This is exactly the reason why I keep my smart tv dumb. Never connected it to the internet, all playback is being done with a chromecast or mediaplayer.
Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
371–380 of 960 posts
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#372Earlier 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.
My only annoyance with TCL is that once you connect it to the internet, and then disconnect it, the activity light (a quite bright, white light on mine) will flash constantly. Forever. Solvable by tape, but doing that blocks the IR sensor.
You can take off the back plastic with a screw driver and disconnect the light if you want. Modern TVs are actually pretty modular. You can unhook the roku board, the t-con board, the speakers and multiple other things pretty easily. They are just wires with plastic clip connectors, a lot like a PC.
This is not a rationalization for garbage design, but at least it isn't as much of a black box as people might think.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#373Fuck the guy who wanted to suck up to the management in some stupid meeting projecting estimated revenue out of this to ask for a raise later because he "contributed to a revenue increase" to the company. There's absolutely no after thought to this decision - If I paid 1000s of dollars for an "idiot box" that's supposed to reproduce faithfully the signal that I pass it, showing ads is unacceptable, no matter what the…
> If I paid 1000s of dollars for an "idiot box" that's supposed to reproduce faithfully the signal that I pass it Just don't connect it to the Internet. The bigger problem is that at some point there will not be any "idiot box" models at all. The TVs will refuse to work if they aren't seeing the Internet. Then we'll be truly fucked.
I bought a used projector some time ago. Couldn't be happier. I usually watch something after it's dark and I also have very good blinds. It probably warms up in similar, or better, time that many TVs boot up nowadays. I just have a Chromecast connected to a soundbar connected to the projector. VLC handles Chromecast, although somewhat buggy, so I can watch things from my computer in another room.
Also Netflix experience with Chromecast is mostly superior to smart TVs, because it will not play anything while you just try to find something worth watching.
Connecting Chromecast to the soundbar also gives ability to listen to music from Youtube, without running display. It wastes bandwith however.
EDIT: I wrote "beamer" instead of "projector" at first
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just buy an Apple TV, and then whatever TV you like.
I just got one today. It's so much better than the "Smart" Samsung TV it is plugged into that it's not even funny. The remote control has touch. I can use my phone to type text input. It's fast . It's elegant and slick. It has no ads. It has options that I care about. It doesn't waste my time with options I don't care about. The Samsung TV on the other hand was a flagship model. Top of the line. Best of the best. Jus…
Yes, and my 2019 model recently started showing this:
>Support for the Ambient mode Headlines Service is scheduled to end on September 30, 2020. We thank you for using the service and we look forward to providing an improved alternative in the near future
I'm not going to buy a new TV every year. "Smart" features that are discontinued after ~1 year are worse than worthless, it's just clutter in the menus at this point.
Also crazy are hardcoded "Netflix", "Rakuten" and "Amazon" buttons on the Samsung remote, you just know that they will stop working at some point.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#375... 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…
> and that's exactly why my TV will never have an internet connection. That's increasingly difficult, e.g. HDMI offers ethernet communication. I also don't think salespeople care to be informed well enough on this feature. It seems that the last resort is digging through the user manuals found on the internet before the purchase.
You can always hook up a computer and use the TV as a monitor.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use voice dictation. It works remarkably well for entering text
Well, thanks for the suggestion, I didn't know it was an option. But what if I need to input a language that's not supported or I just don't want to yell at my TV to search a video?
If you have an iPhone, you should get a prompt to enter text on your phone when you’re in an Apple TV search field.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use voice dictation. It works remarkably well for entering text
Well, thanks for the suggestion, I didn't know it was an option. But what if I need to input a language that's not supported or I just don't want to yell at my TV to search a video?
Then my iPhone pops up a "Keyboard Input" notification with a text input that I can type from the phone without unlocking it.
Of course, if you don't have your phone nearby it might suck but let's be realistic, how often you don't have your phone close by when watching TV?
P.S.: Yes, I know, if you are an Android user there is no way out and Apple sucks for that, not defending them at all.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect that a large part of this ad- and marketing-driven economy is based on this. The reason they predict their revenue will go up (which it will, at least in the short term until the market adjusts) is because they have a lot of customers already lined up to pay them to show ads on their TVs. Those customers' marketing departments decided to pay money to include their ads on TVs because a similar process was fo…
The truth is noone buys anything from any ads... however brand awareness is a real thing. If you see a fancy ad from a company, they must be a profitable company that has a great product so you might be inclined to buy it or suggest it next time you're looking for this category of products.
I mostyly agree, however i recently clicked on a beef jerky ad on instagram and bought a pack, but that is one purchase over the course of 20+ years of seeing online adds, so I think your point still stands.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#379I recently purchased a Samsung Smart TV. I pretty much just plugged in our 4k Fire Stick TV and we use that, bypassing all of the built in stuff which was a bit confusing to navigate and had significant lag between button press and UI reaction.
Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads
#380I wish there was an Apple TV, which is, you know, a TV.