Samsung TV spamming adverts - Am I odd?

xxGBHxx

Prominent Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Messages
1,464
Reaction score
1,839
Points
592
Age
51
Location
United Kingdom
Hi all,

Bit of a rant but I'm starting to think I'm a bit odd in caring about this (I did look for other threads but my search skills were probably too weak to find them).

I bought a 40" TV for the dining room on Black Friday. It's a low end model, smart TV "4k" thing. Perfectly happy with the picture and the vast majority of the TV. The problem I have is with the forced adverts. It's driving me f***** mental every time I turn the TV on. Blaring adverts for films and TV I don't want to watch at parental ratings that are too adult for my son coupled with occasional random adverts inserted in the selection bar. It's a bloody disgrace.
  • You can't turn the app off.
  • You can't delete the app
  • You can't move the app
  • You can delete the channels inside the app but it resets them and FORCES autoplay whenever you turn the television back on after a few days off.
  • Samsung support CAN'T do anything about it and just repeat over and over "you can't change core parts of the software".

So I have a television which bloody spams me with adverts I don't consent to on a TV I've already paid for. Why would *ANYONE* put up with this and think it's acceptable? I just find it bizarre that the majority just don't seem to care.
I don't care that they want to bundle stuff with their TV's. I don't even care that it's enabled by default but removing the ability to delete it, forcing advertising and resetting it even when you remove it is, and the Americans would say, a dick move.

All I want is the ability to go to a blank page with the sources listed and NOTHING playing unless I tell it to. I *REALLY* hate the way things are going where we're constantly losing the control we used to have in the name of convenience. It's BS. They could offer the exact same convenience without all the other stuff but as always they're just taking advantage and we're all just lapping it up.

One thing I know for damn certain is that I will *NEVER* buy another Samsung TV unless this is changed and I am seriously considering sending this POS back tomorrow in protest.

There rant over.

G
 
Yep, well said, I totally agree. On mine (65ks8000) it’s only a little square in the menu bar and it still p*%#*s me off! Who the hell do they think they are? :mad:
 
It may be worth adding samsungads.com to a filter on your broadband? Like Thorsballs, I only had a small problem with the ads appearing in the corner, but once the filter was set up, I did not receive any further ads.
 
I was thinking about getting something from the nu8000 range for gaming and watching movies but seeing this thread has me worried..

What exactly goes on with these ad's? And do they only appear in the little task bar, or are we talking full screen pop up, when your trying to do anything else?
 
I was thinking about getting something from the nu8000 range for gaming and watching movies but seeing this thread has me worried..

What exactly goes on with these ad's? And do they only appear in the little task bar, or are we talking full screen pop up, when your trying to do anything else?

For me it was a small ad on the left bottom of the screen when one presses the button to allow a choice of either apps, settings, channels etc. It honestly wasn't that obtrusive, unlike the OP who was clearly suffering a far more pernicious version of ad. My experience even before blocking, would not have altered my feelings about the TV.

The OP doesn't say which model, but he does say he has a low end model, the NU8000 is mid range.
 
There are 2 parts. First is the ad that randomly inserts itself onto the bar at the bottom. It's the least invasive of the two but I still think it's a liberty. It's a TV I've paid for *** not some website on the Internet thats trying to scrape a living.

The second and far worse one is one of the apps (havent worked out whether it's Rakuten TV, TV Plus or something else) that auto plays what boils down to back to back film trailers. You cant delete them. You can't stop them auto playing. So when you turn on the TV the very first thing that happens is these damn film trailers start playing trying to sell you digital downloads. And you can't just stop them playing. They play until you fumble about to pick another source. They are not always age appropriate. They are often films you've already seen.

Having read extensively online a few people have had the ads start playing in the middle of watching something else. I've not had that happen but it wouldn't surprise me.

Makes me so angry

G
 
Have you tried the setting which dictates the state the TV should return to once it is switched on? If you select 'start with last used app' and you last used Netflix, it will return to that. I wonder if you have it set to 'Autorun Smart Hub'?
 
