Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a Samsung front loader and it's a great washer.
Was it the one that sings a Schubert tune every time the wash is done? That cracks me up.
It's a Korean version, I am not familiar with the tune it was playing.
Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
261–270 of 727 posts
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#262It is impossible to find a "dumb" TV today. It sucks, because I was currently looking for a new 75+ inch one, but everything out there is just smart crap.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bought a high-end Samsung 4K tv in 2015 or so for about $3000. I picked it after a week of research that showed it had the highest quality panel. After taking delivery of the TV, we noticed it had bright lower left and right corners that we later found out were due to new packaging that pinched the TV and caused most of the TVs in that batch to be ruined. Samsung claimed that the corners were "in spec" and refused…
What do you expect Samsung to do, throw away a $3000 product for a defect most consumers wouldn't notice?
Well if I notice it, I'm not paying $3k for it, I'll tell you that. If most customers wouldn't notice, they should have no problem "refurbishing" it, should they?
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? That's dystopian, but in a cool way. A little like Amazons own internet sharing network or what it was. It's terrible though. We really live in a panopticon now. Any links?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinavia Slightly different than what gp was talking about but also deals with using invisible audio for DRM
Audio is usually invisible
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#265I'd love to hear folks' recommendations for non-smart TV's. I haven't paid attention to this topic in a while and I haven't kept up with the technology.
I bought the Sceptre 65" (model U658CV-UMC) based on a recommendation in another HN thread last year. There's not a lot to say about it, since all it does is show a signal on a big TV screen, but that's also its biggest benefit. It's an $800 4K 65" TV that doesn't spy on you, so big thumbs up from me.
I'm not sure if it's got the best panel in the world or not. It's definitely good enough for me. One thing I accept about myself is that if I am not looking at two TVs side by side, I am not going to know if one is inferior to the other.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is that it's hard to find any not-too-smart TVs with up to date technology (4k, OLED, HDR etc). Unless you spend a fortune on a luxury brand like Bang and Olufsen.
One alternative is the Gigabyte AORUS FO48U 48" 4K OLED. This essentially an LG OLED, minus the smart TV stuff, plus better inputs. It seems to have a ~15% price premium over the TV.
The max brightness on the FO48U is 385 nits, the LG CX 48 has a max brightness of ~740. That'll really impact the sort of high level HDR features you expect at that price point while paying a premium to use the same Apple TV or Shield Pro as your smart portion.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never again will I buy anything Samsung. They have steadfastly refused to fix my fridge's ice maker even though they have admitted it's a design fault, and retailers will not take it back as faulty because the ice maker is not considered vital to the functioning of the refrigerator in general.
Ice makers are notoriously flimsy. Serious race to the bottom by the manufacturers. The good news is that they're easy to replace (undo a couple of bolts and unplug a cable and they usually come right out), bad news is the replacements are ridiculously expensive, like $100 each and come with all of the same design flaws the original had. There is also surprisingly little standardization which makes the replacements e…
Most were up to a few years ago, but the big players went out of their way to make dependable ice makers--I thought.
The last two refrigerators I bought had dependable ice makers.
I just overheard an installer talking to a neighbor while installing his refrigerator.
The tech said most modern refrigerations only last 10 years at best though.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#268I am quite ambivalent to this feature. On one hand, if someone steals your TV, you can deactivate it. But now there is also a benefit to having a dumb TV. Imagine if you have too old of a model, so Samsung decides to remotely disable your TV.
My samsung TV was never connected to the internet. I didnt even accept the user agreement, it still works just fine.
A user agreement of a TV is hilarious now that I think about it. It’s surely a load of disclaimers and agreements that they can violate various privacy laws, but made after you have handed over the money.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never again will I buy anything Samsung. They have steadfastly refused to fix my fridge's ice maker even though they have admitted it's a design fault, and retailers will not take it back as faulty because the ice maker is not considered vital to the functioning of the refrigerator in general.
New Zealand has a bit of legislation called the Consumer Guarantees Act, and it specifies something to the effect of ‘the thing should have a lifespan commensurate with the price, free of defects or faults’. It’s really great - the downside is that we pay more for things than people overseas do. I vastly prefer that we have it.
Would be glad to pay a bit more to ensure quality. My persistent fear when buying something is - if it fails, how do I get it serviced/replaced, or barring that - how will I dispose of it. Because dumping it feels completely unsustainable.
It's prevented me from buying to replace a lot of my stuff.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#270The larger question for society is do we even want smart everything? I rarely see this issue debated. Undoubtedly, software enables complex/rich functionality for what were hitherto relatively "dumb" devices, but the same flexibility can also lead to exploits, backdoors, bugs and place too much control in the hands of the manufacturers and many other nameless parties. The most important aspect here is remote connecti…
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