Samsung smart TV problems

Electronics & Technology
42

I initially had many problems in getting my Samsung smart TV to stay connected to wifi. One trick I found which seems to have helped a lot is explained thus:

"Sometimes due to a bug with the Samsung TVs, the network settings are corrupted if the TV is turned off through the remote and it stays off for more than 15 minutes. Therefore, in this step, we will be restarting the TV in an unconventional method that will reset certain settings. For that:

Turn on the TV in the normal way and let it run for 5 minutes.
Instead of turning it off with the remote, unplug the power lead directly from the wall.
Wait for a period of at least 20 minutes and restart it."
43

I watch SBS On Demand on my Apple Mac Pro which has all the latest software updates, and I consider myself lucky if I can even get the program to start when I stream something from the website. By opening and closing the program several times I can usually get going, but it will often freeze when the first ad break tries to load. I then have to close down the program and open it again, selecting ā€˜resumeā€™ to pick up close to where I left off. The same thing is likely to happen again at the next ad break though. Iā€™ve complained to SBS on many occasions without any response, so all Iā€™m saying is, I suspect SBS On Demand may the problem rather than your TV.

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44

That could be the case but I watch SBS on demand from my PC and have never had any worries although the ad-load is often a few seconds prior to playing it.

I watch content from other sites and it seems to be the NBN that causes grief on some. I select the video; it starts buffering and never stops; a page reload immediately starts playing, but it will often stutter.

Other sites are faultlessā€¦ it could be the resilience of the TV app in supporting the high quality, reliably consistent NBN data streaming(<-sarcasm, that).

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45

I watch it on my PC and tablet. With my blocking software in place I donā€™t see ads on the PC, I do see on the bar where they should be but they never appear and the viewing is seamless, on the Samsung Tab A they show but no hiccups (maybe a second break before the ads stream).

I donā€™t think it is SBS on Demand but rather the software and possibly the rendering and decoding hardware and thus the failures seen in the Streaming. This would also make sense as to why some TVs are flawless and others have issues.

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46

Iā€™ve never had a momentā€™s problem with any other streaming sites such as ABC iview, Netflix or YouTube - just SBS On Demand. All the time.

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47

For both @christyk & @pljudd

Depending on the stream and itā€™s decoding needs the TV as an example may not have enough RAM for the hardware to decode the stream and then render it or if it is a software decoding this may also impact RAM allocations and other services may be affected due to insufficient RAM eg Bluetooth services. This of course is only guess work at the moment, faulty RAM could be the problem in that most streaming may not use as much and so no problems are noticed. It could be another hardware issue with that TV or series of that TV. It might be worth getting it checked by a competent service person or by an authorised repairer (so as to avoid warranty issues). Contacting the retailer again and citing the issues and being armed with your ACL rights may help get them to look deeper into the problems. I realise the problems havenā€™t been isolated to just the one TV and so could be a design flaw, fault or faults that is/are throughout this model or batch run of the model.

Itā€™s not doing what you bought the TV to do, you wanted to pair your Bluetooth to it, you bought it partly so you could watch SBS on Demand, and it seems not to support attached drives properly ie the menu/index locks up. If you purchased with the intent that you would use these facilities and find that they donā€™t this could very well be considered a Major Failure and that, if it is the case, gives you very strong rights under ACL.

If possible could the model number/s be posted here as it might help us search for similar problems with these units on other sites. This will also be helpful for CHOICE as they may already be getting feedback from other users and this will help with their testing and recommendations.

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48

I suspect that the problem may be SBS. Iā€™ve had the same problem with watching SBS on (two, different) home computers. I suspect that there is a different server for the ads and that it is overloaded.

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49

Good news! SBS On Demand has recently changed its website and it now seems to work the way itā€™s supposed to.

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50

Seven years ago I bought a Samsung 65 inch TV for $4200. Picture still great but It now needed repairs carried and I was surprised to hear from my repairer that the required part - a main board - was no longer made By Samsung. I contacted Samsung and they referred me to their official repairer who advised that Samsung did not make the required part and had not done so for a couple of years. I complained to Samsung but their reply was they could do nothing. No apology , no offer of a discount on a current model no nothing. Presumably they expect me to spend another few thousand on somehting that will be obsolete in 5 years. So for all those about to spend $7995 on the current 65 inch 4k television from Samsung beware they will not guarantee repair parts will be available.

51

Welcome to the community @Woody,

That is a pretty sorry state of affairs.

I recommend you read about your consumer rights starting at

You may be able to make a case that a product of that advertised quality and price should last longer than 7 years. Send a formal letter of complaint to Samsung. You can find many references on how to write that on the .community, at Choice, and on the ACCC web pages, so I will not repeat them here. On the community you can use the search function for letter of complaint, ACL, ACCC, etc.

In your situation I would be asking for a replacement 65 inch model at no cost. Anything less than formal becomes what I call ā€˜idle chit chatā€™ toward getting a resolution.

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52

It really is disgraceful, not just that the parts are not available, but even if they were, they may be priced higher than the TV.

A tech I know who worked at a local dgital TV repair business who used to repair our previous Sharp convection microwave once showed me the massive stack of wde screen TVā€™s and screens waiting to go to the tip, many of which had been replaced under warranty.

