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Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

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Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#351

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

kalleboo wrote: post #298
avian wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some stupid meeting somewhere: A: ...and in conclusion, it's a win-win situation. Users will benefit from ads and our revenue will go up. B: People don't like ads on their TV. A: But they do. I refer you to slides 18 through 25 where you can see engagement metrics for our ad rollout on the old model. If people wouldn't like ads they wouldn't be clicking on them so much . B: I don't like ads. Do you like ads on you…

Well it's more like "people hate ads, but next time they buy a new TV, the ads will make our TV $10 cheaper than the other guy and they'll buy it anyway" It's the same thing in the airline industry - people will complain all day long about legroom and being treated as cattle, but the next time they buy a ticket they vote with their wallets when they sort the flight list by price and choose the cheapest option.

I don't know why this comment hasn't been upvoted more since it's absolutely spot on.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#352

Post by kalleboo »

fxtentacle wrote: post #92
matsemann wrote: post #72

In EU I think a "consumer complaint/guarantee" would work (the law, not a warranty given by the producer). As in: the product is no longer working as advertised/expected, so I want my money back. For instance, when an older PlayStation (3?) in an update made it so that one could no longer run Linux (which was advertised as possible), I know of people that got to return it and get their money back after the Norwegian…

I concur. This is also likely the reason why Oculus stopped selling the Quest in some EU countries. Their planned EULA update will make it impossible to use the device without a Facebook account, which might make them legally liable to provide a refund in case anyone complains about it.

Also most likely violates the GDPR

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#353

Post by fxtentacle »

belorn wrote: post #178
adriancr wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so... 1. Order TV. 2. test if it works without agreeing to anything and without internet. 3. return if that's not the case. I have yet to accept EULA on samsung on anything and it works... Right now the ACR is troubling. Telling a remote server what you're watching... Only solution I found - not connected + hdmi to Linux box I control.

As an older comment mention, they can easily add an delay that makes it work without an connection only for the duration in which an return is possible. It is very hard to win against hostile design.

This would be a known defect under EU warranty law, which means once it kicks in, you can get a full refund if you want to.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#354

Post by phone8675309 »

logicallee wrote: post #157
izacus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Never buy a consumer product that expects an Internet connection. This is a nice trite trope, but getting an affordable TV without these features might be nearly impossible for most people these days.

Let's play a hypothetical game. Your TV attempts to literally control your life. And is ultra HD and really cheap. But you have to keep its front facing camera uncovered or it blares an alarm saying that its front camera is covered. The alarm also activates, but more quietly, if it loses its internet connection. Finally, there is a 30 second "sponsorship punishment" if it sees you have brought a product competing wit…

Reminds me of a less ridiculous version of this: https://i.imgur.com/dgGvgKF.png

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#355

Post by swiley »

kalleboo wrote: post #298
avian wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some stupid meeting somewhere: A: ...and in conclusion, it's a win-win situation. Users will benefit from ads and our revenue will go up. B: People don't like ads on their TV. A: But they do. I refer you to slides 18 through 25 where you can see engagement metrics for our ad rollout on the old model. If people wouldn't like ads they wouldn't be clicking on them so much . B: I don't like ads. Do you like ads on you…

Well it's more like "people hate ads, but next time they buy a new TV, the ads will make our TV $10 cheaper than the other guy and they'll buy it anyway" It's the same thing in the airline industry - people will complain all day long about legroom and being treated as cattle, but the next time they buy a ticket they vote with their wallets when they sort the flight list by price and choose the cheapest option.

I'll bet the difference that my $50 projector was way cheaper than whatever TV this is and it doesn't have ads (although it also doesn't seem to have working DPMS but that might just be my Xorg config.)

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#356

Post by defnotashton2 »

kalleboo wrote: post #298
avian wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some stupid meeting somewhere: A: ...and in conclusion, it's a win-win situation. Users will benefit from ads and our revenue will go up. B: People don't like ads on their TV. A: But they do. I refer you to slides 18 through 25 where you can see engagement metrics for our ad rollout on the old model. If people wouldn't like ads they wouldn't be clicking on them so much . B: I don't like ads. Do you like ads on you…

Well it's more like "people hate ads, but next time they buy a new TV, the ads will make our TV $10 cheaper than the other guy and they'll buy it anyway" It's the same thing in the airline industry - people will complain all day long about legroom and being treated as cattle, but the next time they buy a ticket they vote with their wallets when they sort the flight list by price and choose the cheapest option.

Airlines are controlled and limited by regulation to where its no longer "free" and you can't vote with your dollar cause you are a guarantee. There are very few airlines that offer more legroom and even then it's not comfortable. Same with telecoms. TV industry lacks competition in this regard as well but largely due to the centralized manufacturing. I also blame modern ip law as many of these companies have rediculous protections increasing cost of entry.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#357

Post by fxtentacle »

cambalache wrote: post #180
fxtentacle wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and based on my research, Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic all connect to NetEase servers in China, if you grant them internet access.

It does not matter if it's China, Hawaii or Timbuktu, it's wrong in any case. I can understand somehow western people sinophobia as they will be displaced as "owners of the world" in the next 50-100 years but if I were a "western" citizen now and were given a forced choice between China or my government having my digital data I would choose China every single time. Same reason for a Chinese citizen to choose Germany…

While I agree with you, the traffic to China did stand out in my router log enough for me to notice this. Had they used Amazon Aws, I might have never investigated.

Plus, this is how I learned that Phillips is just a brand of a Chinese company now.

And where the regions do get relevant again is for the legality of it. If it's an EU company doing such data extraction, they would be swiftly punished for it. Same I presume for the US. So I would assume that they are using a Chinese intermediary for the data to avoid / delay the legal consequences from it.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#358

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

kalleboo wrote: post #324
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TCL Roku is pretty "dumbish". You can install it without an account, plug in an antenna and go to town. You can even connect it to wifi then use Youtube or Netflix. Haven't seen any funky ads. My only peeve is that the controller doesn't have a full number pad which makes it a little derpy for the older generation.

I found this list of TVs that have ads or not[0], and the first item in the list with ads was a TCL Roku, accompanied with a screenshot of a Home Screen background ad[1] [0] https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/ads-in-smart-tv [1] https://i.rtings.com/images/reviews/tv/tcl/s405/s405-ads-lar...

This is weird, my 2018 version of it uses a different home screen so it doesn't have that layout.

I retract my statement.

Edit: I purchased a 2019 TCL 50S425 and also don't see any ads...

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#359

Post by p49k »

_zzaw wrote: post #317

I wonder how many people who buy TVs read reviews on them beforehand. I always do, and I wouldn’t consider any device that came with this garbage. I have a feeling this will last about as long as it takes for consumers to get a sense for what models come with ads. No one wants this on a device they already paid for.

These ads starting appearing on my TV two years after I bought it. There were no ads before that. No reviews mentioned ads. There is no way to disable them in settings.

Yes I could disconnect it from the network but that would defeat one of the reasons I did buy it and which was mentioned in reviews: high-quality built in apps for Netflix and other services.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#360

Post by Frost1x »

fxtentacle wrote: post #84

... and that's exactly why my TV will never have an internet connection. By now, it doesn't really matter which brand you use. I have analyzed Samsung, Sony, LG and Philips and ALL of them send data about your usage to NetEase in China and ALL of them have ToS that say that they might record your voice and store it for improving their AI or whatever. Plus all of them shove suggested apps in your face, so I'd say it i…

Surveillance just might be the best case against the idea of ubiquitous computing, at least in any real democracy.
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