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I spent $3k on a Samsung Smart TV and all I got were ads and unwanted content

455 points by ivanvas 4y ago

fxtentacle 4y ago
... plus they typically spy on you. Like the TV will take a screenshot of what video you're watching via HDMI and upload that for content ID. Or it'll turn on the microphone to listen in on what you say. Samsung calls that shit "Viewing Information Services". I guess because it informs their headquarters of what you are viewing.
behringer 4y ago
Unlike other brands, my LG allowed me to decline all the crap ware ToS so it's pretty much just a normal non smart TV. It does give a text add for new apps at the bottom usually when a new firmware update comes out. Not a bad deal imo. Thanks LG.
- corysama 4y ago
  Same. I had to click No a bunch of times. And, dig through the menus to make sure I didn't miss any defaulted-on crap. But, with that done, my LG TVs UX has been great for years. For many years now my answer for "What TV to get?" has been "Last year's LG OLED." The screens are gorgeous. The UX is good. The differences between yearly models have been minor. The current year is naturally expensive. The previous year is nearly as good and much cheaper. And, the model from the year before that is actually often more expensive because leftover stock is low.
Arubis 4y ago
I spent $200 on a 43" Spectre UHD 4K TV a week ago and it literally doesn't have wifi capabilities. It just reads off HDMI. The end. WalMart sells their stuff at like half MSRP and there isn't network connectivity with which to exfiltrate your data. I wish every manufacturer worked like this.
- Kon-Peki 4y ago
  The other reason they are inexpensive is that they forego some physical robustness. Like you have to be more careful than normal taking it out of the box and mounting it on your wall. Or if you have kids and things sometimes go flying you better hope they don’t hit the screen. It is a trade off you have to be willing to make ;)
  - esperent 4y ago
    I have an LG C1 OLED 48 inch which I use as a monitor. Its a really beautiful screen although a bit reflective. But it must be the most fragile feeling device I have ever owned, the bulk of the screen is like 2mm thick and I basically have to get myself into a state of extreme focus, meditation, stretching and so on before I dare to move it. There's no easy way to grip it without putting some pressure on the thin part, even with two people. I seriously wish they didn't go for the brownie points of making a screen this thin. Sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should. Seriously, make it like 20mm thick, robust, easy to move. I cannot imagine that any other screen, budget or otherwise, could feel more fragile than this.
gwbas1c 4y ago
I've been very happy with Sony smart TVs. They are Android based, and don't have "ads." (They do highlight promoted content.) It's very easy to go directly to Netflix, ect. Even the remotes give the services dedicated buttons.
- tempest_ 4y ago
  I also have a Sony Smart TV. It is ok but "highlighted content" are ads and I am quite sure Android TV is sending every bit of info it can harvest from anywhere to google.
dokka 4y ago
I own this tv, and I had it connected to the internet for a short while. Not only does it have ads everywhere, but the menu is SLOW. Taking it off the internet not only got rid of the ads, but also made menu navigation faster.
emkoemko 4y ago
i am using a C1 for a desktop monitor, this advertising stuff is crazy i turn it on and it overlays a message about getting Disney plus for x per month.... even worse it auto updated and it force me to go through a TOS and privacy policy.... now why the hell do we need all this on a TV
jjcm 4y ago
I love that ZDNet's ads are recommending the exact TV mentioned in the article: https://i.imgur.com/wzKUlb6.png https://i.imgur.com/wzKUlb6.png
ReptileMan 4y ago
Is this a US thing? I have samsung tizen high end TV in Europe and there are no ads whatsoever.
wesapien 4y ago
Would a Pihole work for these ads?
jakedata 4y ago
I spent 3K on a 65" 4K conference room touchscreen monitor. Rather than having a built in smart TV function it has a dock for a SFF PC. It lacks a tuner and don't think it does HDR but it does have surprisingly good sound.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  A tuner USB key is like $10. Plug that into the PC.
barbariangrunge 4y ago
pianoben 4y ago
When I was a kid, the most frustrating technical challenge around TVs was how to get the VCR clock to stop flashing. How the world has changed since then!
- jabroni_salad 4y ago
  Your parents never asked you to set up a timed recording on that VCR eh
- anotherevan 4y ago
  Twice a year, every time daylight savings changed, I had to go over to my great aunt's place and update the clock on her VCR...
hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
I don't understand why anyone would like to connect such a thing to their WiFi. An external device gives you flexibility and control. The built-in firmware gives you ads and tracking.
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  Yeah, buy smart TVs for their display panels and image processing, not for their smarts. First thing when setting them up is disabling the wifi and bluetooth and not plugging in ethernet, followed by hooking up an Apple TV 4K/Nvidia Shield/PC. Also worth factoring ability to update firmare without an internet connection when making a purchase decision. Sony TVs for example typically allow updates via a thumb drive.
- equon_ 4y ago
  Most people do that to use integrated streaming apps. This is less expensive than buying an Apple TV/Chromecast
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago
    The cost difference is marginal unless you're buying bargain bin TVs, though.
    - Nextgrid 4y ago
      You underestimate how many people buy that ~3k TV on credit and for whom an extra ~150 bucks for an Apple TV is actually non-trivial money. In fact that's the reason these ads are there - a lot of people can't be convinced to use an external device to escape them. If everyone used Apple TVs/etc, there would be no built-in ads because it's just not worth the trouble.
      - kitsunesoba 4y ago
        If I were in that position I think I'd buy a TV that's lower priced but still quite good ($1.5-$2.5k) and spend the difference on a good streaming box. The value per dollar is much better that way.
timothyduong 4y ago
For my Samsung TV, I connect it to the internet once a year for a firmware/software upgrade. Outside of that, any TV in my house is connected to an AppleTV. HDMICEC is great.
walrus01 4y ago
never, ever give a TV an internet connection, wifi password or dhcp lease. I realize there are ads on the homescreen of an xbox series x, ps4 pro, ps5, etc but I would much rather deal with those than whatever shoddy operating system TV manufacturers put on their thing. I have a thousand times more confidence that microsoft and sony will keep their OSes patched and up to date (they have a strong financial/self-interest incentive to do so, for anti piracy reasons) than the junk running on a TV.
- wollsmoth 4y ago
  My vizio runs so much better without a connection. It used to semi-regularly get into a state where the screen was blank even though the tv was on. Because it was a smart tv, powering it off wouldn't actually power cycle it. I had to pull the power cord to reset it. Now I use a chromecast plugged into it for streaming. before that I used a ps4.
  - PreachSoup 4y ago
    My previous Vizio tv botched chroma functionality for pc monitor for 2 years before getting it fixed. It doesn't allow downgrade. Never connect to wifi again.
- BiteCode_dev 4y ago
  +1. I bought a samsung premiere projector, and it's a very good product. But the first thing it did was prompting me for the wifi, and hell no. It's offline, plugged to a real computer that has internet access and I skip the projector home page as quickly as I can to get to the laptop mirrored displays.
- OrangeMonkey 4y ago
  Bought a samsung and a roku tv. I don't know which one it was - but, for one of them, I refused to install internet. And it had a red light that flashed like every 30-60 seconds. I looked up why? "Its the no internet" light and it couldnt be disabled. I had to cover it up with a sticky note on my nice tv until I finally gave up. Anti consumer patterns.
falcolas 4y ago
Corporate slogan of the 21st century: Why settle for some of your customer's money when you can get all of your customer's money (and monetize their data too)? Microtransactions, ads, selling customer usage data, up-front costs, PPV, subscriptions... I'm shocked we as customers can actually afford to obtain and use any of these devices anymore.
- walrus01 4y ago
  this is what happens when you let MBAs run amok
  - manuelabeledo 4y ago
    Can't wait for business schools to discover that concepts like "consumer loyalty" and "user experience" are quite intermingled.
    - tremon 4y ago
      The vaccine against consumer loyalty is supply-chain monopoly. You'll never have to worry about it again.
- BiteCode_dev 4y ago
  You gotta get this unlimited growth somewhere. Remember HN comments tell you it's not a zero sum game, you can innovate!
- Tenoke 4y ago
  A lot of things are sold cheaper than they would be otherwise (including at a loss) because they can make part of the money through ads/add-ons instead. It's customers who have shown they prefer those cheaper on the face of it options rather than those with much bigger up-front cost (which still exist but have been mostly left to business products since only there are enough of their customers fine with it).
  - RajT88 4y ago
danbr 4y ago
I run a pihole on my network for exactly this reason. The amount of network traffic the TV attempts, even when on standby or watching over-the-air broadcast is astonishing.
- titzer 4y ago
  It's a veritable dystopia with these little snitches.
- matbilodeau 4y ago
  I approve, PiHole does a great job at removing ads and other unwanted content. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30655479 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30655479
- Melatonic 4y ago
  Unless it pins the IP of a DNS server and does DoH
- timbit42 4y ago
  The vast majority of those are probably re-tries.
switch007 4y ago
All Samsung devices are trash these days
- IndigoIncognito 4y ago
  facts, after the Bixby button on the S8 above, everything went downhill
scohesc 4y ago
It's so frustrating. For some consumers, you're dropping multiple paychecks on a TV that you want to just _USE_ - but you can't because Samsung, LG, whoever decided to take money from various companies and shove their garbage advertising down your throats and you can't disable it. I don't feel like browsing various commercial signage websites for TV's that don't have any advertising in and I don't feel like we should be punished for paying more for this either! I just want a TV I can turn on - and it doesn't need to load an operating system - it doesn't need to delay displaying actual TV because the computer needs to reach out and upload telemetry, download advertisements, and take pictures of what you watch. It just needs to take an HDMI/RCA/whatever ports, and output the signal on the screen. There's no expectation of privacy anymore in society - some company somewhere has eked out a slice of the market share, and are pounding their customers with ways to extract more wealth out of you while you sit and take it - the 2 or 3 second delays eating up your life for advertisements you'll never buy things from. It's depressing - I just want a TV. A plain TV. I'd rather not pay more for a commercial display-tier TV that doesn't have any of this smart crap built in.
