Samsung TV Owners Furious After Software Update Leaves Sets Unusable (theguardian.com)

Thousands of owners of high-end Samsung TVs have complained after a software update left their recently acquired $1,800 sets with blank, unusable screens. From a report: The Guardian has been contacted by a number of owners complaining that the TVs they bought -- in some cases just two weeks ago -- have been rendered useless by an upgrade sent out by Samsung a week ago. Others have been posting furious messages on the company's community boards complaining that their new TVs are no longer working. The company has told customers it is working to fix the problem but so far, seven days on, nothing has been forthcoming. The problem appears to affect the latest models as owners of older Samsung TVs are not reporting the issue. The report doesn't identify the models that have been affected. But we scanned the forums and found that at least UE49MU7070, UE49MU7070TXXU, and MU6409 models are affected.

Comments

"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[sycodon]

Even when they are working correctly.

Re:"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[JohnFen]

Yes, and unambiguously so.

Personally, if for some reason I was forced to have a "smart" TV, I would be very certain to make sure it never gets connected to the internet.

There's also another relatively recent trend that plays into this: the idea that updates are always good and should be applied automatically. It was never the case that this was a safe practice. Updates need to be carefully evaluated before applying them.

Re:"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

One problem with this is that a number of them refuse to let you "set up for the first time" without being given a network connection. And the fact that you can't ever undo an update is what makes it so dangerous to apply them, with a computer you have the option to reinstall, not so with a TV.

Re:"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

My TV has youtube support.

Oh wait, it doesn't anymore because youtube deccided to block the api and my tv didn't get an update for it. At least I got a free chromecast as compensation.

You're putting yourself at the mercy of third parties with your tv. If hulu and pandora decide to change their api and your manufacturer doesn't push an update, because it's more then a year old, then I'll see you back crying about how unfair it is.

Re:"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[peragrin]

I own a Samsung smart tv. At first I connected via wifi but then wanted a faster more reliable connection in my apartment sometimes ran a cable and switched to Ethernet. I realized that I wasn't using the smart tv functions so I ditched the Ethernet cable.

Wifi off Ethernet unplugged no big deal. Except I noticed random connections from an unknown MAC address to my wifi router during a router upgrade. So I watched it. It would connect for a day and then disconnect for weeks. I got curious and enables wifi on my tv again and guess the MAC address that was used. So even in it's wifi off but tv on state it would attempt to connect to wifi.

That's when I banned the MAC address on the router. No misc packets for you sneaky tv.

Personally I prefer using a roku and hardwiring it to the router. Easy to disconnect, faster speeds for streaming.

Re:"Smart" TVs are stupid.

[SnarkSide]

They are stupid by design. The typical Samsung TV pushes updates without any option to decline. It just puts up a notice about the upgrade with an "OK" button. No ignore, cancel, or decline, no close, just "OK". I don't think they understand what consent is supposed to mean. Consent is not actual consent if there is no other available option. Samsung, I'd like your product team to eat broken glass, "OK".

Monitor

[Anonymous Coward]

I put together a panel to monitor the situation, we recommend you screen all updates before applying.

Why? Just why?

[H3lldr0p]

I like my electronic toys. Have a lot of fun playing with them, but why all this integration? Why have televisions, something that should be nothing but a passive interface for signals to be made visible with, get turned into weird hybrids that have operating systems, computer parts, and memory?

Is it a matter of people not understanding what they're getting anymore? Is it a matter of perceived value? Oh, my TV is three hundred dollars more expensive than yours! That must mean it's better. Somehow.

Re:Why? Just why?

[Anonymous Coward]

To vertically integrate parallel consumer content streams to enhance end user metric marketability.

Re:Why? Just why?

[spire3661]

You need to put a seizure warning on this comment. I started twitching a little.

Re:Why? Just why?

[Aaden42]

I know we're all nerds here, but most of the market doesn't like having multiple devices & wires to configure. Given a choice between a TV that "has Netflix on it," versus attaching and configuring a separate Roku, AppleTV, or Chrome-ish stick, the vast majority of consumers will plug the TV into power, connect to their WiFi, and be much happier than if they'd had to deal with yet another box with yet another remote and more wires.

Offering (and choosing to purchase) the integrated model is a rational choice. *Not* offering a plain dumb screen option is annoying to us nerds, but we're kind of a purchasing minority for this stuff.

Inadequate QA on updates and bricking TV's is lousy business, but again it's a minority of customers who are capable of recognizing that the smart TV caused a greater problem than a separate device. Even that is debatable given the number of users who just use streaming at this point. If an update bricked their Roku and left their TV functional but with no available signal to watch... I guess mailing the bricked Roku back for service is easier, and it's cheaper to replace outright, but that's about it.