Samsung TVs start inserting ads into your movies

[Victorious Secret]

 

Heh, oh Samsung. Always coming up with new ways to make regular consumers say "WTF" at your products and potentially take their business elsewhere. This is just a low, low jab and its frankly disgusting. I already tolerate ads on cable TV, since thats just the name of the game. But ads off content I play off my own server? My own files? GTFO. 

You have no right to interject ANYTHING onto my streaming like that. Faux pas. Don't even. They claim its happening accidentally on the 3rd party apps, but that means they've had this functionality ready to go since they need to monetize this platform (their paid app store failed, cause who the hell buys TV apps?). 

 

Just another checkmark in the "look at other companies next time" box for when I need a new TV.

 

 

Thought you could watch that video on your local hard drive without ads? Think again: A number of owners of Samsung’s smart TVs are reporting this week that their TV sets started to interrupt their movie viewing with Pepsi ads, which seem to be dynamically inserted into third-party content.

“Every movie I play 20-30 minutes in it plays the pepsi ad, no audio but crisp clear ad. It has happened on 6 movies today,” a user reported on Reddit, where a number of others were struggling with the same problem.

 

Reports for the unwelcome ad interruption first surfaced on a Subreddit dedicated to Plex, the media center app that is available on a variety of connected devices, including Samsung smart TVs. Plex users typically use the app to stream local content from their computer or a network-attached storage drive to their TV, which is why many were very surprised to see an online video ad being inserted into their videos. A Plex spokesperson assured me that the company has nothing to do with the ad in question.

 

However, it looks like the Pepsi ad isn’t just making an appearance within Plex. Subscribers of Australia’s Foxtel TV service are reporting that streams watched through the Foxtel app on Samsung TVs have been interrupted by the same commercial. A Foxtel employee responded to these reports by saying that “this absolutely should not be happening and is being escalated immediately.”

 

 

I’ve been trying to get an explanation from Samsung today, but have yet to hear back. My guess is that the ad insertion was accidentally turned on by default for apps that it wasn’t actually meant for, but the faux pas points to a bigger issue: Device makers like Samsung have long tried to figure out how to monetize their platforms and generate additional revenue in a time where margins on hardware are slim at best.

 

 

https://gigaom.com/2015/02/10/samsung-tvs-start-inserting-ads-into-your-movies/

[paprikman]

Maybe we can go with some custom ad-free firmware...

[kuddlesworth9419]

And no one buys a samsung TV ever again. There is a reason why TV views are falling maybe it's because people are buying stupid packages with 100's of channels they don't watch and a 5min break of ads every 10 minutes. 

[Sakkura]

Ads to fund content, be it on TV or youtube, is a necessary evil. But this is an unnecessary evil. No way am I getting a Samsung TV, but I probably wasn't going that way anyhow. But this is making me want to exclude Samsung next time I shop for a phone too.

[LegacyStijncat]

I'm guessing that add companies etc. are just complaining that with Netflix and recorded TV nobody watches it anymore.

But this means that LG (Samsung's biggest concurrent in TV's, without doubt), will be like LOOK GUYS, AN AD FREE FIRMWARE.

And this will also open up a market of newcomers in the TV industry, no doubt.

[LegacyStijncat]

Ads to fund content, be it on TV or youtube, is a necessary evil. But this is an unnecessary evil. No way am I getting a Samsung TV, but I probably wasn't going that way anyhow. But this is making me want to exclude Samsung next time I shop for a phone too.

@Sakkura , if a youtuber does it for his job, than it's not that evil. In movies it breaks the immersion though.

 

EDIT: (forgot this) Adds just shouldn't be too long, they should be OR funny, OR cool, or really short.

[kpreg]

Uhhhh. Just got a 50 inch Samsung smart tv for the living room.

Crap.

[Sakkura]

@Sakkura , if a youtuber does it for his job, than it's not that evil. In movies it breaks the immersion though.

 

EDIT: (forgot this) Adds just shouldn't be too long, they should be OR funny, OR cool, or really short.

 

It can still be distracting and annoying on a youtube video. Look at all the whining from the best darn screen protector out there LTT's CES videos. But obviously it's there for a reason.

[paprikman]

Uhhhh. Just got a 50 inch Samsung smart tv for the living room.

Crap.

Have 46 inch samsung tv for living room and 27 inch for kitchen, no problems with ads tho.

Using those... smart cards, I guess, and watching movies via blue-ray drive.

Anyways, ads're everywhere >_>

[Syntaxvgm]

This and the whole listen in on you thing as well as LG dialing features years later for not agreeing to share your information are just reminders of why I will never buy a smart TV. They are a stupid concept with no advantages in my opinion. TVs should be dumb devices that display whatever is connected to them. Nothing more. 

[Techteen14]

This and the whole listen in on you thing as well as LG dialing features years later for not agreeing to share your information are just reminders of why I will never buy a smart TV. They are a stupid concept with no advantages in my opinion. TVs should be dumb devices that display whatever is connected to them. Nothing more.

Not to mention needlessly more expensive than their identical "dumb" counterparts, usually by $300+. Which is why my dad just bought a dumb TV and a $99 Apple TV. (Though I pushed him to buy Chromecast )

[SIGSEGV]

What the hell...

[qwertywarrior]

disconnect from internet or listen to the TV and see where its getting ads from and block it from the router

[Maslofski]

So is samsung taking Ubisofts shovel over?

[Suika]

Truthfully, this is one of the more disgusting things I've seen Samsung do, that Apple hasn't.

[Poohy14]

Still was never going to buy a Samsung TV, saving my money up to get a Panasonic 4k tv since they have DP built into them so I can use it with my PC.

[Scheer]

Please update the OP:

 

 

Samsung accepted the blame for the ad a day after this story originally published, with a spokesperson telling me it was an error that was confined to TVs sold in Australia:

“We are aware of a situation that has caused some Smart TV users in Australia to experience program interruption in the form of an advertisement. This seems to be caused by an error, and we are currently conducting a full and thorough investigation into the cause. This situation has been reported only in Australia. We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

[NateGSR117]

If this ever happen to my TV, I would return it in an instant.

[Dezz]

Imagine that you use TV for gaming or simple PC usage and BAM ads everywhere (I know it says that it happens on apps)

[LAwLz]

I totally believe them that it was an accident and they didn't mean to insert ads like that. But why they hell do they have that capability to begin with?

[Stadiz]

You bought a nas or other device(s) so that you don't get ads, well...

If this going to happend and it even works with users who have a NAS, external storage etc...F*ck.

[BroliviaWilde]

News like this makes me  glad I bought my samsung semi-smart/dumb-tv a few years ago before smart tvs really started to take off.

[Speedbird]

Smart TVs are a stupid idea anyway.

[dizmo]

Haha, what BS.

All the more reason to go with Vizio

[Skrizzles]

LG Smart TVs also use PLEX. No ads during movies yet. No recording my conversations either. And zero service calls. During 5 years as a high-end AV retailer, Samsung TVs found their way to service more than any other brand.