- potatototoo99 4y ago
  There are plenty of plain TVs around though, just like there are plain operating systems, plain phones, etc but consumers still give their money to Samsung, Microsoft, Google, etc. Most people don't care, you are not the target audience.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    So, what would be some of that plenty "plain" models with good quality and comparable price?
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Found a cheap one but it’s 720p. Sceptre 32" Class 720P HD LED TV X322BV-SR Didn’t spent much time looking at Walmart however.
      - 4y ago
equon_ 4y ago
If you are comfortable with configuring DNS settings you can use NextDNS, it works with LG smart TVs. Pi-hole is an alternative but it is a bit more complicated to setup.
- benhurmarcel 4y ago
  I used it with a Samsung TV and it worked well, but now the TV completely ignores the DNS setting that's configured in its network settings.
lizardactivist 4y ago
Just go into the menues and turn it off.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  There's no "no ads" option in the settings. You can turn off interest-based ads, but then you just get less-targeted ads.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mikestew 4y ago
Just give me my Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max,... All of which are available on an AppleTV, and I assume other less-intrusive devices. TFA comes to that conclusion in the last paragraph, but just in case anyone didn't make it that far. And then, as everyone on this page is going to say, never let that TV anywhere near a network connection. Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me. Plug in a box, remove network access to the TV, watch your shows. ...even if it duplicates all the streaming app functionality in the TV itself. I don't know, Samsung's fuckery aside, does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV? IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience.
- tssva 4y ago
  ", does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV?" I in general think the Apple UX experience is pretty awful across all their products with Apple TV being the worse of all. I have used the Samsung interface and it is bad but I still dislike the Apple TV more.
  - pb7 4y ago
    You're probably in the minority with that opinion. Apple UX is wildly renowned for being great and Apple TV is no worse than any of the competitors. The TV input interface is just awkward in general but being able to use an iPhone to automatically fill in passwords, authenticate purchases, or just use as a second remote is smooth as butter. It's another example of how Apple products are better together within the ecosystem. But even if you don't have an iPhone, the newest remote is extremely good. One of the best products they've made in recent years.
    - tssva 4y ago
      The Apple UX on all devices lacks discoverability which annoys me to no end. I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV without needing to be locked in to the eco system of a single vendor. Haven't used the current remote but the previous one was an atrocity.
skizm 4y ago
My next "TV" is just going to be a conference room monitor. Dell has some for like around $1K for a 55 inch and $4.3k for a 75 inch. Not sure about other companies, but my experiences with Dell have always been positive so I'm okay paying a bit of a premium absent better alternatives.
cantrevealname 4y ago
The sentiment here on HN is to never connect the TV to the Internet and instead use a digital media player or external streaming device. I wholeheartedly agree. But then several people mentioned wanting to update the firmware. If you'll never connect it to the Internet, then you should never update the firmware either. It goes against conventional wisdom, but updating the firmware in this situation is more likely to cause problems than to bring you desired improvements. The firmware update might have stricter DRM controls; it could have a tricky new way to exfiltrate data out via your streaming box; maybe the firmware update itself contains some static ads; perhaps in the near future we'll have public wifi or free Google community wifi, and the new firmware will have the smarts to use that and bypass your wifi. And these days, once you update the firmware, you often cannot revert back to earlier firmware.
- worble 4y ago
  >It goes against conventional wisdom Does it? So long as it's not connected to the internet, and generally works, then why would you want to? Whats the risk?
  - mikestew 4y ago
    I stay on top of device firmware updates in order to stay current on security patches, lest bad folks come crawling through the connection. I assume that's the "conventional wisdom" spoken of here. But if the TV never goes anywhere near a network... If it's not a networked device, then the FW update better have enhancements that benefit me, the user, and not Samsung. Otherwise, GTFO with your crab bucket of new bugs.
  - nsxwolf 4y ago
    Firmware updates can bring image quality improvements, hardware compatibility fixes, all sorts of stuff beyond the built-in streaming apps.
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      Aah, the ever-present, nebulous and unlisted "bug fixes and security enhancements". ...oh, and more ads (not mentioned in the changelog). ...and feature removals (not mentioned in the changelog). ...oh, and you can't downgrade (not mentioned in the changelog). Firmware updates are fine, but it should definitely be illegal to not allow a device to be returned by a consumer to the precise functionality it had at the time of purchase. I can't believe people have been brainwashed to accept this as normal.
kungito 4y ago
Somewhat related, ever since I upgraded from old Chromecast to Google TV I'm having issues simply casting from HBO Max or Netflix. First I need to cast once, it would turn on the TV and open the annoying Google TV "app browser". Then I'd have to stop casting and start casting again to actually enter the app I want. Maybe my stick has some hardware problems and/or I'm paranoid but things like these feel like they are just trying to get me to use the Google remote and their app so that they can show me ads and recommend other streaming services (of course Amazon Video is always the first app offered eveb though I never used it).
alfiedotwtf 4y ago
Funny, I got a Samsung TV which comes with Samsung TV+ which is their internet streaming service for free. Although I'm fortunately enough to not get ads everywhere (hopefully this doesn't change), the channel are actually pretty good.
sliken 4y ago
Queue a zillion posts about wanting dumb TVs. My suggestion is buy a Roku, don't give the TV an IP address, and run Netflix, Amazon Prime, Plex, Hulu, and whatever you want out of one of the biggest channel catalogs out there on the Roku. It's way nicer remote, supports RF (so no pointing at the TV), and even supports using earphones (BT or wired from the remote).
- alphabettsy 4y ago
  Roku does tons of phoning home, has ads and analytics to see what you’re watching afaik. Using PiHole shows tons of unexpected traffic.
  - sliken 4y ago
    I don't deny it, but I don't see ads.
    - legitster 4y ago
      There's a single ad on the home page for me.
  - xienze 4y ago
    So put it on a VLAN with no egress. Smart TVs are annoying but there’s ways around it.
    - lostapathy 4y ago
      Kinda hard to stream if you don't allow egress.
    - harvey9 4y ago
      Won't it need the egress to receive streaming video from the internet?
      - xienze 4y ago
pipeline_peak 4y ago
I’ve been using Chromecast for 7 years now. A lot of these built in UIs are a pretty miserable experience to muck around in. To me, your phone is the only thing that should be controlling your TV or sound system. It’s nice, it’s clean, and I don’t have multiple remotes to flop between. Who wants to deal with gimpy little Linux OS’s built into their tv? They’re getting too smart in a hyper 1980’s sort of way. They provide far more than anyone asked, my TV doesn’t need a browser. I can’t help but think TVs would be cheaper without them, but built in smart boxes are so run of the mill now that I’m sure it’s at most $50 extra. Incase I come off as a luddite, I think smart ovens are a great idea.
yread 4y ago
TVs also seem to consume way more power. I have 48" full hd Sony from 2016 that consumes max 58W. None of the TVs on the market come even close, some consume 3x as much! What happened? Is 4K really that inefficient?
- amiga-workbench 4y ago
  Potentially more backlight power draw for HDR? But yeah, generally it takes more power to push 4x as many pixels.
- Melatonic 4y ago
  OLED in general takes more power. But those are rookie numbers compared to my 2013 plasma :-)
gw99 4y ago
I left my Tizen based Samsung with my ex wife when we got divorced. This was a subtle troll because I am finally free of the fucking thing and she's not. The last decade of ownership has been hell. Slow laggy equipment, HDCP problems, working but forcibly obsoleted hardware, bugs galore and ads stuffed in your face. I now no longer own a television and will never own one again.
- Waterluvian 4y ago
  Nobody deserves that, you awful awful person. ;)
  - gw99 4y ago
    Oh she deserved it. And the HP windows 10 laptop with 64Gb eMMC storage.
    - NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
      Calm down now, Satan.
    - Waterluvian 4y ago
      God it’s like the LaCroix of laptops. Memories of Memories of Laptop.
    - sireat 4y ago
      To make things worse that laptop probably has a mobile Celeron CPU - the Atom based ones are practically unusable for desktop.
bogwog 4y ago
Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do about this? All the TV brands do the same thing, and those that don't simply haven't gotten around to pushing out the firmware update that enables ads.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  > Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do about this? If you're willing to pay a bit more, you can buy commercial TVs/displays. Amazon lists them under "Digital Signage > Commercial TVs & Displays", for example.
- shahbaby 4y ago
  Vote with your wallet.
acchow 4y ago
In my experience, Samsung TV's are atrocious garbage. LG has been great for me tho
- timbit42 4y ago
  Everything Samsung is garbage.
derflundgren 4y ago
Just wait till ATSC 3.0. Then you will really be bombarded by ads.
- timbit42 4y ago
  Are you referring to ads pulled in through the air?
legitster 4y ago
We've had a Roku TV for years and have been extremely happy with it. The UI is great and it's nice to have everything right there without having to work for it. And as someone without cable, I even come to enjoy some of the internet channels they offer. My takeaway would be manufacturers do not do good user software. This is true whether it's tvs or cars or fridges.
maxwell_smart 4y ago
It's pretty annoying too that you spend $3k, and Samsung got probably all of $150 to serve ads to you in perpetuity.
warrenmiller 4y ago
Hmm..I would have more sympathy if the article didn't include an advert to buy an AppleTV "ZDNet Recommends: Apple TV 4K" - $179 at Apple
hparadiz 4y ago
Sony TVs are better.
petesergeant 4y ago
Hope the EU regulates this so I can -- at least -- import a TV from somewhere that doesn't have this shit
titzer 4y ago
