Sounds like it’s time for some involuntary open sourcing.
Air gapping and using my own inputs is a fine solution, no?
Nope, Smart TVs perform image recognition on input signals as well, and if your neighbor has not disabled their default ISP open wifi then it will connect to it discreetly. Or someone with an LG phone happens to wander in range then they can collude to relay data back to LG.
I remember when I was displaying downloaded anime to my Roku TV from my laptop and the TV recognized what I was watching. That was an eerie realization.
What happened that lead to you realizing ?
I repeat myself: do not buy LG.
They are creepy repeat offenders.
Vote with your money.
This would be trivial to test yet not a single person has ever provided a shred of evidence.
There is no proof for that. In the meantime, few days ago, I just disconnected WiFi/Bluetooth module of my never connected LG TV.
Break the WiFi antennas. That will stop them. For now.
But when they start installing cellular modems in every TV, that’s going to be harder to stop.
tl/dr - Get an Apple TV and disconnect from the internet.
Why Apple specifically? You can disconnect any TV from the Internet, or never connnect them in the first place.
Why Apple? I have nore Apple stuff than I like but I'm not really an Apple fanboy for reasons. But, compared to the handful of streaming devices I've tried, there is just no comparison. The others were all total faeces.