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How about open sourcing the code running on it or at least letting us run our own software? A lot of apps that came with my TV from Samsung have been removed o

How about open sourcing the code running on it or at least letting us run our own software? A lot of apps that came with my TV from Samsung have been removed over the years as they stopped supporting them. For example Skype. So I paid for a TV with Skype, now it has no more Skype.

minimaul 7y ago
No, you paid for a TV with an App Store, where there were apps (pretty much all provided by third parties). It’s not Samsung’s fault if a third party pulls their app.
- kbenson 7y ago
  It depends. If the TV was advertised with a specific application, which I see often, then the loss of that application is a loss of advertised functionality. The way I see it, if they used the availability of an app as a direct selling point, that makes them somewhat liable to it's continued functionality. If they didn't secure that contractually or with some level of assurance, they should not have advertised it.
  - JustSomeNobody 7y ago
    No, you received an implied license for the life of the television to operate it as a television. Samsung reserves the right to modify the software on said television as it so chooses.
    - kbenson 7y ago
      It's not that simple. It really does matter how it was advertised (but it also matters whether the FTC is willing to make a case).[1] 1: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advert...
    - horsawlarway 7y ago
      I think without trying this opinion before a court, you have no idea. Samsung may have reserved the right to modify the software, but I've literally seen smart tvs from Samsung that have a "Netflix" button on the physical remote. They have shipped tv boxes that clearly and prominently display the Netflix app on the tv. If the Netflix button on the remote no longer works, the tv is not doing what the user bought it to do and what it was advertised as being capable of.
      - fivefive55 7y ago
        I know you're just using Netflix as an example, but has anyone actually had that app pulled from their TV? I have an old 32 inch Vizio smart tv that I bought back in 2011 and all my big apps still work on it, albeit kind of slowly. Netflix, Prime, Vudu, all still available.
      - JustSomeNobody 7y ago
        > I think without trying this opinion before a court, you have no idea. But that's the point. Who is going to go to court with Samsung over a $1500 TV? We don't actually own the devices we buy anymore. It's ... pathetic, but true.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
ocdtrekkie 7y ago
I have a Panasonic which I had never actually used the apps on before... until I needed to this past week. I discovered almost all of the app icons just grey now, presumably from shuttered services, and you couldn't even reorder them. But Vudu worked. \o/
- HEHENE 7y ago
  My parents have a high end 90" TV they bought some years back that had smarts built in. Can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but it may have been Vizio. Almost all of the apps stopped working long ago, and the manufacturer doesn't even push out updates anymore, but somehow the Vudu app keeps trucking along. They still use it as they prefer the built-in Vudu app to the Vudu app offered on their Xbox One. I suppose props are in order to Vudu for supporting something so long after even the manufacturer has given up on it.
  - ocdtrekkie 7y ago
    Vudu is an excellent service for a number of reasons. They absolutely run on anything for one. They're 100% platform agnostic and Wal-Mart doesn't own a tech platform, so they're not favoring any given streaming player or operating system over any other, and nobody's got any reason to block them or play games with them, unlike if you buy from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc. Most of the creative new ways to getting your digital copies started with them like Disc to Digital and Instawatch. Others have dabbled in it, but Vudu really made these things happen and they've continued to be the biggest in these spaces, though Best Buy has recently dabbled with giving out digital codes for preorders in advance of physical releases. And on the front of digital ownership, they've continued to support issuing UltraViolet rights on every single title they're allowed to do so by the studios, and seem to plan to continue to until the last possible moment (Whereas Fandango voluntarily dropped it for all MA-eligible titles pretty quickly) and were immediate to grab into Movies Anywhere as well. Most digital copy codes for titles that aren't UV or MA are also redeemable on Vudu. In the buying digital video space, they've really stood out as the safest best to ensure your purchase or digital copy will be available on any device more or less in perpetuity, and that makes them my default for it in the world where video still hasn't won good DRM-free options like music and ebooks have started to.
saagarjha 7y ago
Yikes, I would not want a TV with a webcam anywhere near my living room.
- tim58 7y ago
  A lot of TVs have microphones now which I consider to be just as big if not bigger threat to privacy as a camera. This isn't to mention the microphones present in laptops, cellphones, tablets, echos, etc.