Consider getting a digital projector instead. I got a relatively cheap one (Dr J mini projector, 1080p) for $60. It...is not like a TV. Works only in low lighting conditions and has some focus issues, but if you just want a big screen with decent resolution, absolutely worth skipping a TV for this. And NO SMART FEATURES. I'll be upgrading to a better, eventually 4k projector, but it seems like the ad and spam smart crap hasn't hit projectors yet....YET.
jmcphers 4y ago
I own this exact model -- the QN90A, though in a smaller size -- and have had exactly the same experience. The most maddening advertisement is the one that is forcibly inserted in the menu between the apps and the settings. Using the remote, you must literally click past an ad to switch inputs. You ... must ... click ... past ... an ... ad ... to ... switch ... inputs. Every time. Unbelievable for a TV that costs this much. I almost returned it, but as the author notes, the alternatives have worse picture quality and often aren't any better in the ad department.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- cgrealy 4y ago
  Get an LG. Picture quality is just as good, and bugger all ads. I will never buy anything from Samsung ever again.
  - cassianoleal 4y ago
    Likewise. I used to mostly buy Samsung. My latest TV was an LG OLED. Not only I find webOS infinitely more usable than anything I've seen on Samsung TVs, but the image quality is excellent and even the built-in speakers are acceptable after I disabled the crappy AI-assisted stuff that makes it all sound like it's reverberating in a dumpster.
    - cgrealy 4y ago
      I'm honestly a bit surprised whenever I hear someone talk about the speakers on a TV. Surely most people (especially for anyone who is dropping decent money on an OLED) are running external speakers?
      - casperc 4y ago
        Well, my TV is older, but I don’t use an external speaker. But because of laziness I suppose, but also because I don’t want a sub-woofer type sound. Also don’t want a second remote. I am sure those things can avoided, so I am open to advice on what to get.
walterbell 4y ago
https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io > RootMyTV is a user-friendly exploit for rooting/jailbreaking LG webOS smart TV. It bootstraps the installation of the webOS Homebrew Channel ... At the time of writing (RootMyTV v2 - 2022-01-05), all webOS versions between 4.x and 6.2+ we tested (TVs released between early-2018 and late-2021) are supported by the new exploit chain.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  I haven't yet seen something like this for Tizen, it would be nice.
  - squarefoot 4y ago
    The closest thing that comes to mind is SamyGo. https://forum.samygo.tv/ https://forum.samygo.tv/ Never tried it though; my old dumb 42" LG has no intention to retire.
- preisschild 4y ago
  I was so happy with this until I updated my firmware because I had a weird issue with Dolby Vision content. Unfortunately this doesn't work with the latest firmware.
- Graziano_M 4y ago
  I had been deferring my firmware update for MONTHS and then I had some girl over and she just clicked "OK" and now I am pretty sure I can't jailbreak.
MattDemers 4y ago
I actually ran into this problem buying an Nvidia Shield Pro; they had just changed the UI to be packed with ads, so I was left wondering what was so great about it (from previous reviews). Currently a Steam Link (old hardware), and Raspberry Pi running Plex/Kodi are pretty much my setup. Cast things to Kodi, use yt-dlp to download YouTube stuff, or remote into my PC with the Steam Link.
jason-phillips 4y ago
I worked for Samsung for ten years and will never buy a Samsung product. It's pretty simple, their product support is shit. I will defend the people I worked with in Semiconductor to my dying breath but nope out on the consumer products like they're lava. Their UI/UX is also pretty atrocious across the board, so I can imagine what their TVs are like. I have a big 2022 Sony Bravia smart TV and while there are some suggestions on the home page, I would not call them intrusive at all.
451mov 4y ago
"I narrowed it down to the 85-inch versions" Lol
jgbmlg 4y ago
That's only the problem you know about. The problem you don't know about is your TV is watching (and listening) to you. Put a cheap computer between your TV and the internet. Always buy the dumbest TV available. But dumb TVs now cost more than smart TVs. Dumb TVs make it difficult for the manufacturer to make money off you after the sale.
inopinatus 4y ago
Aside from not giving it a network connection, my LG C1 also became a lot less obnoxious when I declined the privacy policy, at which point it disabled most so-called “smart” features. All the image processing stuff still works. Also felt like it starts up more quickly, although I’m not game to re-enable anything to actually measure it.
_gabe_ 4y ago
I think this whole thread is very indicative of why programmers shouldn't design a product. I've been reading through the article and comments trying to figure out what "ads" were being referenced and then I finally realized people must be talking about the ads for TV shows and movies... I think the average consumer would much rather have a TV that they simply connect to their wifi and then get Netflix, YT, Disney+, etc as opposed to hooking up some sort of computer or streaming box via hdmi to get the TV to work. I also think the average consumer doesn't find ads for TV shows and movies that show up on their TV intrusive. I mean, that's essentially what every streaming app does already isn't it? It just shows potential shows and movies. Why would they get upset that their TV does the same thing? What I do think is intrusive and disgusting is the fact that Samsung will happily take screenshots of what you're watching and send telemetry. The random ads for movies that show up are the least of my concerns.
- snarfy 4y ago
  I ditched cable and went 100% streaming starting with Netflix because they had zero ads. Many of my friends did the same. I consider ads an assault on my psyche and will avoid them as much as I possibly can.
- anothernewdude 4y ago
  Here I am fucking annoyed that my PS4 defaults to disney, and not the streaming applications I actually have installed.
lifeisstillgood 4y ago
I went through this process - we bought a "TV" and found it impossible to fight off "watch this" trailers appearing and enticing our little one. The only solution is to buy "business or gaming monitors" - no built in TV, just connect up a apple box and be done with it. Even then you can tell Apple is moving from "here is a button to press" to "let us decide what you are interested in" (Tangent but it's noticeable that the stuff I have bought from Apple Itunes like a kids movie is several clicks away, but the latest movie that I have not bought but will need to pay for is right there on the home screen. No. That's the wrong way round. If I reach up to my bookshelf and the bookshelf needs me to climb a ladder and reach over the books for sale to get to my own darn book, the bookshelf is not doing it's job. Apple. Be a bookshelf. I paid for a bookshelf.
MBCook 4y ago
Why did the author dismiss the LG C1 as having the same problem? I don’t remember ads on my CX (outside the App Store maybe). I still use an Apple TV because I like the interface way better. But it has been a great TV.
altruios 4y ago
for smart tv's in general... can we make a public OSOS, to replace shit like this... just make it a Linux box tied to a some ubiquitous AUR equivalent... or are the unique hardware features too varied to overcome?
flashgordon 4y ago
Dumb question - How does one go about (cost effectively) getting just a monitor that has: * Same size/resolution range as the comparable TV * Same price range as the comparable TV * X display ports (combination of hdmi, usb, etc) * Wifi (and bluetooth too?) * Audio + ports * Fine infra-red too for remotes * Other absoulute hardware essentials i might have missed Absolutely no inbuilt players or software or bloatware or adware or any of that crap! May be an app (inbuilt or for the phone) to configure presets perhaps.
- evgen 4y ago
  The magic words you are looking for here is 'commercial display' and it will always cost more than a comparable sized TV -- smaller volume of production & sales and the manufacturer is forgoing the revenue stream all of that adware and crapware on the standard TV offers them. It may have audio ports but is unlikely to have more than toy speakers because a commercial installation knows to keep the audio and video separated. tl;dr you can get something close to what you want but you are going to pay 2X or more for the unit compared to a similarly sized TV.
- snarfy 4y ago
  "Commercial Display" or "Conference Room Monitor" is what you want.
  - flashgordon 4y ago
    Yes it was a pretty rhetorical q. Why should a dumb display cost more? Are they really subsidizing a "smart tv" with all their bloat/crap ware? Does that even make economic sense?
- matthew-wegner 4y ago
  Like the peer comments, what you want is a "display" Here's one with carrier board for a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, for i.e. digital signage, art display, or whatever else while it isn't showing one its external inputs: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-powered-55-display https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-...
mongol 4y ago
Have anyone looked into the service menus of their TVs to see of there are options there to disable?
sen 4y ago
Meanwhile the OP post is so full of ads you’re basically scrolling past a full-screen (on mobile) ad for every paragraph. Then when I came across a chunk of text without ads and thought it was over, an ad got dynamically loaded into the middle of the text pushing what I was reading down off the screen. Yes in this case I didn’t pay to read the content so they need ads, but the user-hostility of ads everywhere is just insane lately.
- pwg 4y ago
  Firefox plus Ublock Origin No ads's anywhere on the linked post.
- atom058 4y ago
  Even with ad blockers and NoScript, the website layout is awful due to the constant blank spaces where the ads used to go, paired with a miniscule viewport for the actual text. I've started to use Reader Mode a lot more lately, and it has been surprising how much more pleasant the Web is when consuming articles this way. Maybe we should Invent a protocol for marking up text documents and sending them over the Internet or something? Maybe call it Actual Text Markup Language?
nightshift1 4y ago
Those articles complaining about ads are always unclear to me. Are they saying that there is ads even when you switch inputs to a 3rd party device or is it just in the built-in media player?
noxer 4y ago
Some years ago I sold my TV because of its annoying UI and ads. I use a large PC monitor instead to watch stuff. Went back to pirating everything so I dont have to worry about whatever DRM garbage comes next or ads or streaming subscriptions etc. Zero regret. I waste way less time consuming media in general. I watch more youtube (with ad block and sponsor block ofc) and I go more to the cinema (expensive but I enjoy it way more than a streaming subscription). I buy merchandise form stuff I like and I go to concerts if possible and that's it.
lamontcg 4y ago
Seems like there's a market here for a relatively bare-bones high quality TV. Someone could probably start a small manufacturing business around that.
EastSmith 4y ago
