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

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

#391

Post by tenebrisalietum »

nwiswell wrote: post #383
tenebrisalietum wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I can spoof communication with that serial number on another device, I get free Internet. Same concept as MAC filtering not being really secure because I can just change MAC addresses in my packets.

How do you get the private key?

Find a remote vulnerability, or find the device on the circuit board where it's stored, connect a reader to it, and dump it. Not trivial, but not impossible. The TV software just has to have one mistake, and TV companies aren't security experts.

All of the popular embedded platforms have had scores of vulnerabilites - Qualcomm, Android, WebOS, etc. - patched over time, new ones found etc.

Heck, it even took Microsoft more than one try to start to get it right. An interesting story is Microsoft attempting to protect its first game platform--the original Xbox from the early 2000's. There were numerous security protections and all were bypassed - from encrypted boot code to a device-unique hard drive key stored in EEPROM.

Microsoft got better and smarter with the 360--this time with unique keys and eFuses in the CPU but it was still eventually bypassed--not after the effective lifetime of the platform though.

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

#392

Post by nwiswell »

tenebrisalietum wrote: post #391
nwiswell wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get the private key?

Find a remote vulnerability, or find the device on the circuit board where it's stored, connect a reader to it, and dump it. Not trivial, but not impossible. The TV software just has to have one mistake, and TV companies aren't security experts. All of the popular embedded platforms have had scores of vulnerabilites - Qualcomm, Android, WebOS, etc. - patched over time, new ones found etc. Heck, it even took Microsoft…

Honestly I do not think Samsung would be concerned about the single-digit number of people who manage to get free internet this way.

If you really wanted it to be secure, you could use a TPM instead of a private key in memory, but that's overkill IMO. Who wants to take their TV apart in exchange for free crappy internet?

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

#393

Post by bhelkey »

myrandomcomment wrote: post #337
PeterisP wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every TV ships with a non-unique secret key and an agreement with some major internet service provider which specifies that accounts using that key will gain network access but only to a specific list of IP addresses that host or proxy firmware updates and advertising content. [edit - to be clear, I'm not saying that this is what Samsung is doing, I'm just describing a plausible way how this might get done]

Everyone has said stuff like this but there has been zero proof of TVs connecting to wifi like this on their own. If you have that proof please share it.

>> Wanna bet [Broad Company Wifi Networks] are or will be used by your smart TV > What makes me think this will never happen...

The comment suggests that the behavior of auto-connecting to wifi is infeasible for technical reasons. My comment and the one below it show that this is technically feasible.

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

#394

Post by senectus1 »

cantrevealname wrote: post #35

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…

I have a fair amount of success just using a pihole to block unwanted behaviour

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

#395

Post by sgtnoodle »

warble wrote: post #152
sgtnoodle wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firmware updates may resolve HDMI compatibilities, though, and in my mind it's always worth the risk even if there's a 10% chance of improvement because HDMI reliability is terrible. When I mounted my TV, I embedded a single HDMI cable, a single cat5e cable, and a single optical cable in the wall. Conduit wasn't an option due to the age and construction of the wall, so changing it would require power tools and drywal…

Wow, never once ever had an issue with HDMI, although I only go 4K at most. I never even considered it a possibility.

This thread has motivated me to try and tackle my current audio drop out problem. Every 5-10 minutes, the audio drops out for a second. I'm currently updating the firmware on my soundbar as a shot in the dark...

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

#396

Post by sgtnoodle »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #395
warble wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, never once ever had an issue with HDMI, although I only go 4K at most. I never even considered it a possibility.

This thread has motivated me to try and tackle my current audio drop out problem. Every 5-10 minutes, the audio drops out for a second. I'm currently updating the firmware on my soundbar as a shot in the dark...

Well, I tried a new HDMI topology and that didn't improve things. I tried intentionally mis-configuring the TV to break ARC but still have CEC power and volume control of my sound bar, but the sound bar still defaults to ARC on power up rather than SPDIF.

I've given up on ARC completely in my setup. The Nvidia Shield remote can control sound bar volume via IR. I just successfully watched a full movie without any drop outs. Also, I may be imagining it, but the Shield feels more responsive. It seems like it must be the TV's fault. Don't buy a Sony I guess.

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

#397

Post by YeBanKo »

cantrevealname wrote: post #35

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…

And that sentiment is soon going to be obsolete, once 5G is everywhere and your smart TV can connect to the internet without asking for your wifi password.

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

#398

Post by WhyNotHugo »

asdfk-12 wrote: post #84
cantrevealname wrote: post #35

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…

This is good advice. I kept my 4k Vizio offline until updating the firmware on a whim. The update broke the ability to run 1080p@60hz from my PC, making it effectively useless for normal use. The annoying part about the panel is that it was advertised as 4k but only works at 30hz at that resolution. Cheap, so should have figured.

Not a TV, but my monitor is 3440x1440. However, it only supports 30Hz at that resolution over HDMI since it has an older HDMI version. It only supports 3440x1400 at 60Hz over DisplayPort.

So, if your TV has any other inputs, might want to try those too.

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