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Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

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Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#551

Post by jijji »

criddell wrote: post #115
ollien wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought a TCL TV specifically because I trust Roku to maintain their software more than someone like Samsung. The ads drive me insane, even if they're relatively unobtrusive. At least in that case the TV was much cheaper (~$500 for a 55" TV)

Roku watches what you are watching and shares that data with their trusted partners. Same as Android TV (whatever it's called now) and Amazon Fire. AFAIK, the only mainstream streaming device that doesn't do this is Apple TV.

This can be disabled in the setup/settings

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#552

Post by softveda »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #418
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We bought a 1.5k refrigerator which died after 2 years (warranty expires exactly at that time in Europe). We had extended repair, it died again after another year. Never again!

Worth noting that in UK under the Consumer Rights Act there is no specific time limit for poor engineering causing a problem that the _seller_ must fix. The limitation is 2 years or how long I've would normally expect such a product to last. A fridge should easily last a decade and so in theory there's a 10 year "warranty" period. The seller can have things repaired, replace them, or offer a refund (refunds can be re…

Same in Australia

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#553

Post by zeroimpl »

Remotely disabling stolen internet-connected devices is good common practice. We used this once at my company for some items which inexplicably went missing from the manufacturing line. A few years later I got a support ticket escalation about a customer who got a device from “some weird turn of events” (something like that) and couldn’t figure out how to activate it, it kept saying to contact support.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#554

Post by idonotknowwhy »

oxfeed65261 wrote: post #498
lp0_on_fire wrote: post #437

Earlier 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Color TVs superseded black and white because it was objectively an improvement for the customer.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.

I watch Netflix on a CRT TV in 2021 lol. Hook up a ps3 via component and it's a great way to watch older 4:3 content like anime

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#555

Post by lotsofpulp »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #544
lotsofpulp wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is because the root problem is excessive copyright terms lasting 100+ years. Bump that down to 10 or even 20 years and you will see a market emerge for the abilities you are looking for.

I think if you eliminated all copyright right now, people would still mostly choose to stream rather than deal with the hassle of managing a media library. It's a huge pain in the ass.

If there was popular media that could be legally stored locally and played then there would be a market for it.

I imagine it would be possible for a company to sell a NAS with all 80s movies, and 90s movies, music, games, or whatever. Right now there is no incentive to selling devices that can locally distribute content within your home because there is no content to distribute in the first place. So the target market is too small and results in whatever Synology or Plex or XBMC solutions exist.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#556

Post by idonotknowwhy »

fouc wrote: post #516
oxfeed65261 wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If you mean a bw crt, the consensus on the crt gaming sub is that it's too expensive and there are a lot of undocumented secrets :(

I've found some Chinese factory which claims they can do it, but they seem to be using new-old-stock tubes.

I believe EU regulations regarding lead in consumer products prevent this too.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#557

Post by howenterprisey »

squarefoot wrote: post #520
pessimizer wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I just got this one myself (the 50-inch model, really), and am completely satisfied with the purchase.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#558

Post by amiga »

pessimizer wrote: post #325
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.

> 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.

Anecdotal, the last "unsmart" TV I found was hobbled to the point of not even having a power indicator LED.

It wasn't used much until putting a "good smart" device behind it...in this case a Roku.

Orwellian prophecy in real life, the Roku sends data back to the company about anything you watch using that device.

The only difference between this setup and a "plus good smart" TV is that anything else displayed on the TV(pc, pirated movies, photos, playstation/xbox/nintendo consoles, etc) will be fingerprinted and sent back to the company analytical department.

My opinion is it is none of their business.

This is all acceptable because manipulation via marketing/advertising is considered a necessary evil, and, the device is easy to use.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#559

Post by antonvs »

jpindar wrote: post #447
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!

Huh. Top loaders are more common than front loaders in the US.

Not in apartments, where machines are often stacked on top of each other.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#560

Post by p2t2p »

rrrhys wrote: post #467
p2t2p wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> alongside car infotainment systems I don't know if market has corrected those or Apple did. I couldn't care less about my car's infotainment system as long as the screen is 7+ inches and capable of Apple CarPlay.

> capable of Apple CarPlay. E.g. you care plenty.

I wouldn't call a glorified screen mirroring an "infotainment system".
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