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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

#171

Post by nogridbag »

coldpie wrote: post #163
nogridbag wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 be fair it's only being criticized heavily by Miata enthusiasts on sites like Miata.net or Jalopnik - those that want a pure sports car experience. They only account for a tiny fraction of the people who actually purchase the car.

It's not really the idea of the infotainment system that's the problem, it's the implementation. As you said, the rear view mirror would have been better received by those who understand back up cameras will be mandated but still don't want a big "iPad" on the dash. As for Mazda's infotainment system - I believe it's the same system as used on the Mazda 3 and 6 so you can look reviews on those vehicles.

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

#172

Post by burger_moon »

rsync wrote: post #139
a3n wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't bought a TV for five years (a Samsung, as it happens, plugged into a Roku). Can you even buy a TV that isn't smart these days?

Yes. Look for "commercial displays". You know those industrial looking NEC monitors with the tiny bezels that are turned sideways to be departure/arrival boards in airports ? I use one of those as a TV. Is wonderful. Will probably last 20 years. Prior to that I used a panasonic commercial plasma. Still running after 10 years. Neither of them have any smarts whatsoever. They're not even that expensive, which makes sen…

The NEC P462 46" is on Amazon for ~$2k. Plus you still need speakers. That seems like quite a bit to spend on a 46" tv.

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

#173

Post by comex »

Evolved wrote: post #149
comex wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true to some extent, but I think that in part, smart TVs are a terrible idea for the same reason that combined music player and phones are a terrible idea. Er, that is, were widely considered a terrible idea, thanks to ubiquitous clunky software, until 2007 when Apple did it right. And ever since then it's been considered obviously beneficial that you don't have to deal with two separate physical devices. With…

Hardware combinations are mostly a terrible idea unlike software combinations that can be patched with updates. If your music player on your phone malfunctioned it shouldn't be a difficult remedy to push out an OTA update. Try that when your printer won't align thus relegating it to a bulky and expensive scanner (if that part still works). There isn't a solution to devices becoming obsolete because manufacturers woul…

That's why I suggested making the brains of the smart TV separable - in other words, somewhat similar to the current situation, but with tighter integration between the TV display, speakers, and ports and the box. Samsung seems to be doing something like that:

http://www.samsung.com/us/2013-smart-evolution/

It being Samsung, the hardware upgrade was apparently offered after a single year and completely redid the UI, but there's no reason the same principle can't be executed competently.

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

#174

Post by a3n »

a3n wrote: post #62
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…

I haven't bought a TV for five years (a Samsung, as it happens, plugged into a Roku). Can you even buy a TV that isn't smart these days?

Great responses, and from reading them I realized I should have qualified as "a good or high quality display." Which many responders assumed, and there's some good direction to explore here.

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

#175

Post by shostack »

JonFish85 wrote: post #129

Just a continuation on a theme, and I'd expect this to become a bigger thing. I imagine that advertising will continue to move closer and closer to the consumer and away from the "medium". Until recently, media ads were essentially controlled by the networks (whether radio or TV), but I would expect the trend to be towards cutting them out of it a bit. In-game advertising is already a ~$1bn/year thing, and this seems…

This trend is nothing new, and is one of the main reasons that video CPMs for digital media are as high as they are. Sites like Youtube can bring a wealth of targeting data to the table, and Google is obviously very good at making that as accurate as possible. It is one of the main reasons behind their big push to get you logged-in whenever you use a Google service, device, browser, app, etc. A single GUID to link behavior across everything. One ring to rule them all so speak ;)

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

#176

Post by lozf »

linker3000 wrote: post #162
dragonwriter wrote: post #151

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. 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…

Nice idea, but then the money grabbing corporates will just use the "freely submitted user data" to shaft the rest of us by jacking up the price of any simpler / less-smart products. Unfortunately telling 'them' why they lost a sale is unlikely to help 'us' in the long run.

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

#177

Post by a3n »

anon4 wrote: post #88
a3n wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't bought a TV for five years (a Samsung, as it happens, plugged into a Roku). Can you even buy a TV that isn't smart these days?

Yes, it's called a monitor. There are plenty of monitors that have hdmi inputs and a standard audio jack output for connecting to a set of speakers.

How does the viable viewing angle of a repurposed monitor compare to a TV?

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

#178

Post by asavadatti »

omega_rythm wrote: post #79
snarfy wrote: post #26

> Samsung explained that these sorts of ads were supposed to be opt-in only and was working with Yahoo to improve the system. No user would opt-in to commercials, ever. I don't believe for a second this system was designed with opt-in in mind. Whenever an ill conceived feature like this is brought to the light, it's always explained as a bug, glitch, or some screw up in engineering. Well, it's not a bug. It was speci…

> No user would opt-in to commercials, ever. I don't believe for a second this system was designed with opt-in in mind. The occidental mindset is heavily geared against advertising. If you got free rebate coupons, gifts, etc. as rewards for opting in, would you still refuse it? I'm trying to say that we don't necessarily see the whole picture, and the article doesn't give hints about the purpose of that "feature".

Look at Jared Diamond over here. Just because we're plastered with ads doesn't mean we like em.

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

#179

Post by freyr »

MereInterest wrote: post #160
EliRivers wrote: post #91

Well of course they fucking are. YOU'RE THE PRODUCT, punters. They're selling you. This isn't new. They've been a bit clumsy this time and you've noticed, but nothing will change.

The usual line is "If you're not paying for simething, you're the product.". As a follow-up, if I am paying for something, I certainly expect not to be the product.

> * if I am paying for something, I certainly expect not to be the product.*

And yet cable exists.

Pay $30+/month to watch 15 minutes of commercials an hour.

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

#180

Post by qanael »

Roboprog wrote: post #103
anon4 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's called a monitor. There are plenty of monitors that have hdmi inputs and a standard audio jack output for connecting to a set of speakers.

Like how you think. I'm not sure what the biggest monitor you can get is, though.

Newegg has a "large format display" category for big monitors. 46" seems to be a popular size. There's some pretty cheap 1080p ones in there, but I don't know anything about their image quality.
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