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I couldn’t even begin to know where to look in a TV of today.

Howard Sams taught me everything I know about tv circuitry.

I do know that unless one is able to decode the fantastically small circuits in a IC chip, there is no way to know just WHAT the thing is ‘capable’ of doing.

If it doesn't connect to the Internet and it doesn't connect to a cable provider's modem, then it isn't able to to rat on me even if it has that capability. There is not an entry for it in the WIFI router either. It isn't particularly modern, approaching twenty years old.

I learned electronics much the same way as you did before going to college. Then I had some formal training, but mostly software. In the workforce I learned a lot about digital hardware and some analog hardware. Now I design the electronics and write the software for it. My work is freelance. Most of the stuff I make is laboratory or medical instrumentation, and communicates in a variety of ways with a control center or data collection facility. I also work the PC end to do something with the data. My lab includes instrumentation that can detect, demodulate, and decode arbitrary signals. Detecting streaming audio anywhere in the RF bands is pretty easy.

Are you working on any cool projects? Play with Arduino? We could exchange ideas.

Two of my favorite electronics books are "The Art of Electronics", by David Horowitz and "Practical Electronics for Inventors", by Scherz Monk.

I often find good technical books at abebooks.com. The Monk book is there for about $5, while the Horowitz book stays expensive.