He mentioned that the cost of the main boards for the wide screens were higher than the replacement cost of the TVā€™s.

Just imagine if you could not get a replacement engine for a new vehicle after only 7 years, or that the price was higher than the cost of the vehicle.

image

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53

Thanks I will look into that. Regards

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54

Please post again if you would like further guidance, and keep us informed of how you go.

Cheers,

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55

The ACCC statesā€¦

  • repairs and spare parts - the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that spare parts and repair facilities (a place that can fix the consumerā€™s goods) are available for a reasonable time after purchase unless you were told otherwise. How long is ā€˜reasonableā€™ will depend on the type of product.

The key word is reasonable. What is reasonable?

How can the type of product affect a reasonable time?

Iā€™ll try and explain this below.

As @PhilT provided in the above post, Choice indicates that midrange brands (like Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic) of current generations of TVs (LEDs, OLEDs etc) should have a life around 8 years (more or less).

TV technologies change at the frequency of black Fridays with new models with new features coming out at least annually, if not sooner. A 7 year old TV in effect is at least 7 generation old. As TVs change rapidly, their time to redundancy decreases. Is this right. I personally think no as it is wasteful and TV redundancy possibly should be like CRT TV days were redundancy periods were much longer and maybe measured in a decade or more rather than months or years. Unfortunately many consumers think differently and consider TVs disposable items when something bigger or ā€˜shinierā€™ is released (if you Council has kerbside cleanups, it is amazing how many perfectly good working TVs are put out for collection).

Is Samsung reasonable not to stock parts for in effect a TV which is over 7 generations old? If one compares it to say a car which a new model (not one updated with minor cosmetic changes but is a total design change) is released every 5-8 years, using the same number of generations, a car manufacturer would have to keep enough parts for all previously sold models for 35-56 years. One couldnā€™t expect a dealer to have parts for a 1960s car. In such case parts are sourced from alternative markets.

While TVs are possibly different in some respects to a car, the generational logic to whether Samsung is reasonable in approach applies.

I personally believe, while it isnā€™t necessarily right for a number of reasons, the ACCC and Samsung may use the above logic as well as saying that the TV is close to or at its design life, not to hold spare parts for that particular 7 year/generation model.

I might be wrong, and it is worth perusing further.

If you want to try and repair your TV, it might be worth seeing if there is a free non-working TV for scavenging parts (like a wreckers yard for an old car) or a cheap working one and keep your own for future spare parts.

Also you can advertise on platforms like Gumtree or Marketplace to see if anyone has the same model they want to get rid of.

Also, what is the model of the TV? Sometimes it is worth checking with independent TV spare parts dealers to see if they still have a control/main board in stock.

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56

As relevant as the spares issues is the life. One could arguably put the TV into the 8-11 year range where it should have worked properly.

Many products are replaced in lieu of repairs from new through end of warranted/ACL service life. If it cannot be fixed it could be replaced. The crux of the issue is more 7 years received versus 8-11 years typical. If that stands it is for the original vendor who ā€˜ownsā€™ the warranty to step up since there are no parts.

@Woody, my mea culpa. I should have made clear it is the shop you bought your TV from who ā€˜ownsā€™ the problem, not Samsung, unless that shop went out of business when you could rightfully deal with Samsung on that basis. The ACL clearly places the onus on the point of sale, not the manufacturer, although in a practical sense the manufacturer often gets involved one way or another.

The retailer probably has more leverage than an individual so is probably the best place to start going formal. The retailer then works it out with the manufacturer as required.

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57

A post I made previously under another topic.

The large screen TVā€™s consist mainly of the screen and the main board making them quite different to motor vehicles which comprise many main items, all of which can usually be repaired by replacing individual components, and with both items exorbiantely overpriced, it makes repairs uneconomic even if the parts are available.

We bought our first colour TV when our son was born and it was still working some 20 years later when we gave it away, and it had only ever had 2 repairs.

Our 3 Sony flat screen TVā€™s are 9, 10 and 12 years old and none of them have ever had a problem.

If Samsung cannot repair this TV at a reasonable price, or at all, they should at least offer a very generous discount on a replacement.

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58

Thank you for your reply. The repairer searched worldwide for a replacement and could only come up with a second hand part in Asia for $600 plus freight. I have left the TV with him to do as he wishes as it is of no further value to me.

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59

Having ownership of the product one is aggrieved with is germane to any restitution, so it seems you may no longer have a claim because you have essentially gifted away the TV.

Consider IF they magically could fix it and offered to do so, you no longer have it. IF they offered a replacement on delivery of the old one to a designated place, you no longer have it, even though they would then be absolved from having to take the old one to the tip. They would almost certainly want to assure you had one, and it was broken as claimed; you no longer have it.

I trust the point is made.

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60

But, the gratitude of giving way something often provides a lot of satisfaction. Hopefully @woody gets a warm feeling from a somewhat cold experience with Samsung.

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61

And he could also post his totally unsatisfactory experience on Product Review so as to forewarn the multitude of consumers who will not see his problem on this site as they do not visit it.

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