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I have a similar experience with my high-end Samsung TV from 2013. The TV itself still works perfectly so I'm not replacing it soon (still 1080p, not 4K, but...

I have a similar experience with my high-end Samsung TV from 2013. The TV itself still works perfectly so I'm not replacing it soon (still 1080p, not 4K, but...), but over time, Samsung has steadily removed key features with each update. When I first bought it, it supported Skype video calls (and now the integrated webcam can't be used at all), IPTV streaming, and various third-party apps — all of which are now gone. NEVER BUYING A SAMSUNG TV AGAIN

pjmlp 2y ago
The issue is not Samsung per se, it is the smart TV crap we can't get rid of. With luck there are some old TVs still on remaining stock and that is about it.
- account42 2y ago
  But you can at least for now still use those "smart" TVs as dumb displays for whatever device you want and just ignore the fact that the TV is running a full android stack or similar. There really is no need to scrounge for older devices with inferior display tech.
mrweasel 2y ago
This is exactly why "Smart" TVs don't make any sense. My in-laws have a perfectly fine Sony TV, it's nok 4K, but the HD picture quality is amazing still. Apps have slowly started to disappear as they are no longer being updated and new one aren't being added. I don't know how this work, but either Sony or the streaming service must be making the apps, and neither seems interested in maintaining apps for a 10+ year old TV. So when the streaming services are updating their backend, older TV don't get updated applications. Smart TVs make absolutely no sense, the streaming service are moving to fast, so you'll need a cheaper box, or a product that is support for a decade.
- xp84 2y ago
  100%. I think most people should probably transition their thinking from using smart TV apps being an obvious or reasonable thing to do, to viewing them like the ads you sometimes find in the box when you buy something. They’re basically just ads for streaming services, and they’re mainly there to try to trick you into connecting the TV to the Internet so that it can gather data for them. In the event that one wants the app functionality, they’ll always be better off with a streaming stick. Even in respectable brands of TVs like Sony, the SOC’s are weaker than what you find in that $40 “Chromecast with Google TV.” so they’re pretty horrible to use even while they are current and supported.
zamalek 2y ago
LGs, while still smart TVs, are relatively competent at being dumb TVs. Your only other options these days (sans rescuing a dumb TV from e-waste) are commercial panels and projectors.
- Tijdreiziger 2y ago
  We have a 4K TV from Philips (really, TP Vision), which has Android TV, but you can just set it to an HDMI input and then it works as a dumb TV. Being a Philips (TP Vision), it also has Ambilight, which is nice. It’s a few years old though, so no guarantees that newer Philips (TP Vision) models work the same way.
- echoangle 2y ago
  If you just use an HDMI input and attach some streaming box to it, Samsung TVs work just fine. Just never touch the remote and only interact with the source and everything works.
MaxikCZ 2y ago
My experience with LG wasnt any better. Thorough about a year the tv became increasingly unresponsive. You start it, after 30 seconds the sound andpicture appeared, and for about 2 full minutes it would not react to inputs what so ever (except turning off). So if you happen to turn the tv off with higher volume, you could not launch it in the evening without it blasting for 2+ minutes at night. Abhorent
bobdvb 2y ago
Microsoft removed support for Skype on TV, not Samsung. Most apps get removed because the people writing them don't want to support them anymore. The Samsung framework from 2013 was always trouble and it doesn't support many current W3C features that you'd want as a developer. Most people I know are drawing the line at supporting 2014 or 2016 Samsung devices. Could Samsung update their devices to ensure they still supported modern frameworks? Possibly, but they don't really get any revenue from providing OS upgrades and those devices suck in terms of RAM and CPU.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I hate this idea that software "rots" all by itself when it's just left on a device and is impossible to keep working. I would at the very, very least expect my device to work exactly as it did on day one, for the next 50 years, assuming I don't change the software. It's bits on a flash drive! It doesn't rot, outside some freak cosmic ray from space flipping a bit. If you're saying the software stops working because the backend it talks to goes away, well that's a deliberate choice the company is making. All they have to do is have a proper versioning system and do not touch the backend service, and it also should work forever.
  - Hackbraten 2y ago
    Certificates expire.
    - albrewer 2y ago
      Google learning this the hard way with the recent chromecast outage[0] [0]: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/Regarding-an-issue-with-Chromecast-2nd-gen-and-Chromecast-Audio/m-p/692041 https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/Regarding-a...
    - 3np 2y ago
      So don't burn CA pubkeys into your binaries without means for user override. If the software can persist a user-specific analytics ID it can support user certs. This is a solved problem.
toolslive 2y ago
what bother's me even more is that they are constantly spying on me (phone home, what am I watching, ...) and pushing advertisements to my TV. My next TV will probably not be connected to the internet.
- update 2y ago
  I use a pi-hole to block the spying. My experience with Amazon's FireOS & Roku is they phone home a lot.
- ce4 2y ago
  Why wait for the next TV when you can just disconnect the darn existing box now?
hbn 2y ago
Well I'm not sure what use you'd have out of Skype integration when Skype itself is being axed in a couple of months
KeplerBoy 2y ago
Still appreciating my 2011 high end Samsung TV. I believe it's the last non-smart product year. It could stream videos from a network share but that's about it. Judging by current trends i will have to replace the attached chromecast before the TV breaks.
sgt 2y ago
It's kinda common knowledge at this point that almost all Smart TV's suck, especially Samsung. I went the Samsung route as well - the TV itself is fine, but the software is horrible. The solution (that I hope everyone knows about by now) is to buy an Apple TV and connect it. Once the TV starts, it shows Apple TV from the get-go and not any of the Samsung stuff.
- account42 2y ago
  > The solution (that I hope everyone knows about by now) is to buy an Apple TV and connect it. Once the TV starts, it shows Apple TV from the get-go and not any of the Samsung stuff. Or just connect the TV to your PC where you have the freedom to run whatever software you want. Why replace one crappy "smart" device with another.
lostmsu 2y ago
Why are other apps gone?

