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Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

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Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#161

Post by dragonwriter »

jfb wrote: post #63
toxican wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why not just save yourself some money and get a "dumb" TV? I can only imagine they jack the price up a hundred or two for the "smart"

Because the panels are commodities and market pressures are such that "Smart" TV features are the battleground that the manufacturers are trying to differentiate on. You can get a reference monitor, which will be the same panel as a $800 Smart TV for $4k.

Insofar as the Smart TV features promote instability and unusability, unwanted behavior, and privacy intrusions -- it may still be worthwhile to purchase dumb TVs even at a premium.

And if more people start avoiding Smart TVs because of the unreliability, unwanted behavior, and privacy issues -- it won't make sense for manufacturers to keep pushing them.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#162

Post by linker3000 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #151
andybak wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart TVs are a terrible idea for the same reason that combined printer and scanners are a bad idea but with the negative aspect magnified many times. The cost and life expectancy of each part is very different and you don't want their replacement/upgrade to be tied together. A display panel should last you more than a decade and probably costs many 100s or 1000s. The 'smart' bit is probably worth less than $200 and…

> Smart TVs are a terrible idea for the same reason that combined printer and scanners are a bad idea but with the negative aspect magnified many times. The cost and life expectancy of each part is very different and you don't want their replacement/upgrade to be tied together. I think combined printers and scanners are a much better idea than Smart TVs because (1) you get more benefit (footprint savings) from the co…

If my MFC ever starts printing random ads every 'n' scans or pages printed it's going in the bin.

IF I consider buying a Samsung 'Smart' TV in the future, it better have clear abilities to disable this kind of adserving crap. In any case, I forsee some appropriate rules being added to the house firewall.

Additional thought:

Is there a Web site where you can list products or services you HAVEN'T purchased, giving the value lost to the supplier, and why you didn't buy? Might generate some interesting stats?!

Hmm...'whyididntbuy.com' is on sale for over $2K...where can I document my non-purchase of that!?

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#163

Post by coldpie »

nogridbag wrote: post #99
coldpie wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Loading time" needs to be considered unacceptable by industry. It's really blatant. I was at a Subaru dealership, ready to plunk down on a brand new 2015 Impreza, when the guy told me they all have the touchscreen infotainment setup. I asked him to show it to me. We sat in the car, he turned the key, and the first thing that showed up on the screen was... a loading bar. I walked out and bought a 2011 Mazda. Making m…

I found this funny because the fourth generation Mazda MX-5 (Miata) is being released this year and just the fact that it has an infotainment system jutting out of the top of the dash is causing a lot of criticism.

It's tricky because the US gov't is mandating backup cameras soon. I'm not opposed to that, per se, but car manufacturers have taken it as an opportunity to shove touchscreens into every car. Since they need some sort of screen for the camera anyway, why not slap in this infotainment system we spent all this money on?

But yeah, I'll never own a car with a TV screen in the dash. I'll stick to the used market if I have to. I've heard some manufacturers are sticking a small screen in the rear view mirror using some see-through mirror trick. That seems like a much better solution than what they did to the Miata.

Edit: Actually do you have some links to that criticism? Is it in the press? I'm super interested in the new Miata, but the screen really is a deal killer and I wonder if enough negative press would cause them to reconsider or change it for future years.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#164

Post by _cudgel »

mpeg wrote: post #23

A bit disappointing that a hacker community's first reaction is to position against smart TVs. Smart TVs are awesome, we just need open source firmware for them in the same way that we have DDWRT/OpenWRT, XBMC and such. Imagine the control scheme using a wiimote-style pointer, built-in webcam, quad core CPU and an API to give you access to your viewing habits, or interface with other smart devices around your home. R…

> A bit disappointing that a hacker community's first reaction is to position against smart TVs.

I emphatically disagree. "Smart TVs" are recognized as a bad idea, and as such are shunned. It would be disappointing _to me_ if this hacker community didn't think about whether or not new tech was appropriate, and just immediately accepted it as a great new shiny.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#165

Post by eridius »

mpeg wrote: post #23

A bit disappointing that a hacker community's first reaction is to position against smart TVs. Smart TVs are awesome, we just need open source firmware for them in the same way that we have DDWRT/OpenWRT, XBMC and such. Imagine the control scheme using a wiimote-style pointer, built-in webcam, quad core CPU and an API to give you access to your viewing habits, or interface with other smart devices around your home. R…

> Right now, I turn on my ps4 and the channel doesn't change automatically and turn on game mode, why?

Mine does.