I wonder what TV units big corps buy for conference rooms, etc? Imagine you are Google and you buy LG Spy TV, or Samsung Spy Panel. You put it in your conference room, where you meet regularly to discuss next Pixel phone with the Samsung's remote control AI listening to you. Eh? What products are they buying?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mrtweetyhack 4y ago
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
I mentioned this before, the hackers of the world need to try to get linux onto smart TVs, not sure how it would get flashed, but Samsung is being truly obnoxious, and they aren't alone. They know you have no options, so they can be as obnoxious as they want once you get the TV, and they know everyone else is as bad. But if there was a way better OS to flash on? Sign me up. Knowing the TV makers, they likely will have that locked down tight with signed code. But if there is a way to update firmware over the air, maybe there's a way to intercept the update and swap in a different firmware
deeblering4 4y ago
$3k is an absurd amount for a TV, especially when considering their short lifespan due to planned obsolescence
mgraczyk 4y ago
I have the same TV and have literally never thought about the ads on it except when reading articles on Hacker News. It seems like a huge benefit these days to be the sort of person who just isn't bothered by ads, like you can enjoy products and have more options available and don't have to do a ton of work to enjoy them.
- Nicksil 4y ago
  >I have the same TV and have literally never thought about the ads on it except when reading articles on Hacker News. >It seems like a huge benefit these days to be the sort of person who just isn't bothered by ads, like you can enjoy products and have more options available and don't have to do a ton of work to enjoy them. You work for Google. Of course you have no problem with ads.
  - mgraczyk 4y ago
    Well I don't work on ads or on any product that has or will ever have ads, but... It's really the other way around. I work at Google because I have no problem with ads. It's another example of opportunities available if you are okay with ads!
jiggawatts 4y ago
I just got a Sony flagship television with Google Android TV. I'm fully expecting it to be automatically broken by a software update about 1-3 months after the warranty expires and the new models are released. I plan to disable updates around 1 year in to mitigate this risk. Think about what it says about the entire industry that this is what customers expect: multi-thousand-dollar products being purposefully remotely broken by the vendors.
- gamesbrainiac 4y ago
  I've had mine for 2 years. They barely update the software, and things still work!
  - sudo_chmod777 4y ago
    Same boat. Sony has great embedded software engineering power but they are just not that good at these upper layer applications. Look at PS Store web, it's a hot mess. PS App is also terrible. Xperia has some fancy photography/videography apps and that's it. But that also means you get zero of the LG/Samsung nonsense.
tiagobraw 4y ago
I also own a samsung smart tv and hate the ad in the source screen, but more infuriating is their tv app always reappearing in the source menu as the first option… I always delete it but after a while there it is again.. also, it’s very ironic that I got a samsung ad on this site…
1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
"There are a few guides on the web to minimize these intrusions, which include not only digging into the Samsung Tizen UX to chase checkboxes and mess around with settings, but also having to go into your broadband router's configuration and block lists of ad serving domains. You can also use Cisco's free consumer OpenDNS service to do this and override the DNS settings within the TV without messing with your router, which is what I ended up doing. But that requires the ability to update your dynamic IP from your router, so you may need to refresh OpenDNS's settings on occasion." Or you can put your own router, a computer you control with an open source OS of your choosing, in front of or in place of the ISP's router. Then you can, through various means, control the TV's access to DNS or other servers. Maybe the OP is stopping some ads by using OpenDNS, but he is not stopping data collection, commercial surveillance and data sharing with third parties for commercial purposes. Under OpenDNS's extremely permissive "privacy" policy, anyone, including TV manufacturers like Samsung, can potentially get the DNS lookup data from Cisco.^1 "It's ridiculous that you can spend this kind of money on a product, cut cords, and pay extra not to have ads on certain services, and then have them forced down your throat in the TV UX." You may pay extra to stop ads, but it will not stop the surveillance, data collection and sharing and use of the data for commercial purposes. 1. Some highlights from Cisco/OpenDNS "privacy" policy (https://web.archive.org/web/20220928020026if_/https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/privacy-full https://web.archive.org/web/20220928020026if_/https://www.ci...) The types of personal information that we may process depends on the business context and the purposes for which it was collected. It may include: Contact, subscription, registration, online identifiers, social media and discussion forum or communications details; Communications (i.e., audio, video, text) content; Online behavior and product usage information; Financial Information (e.g., bank account details, etc.); Details of an individual's business and other interests and opinions (e.g., where information is held in a Customer Relationship Management database); and information about the user of our products and services, including System Information such as device identifiers, and telemetry (such as IP or MAC address) when such data is linked or tied to a specific person's device. If we link other data with your personal information, we will treat that linked data as personal information. Collection & Use of Your Personal Information We may collect data, including personal information, about you as you use our websites and Solutions and interact with us. We also acquire personal information from trusted third-party sources and engage third parties to collect personal information on our behalf. Sharing Your Personal Information We may share personal information in the following ways: With business partners, service vendors, authorized third-party agents, or contractors to provide a requested website, Solution, service or transaction. Examples include processing of orders and credit card transactions, hosting websites, hosting seminar registration, assisting with sales-related efforts or post-sales support, and providing customer support. With Cisco business partners or vendors, so that they may share information with you about their products or services. To opt-out of Cisco sharing with third parties for their marketing purposes, please click here. In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, consolidation or restructuring, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by or to another company. In response to a request for information by a competent authority or third party if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or is otherwise required by, any applicable law, regulation or legal process. With law enforcement officials, government authorities, or other third parties as necessary to comply with legal process or meet national security requirements; protect the rights, property, or safety of Cisco, our business partners, you, or others; or as otherwise required by applicable law.
sys_64738 4y ago
Isn’t that just so utterly expected that it shouldn’t surprise anyone? It is better to find a quality dumb TV, IMO.
SayMyName 4y ago
Cheapo 4k 60hz Spectre tv from walmart. Best purchase I've made in years. Plug in my favorite streaming device and when it gets old and slow I just chuck it and buy another $20-50 device instead of having to buy a whole TV.
cpeterso 4y ago
My Samsung TV included anti-virus software! Why does my TV need that? Sure it can install apps, but they’re all from Samsung’s own TV app store. I only learned this because the UI had gotten soooo slow, like five seconds to respond to each button click on the remote control. Turning off the virus scanner mostly fixed the problem. Thanks, TV software update!
etempleton 4y ago
The smart tv interfaces are abysmal across the board and it has mostly to do with the prioritization of ad space over functionality. I have an old Plasma with an Apple TV I use for most of my tv watching and then a modern new smart tv for games and the occasional movie in another room. Roku is also a fine cheaper alternative to the built in interface of new TVs though it is also ad supported so you are just replacing one bad ad supported interface for a better, ad supported interface. And while it functions and is generally quick, it isn’t the most attractive UX.
pabs3 4y ago
If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violations in their TVs, you will probably be able to install open source Linux distros with KDE Plasma Bigscreen or Kodi on any Vizio TV and soon afterwards lots of other smart TV vendors including Samsung will likely be similar. Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the device after you purchase it basically means ads/spyware these days. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html
Markoff 4y ago
That's what you get for not doing research prior buying TV. By now everyone should already know to avoid Samsung smart TVs. Just read reviews/experiences prior buying or try it on your own and if you don't like it return it.
lazyeye 4y ago
Somebody needs to sell a tv with a high quality display, 10 hdmi ports and no smart features whatsoever.
jakub_g 4y ago
I will just drop this link here: https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/ https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/
herbst 4y ago
I have a Mi TV. I created rules for everything it was randomly sending in my Pi-Hole. I don't use traditional TV so I have no experience with smart ads. Next to the common apps we make heavy use of Kodi, mostly to properly access all the TV channels online catalogues. I use alternative apps without ads whenever possible (Smarttube, some weird Twitch app I found on the store, ...) The only thing i couldn't 'fix' yet are the extensive ads when using YouTube via cast. Edit:// Samsung botching Android to something ugly with shit UX is nothing new. Really just avoid buying Samsung devices
timwaagh 4y ago
Well don't buy a Samsung then. Sometimes things are that simple. They're pretty well known for bloatware and why would tv be any different? I have a Phillips (not really Phillips but some vague company licensed their brand), basically the cheapest option in the 70 inch 4k space. I don't have issues with ads. Just the standard yt ads because I'm cheap and don't have yt premium.
matty22 4y ago
User: Buys $3000 ad machine Ad Machine: * Shows Ads * User: * surprised Pikachu face *
tzs 4y ago
A few people have mentioned ARC problems. If you are having problems with plain ARC, as opposed to eARC, try using an HDMI cable with ethernet. Plain ARC is supposed to work over any HDMI cable so you should only need an HDMI with ethernet for eARC, but after years of never being able get ARC to work with my Denon receiver which is from 2013 I happened to notice that in the manual it said that for ARC to use a “Standard HDMI cable with Ethernet” or “High Speed HDMI cable with Ethernet”. I switched to a "with Ethernet" cable and ARC worked.

