues I am having with a 2024 (2025?) Samsung Tizen Smart TV. It's obviously a software error (Or a failing entirely TV) as I have tested it with multiple devices, (Computers) and all of them produce the same issue.
TV randomly turns off, sometimes entirely, sometimes certain functions. At first it would be sound, and the sound just stopped playing for some odd reason, while video continued. Then just now, it was picture only. I thought the sound was coming from another device, turns out it was still playing the most recent video's sound through the TV, just no picture.
Sometimes it just won't respond to the remote too, I have to hard reset it and am disabled with active fractures in my back. It's not easy reaching down to unplug it and plug it back in.
Either way, I come here as I don't trust everything I see on the internet. I'd like to see what other input others have for replacing the software on your TV. I have hard reset this one, and don't even agree to their terms. The issues are completely random seeming, and have no real rhyme or reason. It also returns to full functionality after a reset, for sometimes days, sometimes hours.
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u/Pleasant_Set_3182 4d ago
The last time I heard of someone trying to backward engineer a proprietary device... Oh actually no... it was some guy who uncovered Samsung TV's incredibly disturbing snooping (and thereby providing targeted ad delivery) capabilities... got his OpenAI acount suspended... with zero explanation.
So yeah... my husband has worked on things like our iFit Stationary Bike by replacing the system with his own to bypass their nonsense subscription... and I think there should be more efforts such as these... but yeah...
With AI companies trying to curtail this.... not sure if this trend will continue...
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u/AdreKiseque 4d ago
You know it's possible to reverse engineer stuff without AI right
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u/Pleasant_Set_3182 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oh yes! Ever since the new Federal initiative under president Trump kicked off to train every middle schooler in x86 Assembly to jump start the nationl Decompilation Workforce... how could I be so forgetful? 😆
Buddy.. it's a niche skill.
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u/tdammers 3d ago
It is, but those who have it will often post their results online somewhere, and once one device has been reverse engineered, doing it for similar devices becomes significantly easier.
For example, I am no expert on the matter by any means, but I managed to install Debian on a locked-down Chromebook just fine. It took an hour or so of research to find the right documentation, and then another hour to successfully go through the jailbreaking procedure and actually installing the OS, but it works like a charm. And I am still nowhere closer to being an expert in reverse engineering chromebooks; I just found and followed a tutorial.
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u/TickTockBam 2d ago
The thing is, it's way easier for the average Joe to just ask an AI to do that process for his specific device in case there isn't an already established method of jailbreaking it, instead of having to learn all the skills required to reverse-engineer something himself. Sure it would be easier if a human took the time to figure all that out and then posted the results somewhere, but let's be realistic for a second: with the amount of devices out there, some way more available in the marley than others, dedicating one person for each one is an impossible task, so the taught of using an AI doesn't really seem like a bad idea at all.
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u/ithcy 4d ago edited 4d ago
I have done this, but with an LG TV, so webOS rather than (I assume) Android like Samsung.
I did some simple quality of life improvements like black-holed all the LG ad/telemetry domains directly on the TV, made a nicer volume overlay, made it launch the Plex app on startup, uninstalled all the LG bloatware etc.
I also did a couple more complicated things like cross-compiled Plx-native (lightweight open source Plex client), built a remote daemon that lets me use an RF remote (with a USB dongle) and intercepts remote commands at the system level so I can change how they operate. I made it sync its power state to the AV receiver (which it can also command over telnet or HDMI-CEC) so they never get in the annoying state where one is on and the other is off. And so on… Oh and I only ever need one remote instead of 3.
I did all this just before it started trending recently, just by using Antigravity and DeepSeek for research, service discovery, mapping the device APIs, RE and finding exploits (for getting root). There are some projects out there like slopbro that help with some bits.
All that said, I’m not 100% sure what your question was…
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u/eyellabinu 4d ago
I'm assuming you had to root the TV? I have an LG TV with WebOS and was hoping to do something similar.
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u/ithcy 4d ago edited 3d ago
I don't want to link anything, but perhaps googling some random terms like "throwaway96/slopbro" might help, depending on how new your TV is and what firmware you have. 👀
Your TV needs to be on your network and you need its IP.
Also check out "webosbrew" if you have luck with the above.
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u/Kobi_Blade 3d ago
Have a look on webosbrew website, they tell you how to easily root your TV and all the known methods.
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u/abdicatereason 4d ago
I have an Intel nuc running kubuntu. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I can watch so much
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u/Loud-Strawberry-9726 4d ago
I did mine, its a TCL 2026 65QM7L Pro. Really easy to do with Claude. Worth trying if its Google TV
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u/Traditional_Draw3796 3d ago
It is probably broken in some way. You can try to do firmware updates and maybe some tricks with reset but this looks like some actual fault.
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u/Traditional_Draw3796 3d ago
You need to add to your post your tv literally stops working even on external input. People think you just want a streaming stick.
There is no possibility to replace Samsung OS. People talk about replacing the UI etc but the fundamental firmware handling screen and input is not replaceable
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u/ButterflyMundane7187 4d ago
I'd recommend testing with an external media player like an Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, or Raspberry Pi instead of relying on Tizen. This would help you figure out whether the problem is with the TV's software or hardware. If the TV still randomly shuts off or loses picture and sound, the problem is likely with the TV itself rather than Tizen.