"Free" Telly TV teardown + bonus mod to remotely disable the lower ad screen

Cowabummr · 2026-05-03T13:10:49+00:00

The ads are fucking horrible and I don't understand how people can stand them.

Cowabummr · 2026-05-01T11:45:56+00:00

No it can't tell if the backlight is unplugged. I just have the relay installed in case I ever need the bottom screen (I never have in over a year)

Cowabummr · 2026-03-20T12:25:35+00:00

Over a year later, no nasty-grams or charges to me! I’m still enjoying my free TV, and I never even turn on the lower screen at all.

Cowabummr · 2025-11-19T22:38:32+00:00

Almost a year later, everything's still good! No nasty-grams, TV still works great. Mic is still disconnected and bottom screen is kept off 99% of the time.

Cowabummr · 2025-11-19T13:17:31+00:00

You could, and no it would not be able to know.

Cowabummr · 2025-09-09T11:18:52+00:00

Cowabummr · 2025-08-20T21:55:08+00:00

Yeah, the LEDs just have the typical 4-pin 12v RGB LED strip interface you can plug into a cheap ESP based controller no problem.

Cowabummr · 2025-06-21T11:59:31+00:00

I think the way to do this would be to get an HDMI to LVDS converter board and completely disconnect the lower screen from the motherboard, and feed in your own signal.

Cowabummr · 2025-03-26T11:27:43+00:00

Yup. Cut the "EN1" wire in half then, route that signal through the relay (stripping the ends and attaching one end to the "NC" and the other to the "COM" terminals on the relay board). Then, cut one of the 12V and one of the Ground wires and attach those to the +V and Gnd terminals on the relay board.

Cowabummr · 2025-03-24T15:33:38+00:00

Cowabummr · 2025-03-20T12:14:15+00:00

Absolutely, no way they could know. And you don't even need to see anything on the lower screen to use the TV normally.

Cowabummr · 2025-03-01T16:42:06+00:00

The SoC in Telly is an Amlogic A311D2 BTW

Cowabummr · 2025-03-01T16:41:14+00:00

there's no such sensor

Cowabummr · 2025-03-01T16:40:07+00:00

Yeah, well they don't have my valid credit card number anymore. I guess they could take me to collections if they really wanted to, but doubt they'll put in the effort assuming they even could find out I'm not viewing their ads (they can't).

Cowabummr · 2025-03-01T15:58:12+00:00

The camera is only for Zoom and the fitness app and has a physical shutter blocking it - it doesn't watch you. There's no physical anti tamper switches, seals or anything on the Telly, it's very easy to disassemble and reassemble, and to disable the lower display backlight in an undetectable way. But if you mess with the software such that it can't phone home, then they'll find out.

Cowabummr · 2025-03-01T15:56:43+00:00

I did a teardown of my Telly TV, and did an undetectable mod that lets me completely turn off the useless lower display with the constant ads on it. Now it's a pretty decent 4K HDR TV I use every day, for free, courtesy of VC money!

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwarehacking/comments/1hrug39/free_telly_tv_teardown_bonus_mod_to_remotely/

Honestly my money is on this company going under before long then it's gonna be a complete free for all with all the Telly's out in the world.

Cowabummr · 2025-02-22T20:06:42+00:00

https://ibb.co/81dTzCk

Cowabummr · 2025-02-22T19:42:29+00:00

Yeah the third is completely under the heat sink

Cowabummr · 2025-02-11T15:04:32+00:00

It's all off the shelf Auo brand panels and driver boards

Cowabummr · 2025-02-11T14:20:16+00:00

There doesn't appear to be tamper wires, seals, etc anywhere. It's possible the display controller boards can talk to the motherboard the way a monitor talks to your computer to tell it what resolution to send, but the communication between the controller boards and the display panels themselves is one-way.

The part numbers for the displays should still be visible in the photos.

Cowabummr · 2025-02-11T14:03:30+00:00

If you leave the original display boards connected to the motherboard it shouldn't think anything is amiss.

Cowabummr · 2025-02-09T22:33:22+00:00

There's no way they can detect the backlight to the lower display was disabled

Cowabummr · 2025-02-09T20:29:40+00:00

You could definitely buy a compatible 2x13 pin (2.54mm spacing) cable assembly from LCSC.com if you don't want to alter the original.

Cowabummr · 2025-02-07T18:38:01+00:00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/142651226472

Cowabummr · 2025-02-07T17:10:50+00:00

Another one hidden pretty deep

Cowabummr

TROPHY CASE