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I recently bought a new Samsung TV, with all the smart TV features. A random, but probably insignificant, thing that annoys me is when I choose to close an app I've had open to return back to regular TV or a games console, the app drawer at the bottom of the screen doesn't automatically close. It just sits there, open, staring me in the face, until I have to manually close it. There's no setting for this, and there's no simple timer to close it down after a little while.
The other thing I've noticed are ads in those sorts of spaces. Ads for TV shows or services I'm not interested in, which is annoying as well. Fortunately I recently setup Pi-hole on my network and I'm seeing less of them now, but what you might not know is that if you connect these devices up to the web, they're constantly checking in Samsung's metric websites to report information like recent apps, time that the app was spent open, etc. That's blocked too, but accounts for several thousand requests per day.
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Thank you for the information. I'll lock down my network.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Chris Copeland wrote: f you connect these devices up to the web, they're constantly checking in Samsung's metric websites to report information like recent apps, time that the app was spent open, etc. That's blocked too, but accounts for several thousand requests per day.
Was that blocked in one of Pi-Hole's standard blocklists or did you add it manually?
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I believe it was blocked from the start, most requests are outbound to *.samsungcloudsolution.net, including some ad-loading requests. If not it's easy enough to find some good blacklists to import, I have 1.6m+ domains blocked at the moment 
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I purchased a Samsung "smart TV" a few years back. I was totally underwhelmed by the software, slow, clunky, very limited.
We lived with it for a couple of years ... then I solved the problem by buying a Roku.
--
The Samsung replaced a 27" tube TV. Yes, a tube TV. That was the first TV I owned (lived for years without a TV) and it lasted ~26 years. Things don't last like that these days ....
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To be fair, my previous vizeo 55" flat panel I replaced still works well enough for daily use.
And I bought it at a secondhand store for $120 several years ago after it had already been well loved.
I'm getting rid of it because
A) 4k is so much better than 1080p in terms of screen real-estate (and now that I have one - wow, clarity!)
B) The TV remote has been getting kind of dodgy because I drop it/step on it/say mean things to it
C) The picture on the TV occasionally ghosts especially if you have just switched inputs, requiring a power cycle to get back to normal
D) once in a blue moon, if you're playing a video game (and only seems to be with video games) the sound will cut out and maybe stay broken for half an hour, even if you turn if off and on again. Then it comes back
But the model is almost 20 years old by now so it is what it is.
I'd consider that pretty reliable. I'm giving it to a friend (he has yet to come get it) because he wanted a TV, and I don't want to wait until it dies so I don't have to be the one to take it to the dump. Same reason I sell off used cars before they stop running - it's easier than getting them wrecked.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Ah yes the joys of a new TV.
I don't bother with the apps, I just hooked up my pc and watch netflix that way. (I think my tv is to old even for the netflix app, was originally there but it got removed... I think)
It did take me a while to figure out why I was losing like 1 or 2 cm's of my screen tho when connected to the pc and playing something full screen.
Turns out you have to set it to a specific input channel in order to properly display a full screen video from pc, can't remember the setting right now but if you experience the same thing let me know and I'll look it up 
Tom
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My TV goes fullscreen from the HDMI out of my video card without tweaking.
However, for some reason when I watch netflix using netflix.com it seems like i don't get it in 4k, but going through my TV i do.
I haven't verified or even investigated the problem. I just decided to use the TV's smart feature to use netflix and enjoy the quality bump. I'm not above using a well designed "smart" appliance to do things it does well. My TV is very good at doing netflix - for whatever reason, it's better than my browser in full screen mode.
I guess I don't have to - i mean, i could find an alternative to using the TV's "smart" features - and i may yet because apparently the TV is a snitch and reports on me to samsung.
But I haven't looked into the quality difference. Actually investigating it is non-trivial because it may involve some packet sniffing.
Real programmers use butterflies
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honey the codewitch wrote: However, for some reason when I watch netflix using netflix.com it seems like i don't get it in 4k, but going through my TV i do.
Very strange
Not an issue for me tho since my subscription doesn't include 4k and my tv is definitely not 4k 
honey the codewitch wrote: I'm not above using a well designed "smart" appliance to do things it does well.