455 points by ivanvas 4y ago

... plus they typically spy on you. Like the TV will take a screenshot of what video you're watching via HDMI and upload that for content ID. Or it'll turn on the microphone to listen in on what you say. Samsung calls that shit "Viewing Information Services". I guess because it informs their headquarters of what you are viewing.

behringer 4y ago

Unlike other brands, my LG allowed me to decline all the crap ware ToS so it's pretty much just a normal non smart TV. It does give a text add for new apps at the bottom usually when a new firmware update comes out. Not a bad deal imo. Thanks LG.

corysama 4y ago
Same. I had to click No a bunch of times. And, dig through the menus to make sure I didn't miss any defaulted-on crap. But, with that done, my LG TVs UX has been great for years. For many years now my answer for "What TV to get?" has been "Last year's LG OLED." The screens are gorgeous. The UX is good. The differences between yearly models have been minor. The current year is naturally expensive. The previous year is nearly as good and much cheaper. And, the model from the year before that is actually often more expensive because leftover stock is low.

Arubis 4y ago

I spent $200 on a 43" Spectre UHD 4K TV a week ago and it literally doesn't have wifi capabilities. It just reads off HDMI. The end. WalMart sells their stuff at like half MSRP and there isn't network connectivity with which to exfiltrate your data. I wish every manufacturer worked like this.

Kon-Peki 4y ago
The other reason they are inexpensive is that they forego some physical robustness. Like you have to be more careful than normal taking it out of the box and mounting it on your wall. Or if you have kids and things sometimes go flying you better hope they don’t hit the screen. It is a trade off you have to be willing to make ;)
- esperent 4y ago
  I have an LG C1 OLED 48 inch which I use as a monitor. Its a really beautiful screen although a bit reflective. But it must be the most fragile feeling device I have ever owned, the bulk of the screen is like 2mm thick and I basically have to get myself into a state of extreme focus, meditation, stretching and so on before I dare to move it. There's no easy way to grip it without putting some pressure on the thin part, even with two people. I seriously wish they didn't go for the brownie points of making a screen this thin. Sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should. Seriously, make it like 20mm thick, robust, easy to move. I cannot imagine that any other screen, budget or otherwise, could feel more fragile than this.

gwbas1c 4y ago

I've been very happy with Sony smart TVs. They are Android based, and don't have "ads." (They do highlight promoted content.) It's very easy to go directly to Netflix, ect. Even the remotes give the services dedicated buttons.

tempest_ 4y ago
I also have a Sony Smart TV. It is ok but "highlighted content" are ads and I am quite sure Android TV is sending every bit of info it can harvest from anywhere to google.

dokka 4y ago

I own this tv, and I had it connected to the internet for a short while. Not only does it have ads everywhere, but the menu is SLOW. Taking it off the internet not only got rid of the ads, but also made menu navigation faster.

emkoemko 4y ago

i am using a C1 for a desktop monitor, this advertising stuff is crazy i turn it on and it overlays a message about getting Disney plus for x per month.... even worse it auto updated and it force me to go through a TOS and privacy policy.... now why the hell do we need all this on a TV

jjcm 4y ago

I love that ZDNet's ads are recommending the exact TV mentioned in the article: https://i.imgur.com/wzKUlb6.png https://i.imgur.com/wzKUlb6.png

ReptileMan 4y ago

Is this a US thing? I have samsung tizen high end TV in Europe and there are no ads whatsoever.

wesapien 4y ago

Would a Pihole work for these ads?

jakedata 4y ago

I spent 3K on a 65" 4K conference room touchscreen monitor. Rather than having a built in smart TV function it has a dock for a SFF PC. It lacks a tuner and don't think it does HDR but it does have surprisingly good sound.

pessimizer 4y ago
A tuner USB key is like $10. Plug that into the PC.

barbariangrunge 4y ago

pianoben 4y ago

When I was a kid, the most frustrating technical challenge around TVs was how to get the VCR clock to stop flashing. How the world has changed since then!

jabroni_salad 4y ago
Your parents never asked you to set up a timed recording on that VCR eh
anotherevan 4y ago
Twice a year, every time daylight savings changed, I had to go over to my great aunt's place and update the clock on her VCR...

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago

I don't understand why anyone would like to connect such a thing to their WiFi. An external device gives you flexibility and control. The built-in firmware gives you ads and tracking.

kitsunesoba 4y ago
Yeah, buy smart TVs for their display panels and image processing, not for their smarts. First thing when setting them up is disabling the wifi and bluetooth and not plugging in ethernet, followed by hooking up an Apple TV 4K/Nvidia Shield/PC. Also worth factoring ability to update firmare without an internet connection when making a purchase decision. Sony TVs for example typically allow updates via a thumb drive.
equon_ 4y ago
Most people do that to use integrated streaming apps. This is less expensive than buying an Apple TV/Chromecast
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  The cost difference is marginal unless you're buying bargain bin TVs, though.
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    You underestimate how many people buy that ~3k TV on credit and for whom an extra ~150 bucks for an Apple TV is actually non-trivial money. In fact that's the reason these ads are there - a lot of people can't be convinced to use an external device to escape them. If everyone used Apple TVs/etc, there would be no built-in ads because it's just not worth the trouble.
    - kitsunesoba 4y ago
      If I were in that position I think I'd buy a TV that's lower priced but still quite good ($1.5-$2.5k) and spend the difference on a good streaming box. The value per dollar is much better that way.

timothyduong 4y ago

For my Samsung TV, I connect it to the internet once a year for a firmware/software upgrade. Outside of that, any TV in my house is connected to an AppleTV. HDMICEC is great.

walrus01 4y ago

never, ever give a TV an internet connection, wifi password or dhcp lease. I realize there are ads on the homescreen of an xbox series x, ps4 pro, ps5, etc but I would much rather deal with those than whatever shoddy operating system TV manufacturers put on their thing. I have a thousand times more confidence that microsoft and sony will keep their OSes patched and up to date (they have a strong financial/self-interest incentive to do so, for anti piracy reasons) than the junk running on a TV.

wollsmoth 4y ago
My vizio runs so much better without a connection. It used to semi-regularly get into a state where the screen was blank even though the tv was on. Because it was a smart tv, powering it off wouldn't actually power cycle it. I had to pull the power cord to reset it. Now I use a chromecast plugged into it for streaming. before that I used a ps4.
- PreachSoup 4y ago
  My previous Vizio tv botched chroma functionality for pc monitor for 2 years before getting it fixed. It doesn't allow downgrade. Never connect to wifi again.
BiteCode_dev 4y ago
+1. I bought a samsung premiere projector, and it's a very good product. But the first thing it did was prompting me for the wifi, and hell no. It's offline, plugged to a real computer that has internet access and I skip the projector home page as quickly as I can to get to the laptop mirrored displays.
OrangeMonkey 4y ago
Bought a samsung and a roku tv. I don't know which one it was - but, for one of them, I refused to install internet. And it had a red light that flashed like every 30-60 seconds. I looked up why? "Its the no internet" light and it couldnt be disabled. I had to cover it up with a sticky note on my nice tv until I finally gave up. Anti consumer patterns.

falcolas 4y ago

Corporate slogan of the 21st century: Why settle for some of your customer's money when you can get all of your customer's money (and monetize their data too)? Microtransactions, ads, selling customer usage data, up-front costs, PPV, subscriptions... I'm shocked we as customers can actually afford to obtain and use any of these devices anymore.

walrus01 4y ago
this is what happens when you let MBAs run amok
- manuelabeledo 4y ago
  Can't wait for business schools to discover that concepts like "consumer loyalty" and "user experience" are quite intermingled.
  - tremon 4y ago
    The vaccine against consumer loyalty is supply-chain monopoly. You'll never have to worry about it again.
BiteCode_dev 4y ago
You gotta get this unlimited growth somewhere. Remember HN comments tell you it's not a zero sum game, you can innovate!
Tenoke 4y ago
A lot of things are sold cheaper than they would be otherwise (including at a loss) because they can make part of the money through ads/add-ons instead. It's customers who have shown they prefer those cheaper on the face of it options rather than those with much bigger up-front cost (which still exist but have been mostly left to business products since only there are enough of their customers fine with it).
- RajT88 4y ago

danbr 4y ago

I run a pihole on my network for exactly this reason. The amount of network traffic the TV attempts, even when on standby or watching over-the-air broadcast is astonishing.

titzer 4y ago
It's a veritable dystopia with these little snitches.
matbilodeau 4y ago
I approve, PiHole does a great job at removing ads and other unwanted content. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30655479 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30655479
Melatonic 4y ago
Unless it pins the IP of a DNS server and does DoH
timbit42 4y ago
The vast majority of those are probably re-tries.

switch007 4y ago

All Samsung devices are trash these days

IndigoIncognito 4y ago
facts, after the Bixby button on the S8 above, everything went downhill

scohesc 4y ago

It's so frustrating. For some consumers, you're dropping multiple paychecks on a TV that you want to just _USE_ - but you can't because Samsung, LG, whoever decided to take money from various companies and shove their garbage advertising down your throats and you can't disable it. I don't feel like browsing various commercial signage websites for TV's that don't have any advertising in and I don't feel like we should be punished for paying more for this either! I just want a TV I can turn on - and it doesn't need to load an operating system - it doesn't need to delay displaying actual TV because the computer needs to reach out and upload telemetry, download advertisements, and take pictures of what you watch. It just needs to take an HDMI/RCA/whatever ports, and output the signal on the screen. There's no expectation of privacy anymore in society - some company somewhere has eked out a slice of the market share, and are pounding their customers with ways to extract more wealth out of you while you sit and take it - the 2 or 3 second delays eating up your life for advertisements you'll never buy things from. It's depressing - I just want a TV. A plain TV. I'd rather not pay more for a commercial display-tier TV that doesn't have any of this smart crap built in.

