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Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

us.community.samsung.com

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Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#211

Post by mikepurvis »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #196
mikepurvis wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sibling mentioned CEC fixes— this one is huge. CEC is lovely in concept but I ended up having to disable it completely across my setup as there was just way too many bits of weird behaviour with devices turning themselves on and then switching the TV or AVR to their input apropos of nothing. I feel like CEC tried way too hard to be magical instead of exposing enough control for the user to be able to block certain co…

Absolutely this. The frustration when I turn on the Steam Deck and the Apple TV goes "Look at me. Look at me! I'm the output now"

Yup, game consoles are ground zero for this. I hit the button on the PS5 controller only to have the receiver and TV power on, then the PS4 wakes up for some reason and then switches the AVR to its input.

My Sony UHD player also seems to want to grab the input sometimes too, so maybe it's Sony that's the source of the problems haha.

And again, it's all just so maddening because it feels like it would go away if I could be like "Hey, AVR should never send power-on messages to its input devices." Because then I would just power on the device I actually want to use, it would turn on the AVR and TV, and we'd be golden.

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#212

Post by BizarroLand »

grishka wrote: post #34
mcs5280 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably some new AI/tracking/ad delivery features

It's a speaker system. It plays sound. Why could it possibly have AI, tracking, or ad delivery?

You're not thinking like a true capitalist.

Sure, you got your $2,000 out of the customer. But what about the money you could be making between now and the next time the customer buys something?

You're giving up on tens of dollars a year by not tormenting the people who gave you money already and might do so again.

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#213

Post by hbn »

yubiox wrote: post #68

I made the mistake of connecting my bose noise cancelling earbuds to the phone app so I could disable autoplay. They updated without any warning and now they won't charge properly and the noise cancelling sucks. It used to be amazing. Never connect anything and never take updates unless you need a specific fix.

I swear AirPods in general are just less reliable than they used to be too. I feel like I need to be doing incantations for them to work sometimes, whereas I recall them feeling like magic compared to BT headphones I've used in the past, the way they would seamlessly pair, start/stop music when you pull one out, etc.

It reminds me of some discussion I was seeing the other day about how the dynamic island on the newer iPhones is way buggier than it was at launch. Someone suggested that this happens because the S-tier engineers are tasked with building these things to blow everyone out of the water at launch, and then B-tier developers are tasked with maintaining them for the following years, at which point stuff starts regressing.

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#214

Post by Zak »

Zenbit_UX wrote: post #166
ymyms wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, my background is in B2B hardware and that's the perspective I am coming here with. Out of curiosity though, how do you weigh your value of control vs. security vulnerabilities? Modern speaker systems allow some form of wireless connectivity, so there is bound to be something and not all consumers will be savvy enough to keep up with security updates on their own.

My thoughts on security vulnerabilities is that they exist on any out of date firmware and that should be expected. I’ve never rolled back to factory settings and assumed that this device is now exposable on a DMZ. Specifically I’m talking about consumer devices, which are almost always behind a NAT config + firewall. If your soundbar has a vulnerability it’s pretty much irrelevant if someone has already breached you…

It seems to me the mentality has become that since end users tend to be bad at system administration, they shouldn't be allowed to do it, for their own good.

I reject this mentality. I don't think it's necessary or desirable to make it impossible for people to do things that have negative consequences for themselves. Put a "here there be dragons" warning on the firmware rollback, bootloader unlock, or similar dangerous operation and let people take responsibility for the outcome.

In the case of consumer devices, most people won't even try those things; those who do risk further problems for the chance of a better outcome. In the case of enterprise networking equipment, there's an IT department that, in theory has the skills and resources necessary to make good decisions about technology.

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#216

Post by VTimofeenko »

tzs wrote: post #208

Not a good year so far for Samsung. Just under two months ago on a large number of their TVs with voice control it started only recognizing commands in Russian. It took them several days to get that straightened out. It was educational. I learned that I completely suck at trying to speak Russian. I could type "channel 4" into Google Translate on my iPad, press the Mic button on my TV remote, and press the speak icon…

Assuming English is your first language, I can probably guess which specific parts of the "channel 4" Russian pronounciation gave you trouble. I'm sure your effort was valiant, but the language is just so different compared to English

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#217

Post by rd11235 »

Good motivation for a PSA:

This happens more and more often, and there is a fairly easy + popular workaround (which also comes with 99% ad blocking as a bonus). Just either set up pi-hole locally OR use a hosted DNS service that does essentially the same thing.

Main idea: Ads, updates, etc. typically (not always) need to resolve hosts before connecting to servers. Simply resolve these hosts to 0.0.0.0 instead of a real IP.

Arguments for pi-hole or other local solution: Free. Private.

Arguments for hosted solution: No set-up headache, no local raspberry pi or other machine to maintain. Overall a bit simpler.

Guide for blocking updates after the service is set up (I just went through this a month or two ago to block updates to my LG TV):

Step 1: Search around for servers that correspond to updates for your device.

Step 2: Test these lists; realize that they are often incomplete.

Step 3: Shut your device off. Open pi-hole like service, and watch queries live. While doing so, turn on your device (and if you have the option, check for updates).

Step 4: Put all of the queried hosts you see into your block list.

Step 5: Later, you may encounter broken functionality. When this happens, look at your logs, and see which server(s) were blocked at that moment. Remove only those from the blocklist. (And cross your fingers that the manufacturer doesn't use the same hosts for typical functionality and updates.)

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#219

Post by mnau »

ethbr1 wrote: post #57
jcmfernandes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the answer always "bugfixes and increased stability"? :)

The laziness that's become now-standard for release notes is insane.

It's not laziness, it's a tactic.

You don't want to provide more info than absolutely necessary, that could be bad from security and legal perspective.

Also, if you don't include more info, people tend to ask you less questions to clarify.

Re: Samsung Q990D unresponsive after 1020 firmware update

#220

Post by godelski »

koolba wrote: post #136
ChuckMcM wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't get enough attention, waaaay too many of these issues are traced back to the vendor trying to "prevent" someone from using their product in a way that they don't like.

Why else would a soundbar need updates anyway? It either performs its well defined functions when you bought it or they sold you a device that doesn’t input/output sound. Updates for these types of things always fall into three categories. Either they’re gimping some unanticipated usage, they’re trying to insert ads, or they’re trying to gather more usage data.

  > Why else would a soundbar need updates anyway?
No matter the device, software rots.

Not because the device changes, not because the software changes, but because the world does

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