I value my time, learned the lesson some time ago. When I was younger I tinkered for just the fun of doing it. Young me would've gone your route too, just for the challenge of it.
Now I do the math in my head, is it easier to just pay for the optimal way to do things instead of faffing about with all kinds of extra tools.
For this case I still have my 7-8 year old AppleTV 4k (1st gen). Haven't touched my "smart" TVs "smart" features. It threatened to install an AI update a while ago so took it offline.
ATV just keeps chugging away, our family uses it at least an hour a day, sometimes more - especially on the weekends. No lag, no slowness, every major streaming provider has an app for it - no-one wants to ignore one of the largest set-top box markets.
I did the same thing with Youtube, I pay them every month for Family Premium rather than figure out adblocking on about a dozen devices around the house - I do NOT want my kids being exposed to the kind of ads YT runs.
(Which was fun, you _cannot_ add children under 13 to a family account on Youtube, they MUST watch the ads, no way to pay for them to not see them...)
Now I do the math in my head, is it easier to just pay for the optimal way to do things instead of faffing about with all kinds of extra tools.
For this case I still have my 7-8 year old AppleTV 4k (1st gen). Haven't touched my "smart" TVs "smart" features. It threatened to install an AI update a while ago so took it offline.
ATV just keeps chugging away, our family uses it at least an hour a day, sometimes more - especially on the weekends. No lag, no slowness, every major streaming provider has an app for it - no-one wants to ignore one of the largest set-top box markets.
I did the same thing with Youtube, I pay them every month for Family Premium rather than figure out adblocking on about a dozen devices around the house - I do NOT want my kids being exposed to the kind of ads YT runs.
(Which was fun, you _cannot_ add children under 13 to a family account on Youtube, they MUST watch the ads, no way to pay for them to not see them...)