In my opinion you should not use ANY of the smart features of a "smart" TV. Don't give it your wifi key and don't put it on your LAN.

I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers. I also have a fairly high degree of confidence that the xbox one and PS4 software will remain up to date with security patches, and address critical issues quickly. I have no confidence for TVs.

Microsoft and Sony have teams of lawyers who've drafted the data collection/data sharing/opt-out policies for what their current generation game consoles track and phone home about. I've seen entirely too many reports of "smart" TVs that start reporting your entire viewing habits, and/or displaying unwanted ads.

Use the TV as a dumb display and hook it up to a PS4, Xbox One, and/or home theatre PC.

> I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers.

It should be noted Sony's TVs are different than their game consoles in what they collect and do. They run a relatively clean version of Android TV except for "Samba TV", which is yet another piece of show-recognizing (known as ACR) analytics. However, you can apparently decline its privacy policy on initial setup and even disable the APK entirely in settings[1]. (Some people also succeeded in ripping it and other bundled video apps out via ADB)

Even given all that, Sony TVs are probably still the tamest smart TVs out there.

> Don't give it your wifi key and don't put it on your LAN.

It entirely depends on manufacturer but I've heard of some actually seeking out open networks for internet access if you don't configure their Wi-Fi. Some people reported an unconnected TV suddenly prompted to update because the neighbour's wifi was unsecured. If you can, I'd set up a specific SSID with no LAN or WAN access just in case.

[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smar...

I'm not sure creating a network without no internet access is going to be a long term solution. It's entirely likely that they will create future functionality in these devices to cycle through open networks and networks to which they have credentials for until they find one with internet access.

HDMI will share its connection through the cable as well. So if you want to use a Chromecast or a BluRay player, etc, then your TV can get internet through that.

If you’re using a chromecast and also trying to keep your tv from phoning home what are you even doing? I mean I guess one fewer place having your info is good, but...

VLC supports casting to a local network Chromecast. It works fantastic.

And Plex!

There's also Cast All The Things (catt)[0], which makes any of the hundreds of websites supported by youtube-dl[1] cast-able.

[0] https://github.com/skorokithakis/catt/

[1] https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html