There's a really crappy HDMI protocol extension called HDMI-CEC (for Consumer Electronics Control). It allows for precisely this kind of thing. Unfortunately, because it was designed by committee, it's apparently not very good, and it's hard to actually get a setup that works with it properly. Notably, any kind of receiver in between your device and your TV usually causes it to not actually work, or for only parts of it to work (commonly, the receiver allows for power-on but blocks remote control).

In my case, I have my PS4 plugged directly onto a Panasonic TV. When I turn on my PS4, the TV turns on automatically and switches to the right input. And similarly, if I turn my TV on when it's on my PS4 input, or if I switch to the PS4 input after turning it on, the PS4 automatically turns on. Curiously, turning the PS4 off does not turn off the TV. Admittedly, this behavior can be annoying, because if I turn off my TV while it's set to the PS4 input (which is maybe 75% of the time), I can't turn it on again without the PS4 immediately booting up, even if I wanted to switch to another input. What I wish I could do is have the TV turn on automatically & switch inputs when turning on the PS4, but not the other way around. Another thing this feature does is let my TV remote control my PS4; for example, I can use the arrow buttons on my TV remote to navigate around the PS4 home screen. This is potentially useful for watching movies, although I haven't ever actually experimented with it.

Note that getting this to work requires turning on some settings that are ordinarily disabled. I didn't even know the PS4 had this capability until I started googling for what one of the disabled settings meant. Somewhere in PS4's settings there's an off-by-default setting called "Enable HDMI Device Link". Turn this on. Then check your TV settings for something similar. On my Panasonic there were two settings "VIERA Link" and "Power on Link" which needed to be on for this functionality. On Sony TV's it's probably called "Bravia Sync".

Here's a Polygon article with some more info: http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/21/5126628/ps4-remote-control...

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#166

Post by dragonwriter »

thinkr wrote: post #106
mariuolo wrote: post #52

It's time to start buying large monitors, I think.

I haven't done much research on this but is it possible to even buy a 70in+ monitor?

> I haven't done much research on this but is it possible to even buy a 70in+ monitor?

Yes, though for many uses you may be better off with just getting a projector and an appropriate projection surface if you want 70in+ display.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#167

Post by kjs3 »

Lawtonfogle wrote: post #49
lucaspiller wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I purposely bought a Philips smart TV this year as the only stuff I really watch is Netflix, iPlayer, YouTube and my own ripped content. This TV advertised apps for all of that and DLNA support, so I figured I wouldn't need any other boxes. I have used XBMC before and that worked great, except there is still no Netflix support, so I figured I'd try something with it built in. Netflix works perfectly, and I really can…

How in the world can this be any better than Rasberry Pi (or some equivalent) + dumb TV? I see an opening for a 'TV Smartify' business selling customized Rasberry Pi's (or some equivalent) that you attach to your TV, plug in with HDMI/power/network, and go. Include a custom OS ready to go, a HDMI cable, wireless Keyboard/Mouse, customer case, and a power supply and sell it upmarked as a convenience (since the target…

How in the world can this be any better than Rasberry Pi (or some equivalent) + dumb TV?

Because it's zero config beyond entering your account information. For a commercial product not intended for the HN crowd, that's a big deal.

I see an opening for a 'TV Smartify' business

So does Amazon, Roku, etc., etc.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#168

Post by RIMR »

Smart TVs are completely unnessary. I don't want apps on my TV. Sure, apps on something connected to my TV can be nice, but even the most basic TVs have too many features.

Built-in speakers? They sound awful and I have an amp. Get rid of them.

Oh, you cropped my 1080P HDTV signal? Well, I've plugged in a computer, so I need you to display the whole frame. Oh, less than half of TVs even let you turn that feature off? Well fuck!

TVs don't need to be anything more than monitors. They can have special features, like 3D, or built-in cameras, but make it something that I can plug into something else.

How Samsung thought they could record private conversations in people's homes and push ads into their private videos without consequence is unbelievable. I will NEVER buy a smart TV.

Re: Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies

#169

Post by mey »

RIMR wrote: post #168

Smart TVs are completely unnessary. I don't want apps on my TV. Sure, apps on something connected to my TV can be nice, but even the most basic TVs have too many features. Built-in speakers? They sound awful and I have an amp. Get rid of them. Oh, you cropped my 1080P HDTV signal? Well, I've plugged in a computer, so I need you to display the whole frame. Oh, less than half of TVs even let you turn that feature off?…

I disagree about the speakers but agree with everything else. I will not buy a "SmartTV", give me a A/V interface, that's all I want. I'll swap out Roku's or consoles or computers on the back end over standard interfaces. The rest of it is a massive security hole, and apparently also a violation of privacy.
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