My Samsung smart tv is thick as pig shoot

[swee'pea99]

My Samsung smart tv has decided it doesn't like being connected to the internet anymore. Something to do with IP addresses apparently. Auto things aren't auto-doing whatever it is they're supposed to auto-do, and it wants me to do something with DCHP in my router or something. All gobbledegook to me.

This kind of thing has been happening regularly over the 18 months or so I've owned this tv. And every time it's the same. You google, you flounder around finding 'answers' that refer to settings that don't appear on your menus. You find a *load* of posts from Samsung owners who have experienced this and similar frustrations, pretty much none of whom have ever got any kind of useful help from Samsung. Whose basic philosophy seems to be 'well, people carry on buying our stuff regardless, so really, who cares?'

This telly has caused me more grief in 18 months than the Sony Trinitron it replaced did in 15 years. Admittedly it's grief with things the Trinitron could never do. But the Trinitron never claimed it could do them. The Samsung does. And it doesn't. And it happens all the time.

Maybe other makers' tellies are as bad - I wouldn't know. I've never googled LG or Philips or Sony. But I do know this: I would never buy another Samsung 'smart' tv. Never.

 

[simonali]

I was always a Panasonic boy until recently, when I bought my first smart TV which got dumber over a couple of years and Panasonic weren't interested. It's now 4 or 5 years old and barely does anything smart as the apps don't get updated to the latest versions any more. The last two TVs I've bought since have been a Samsung and an LG and the latter has been the least frustrating, but it is also the newest, to be fair.

I think that the manufacturers would like everyone to be buying a new TV every year, like they are a throwaway commodity and this is why we get the latest must have thing added all the time such as 3D, curved screens, 4K etc. These then fall out of favour again a year or two later (apart from 4K obviously, but 8K is coming!).

I know none of what I've said helps you much, but I think it goes some way to explaining why the manufacturers don't give a snot about a two year old TV.

 

[BromptonChrispy]

I agree with simonali above. Have you tried the usual stuff like switching everything off, restarting the router and letting it settle for a few minutes. After that switching your telly on and going through the setup settings in the telly's menu? Sorry if it's no help, but good luck with it.

Non-smart Samsungs of yesteryear were great - mine lasted years. Current LG of four years works perfectly, and has linked up seamlessly with the remote handset of a cheap new LG DVD player too.

 

[Beebo]

The concept of a smart tv is good but unless the manufacturers update the software they become dumb quite quick.

My Panasonic will no longer support catch up for ITV, C4 or UKTV. The TV guide is also very slow.

I expect a TV to last 8-10 years and should be supported by the manufacturer for longer than 2-3 years.

 

[Drago]

I've a Toshiba smart tv and it's not brill. Fortunately I have BTTV, virtually identical channels to Sky at a fraction the price, and can access stuff like Netflix and Prime through there at the push of a button.

 

[Globalti]

Where do you live, OP? I'll send you my 19 year-old son to sort it out for you in 3 minutes and turbo-charge it at the same time. Older folks' neural pathways didn't develop along digital chip patterns so we remain analogue people in a digital era.

My own complaint about our TV is that it needs TWO controllers. Why on Earth does it need two? Ridiculous in this era when eveything is supposed to be easier.

Interesting fact: I recently visited a mahoosive TV factory in a town called Jaszberenyi in Hungary where TVs are made for a range of brands. If memory serves me thay make Samsung, Panasonic amd two others. Naturally I asked the production bloke which is the best and he replied that they are all the same even though they look different outside. His personal preference was for Samsung.

 

[Cheddar George]

You have hit the nail on the head .... Samsung Smart TVs are not "smart".
Ours has been great since we bought it 3 years ago and then a couple of months ago we had the same problems.
We finally worked out that the operating system was out of date, because despite being "smart" and permanently connected to the internet it does not check for updates like a computer or a mobile phone would.
The only way we could update it was to download the up to date operating system on the computer, copy it to a memory stick, put the memory stick in the TV and upload.
It is still a great TV.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Have you tried connecting it through ethernet cable to try and update everything? Then at least the wifi can be taken out of the equation. If you can update stuff, restart, factory reset or whatever, you could then try wifi afterwards?

In future I will will pay money for the screen size and picture quality only. I play through speakers so sound isn't an issue, and can hook a box up (amazon fire stick for example) to get the apps I need.

 

[swee'pea99]

You have hit the nail on the head .... Samsung Smart TVs are not "smart".
Ours has been great since we bought it 3 years ago and then a couple of months ago we had the same problems.
We finally worked out that the operating system was out of date, because despite being "smart" and permanently connected to the internet it does not check for updates like a computer or a mobile phone would.
The only way we could update it was to download the up to date operating system on the computer, copy it to a memory stick, put the memory stick in the TV and upload.
It is still a great TV.

Oh, mine's 'smarter' than yours. It's connected to the net via a TP-link box by cable, and does all the updates automatically. Like the one it installed recently which means that now every time I turn the tv on, it's on Channel 4000. I turn it off while watching BBC2, I'd expect it to come on on BBC2. Why not. But no. Channel 4000. Every time. Why? Because Channel 4000 is the channel through which Samsung want to sell me movies and the like. In other words, they've made my tv - for which I paid them quite a lot of money - worse for me, in the hopes it will make money for them. I think that sucks. I think that's unethical, and degrading someone's honestly made purchase in pursuit of your own commercial interests should be illegal. But it isn't. So they do it.

They still haven't done anything about the flaw - a very widely known and recognised flaw - that means if you set it to record something, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. La di dah. Of course that actual flaw in the functionality of something for which I paid good money doesn't impact Samsung at all. So why should they bother trying to fix it?

Never again.

 

[swee'pea99]

Have you tried connecting it through ethernet cable to try and update everything?

It's always been connected via ethernet cable. Worked fine for 18 months. Now I get

'Contact your internet service provider for more information'. Cheers. Hello, Plusnet, my Samsung tv is a piece of shoot - any suggestions?

 

[dodgy]

169.254.x.x indicates the TV is not getting an IP address from the router. Turn the router off for a minute, take the power cable out of it then turn the router on again (yes, with the power cable out - just humour me). Then turn off, put cable back in and turn on again. Give it five minutes while it re-establishes connection with your ISP, then go back to settings on your TV to see if that fixed it.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

@dodgy beat me to it, was just about to say that about the IP, another thing you couls try as you say you are using TP-Link power adapters is if you have one plug a laptop into the TP-Link, it could be that your 'link' is down.

 

[Fnaar]

I've written a haiku for you:

Samsung smart TV
Not so smart then, it would seem
But still I shall strive

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks Dodgy & Phaeton - that sounds very helpful. I'll give that a try. I have (needless to say) tried turning everything off and on again, but I'll try again with the power cable out and see if it makes a difference. Anyway, it's something - wish me luck.

Oh, and thanks for the Haiku, Fnaar.

 

[ianrauk]

I'm in the market for a new TV.
My decision is to go non Smart.