minimaul 7y ago

No, you paid for a TV with an App Store, where there were apps (pretty much all provided by third parties). It’s not Samsung’s fault if a third party pulls their app.

kbenson 7y ago
It depends. If the TV was advertised with a specific application, which I see often, then the loss of that application is a loss of advertised functionality. The way I see it, if they used the availability of an app as a direct selling point, that makes them somewhat liable to it's continued functionality. If they didn't secure that contractually or with some level of assurance, they should not have advertised it.
- JustSomeNobody 7y ago
  No, you received an implied license for the life of the television to operate it as a television. Samsung reserves the right to modify the software on said television as it so chooses.
  - kbenson 7y ago
    It's not that simple. It really does matter how it was advertised (but it also matters whether the FTC is willing to make a case).[1] 1: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advert...
  - horsawlarway 7y ago
    I think without trying this opinion before a court, you have no idea. Samsung may have reserved the right to modify the software, but I've literally seen smart tvs from Samsung that have a "Netflix" button on the physical remote. They have shipped tv boxes that clearly and prominently display the Netflix app on the tv. If the Netflix button on the remote no longer works, the tv is not doing what the user bought it to do and what it was advertised as being capable of.
    - fivefive55 7y ago
      I know you're just using Netflix as an example, but has anyone actually had that app pulled from their TV? I have an old 32 inch Vizio smart tv that I bought back in 2011 and all my big apps still work on it, albeit kind of slowly. Netflix, Prime, Vudu, all still available.
    - JustSomeNobody 7y ago
      > I think without trying this opinion before a court, you have no idea. But that's the point. Who is going to go to court with Samsung over a $1500 TV? We don't actually own the devices we buy anymore. It's ... pathetic, but true.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

ocdtrekkie 7y ago

I have a Panasonic which I had never actually used the apps on before... until I needed to this past week. I discovered almost all of the app icons just grey now, presumably from shuttered services, and you couldn't even reorder them. But Vudu worked. \o/

HEHENE 7y ago
My parents have a high end 90" TV they bought some years back that had smarts built in. Can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but it may have been Vizio. Almost all of the apps stopped working long ago, and the manufacturer doesn't even push out updates anymore, but somehow the Vudu app keeps trucking along. They still use it as they prefer the built-in Vudu app to the Vudu app offered on their Xbox One. I suppose props are in order to Vudu for supporting something so long after even the manufacturer has given up on it.
- ocdtrekkie 7y ago
  Vudu is an excellent service for a number of reasons. They absolutely run on anything for one. They're 100% platform agnostic and Wal-Mart doesn't own a tech platform, so they're not favoring any given streaming player or operating system over any other, and nobody's got any reason to block them or play games with them, unlike if you buy from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc. Most of the creative new ways to getting your digital copies started with them like Disc to Digital and Instawatch. Others have dabbled in it, but Vudu really made these things happen and they've continued to be the biggest in these spaces, though Best Buy has recently dabbled with giving out digital codes for preorders in advance of physical releases. And on the front of digital ownership, they've continued to support issuing UltraViolet rights on every single title they're allowed to do so by the studios, and seem to plan to continue to until the last possible moment (Whereas Fandango voluntarily dropped it for all MA-eligible titles pretty quickly) and were immediate to grab into Movies Anywhere as well. Most digital copy codes for titles that aren't UV or MA are also redeemable on Vudu. In the buying digital video space, they've really stood out as the safest best to ensure your purchase or digital copy will be available on any device more or less in perpetuity, and that makes them my default for it in the world where video still hasn't won good DRM-free options like music and ebooks have started to.

saagarjha 7y ago

Yikes, I would not want a TV with a webcam anywhere near my living room.

tim58 7y ago
A lot of TVs have microphones now which I consider to be just as big if not bigger threat to privacy as a camera. This isn't to mention the microphones present in laptops, cellphones, tablets, echos, etc.