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Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

news.samsung.com

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Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#471

Post by j1elo »

com2kid wrote: post #364
breakfastduck wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've literally never ever seen a washing machine that isn't a 'front loader' here in the UK either in someones house or in a store, I didn't know you could still buy other ones!

UK yeah, you all have those washer/dryer combos that wash tiny loads, and almost set clothes on fire to dry them. (In my experience they also take forever to dry the clothes!) Can't be very good for synthetics, I have clothing that has gotten scorch marks from my American dryer's "medium heat" setting, I can't imagine what would have happened in a UK machine! It should be noted that in many places in the US that hang…

Depends on each one's habits, but around here washing such a big comforter would be a "special cleaning day" type of thing, to happen just once in a year or couple of years (or even more, if it has been kept clean). So e.g. after the winter finishes, before putting the heavy clothing away in a closet for the summer, you might bring it to a laundry shop for cleaning, which usually has huge front loaders: https://previews.123rf.com/images/toonpang/toonpang2008/toon...

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#472

Post by elihu »

arduinomancer wrote: post #287

This thread feels very...Hacker News Bubble? Why is everyone so confused that smart TVs are popular? Being able to just turn on your TV and open Netflix without messing around with inputs/other devices is a huge benefit for non-technological people. And it probably costs <$50 for the manufacturer to include whatever chip is running linux in the TV, its a no-brainer.

> And it probably costs I would assume it costs negative dollars to include that chip in the TV, because the cost is likely more than offset by whatever the app vendors pay to have their app included, and whatever marketers pay for ad placement and telemetry.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#473

Post by geomark »

ok123456 wrote: post #106
drewg123 wrote: post #57

Earlier 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…

Samsung's appliances have a pretty bad reputation in general, especially the refrigerators and side loading washing machines.

Not around here. TVs, fridge and a/c throughout the house working without issue for more than 10 years so far. A couple of Samsung mobile phones as well that kept going until they were so old they could not receive updates.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#474

Post by sgrove »

nitrogen wrote: post #441
sgrove wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is, it seems, just untrue. It was posted before ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24668736 ) and I was curious about this attack vector so looked it up [0] Simply put, it seems that this never took off and would require the entire hdmi chain to support it (tv, cable, and device) - none of which do currently, so for the medium future it doesn't seem to be a concern. Plenty of concern elsewhere, just not nece…

It's definitely real. A/V receivers are the typical devices to support HEC, so you can run one Ethernet cable to the receiver and use a smart TV with the HDMI audio return channel, with one HDMI cable.

Interesting! You're suggesting that the A/V would bridge the ethernet connection over the HDMI cable audio signal?

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#475

Post by Johnny555 »

Teever wrote: post #432
tshaddox wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It stretches credulity to suggest that the lack of non-smart TVs on the market causes the popularity of smart TVs. Would you also suggest that the lack of black and white TVs on the market causes the popularity of color TVs?

Why weren't TVs with built in VCRs and DVD players more popular?

I never wanted one because I was afraid that one or the other would break, then it would be half-useless.

My parents had one where the TV part stopped working, but the VCR still worked. It had video/audio out jacks so dad plugged it into their other TV, so they had a dead TV sitting next to their working TV for use as a VCR.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#476

Post by chmod775 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #259
chmod775 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then having that avenue would not be necessary, would it? It's likely Samsung only has a rough idea which serial numbers were stolen, or there is at least considerable room for mistakes. As a company you don't set up a process for a few outliers.

What? All the big tech companies on HN get lambasted all the time for excessive automation and not having a process for a few outliers. Why would you NOT want to setup a process for outliers (other than to save money like the big tech companies)?

If that's supposed to be a rhetorical question, you are missing the point.

I'm not saying they shouldn't, I'm saying they wouldn't.

If this process was properly implemented they would not help you unlock your TV if you complain. Instead they would be calling the cops because you just gave them a lead on where those TVs went. Which in some universe where typical warehouse management keeps track of serial numbers may actually be what they're planning.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#477

Post by AussieWog93 »

mattnewton wrote: post #464
fsckboy wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't it going to be "our TV costs $40 more, but..."?

You’re probably right, the ad space and metrics might be worth the component cost, r&d and then some. Slap some apps on it to justify it to the consumer and sell it cheaper.

I can tell you for sure that pre-pandemic you could get AllWinner SOCs capable of 1080P 60Hz for around $2.50/pc. The 4K ones seem to be around $7/pc, still peanuts.

From memory, Netflix pays around $10 to have a dedicated button on the remote, so even if the manufacturer didn't play any ads they'd still be in the black.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#479

Post by Johnny555 »

tfigment wrote: post #417
haunter wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are, they are called monitors

Monitors generally don't have remote controls or speakers. The latter solved with soundbar but former is important use case.

My company has monitors for video conferencing and they all have remotes and speakers.

I think they are LG's... like this one:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1526262-REG/lg_55ut64...

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#480

Post by RandomThrow321 »

nsxwolf wrote: post #311
arduinomancer wrote: post #287

This thread feels very...Hacker News Bubble? Why is everyone so confused that smart TVs are popular? Being able to just turn on your TV and open Netflix without messing around with inputs/other devices is a huge benefit for non-technological people. And it probably costs <$50 for the manufacturer to include whatever chip is running linux in the TV, its a no-brainer.

The software in the newer LG OLEDs is so good I haven't bothered hooking up any of my boxes to my new TVs. I'm sure in a few years the UI will start to feel sluggish and it will be time to plug something in, but for now its a great experience, far better than any smart TV I've used before.

Completely agree. I hated the idea of a clunky "smart" TV and only purchased LG because of the ratings on picture quality. I have a Nvidia shield, Amazon fire tv cube, and a media PC. I recently realized I use none of them, because the LG software is good enough (and there's a Plex app).
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