Jack a bunch of smart TVs from a warehouse and nobody panics. Because -- it's all part of "the plan". But if a company reaches out across the 'net and disables their stolen contraband; everybody LOSES THEIR MINDS!
Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
511–520 of 727 posts
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#512This 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.
> Why is everyone so confused that smart TVs are popular? Also the real reason that they're popular: there are no non-smart TVs available.
Thinking next time I need a big panel I'll shop in the digital signage area, and take care of inputs and sound externally.
Philips got the BDL line, NEC also a big supplier.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#513Earlier 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?
They were popular!
But there was also the tradition in higher end A/V equipment of selling components instead of complete systems so it was limited to the low end.
I think the issue with Smart TVs is that people became aware of the extent of the downsides only years after they became aware of the convenience.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#514Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some of these comments have a real "old man yells at cloud" vibe. Modern, mid-range or better Smart TVs are great. They let me enjoy streaming content or gaming without wasting time trying to configure something, torrent something, fiddle with subtitles. The newest models offer unparalleled gaming experiences via HDMI 2.1 features. There's (justifiably) privacy and other concerns on HN, but no one else is aware of th…
The market has spoken. Markets only speak when meaningful competition exists. Are you really suggesting that people actively prefer to buy TVs that, for example, suddenly start showing them ads months or years after purchase?
An ad-free experience would almost certainly cost more (consider Amazon's cheaper Kindle that shows ads when the screen goes to sleep). If we're talking about adding even $50 to a $1000 TV, I'd bet most consumers would rather endure the ads and keep the $50.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#515[deleted]
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#516Earlier quoted context omitted.
Color TVs superseded black and white because it was objectively an improvement for the customer. There wasn't any benefit to the manufacturer besides selling a new unit. the "Smart" TVs of today are riddled with spyware and telemetry that provides a second revenue stream to the manufacture since 95% of the population is too lazy or uninformed or doesn't have the time to turn it off. Yes, there benefits to the consume…
If I had to choose between a color TV that could only show live broadcasts or a B&W TV that could stream Netflix, etc., I would certainly choose B&W streaming. This obviously doesn’t require a smart TV—I personally use a Roku and rejected all of my Smart TV’s EULAs—but I consider streaming to be a much bigger objective improvement than color.
That would be a fun product actually.. kickstarter idea?
B&W TV w/ built-in roku-like/streaming capabilities.
I wonder how expensive it would be to manufacture a B&W TV these days
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#517This 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.
[deleted]
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#518I bought one of Samsung's smart televisions a couple years ago. I think I paid $1500 for it. Anyway, it started showing me ads and the TV eventually became sluggish less than a month after owning it. Returned it as defective. Ever since that experience, I swore of all smart televisions and will never buy another Samsung television or smartphone again if I can help it.
You can't really avoid smart TVs these days. Any model that has a good picture quality will have a higher end chipset, and with that higher end chipset TV manufacturers are just rolling Android since they largely don't have to worry about the UI etc. Technically, all you should have to do is not enable Wifi/Ethernet and you're good to go. But I wouldn't put it past Samsung to look for open APs or connected Samsung pr…
You could create a black hole wifi SSID or vlan to frustrate their efforts if this was discovered to be the case.
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#519I worked for Samsung. Let's just say, I am not letting any "smart" TVs in my home. Given choice of "smart" TV vs no TV, I choose no TV. Currently I have an old 30" monitor filling the function of the TV. I would love to have nice shiny screen, but the price is just too high.
Can you block samsung.com at the DNS level and be alright or do the issues go deeper than that? Honest question as I don't have a Samsung tv...
Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse
#520This 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.
> Why is everyone so confused that smart TVs are popular? Also the real reason that they're popular: there are no non-smart TVs available.
The choice is shrinking, but there are still some available.
Example: https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U750CV-UMRD-75-4K-UHD-T...
Sadly unobtanium in the EU.