potatototoo99 4y ago
There are plenty of plain TVs around though, just like there are plain operating systems, plain phones, etc but consumers still give their money to Samsung, Microsoft, Google, etc. Most people don't care, you are not the target audience.
- coldtea 4y ago
  So, what would be some of that plenty "plain" models with good quality and comparable price?
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Found a cheap one but it’s 720p. Sceptre 32" Class 720P HD LED TV X322BV-SR Didn’t spent much time looking at Walmart however.
    - 4y ago

equon_ 4y ago

If you are comfortable with configuring DNS settings you can use NextDNS, it works with LG smart TVs. Pi-hole is an alternative but it is a bit more complicated to setup.

benhurmarcel 4y ago
I used it with a Samsung TV and it worked well, but now the TV completely ignores the DNS setting that's configured in its network settings.

lizardactivist 4y ago

Just go into the menues and turn it off.

ceejayoz 4y ago
There's no "no ads" option in the settings. You can turn off interest-based ads, but then you just get less-targeted ads.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mikestew 4y ago

Just give me my Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max,... All of which are available on an AppleTV, and I assume other less-intrusive devices. TFA comes to that conclusion in the last paragraph, but just in case anyone didn't make it that far. And then, as everyone on this page is going to say, never let that TV anywhere near a network connection. Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me. Plug in a box, remove network access to the TV, watch your shows. ...even if it duplicates all the streaming app functionality in the TV itself. I don't know, Samsung's fuckery aside, does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV? IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience.

tssva 4y ago
", does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV?" I in general think the Apple UX experience is pretty awful across all their products with Apple TV being the worse of all. I have used the Samsung interface and it is bad but I still dislike the Apple TV more.
- pb7 4y ago
  You're probably in the minority with that opinion. Apple UX is wildly renowned for being great and Apple TV is no worse than any of the competitors. The TV input interface is just awkward in general but being able to use an iPhone to automatically fill in passwords, authenticate purchases, or just use as a second remote is smooth as butter. It's another example of how Apple products are better together within the ecosystem. But even if you don't have an iPhone, the newest remote is extremely good. One of the best products they've made in recent years.
  - tssva 4y ago
    The Apple UX on all devices lacks discoverability which annoys me to no end. I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV without needing to be locked in to the eco system of a single vendor. Haven't used the current remote but the previous one was an atrocity.

skizm 4y ago

My next "TV" is just going to be a conference room monitor. Dell has some for like around $1K for a 55 inch and $4.3k for a 75 inch. Not sure about other companies, but my experiences with Dell have always been positive so I'm okay paying a bit of a premium absent better alternatives.

cantrevealname 4y ago

The sentiment here on HN is to never connect the TV to the Internet and instead use a digital media player or external streaming device. I wholeheartedly agree. But then several people mentioned wanting to update the firmware. If you'll never connect it to the Internet, then you should never update the firmware either. It goes against conventional wisdom, but updating the firmware in this situation is more likely to cause problems than to bring you desired improvements. The firmware update might have stricter DRM controls; it could have a tricky new way to exfiltrate data out via your streaming box; maybe the firmware update itself contains some static ads; perhaps in the near future we'll have public wifi or free Google community wifi, and the new firmware will have the smarts to use that and bypass your wifi. And these days, once you update the firmware, you often cannot revert back to earlier firmware.

worble 4y ago
>It goes against conventional wisdom Does it? So long as it's not connected to the internet, and generally works, then why would you want to? Whats the risk?
- mikestew 4y ago
  I stay on top of device firmware updates in order to stay current on security patches, lest bad folks come crawling through the connection. I assume that's the "conventional wisdom" spoken of here. But if the TV never goes anywhere near a network... If it's not a networked device, then the FW update better have enhancements that benefit me, the user, and not Samsung. Otherwise, GTFO with your crab bucket of new bugs.
- nsxwolf 4y ago
  Firmware updates can bring image quality improvements, hardware compatibility fixes, all sorts of stuff beyond the built-in streaming apps.
  - brokenmachine 4y ago
    Aah, the ever-present, nebulous and unlisted "bug fixes and security enhancements". ...oh, and more ads (not mentioned in the changelog). ...and feature removals (not mentioned in the changelog). ...oh, and you can't downgrade (not mentioned in the changelog). Firmware updates are fine, but it should definitely be illegal to not allow a device to be returned by a consumer to the precise functionality it had at the time of purchase. I can't believe people have been brainwashed to accept this as normal.

kungito 4y ago

Somewhat related, ever since I upgraded from old Chromecast to Google TV I'm having issues simply casting from HBO Max or Netflix. First I need to cast once, it would turn on the TV and open the annoying Google TV "app browser". Then I'd have to stop casting and start casting again to actually enter the app I want. Maybe my stick has some hardware problems and/or I'm paranoid but things like these feel like they are just trying to get me to use the Google remote and their app so that they can show me ads and recommend other streaming services (of course Amazon Video is always the first app offered eveb though I never used it).

alfiedotwtf 4y ago

Funny, I got a Samsung TV which comes with Samsung TV+ which is their internet streaming service for free. Although I'm fortunately enough to not get ads everywhere (hopefully this doesn't change), the channel are actually pretty good.

sliken 4y ago

Queue a zillion posts about wanting dumb TVs. My suggestion is buy a Roku, don't give the TV an IP address, and run Netflix, Amazon Prime, Plex, Hulu, and whatever you want out of one of the biggest channel catalogs out there on the Roku. It's way nicer remote, supports RF (so no pointing at the TV), and even supports using earphones (BT or wired from the remote).

alphabettsy 4y ago
Roku does tons of phoning home, has ads and analytics to see what you’re watching afaik. Using PiHole shows tons of unexpected traffic.
- sliken 4y ago
  I don't deny it, but I don't see ads.
  - legitster 4y ago
    There's a single ad on the home page for me.
- xienze 4y ago
  So put it on a VLAN with no egress. Smart TVs are annoying but there’s ways around it.
  - lostapathy 4y ago
    Kinda hard to stream if you don't allow egress.
  - harvey9 4y ago
    Won't it need the egress to receive streaming video from the internet?
    - xienze 4y ago

pipeline_peak 4y ago

I’ve been using Chromecast for 7 years now. A lot of these built in UIs are a pretty miserable experience to muck around in. To me, your phone is the only thing that should be controlling your TV or sound system. It’s nice, it’s clean, and I don’t have multiple remotes to flop between. Who wants to deal with gimpy little Linux OS’s built into their tv? They’re getting too smart in a hyper 1980’s sort of way. They provide far more than anyone asked, my TV doesn’t need a browser. I can’t help but think TVs would be cheaper without them, but built in smart boxes are so run of the mill now that I’m sure it’s at most $50 extra. Incase I come off as a luddite, I think smart ovens are a great idea.

yread 4y ago

TVs also seem to consume way more power. I have 48" full hd Sony from 2016 that consumes max 58W. None of the TVs on the market come even close, some consume 3x as much! What happened? Is 4K really that inefficient?

amiga-workbench 4y ago
Potentially more backlight power draw for HDR? But yeah, generally it takes more power to push 4x as many pixels.
Melatonic 4y ago
OLED in general takes more power. But those are rookie numbers compared to my 2013 plasma :-)

gw99 4y ago

I left my Tizen based Samsung with my ex wife when we got divorced. This was a subtle troll because I am finally free of the fucking thing and she's not. The last decade of ownership has been hell. Slow laggy equipment, HDCP problems, working but forcibly obsoleted hardware, bugs galore and ads stuffed in your face. I now no longer own a television and will never own one again.

Waterluvian 4y ago
Nobody deserves that, you awful awful person. ;)
- gw99 4y ago
  Oh she deserved it. And the HP windows 10 laptop with 64Gb eMMC storage.
  - NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
    Calm down now, Satan.
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    God it’s like the LaCroix of laptops. Memories of Memories of Laptop.
  - sireat 4y ago
    To make things worse that laptop probably has a mobile Celeron CPU - the Atom based ones are practically unusable for desktop.

bogwog 4y ago

Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do about this? All the TV brands do the same thing, and those that don't simply haven't gotten around to pushing out the firmware update that enables ads.