Usually I'm willing to use them 2 but I can't (anymore) for whatever reason.
honey the codewitch wrote: the TV is a snitch and reports on me to samsung.
Yeah, aren't all "smart" devices these days ...
Tom
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Tom Deketelaere wrote: Yeah, aren't all "smart" devices these days ...
Not the ones I build. I pick who I work for with more care than I've come to understand that most people can afford. I count myself lucky I guess for that and am not issuing that statement in judgment of people who don't have that luxury. But I will not write certain kinds of code, nor assemble certain kinds of hardware, and hardware or software that is designed to surveil people without their continuous/ongoing consent is not something I'm willing to take part in creating.
When I was young I was less selective, and after the fact I learned that some of the productivity software I had contributed to was being used to help companies abuse their workers.
Never again. I will walk away in the middle of a project before I do something like that again.
Real programmers use butterflies
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honey the codewitch wrote: Never again. I will walk away in the middle of a project before I do something like that again.
Been there, done that.
It wasn't surveillance tho, a previous company wanted to use data for commercial reasons even tho the terms clearly stated that wasn't allowed.
So I passed on that project, in the end the project never got released (and I knew that it wouldn't, there was no market for it) but still.
And yeah, just as you, I'm lucky I can afford it as well, not everyone can.
Tom
modified 23-Feb-21 1:58am.
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honey the codewitch wrote: However, for some reason when I watch netflix using netflix.com it seems like i don't get it in 4k, but going through my TV i do.
Like many streaming services, Netflix does realtime quality detection and will downgrade a stream to show what it thinks is the best that a particular device/bandwidth combination can reliably display. It's rather conservative from what I can see. I am not aware that you can force override it. It just does what it thinks is best.
I suspect, but have not confirmed, that it might have a built in bias for Netflix's apps over generic web. One day services like this will drop their generic web interfaces entirely, I suspect.
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Well - I sit here working with my 52" TV monitor - but it's LG. Costs so much Less Money. And although it's a "smart TV", it doesn't have the built-in aps, has never been connected to the internet and changing between TV/HDMI1/HDMI2/HDIM3 (the last is this PC) is by a single button that puts up a menu on the screen - goes right to where I want to go - in fact, when I turn the TV on (or the PC on) it even brings up a little icon for the new connection - press OK and you're there.
I'm actually somewhat afraid to buy a new TV as they will, sooner or later, make it mandatory to connect it directly to the internet. I stream via ROKU - but that's the next part of the story.
ROKU's just gotten too big and arrogant. All their remotes come with four pre-set buttons that periodically get pushed and you get thrown to one of the assigned (there choice) channels. I tried hot-gluing the buttons to stop them but they're too damn sensitive. I don't want to mess with the circuit board. They, by the way, are even below Virgin Mobil for online tech support - actually worse than useless. As for services - the "New and Notable" for a dynamic list of easily available channels hasn't changed for a year or more - and it just happens to be in large stations that they sell subscriptions to. "Free" stations, to them, also "Free Trial". The question is where to go from them? Oh - yeah - it seems they've "pulled an apple" by doing their upgrade to older devices to slow them down to get users to buy upgrades. They've also gone to not supplying some of their stations to "older" models. Like Windows 7, my upgrade is not likely going to be to their products.
Picking another TV brand is easy enough - but there are only a few streaming services. On a good day, they all suck.
Methinks, perhaps, it's time I turn to Kodi. Start with my Intel NUC and go from there.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I looked for features at a particular pricepoint and size, that I could get locally without signing up for a costco card, and LG just wasn't on the list or I would have considered them. In the end I found two brands, the exact same price, and pretty much the same features, but I had never heard of the other company, I like my samsung appliances, and the things I hate about their phones (bloated, laggy, overpriced) didn't seem like they either applied to TVs or applied to my situation - I was wrong. They figured out a way to elephant up TVs as well.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Unwilling worker ends struggle (9)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Resistant ?
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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And that means you are up tomorrow!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I was reluctant at first !
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Which tomorrow are you referring to? 
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The one that never comes ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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At the moment tomorrow is the same as yesterday
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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... Addiction Center[^]
Well, it'll certainly cure texting-while-walking ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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