Show HN: Making a smart TV dumb and then smart
A developer has created a project to transform smart TVs into 'dumb' displays by offloading processing to a local Linux host. The system uses a custom setup to handle voice commands and browser rendering while bypassing vendor-locked software.
Why it matters
It demonstrates advanced home automation and privacy-focused hardware modification, allowing users to regain control over proprietary smart devices.
Demo: https://anubhavmalhotra.com/vibing/r2d2-webos/r2d2-demo.mp4
A local home screen, private remote browser, and push-to-talk voice assistant for webOS TVs. A Linux compute host runs Chromium and the voice models; the TV provides the display, applications, and remote control.
The TV components run as root and modify vendor system services on one specific firmware build. This is unsupported, may void your warranty, and can leave the TV unusable until a reboot or a factory reset. Use it at your own risk.
Reference deployment on one TV/firmware: Home, the browser, and remote voice commands work end to end there. Other TV, firmware, remote, and host combinations are unvalidated. This repository provides source and offline tests, not a universal root, firmware, or host installer.
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