CharlesW 4y ago
> Besides complaining on the internet, what can consumers do about this? If you're willing to pay a bit more, you can buy commercial TVs/displays. Amazon lists them under "Digital Signage > Commercial TVs & Displays", for example.
shahbaby 4y ago
Vote with your wallet.

acchow 4y ago

In my experience, Samsung TV's are atrocious garbage. LG has been great for me tho

timbit42 4y ago
Everything Samsung is garbage.

derflundgren 4y ago

Just wait till ATSC 3.0. Then you will really be bombarded by ads.

timbit42 4y ago
Are you referring to ads pulled in through the air?

legitster 4y ago

We've had a Roku TV for years and have been extremely happy with it. The UI is great and it's nice to have everything right there without having to work for it. And as someone without cable, I even come to enjoy some of the internet channels they offer. My takeaway would be manufacturers do not do good user software. This is true whether it's tvs or cars or fridges.

maxwell_smart 4y ago

It's pretty annoying too that you spend $3k, and Samsung got probably all of $150 to serve ads to you in perpetuity.

warrenmiller 4y ago

Hmm..I would have more sympathy if the article didn't include an advert to buy an AppleTV "ZDNet Recommends: Apple TV 4K" - $179 at Apple

hparadiz 4y ago

Sony TVs are better.

petesergeant 4y ago

Hope the EU regulates this so I can -- at least -- import a TV from somewhere that doesn't have this shit

titzer 4y ago

Consider getting a digital projector instead. I got a relatively cheap one (Dr J mini projector, 1080p) for $60. It...is not like a TV. Works only in low lighting conditions and has some focus issues, but if you just want a big screen with decent resolution, absolutely worth skipping a TV for this. And NO SMART FEATURES. I'll be upgrading to a better, eventually 4k projector, but it seems like the ad and spam smart crap hasn't hit projectors yet....YET.

jmcphers 4y ago

I own this exact model -- the QN90A, though in a smaller size -- and have had exactly the same experience. The most maddening advertisement is the one that is forcibly inserted in the menu between the apps and the settings. Using the remote, you must literally click past an ad to switch inputs. You ... must ... click ... past ... an ... ad ... to ... switch ... inputs. Every time. Unbelievable for a TV that costs this much. I almost returned it, but as the author notes, the alternatives have worse picture quality and often aren't any better in the ad department.

deleted 4y ago
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cgrealy 4y ago
Get an LG. Picture quality is just as good, and bugger all ads. I will never buy anything from Samsung ever again.
- cassianoleal 4y ago
  Likewise. I used to mostly buy Samsung. My latest TV was an LG OLED. Not only I find webOS infinitely more usable than anything I've seen on Samsung TVs, but the image quality is excellent and even the built-in speakers are acceptable after I disabled the crappy AI-assisted stuff that makes it all sound like it's reverberating in a dumpster.
  - cgrealy 4y ago
    I'm honestly a bit surprised whenever I hear someone talk about the speakers on a TV. Surely most people (especially for anyone who is dropping decent money on an OLED) are running external speakers?
    - casperc 4y ago
      Well, my TV is older, but I don’t use an external speaker. But because of laziness I suppose, but also because I don’t want a sub-woofer type sound. Also don’t want a second remote. I am sure those things can avoided, so I am open to advice on what to get.

walterbell 4y ago

https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io https://github.com/RootMyTV/RootMyTV.github.io > RootMyTV is a user-friendly exploit for rooting/jailbreaking LG webOS smart TV. It bootstraps the installation of the webOS Homebrew Channel ... At the time of writing (RootMyTV v2 - 2022-01-05), all webOS versions between 4.x and 6.2+ we tested (TVs released between early-2018 and late-2021) are supported by the new exploit chain.

solarkraft 4y ago
I haven't yet seen something like this for Tizen, it would be nice.
- squarefoot 4y ago
  The closest thing that comes to mind is SamyGo. https://forum.samygo.tv/ https://forum.samygo.tv/ Never tried it though; my old dumb 42" LG has no intention to retire.
preisschild 4y ago
I was so happy with this until I updated my firmware because I had a weird issue with Dolby Vision content. Unfortunately this doesn't work with the latest firmware.
Graziano_M 4y ago
I had been deferring my firmware update for MONTHS and then I had some girl over and she just clicked "OK" and now I am pretty sure I can't jailbreak.

MattDemers 4y ago

I actually ran into this problem buying an Nvidia Shield Pro; they had just changed the UI to be packed with ads, so I was left wondering what was so great about it (from previous reviews). Currently a Steam Link (old hardware), and Raspberry Pi running Plex/Kodi are pretty much my setup. Cast things to Kodi, use yt-dlp to download YouTube stuff, or remote into my PC with the Steam Link.

jason-phillips 4y ago

I worked for Samsung for ten years and will never buy a Samsung product. It's pretty simple, their product support is shit. I will defend the people I worked with in Semiconductor to my dying breath but nope out on the consumer products like they're lava. Their UI/UX is also pretty atrocious across the board, so I can imagine what their TVs are like. I have a big 2022 Sony Bravia smart TV and while there are some suggestions on the home page, I would not call them intrusive at all.

451mov 4y ago

"I narrowed it down to the 85-inch versions" Lol

jgbmlg 4y ago

That's only the problem you know about. The problem you don't know about is your TV is watching (and listening) to you. Put a cheap computer between your TV and the internet. Always buy the dumbest TV available. But dumb TVs now cost more than smart TVs. Dumb TVs make it difficult for the manufacturer to make money off you after the sale.

inopinatus 4y ago

Aside from not giving it a network connection, my LG C1 also became a lot less obnoxious when I declined the privacy policy, at which point it disabled most so-called “smart” features. All the image processing stuff still works. Also felt like it starts up more quickly, although I’m not game to re-enable anything to actually measure it.

_gabe_ 4y ago

I think this whole thread is very indicative of why programmers shouldn't design a product. I've been reading through the article and comments trying to figure out what "ads" were being referenced and then I finally realized people must be talking about the ads for TV shows and movies... I think the average consumer would much rather have a TV that they simply connect to their wifi and then get Netflix, YT, Disney+, etc as opposed to hooking up some sort of computer or streaming box via hdmi to get the TV to work. I also think the average consumer doesn't find ads for TV shows and movies that show up on their TV intrusive. I mean, that's essentially what every streaming app does already isn't it? It just shows potential shows and movies. Why would they get upset that their TV does the same thing? What I do think is intrusive and disgusting is the fact that Samsung will happily take screenshots of what you're watching and send telemetry. The random ads for movies that show up are the least of my concerns.

snarfy 4y ago
I ditched cable and went 100% streaming starting with Netflix because they had zero ads. Many of my friends did the same. I consider ads an assault on my psyche and will avoid them as much as I possibly can.
anothernewdude 4y ago
Here I am fucking annoyed that my PS4 defaults to disney, and not the streaming applications I actually have installed.

lifeisstillgood 4y ago

I went through this process - we bought a "TV" and found it impossible to fight off "watch this" trailers appearing and enticing our little one. The only solution is to buy "business or gaming monitors" - no built in TV, just connect up a apple box and be done with it. Even then you can tell Apple is moving from "here is a button to press" to "let us decide what you are interested in" (Tangent but it's noticeable that the stuff I have bought from Apple Itunes like a kids movie is several clicks away, but the latest movie that I have not bought but will need to pay for is right there on the home screen. No. That's the wrong way round. If I reach up to my bookshelf and the bookshelf needs me to climb a ladder and reach over the books for sale to get to my own darn book, the bookshelf is not doing it's job. Apple. Be a bookshelf. I paid for a bookshelf.

MBCook 4y ago

Why did the author dismiss the LG C1 as having the same problem? I don’t remember ads on my CX (outside the App Store maybe). I still use an Apple TV because I like the interface way better. But it has been a great TV.

altruios 4y ago

for smart tv's in general... can we make a public OSOS, to replace shit like this... just make it a Linux box tied to a some ubiquitous AUR equivalent... or are the unique hardware features too varied to overcome?

flashgordon 4y ago

Dumb question - How does one go about (cost effectively) getting just a monitor that has: * Same size/resolution range as the comparable TV * Same price range as the comparable TV * X display ports (combination of hdmi, usb, etc) * Wifi (and bluetooth too?) * Audio + ports * Fine infra-red too for remotes * Other absoulute hardware essentials i might have missed Absolutely no inbuilt players or software or bloatware or adware or any of that crap! May be an app (inbuilt or for the phone) to configure presets perhaps.

evgen 4y ago
The magic words you are looking for here is 'commercial display' and it will always cost more than a comparable sized TV -- smaller volume of production & sales and the manufacturer is forgoing the revenue stream all of that adware and crapware on the standard TV offers them. It may have audio ports but is unlikely to have more than toy speakers because a commercial installation knows to keep the audio and video separated. tl;dr you can get something close to what you want but you are going to pay 2X or more for the unit compared to a similarly sized TV.
snarfy 4y ago
"Commercial Display" or "Conference Room Monitor" is what you want.
- flashgordon 4y ago
  Yes it was a pretty rhetorical q. Why should a dumb display cost more? Are they really subsidizing a "smart tv" with all their bloat/crap ware? Does that even make economic sense?
matthew-wegner 4y ago
Like the peer comments, what you want is a "display" Here's one with carrier board for a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, for i.e. digital signage, art display, or whatever else while it isn't showing one its external inputs: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-powered-55-display https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-...

mongol 4y ago

Have anyone looked into the service menus of their TVs to see of there are options there to disable?

sen 4y ago

Meanwhile the OP post is so full of ads you’re basically scrolling past a full-screen (on mobile) ad for every paragraph. Then when I came across a chunk of text without ads and thought it was over, an ad got dynamically loaded into the middle of the text pushing what I was reading down off the screen. Yes in this case I didn’t pay to read the content so they need ads, but the user-hostility of ads everywhere is just insane lately.

pwg 4y ago
Firefox plus Ublock Origin No ads's anywhere on the linked post.
atom058 4y ago
Even with ad blockers and NoScript, the website layout is awful due to the constant blank spaces where the ads used to go, paired with a miniscule viewport for the actual text. I've started to use Reader Mode a lot more lately, and it has been surprising how much more pleasant the Web is when consuming articles this way. Maybe we should Invent a protocol for marking up text documents and sending them over the Internet or something? Maybe call it Actual Text Markup Language?

nightshift1 4y ago

Those articles complaining about ads are always unclear to me. Are they saying that there is ads even when you switch inputs to a 3rd party device or is it just in the built-in media player?

noxer 4y ago

Some years ago I sold my TV because of its annoying UI and ads. I use a large PC monitor instead to watch stuff. Went back to pirating everything so I dont have to worry about whatever DRM garbage comes next or ads or streaming subscriptions etc. Zero regret. I waste way less time consuming media in general. I watch more youtube (with ad block and sponsor block ofc) and I go more to the cinema (expensive but I enjoy it way more than a streaming subscription). I buy merchandise form stuff I like and I go to concerts if possible and that's it.

lamontcg 4y ago

Seems like there's a market here for a relatively bare-bones high quality TV. Someone could probably start a small manufacturing business around that.