pjmlp 2y ago

The issue is not Samsung per se, it is the smart TV crap we can't get rid of. With luck there are some old TVs still on remaining stock and that is about it.

account42 2y ago
But you can at least for now still use those "smart" TVs as dumb displays for whatever device you want and just ignore the fact that the TV is running a full android stack or similar. There really is no need to scrounge for older devices with inferior display tech.

mrweasel 2y ago

This is exactly why "Smart" TVs don't make any sense. My in-laws have a perfectly fine Sony TV, it's nok 4K, but the HD picture quality is amazing still. Apps have slowly started to disappear as they are no longer being updated and new one aren't being added. I don't know how this work, but either Sony or the streaming service must be making the apps, and neither seems interested in maintaining apps for a 10+ year old TV. So when the streaming services are updating their backend, older TV don't get updated applications. Smart TVs make absolutely no sense, the streaming service are moving to fast, so you'll need a cheaper box, or a product that is support for a decade.

xp84 2y ago
100%. I think most people should probably transition their thinking from using smart TV apps being an obvious or reasonable thing to do, to viewing them like the ads you sometimes find in the box when you buy something. They’re basically just ads for streaming services, and they’re mainly there to try to trick you into connecting the TV to the Internet so that it can gather data for them. In the event that one wants the app functionality, they’ll always be better off with a streaming stick. Even in respectable brands of TVs like Sony, the SOC’s are weaker than what you find in that $40 “Chromecast with Google TV.” so they’re pretty horrible to use even while they are current and supported.

zamalek 2y ago

LGs, while still smart TVs, are relatively competent at being dumb TVs. Your only other options these days (sans rescuing a dumb TV from e-waste) are commercial panels and projectors.

Tijdreiziger 2y ago
We have a 4K TV from Philips (really, TP Vision), which has Android TV, but you can just set it to an HDMI input and then it works as a dumb TV. Being a Philips (TP Vision), it also has Ambilight, which is nice. It’s a few years old though, so no guarantees that newer Philips (TP Vision) models work the same way.
echoangle 2y ago
If you just use an HDMI input and attach some streaming box to it, Samsung TVs work just fine. Just never touch the remote and only interact with the source and everything works.

MaxikCZ 2y ago

My experience with LG wasnt any better. Thorough about a year the tv became increasingly unresponsive. You start it, after 30 seconds the sound andpicture appeared, and for about 2 full minutes it would not react to inputs what so ever (except turning off). So if you happen to turn the tv off with higher volume, you could not launch it in the evening without it blasting for 2+ minutes at night. Abhorent

bobdvb 2y ago

Microsoft removed support for Skype on TV, not Samsung. Most apps get removed because the people writing them don't want to support them anymore. The Samsung framework from 2013 was always trouble and it doesn't support many current W3C features that you'd want as a developer. Most people I know are drawing the line at supporting 2014 or 2016 Samsung devices. Could Samsung update their devices to ensure they still supported modern frameworks? Possibly, but they don't really get any revenue from providing OS upgrades and those devices suck in terms of RAM and CPU.

ryandrake 2y ago
I hate this idea that software "rots" all by itself when it's just left on a device and is impossible to keep working. I would at the very, very least expect my device to work exactly as it did on day one, for the next 50 years, assuming I don't change the software. It's bits on a flash drive! It doesn't rot, outside some freak cosmic ray from space flipping a bit. If you're saying the software stops working because the backend it talks to goes away, well that's a deliberate choice the company is making. All they have to do is have a proper versioning system and do not touch the backend service, and it also should work forever.
- Hackbraten 2y ago
  Certificates expire.
  - albrewer 2y ago
    Google learning this the hard way with the recent chromecast outage[0] [0]: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/Regarding-an-issue-with-Chromecast-2nd-gen-and-Chromecast-Audio/m-p/692041 https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/Regarding-a...
  - 3np 2y ago
    So don't burn CA pubkeys into your binaries without means for user override. If the software can persist a user-specific analytics ID it can support user certs. This is a solved problem.

toolslive 2y ago

what bother's me even more is that they are constantly spying on me (phone home, what am I watching, ...) and pushing advertisements to my TV. My next TV will probably not be connected to the internet.

update 2y ago
I use a pi-hole to block the spying. My experience with Amazon's FireOS & Roku is they phone home a lot.
ce4 2y ago
Why wait for the next TV when you can just disconnect the darn existing box now?

hbn 2y ago

Well I'm not sure what use you'd have out of Skype integration when Skype itself is being axed in a couple of months

KeplerBoy 2y ago

Still appreciating my 2011 high end Samsung TV. I believe it's the last non-smart product year. It could stream videos from a network share but that's about it. Judging by current trends i will have to replace the attached chromecast before the TV breaks.

sgt 2y ago

It's kinda common knowledge at this point that almost all Smart TV's suck, especially Samsung. I went the Samsung route as well - the TV itself is fine, but the software is horrible. The solution (that I hope everyone knows about by now) is to buy an Apple TV and connect it. Once the TV starts, it shows Apple TV from the get-go and not any of the Samsung stuff.

account42 2y ago
> The solution (that I hope everyone knows about by now) is to buy an Apple TV and connect it. Once the TV starts, it shows Apple TV from the get-go and not any of the Samsung stuff. Or just connect the TV to your PC where you have the freedom to run whatever software you want. Why replace one crappy "smart" device with another.

lostmsu 2y ago

Why are other apps gone?