4 ms·

This story (and from different outlets) is now all over the press, which is great. Can I add another qualm in a similar vein? It involves Samsung TV's. I'm c

This story (and from different outlets) is now all over the press, which is great. Can I add another qualm in a similar vein? It involves Samsung TV's. I'm convinced Samsung is increasingly mean. I only use streaming services (Netflix, et. al.), and for the past year I've been pretty pleased with "Smart TV" functionality, which makes life easy. That is, until the following happened. After a recent update, the TV: * Now starts up automatically onto some broadcast TV station, I think it's some sports station. There is No Way to turn this off, because it's not an app, but a new functionality built into the TV. By "broadcast TV" I don't mean the old-school antenna or cable, I mean the equivalent of live broadcast TV streaming via the Internet. If I turn the TV off, for example, while the YouTube app is up, when it turns back on, I get that streaming broadcast crap again. * The broadcast crap has commercials, and sound on. * Ads have ALSO popped up in place of one of the "buttons" in the Apps menu. You're not enraged yet? Let me save the best for last: * When using the voice functionality on the remote during a search (either on YouTube or someplace), a popup jumped up telling me that I needed to accept THREE terms and conditions (three checkmarks), and click OK, or I could not use the voice functionality. The TOC involved aggregating my searches and data for ad purposes, and it said something about other Samsung devices. Luckily, I don't own any. I went back to plugging my PC into the TV. Folks, please do not buy any Samsung products.

bo1024 8y ago
The idea (and implementation) of Smart TVs is very frustrating to me, so I'm glad to see others reaching this conclusion-- > I went back to plugging my PC into the TV. It's a perfect example of what Stallman has always warned us about -- companies using software in products to control and exploit us rather than empower us. All the things you mention, planned obsolescence, and more.
cududa 8y ago
I was exceptionally displeased to find this functionality on all the Samsung TVs at my vacation home this winter. Threw a FireTV Cube on all of them and couldn’t be happier with the experience. IMO, it’s cable box integration is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. But I’d suggest you checkout the FireTV 4K if you don’t have cable
chrismeller 8y ago
I have a Roku for these and many other reasons. I have never seen or touched a smart TV that didn’t suck in multiple ways, even if it was just the laggy as hell Java interface. I’m not saying the Roku is perfect, it’s far from it (and I’d love to be able to give them feedback), but at least if they piss me off I can throw their device in the trash and replace it with an Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire, etc. and still have a perfectly well functioning 4K TV.
- webkike 8y ago
  Unfortunately, my Roku TV displays a big fat ad on the home screen. Incredibly infuriating considering how expensive the TV is. Need to change my DNS to one of those ad blocking ones soon.
- senoroink 8y ago
  Since it's relevant to the topic conversation, only use a Roku if you're blocking its outgoing requests. It sends out an insane amount of outbound data that goes beyond just your viewing habits (e.g. wifi name, "connection data") [1]. Installing pi-hole reveals how noisy a Roku is [2]. [1] - https://docs.roku.com/doc/userprivacypolicy/en-us https://docs.roku.com/doc/userprivacypolicy/en-us [2] - https://imgur.com/a/n5zcAwl https://imgur.com/a/n5zcAwl
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
zapzupnz 8y ago
All of the above is why I don't use the smart features on my LG TV. webOS is nice, and there are apps for the services in my country, but I don't want my viewing experience held hostage by the whims of the manufacturer. Once they've made the TV, the only part they have to play in my continued usage of it is warranty repairs. Fortunately, my Apple TV 4K also has the relevant apps for the services available in my country, and neither LG nor any other manufacturer whose TV I may decide to purchase in future can gain any telemetry or force any workflow on it. The dedicated Netflix and Amazon Prime buttons on my remote never get a look in.
saagarjha 8y ago
My parents have unfortunately decided to buy a Samsung TV, so the first thing I did was to tell them to never connect it to the internet. We have an Apple TV connected to it and the TV spends most of its time in HDMI 1.
p1necone 8y ago
Thanks for the heads up, I will make sure I never install updates on my Samsung TV.
walrus01 8y ago
Never, ever give your TV access to the Internet. The OS that runs on those things is such unmitigated shit, whether it's LG, Samsung, Vizio, anything. Just use it as a dumb display. At least if I have an xbox one driving it I can be reasonably confident that microsoft has a highly vested interest in staying up to date on security patches. And whatever data collection I've opted into/out of has been vetted by people in Redmond. Use a home theatre PC to drive all other needs.

bo1024 8y ago

The idea (and implementation) of Smart TVs is very frustrating to me, so I'm glad to see others reaching this conclusion-- > I went back to plugging my PC into the TV. It's a perfect example of what Stallman has always warned us about -- companies using software in products to control and exploit us rather than empower us. All the things you mention, planned obsolescence, and more.

cududa 8y ago

I was exceptionally displeased to find this functionality on all the Samsung TVs at my vacation home this winter. Threw a FireTV Cube on all of them and couldn’t be happier with the experience. IMO, it’s cable box integration is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. But I’d suggest you checkout the FireTV 4K if you don’t have cable

chrismeller 8y ago

I have a Roku for these and many other reasons. I have never seen or touched a smart TV that didn’t suck in multiple ways, even if it was just the laggy as hell Java interface. I’m not saying the Roku is perfect, it’s far from it (and I’d love to be able to give them feedback), but at least if they piss me off I can throw their device in the trash and replace it with an Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire, etc. and still have a perfectly well functioning 4K TV.

webkike 8y ago
Unfortunately, my Roku TV displays a big fat ad on the home screen. Incredibly infuriating considering how expensive the TV is. Need to change my DNS to one of those ad blocking ones soon.
senoroink 8y ago
Since it's relevant to the topic conversation, only use a Roku if you're blocking its outgoing requests. It sends out an insane amount of outbound data that goes beyond just your viewing habits (e.g. wifi name, "connection data") [1]. Installing pi-hole reveals how noisy a Roku is [2]. [1] - https://docs.roku.com/doc/userprivacypolicy/en-us https://docs.roku.com/doc/userprivacypolicy/en-us [2] - https://imgur.com/a/n5zcAwl https://imgur.com/a/n5zcAwl
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

zapzupnz 8y ago

All of the above is why I don't use the smart features on my LG TV. webOS is nice, and there are apps for the services in my country, but I don't want my viewing experience held hostage by the whims of the manufacturer. Once they've made the TV, the only part they have to play in my continued usage of it is warranty repairs. Fortunately, my Apple TV 4K also has the relevant apps for the services available in my country, and neither LG nor any other manufacturer whose TV I may decide to purchase in future can gain any telemetry or force any workflow on it. The dedicated Netflix and Amazon Prime buttons on my remote never get a look in.

saagarjha 8y ago

My parents have unfortunately decided to buy a Samsung TV, so the first thing I did was to tell them to never connect it to the internet. We have an Apple TV connected to it and the TV spends most of its time in HDMI 1.

p1necone 8y ago

Thanks for the heads up, I will make sure I never install updates on my Samsung TV.

walrus01 8y ago

Never, ever give your TV access to the Internet. The OS that runs on those things is such unmitigated shit, whether it's LG, Samsung, Vizio, anything. Just use it as a dumb display. At least if I have an xbox one driving it I can be reasonably confident that microsoft has a highly vested interest in staying up to date on security patches. And whatever data collection I've opted into/out of has been vetted by people in Redmond. Use a home theatre PC to drive all other needs.