EastSmith 4y ago

I wonder what TV units big corps buy for conference rooms, etc? Imagine you are Google and you buy LG Spy TV, or Samsung Spy Panel. You put it in your conference room, where you meet regularly to discuss next Pixel phone with the Samsung's remote control AI listening to you. Eh? What products are they buying?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mrtweetyhack 4y ago

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

I mentioned this before, the hackers of the world need to try to get linux onto smart TVs, not sure how it would get flashed, but Samsung is being truly obnoxious, and they aren't alone. They know you have no options, so they can be as obnoxious as they want once you get the TV, and they know everyone else is as bad. But if there was a way better OS to flash on? Sign me up. Knowing the TV makers, they likely will have that locked down tight with signed code. But if there is a way to update firmware over the air, maybe there's a way to intercept the update and swap in a different firmware

deeblering4 4y ago

$3k is an absurd amount for a TV, especially when considering their short lifespan due to planned obsolescence

mgraczyk 4y ago

I have the same TV and have literally never thought about the ads on it except when reading articles on Hacker News. It seems like a huge benefit these days to be the sort of person who just isn't bothered by ads, like you can enjoy products and have more options available and don't have to do a ton of work to enjoy them.

Nicksil 4y ago
>I have the same TV and have literally never thought about the ads on it except when reading articles on Hacker News. >It seems like a huge benefit these days to be the sort of person who just isn't bothered by ads, like you can enjoy products and have more options available and don't have to do a ton of work to enjoy them. You work for Google. Of course you have no problem with ads.
- mgraczyk 4y ago
  Well I don't work on ads or on any product that has or will ever have ads, but... It's really the other way around. I work at Google because I have no problem with ads. It's another example of opportunities available if you are okay with ads!

jiggawatts 4y ago

I just got a Sony flagship television with Google Android TV. I'm fully expecting it to be automatically broken by a software update about 1-3 months after the warranty expires and the new models are released. I plan to disable updates around 1 year in to mitigate this risk. Think about what it says about the entire industry that this is what customers expect: multi-thousand-dollar products being purposefully remotely broken by the vendors.

gamesbrainiac 4y ago
I've had mine for 2 years. They barely update the software, and things still work!
- sudo_chmod777 4y ago
  Same boat. Sony has great embedded software engineering power but they are just not that good at these upper layer applications. Look at PS Store web, it's a hot mess. PS App is also terrible. Xperia has some fancy photography/videography apps and that's it. But that also means you get zero of the LG/Samsung nonsense.

tiagobraw 4y ago

I also own a samsung smart tv and hate the ad in the source screen, but more infuriating is their tv app always reappearing in the source menu as the first option… I always delete it but after a while there it is again.. also, it’s very ironic that I got a samsung ad on this site…

1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago

"There are a few guides on the web to minimize these intrusions, which include not only digging into the Samsung Tizen UX to chase checkboxes and mess around with settings, but also having to go into your broadband router's configuration and block lists of ad serving domains. You can also use Cisco's free consumer OpenDNS service to do this and override the DNS settings within the TV without messing with your router, which is what I ended up doing. But that requires the ability to update your dynamic IP from your router, so you may need to refresh OpenDNS's settings on occasion." Or you can put your own router, a computer you control with an open source OS of your choosing, in front of or in place of the ISP's router. Then you can, through various means, control the TV's access to DNS or other servers. Maybe the OP is stopping some ads by using OpenDNS, but he is not stopping data collection, commercial surveillance and data sharing with third parties for commercial purposes. Under OpenDNS's extremely permissive "privacy" policy, anyone, including TV manufacturers like Samsung, can potentially get the DNS lookup data from Cisco.^1 "It's ridiculous that you can spend this kind of money on a product, cut cords, and pay extra not to have ads on certain services, and then have them forced down your throat in the TV UX." You may pay extra to stop ads, but it will not stop the surveillance, data collection and sharing and use of the data for commercial purposes. 1. Some highlights from Cisco/OpenDNS "privacy" policy (https://web.archive.org/web/20220928020026if_/https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/privacy-full https://web.archive.org/web/20220928020026if_/https://www.ci...) The types of personal information that we may process depends on the business context and the purposes for which it was collected. It may include: Contact, subscription, registration, online identifiers, social media and discussion forum or communications details; Communications (i.e., audio, video, text) content; Online behavior and product usage information; Financial Information (e.g., bank account details, etc.); Details of an individual's business and other interests and opinions (e.g., where information is held in a Customer Relationship Management database); and information about the user of our products and services, including System Information such as device identifiers, and telemetry (such as IP or MAC address) when such data is linked or tied to a specific person's device. If we link other data with your personal information, we will treat that linked data as personal information. Collection & Use of Your Personal Information We may collect data, including personal information, about you as you use our websites and Solutions and interact with us. We also acquire personal information from trusted third-party sources and engage third parties to collect personal information on our behalf. Sharing Your Personal Information We may share personal information in the following ways: With business partners, service vendors, authorized third-party agents, or contractors to provide a requested website, Solution, service or transaction. Examples include processing of orders and credit card transactions, hosting websites, hosting seminar registration, assisting with sales-related efforts or post-sales support, and providing customer support. With Cisco business partners or vendors, so that they may share information with you about their products or services. To opt-out of Cisco sharing with third parties for their marketing purposes, please click here. In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, consolidation or restructuring, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by or to another company. In response to a request for information by a competent authority or third party if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or is otherwise required by, any applicable law, regulation or legal process. With law enforcement officials, government authorities, or other third parties as necessary to comply with legal process or meet national security requirements; protect the rights, property, or safety of Cisco, our business partners, you, or others; or as otherwise required by applicable law.

sys_64738 4y ago

Isn’t that just so utterly expected that it shouldn’t surprise anyone? It is better to find a quality dumb TV, IMO.

SayMyName 4y ago

Cheapo 4k 60hz Spectre tv from walmart. Best purchase I've made in years. Plug in my favorite streaming device and when it gets old and slow I just chuck it and buy another $20-50 device instead of having to buy a whole TV.

cpeterso 4y ago

My Samsung TV included anti-virus software! Why does my TV need that? Sure it can install apps, but they’re all from Samsung’s own TV app store. I only learned this because the UI had gotten soooo slow, like five seconds to respond to each button click on the remote control. Turning off the virus scanner mostly fixed the problem. Thanks, TV software update!

etempleton 4y ago

The smart tv interfaces are abysmal across the board and it has mostly to do with the prioritization of ad space over functionality. I have an old Plasma with an Apple TV I use for most of my tv watching and then a modern new smart tv for games and the occasional movie in another room. Roku is also a fine cheaper alternative to the built in interface of new TVs though it is also ad supported so you are just replacing one bad ad supported interface for a better, ad supported interface. And while it functions and is generally quick, it isn’t the most attractive UX.

pabs3 4y ago

If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violations in their TVs, you will probably be able to install open source Linux distros with KDE Plasma Bigscreen or Kodi on any Vizio TV and soon afterwards lots of other smart TV vendors including Samsung will likely be similar. Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the device after you purchase it basically means ads/spyware these days. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

Markoff 4y ago

That's what you get for not doing research prior buying TV. By now everyone should already know to avoid Samsung smart TVs. Just read reviews/experiences prior buying or try it on your own and if you don't like it return it.

lazyeye 4y ago

Somebody needs to sell a tv with a high quality display, 10 hdmi ports and no smart features whatsoever.

jakub_g 4y ago

I will just drop this link here: https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/ https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/

herbst 4y ago

I have a Mi TV. I created rules for everything it was randomly sending in my Pi-Hole. I don't use traditional TV so I have no experience with smart ads. Next to the common apps we make heavy use of Kodi, mostly to properly access all the TV channels online catalogues. I use alternative apps without ads whenever possible (Smarttube, some weird Twitch app I found on the store, ...) The only thing i couldn't 'fix' yet are the extensive ads when using YouTube via cast. Edit:// Samsung botching Android to something ugly with shit UX is nothing new. Really just avoid buying Samsung devices

timwaagh 4y ago

Well don't buy a Samsung then. Sometimes things are that simple. They're pretty well known for bloatware and why would tv be any different? I have a Phillips (not really Phillips but some vague company licensed their brand), basically the cheapest option in the 70 inch 4k space. I don't have issues with ads. Just the standard yt ads because I'm cheap and don't have yt premium.

matty22 4y ago

User: Buys $3000 ad machine Ad Machine: * Shows Ads * User: * surprised Pikachu face *

tzs 4y ago

A few people have mentioned ARC problems. If you are having problems with plain ARC, as opposed to eARC, try using an HDMI cable with ethernet. Plain ARC is supposed to work over any HDMI cable so you should only need an HDMI with ethernet for eARC, but after years of never being able get ARC to work with my Denon receiver which is from 2013 I happened to notice that in the manual it said that for ARC to use a “Standard HDMI cable with Ethernet” or “High Speed HDMI cable with Ethernet”. I switched to a "with Ethernet" cable and ARC worked.