Thanks for the replies guy's

Hopefully the op gets something sorted for his situation
 
Have you tried the setting which dictates the state the TV should return to once it is switched on? If you select 'start with last used app' and you last used Netflix, it will return to that. I wonder if you have it set to 'Autorun Smart Hub'?

I did consider it and play with it but I have not and dont want to. Then instead of one thing spamming me I just have netflix showing me something when I want to play a music video off my NAS.

I use my TV for 4 or 5 different reasons and I don't think I use the same source twice in a row.

I just want a blank page with sources so I need one click to get to what I want. I don't want to have to cludge it with a slightly less annoying thing just to avoid something I really shouldn't have to.
 
Type or copy “disable adverts on samsung tvs” into Google (Or other search engine) and you will find plenty of solutions. (Ignore the quotation marks)

Bill
 
Type or copy “disable adverts on samsung tvs” into Google (Or other search engine) and you will find plenty of solutions. (Ignore the quotation marks)

Bill

Thanks

(I think) I've been through them all (at least all the ones I could find) long before I posted here. If only it were that easy...

The main issue I have can't be fixed.

Most go through the process of removing the 4 channels (4000-4004) in the app. Thats great except within a week or so it auto updates and puts them back.

You can turn off "Auto updates" (Samsung tech support did that for me first) only that doesn't stop it updating the channels.

I can block the Internet. :rolleyes:

I have tried locking the app from the setup menu. This locks the app from being manually opened but doesn't (on my TV at least) stop the app auto updating and/or auto playing when I turn it on. (this link )

To be completely fair I think the one in terms and policy does stop the little add on the sources bar but as I've mentioned that's by no means the most annoying one. It does nothing to stop the auto playing source when you start the TV.

Samsung tech support admitted to me yesterday I *CAN'T* disable it. As they kept droning on "it's a core feature of the TV and can't be disabled". There is *NO* reason for it to be non-removable apart from greed.

I'm guessing I just blanket block everything except what I want the device to see and we're golden. But it absolutely shouldn't require me to blanket block the TV from accessing the Internet to stop it forcibly updating something I've already said I don't want.

G
 
Ads in Smart TVs

Thats a good article highlighting the issue in general. Even there it says Samsung TV's ads and suggested content can't be disabled completely. The only way to do it is an external DNS blackhole. I mean WTF?

What the fk have we got ourselves into.

G
 
I've owned a Samsung KS7000 for more than 2 years and was unaware that Samsung is pushing ads to the home screen until I read this thread. I'm running an ad-blocker on the internet router, so it must be doing a good job.
 
'Why would *ANYONE* put up with this and think it's acceptable?' - because it makes the TV a more affordable purchase I guess! Ideally the manufacturers should be more explicit about how the price of the TV is being 'subsidised'.

As soon as you hit 'accept' on the 'T&C's you are fame game.

There's a simple reason your new smart TV was so affordable: It's collecting and selling your data

Joe

Affordable lol. My Samsung Q9FN cost me more than the same sized Panasonic OLED I was thinking of getting instead would have.
These adverts do not seem to be making these TV's more affordable at all!
 
'These adverts do not seem to be making these TV's more affordable at all!' - best to have that discussion with Samsung :)

I tend to only ever use my TV as a 'Monitor' so thankfully no Adds to contend with.

Joe
 
'Why would *ANYONE* put up with this and think it's acceptable?' - because it makes the TV a more affordable purchase I guess! Ideally the manufacturers should be more explicit about how the price of the TV is being 'subsidised'.

As soon as you hit 'accept' on the 'T&C's you are fame game.

There's a simple reason your new smart TV was so affordable: It's collecting and selling your data

Joe

For bargain basement brands like Vizio and TCL maybe but for a so called flagship brand like Samsung? No way. I could sort of agree if it was only their cheap end (like my TV) that have it but their top of the range massive premium devices have it too. Even if I accept the premise, let me pay a premium and remove it from my TV like Amazon do with their tablets.

But I don't believe for a single second that this is done by Samsung to keep prices low. It's done because slowly but surely we're becoming conditioned as consumers to accept it as the norm while being strung a line it's for our own good. All the time Samsung et. al. can cream even more profit off the top at the expense (in this case) of my sanity.

Ultimately I'll just block the whole damn lot but it's incredibly annoying to have to do that.

