Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

flatpanelshd.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

591–600 of 960 posts

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#591

Post by wokkel »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #502
zadler wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know LG won’t update the software later to include ads?

LG's already also have ads. They're not super obtrusive though, and I'm sure I shut personalization off.

That's who i bought a Panasonic. They cost more but don't have a shitty track record. In fact, my washing machine was the last Samsung here. It broke and got replaced by a German machine. These days I try to avoid the cheapest offering and try to buy quality instead. Upfront cost is higher but I really value my time too much to bother fighting with nonsense like ads on my tv.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#592

Post by cbanek »

First off, I hate ads, and I think hardware shouldn't have ads in it.

But on the other hand, the argument "I paid all this money and I still get ads" is honestly something I've been hearing about cable companies for decades. In the end, if something can make money (as in, people will pay) that's sadly the way it will go.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#593

Post by LeifCarrotson »

butterfi wrote: post #504
zadler wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know LG won’t update the software later to include ads?

Why would I bother updating software for a TV if the TV is already working? Whats the motivation?

On my old Samsung TV, if I inadvertently push the "Smart Hub" button in the center of the remote, the bottom 20% of the screen gets overlaid with what looks similar to a MacOS Dock with the default apps from 2012. Worked OK in 2012 when I bought it and used Netflix a few times, but a month later I bough the original Google Chromecast, plugged that into HDMI 1, unplugged the Ethernet cable, and never intentionally pushed the Smart Hub button again.

I didn't push it again because in about 2015 I found that if you push it, it locks up for exactly 30s, which is how long it takes to hit the network timeout and say "Updates are available for your Samsung Smart TV." and then allow you to use the ancient web browser or Netflix or other smart apps. I did try a couple years ago, on a whim, but apparently the update servers have moved and even when plugged into Ethernet it can't actually update.

Everything currently runs through the Roku, the Blu-ray player, or a component-to-HDMI dongle for the Wii, but if I didn't have the Roku I'd have a motivation to update so that Netflix would work without a 30-second delay (and I'd be unsurprised if Netflix wasn't backwards compatible with their 2012 client from a Samsung TV). However, the picture is fine, so it keeps on chugging.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#594

Post by tremon »

capdeck wrote: post #493
rthomas6 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a pi-hole to block that traffic.

Eventually TVs will VPN out. Dat revenue is way too sweet...

As long as it's on my network, I can still block the VPN endpoint, or simply block based on source IP, or put the TV in a non-routable subnet.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#595

Post by Reimersholme »

SteveGerencser wrote: post #451
kalleboo wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But, do people actually know that when they purchase? If it were clearly stated anywhere on the box/sales copy that "you will see ads on this device" while the other one says "we won't shove ads on your device" I would wager the $10 more would be a bargain to nearly everyone. But that information is never available at the point of purchase so most people get the surprise of see ads when they had no idea that was even…

If ads didn't make them more money, wouldn't at least one company jump on the idea to sell premium TVs with a brand promise never to show ads?

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#596

Post by ocdtrekkie »

wokkel wrote: post #591
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LG's already also have ads. They're not super obtrusive though, and I'm sure I shut personalization off.

That's who i bought a Panasonic. They cost more but don't have a shitty track record. In fact, my washing machine was the last Samsung here. It broke and got replaced by a German machine. These days I try to avoid the cheapest offering and try to buy quality instead. Upfront cost is higher but I really value my time too much to bother fighting with nonsense like ads on my tv.

I have a Panasonic TV too. Back like 8 years ago, it had an unremoveable ad/app square in it's app menu. Of course, they let me reorganize the apps, and I put it way back on a screen I'd never see, and I haven't noticed it since.

Also, as a side note, Vudu is like the one app from that era that still works.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#597

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

chongli wrote: post #497
hibikir wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supermarkets also need to stay open so they can sell you your beloved products, and you'd not believe how thin the margins of some supermarkets are: Having 8 kinds of lemon yogurt, each someone's favorite, while disposing of the products past the expiration date leads to either some of the highest prices in town, or closing down. Profitability in very small supermarket chains is small. Now, the models that the somewh…

Supermarkets also need to stay open so they can sell you your beloved products, and you'd not believe how thin the margins of some supermarkets are Oh, no doubt. I'm not saying the spreadsheet guys aren't needed. They clearly are because competition is so stiff. So the reason store A needs spreadsheet guys is because store B has them. All of the spreadsheet guys, collectively, lock the grocery stores into a race to t…

I worked in a store in the early 90s with the registers set up that way. It is so much more efficient to pick directly from a cart so you can plan the best sequence of items for bagging. The IBM scanners of the era were much faster and more reliable than today's garbage. You could blast through, pulling items out with the right hand, tossing into the left, and blind scanning while reaching for the next item.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#598

Post by LeifCarrotson »

nullgeo wrote: post #561
butterfi wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I bother updating software for a TV if the TV is already working? Whats the motivation?

My Samsung TV auto-updates. It's infuriating as I cannot disable it.

Just disconnect it from your network (change the wifi password or remove the Ethernet cable) and it will be unable to auto-update.

You may want to get an external device (Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, or other media server) and plug that into your HDMI if you use the network from apps on the TV.

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#599

Post by datenhorst »

marcosdumay wrote: post #321
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Oh, yes, brand awareness is a real thing. For example, a lot of people will avoid Samsung TVs right now.

Or avoid Smart TVs altogether if you're a cord cutter anyway, and opt for what I believe is called a "public display".

Re: Samsung TV owners complain about increasingly obtrusive ads

#600

Post by nitrogen »

vinceguidry wrote: post #316
m463 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that will just create a market opportunity. There was a company that made just a good tv, no smarts, but I can't find it right offhand. It think it was a european company

Market opportunities are for companies to make more money, not less. If everyone is doing it, it’s because the market, us, told them they could get away with it, and therefore will, because two revenue streams will always be better than one.

This power of the market to vote with dollars is highly overstated. "We" have no say in a hypothetical nine figure, back room wine and dine deal between ad execs and TV execs, when the ad money can afford to be in every back room.
Post reply on HN