G
 
I tend to only ever use my TV as a 'Monitor' so thankfully no Adds to contend with.

With a new QLED even HDMI to PC use if you had the TV connected to the net you would get them without disconnecting it from the net or blocking it via router/dns or something everytime you turned it on.

You may get adds for Freeview even on a HDMI channel when you first turn it on too if Antenna is connected.

I use my QLED as a monitor all the time, one of the reasons I got it instead of an OLED. To be hopefully immune to screenburn/ware.
 
I'm not sure if it is something I have done during the setup of the TV, but I'm not seeing anything like the trailers issue, etc you're describing.

I did have the little square advert, until I opted out of the T&Cs.

But other than that, whilst using the SmartHub menu all I have are the thumbnails above the respective apps; most of which is content I am currently watching e.g "How to get away with murder" on Netflix, "Grand Tour" on Amazon, etc.

I have never had anything autoplay (thumbnail or otherwise) and certainly nothing pop-up or interrupt something else I was watching.

In case it's whats making the difference, I do have the SmartHub menu turned off on startup, and the TV resumes the last "app" used on startup. So my TV always turns on to HDMI 1, regardless of whether that source is on or not.
 
I have never had anything autoplay (thumbnail or otherwise) and certainly nothing pop-up or interrupt something else I was watching.

In case it's whats making the difference, I do have the SmartHub menu turned off on startup, and the TV resumes the last "app" used on startup. So my TV always turns on to HDMI 1, regardless of whether that source is on or not.

That is precisely what I suggested to the OP but it seems it is insufficient. :thumbsdow
 
That is precisely what I suggested to the OP but it seems it is insufficient. :thumbsdow

I will look at it again but Youtube, forums, my experimentation and Samsung tech support all tell me it's not possible. That said it wouldn't be the first time that either I've not articulated myself well enough or that the Internet has been "wrong".

G
 
'All the time Samsung et. al. can cream even more profit off the top at the expense (in this case) of my sanity' - Samsung issues surprise profit warning

'With a new QLED even HDMI to PC use if you had the TV connected to the net you would get them without disconnecting it from the net or blocking it via router/dns or something everytime you turned it on' - I never go near the TV 'Home Page' on my TV it simply toggles On/Off and all Sources are connected via my AVR so thankfully so far no plague of adverts.

Joe
 
'All the time Samsung et. al. can cream even more profit off the top at the expense (in this case) of my sanity' - Samsung issues surprise profit warning

'With a new QLED even HDMI to PC use if you had the TV connected to the net you would get them without disconnecting it from the net or blocking it via router/dns or something everytime you turned it on' - I never go near the TV 'Home Page' on my TV it simply toggles On/Off and all Sources are connected via my AVR so thankfully so far no plague of adverts.

Joe

My heart bleeds for them that their profit has gone down from 13 BILLION to "only" 6 BILLION dollars. Booooo hoooooooooo. Please, spam me with more adverts so I can help get those profits back up to acceptable levels quick smart.

:rolleyes:

Joking aside, not sure what point you're trying to make? They're now "only" making 6 BILLION in profit so they need to force spam adverts to prop up those shocking figures?

I will repeat what I suggested. It's greed at my expense and nothing more.

G
 
Don't purchase Samsung if you don't like their Business Model :)

I guess you could start lobbying them to remove these unwanted Features - you are def not alone if you do a quick Google on the subject.

Joe
 
Don't purchase Samsung if you don't like their Business Model :)

I guess you could start lobbying them to remove these unwanted Features - you are def not alone if you do a quick Google on the subject.

Joe

How does that work then?

I wasn't aware this WAS their business model until after I bought the set and why would I? I've never seen it mentioned in any of the reviews I read (of course I've not read ALL the reviews so I might just have missed it) and unless you KNOW it's an issue before hand, how do you know to look for it?

Certainly had I known before hand would I have bought one? No, probably not. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that any TV platform would have *FORCED* apps and adds you can't remove. I tolerate it on websites because I'm getting something for "free" and in return they need the ads to pay for it. Expecting a TV I've paid £400 for to have ads I can't remove? Not so much...

G
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom