I just disabled the “smart” features on my Samsung S95B and set it to run the last used “app.” Which is just the last used input.
It’s not perfect, but combined with HDMI CEC I almost never need to go into the ugly menu. I don’t mind the smart menus of the older TVs when it was a separate part of the TV you could ignore. But the integration in these new TVs where inputs are treated like another smart app and you have to go past apps to get to picture settings is just bad design.
Not to mention serving ads for each manufacturer’s own streaming apps on a device someone spent a lot of money on us completely unethical. But at least disabling the Internet features took care of that issue.
You can switch inputs. But it forces you to go through the home screen to do so. And to make things worse, game consoles are relegated to a different section of the home screen (there’s gaming and media).
It’s an awful user experience initially. But once I disabled a lot of it and just got a Roku, it’s a great TV. But I wasn’t going to spend the extra nearly $1k to get the Sony QD-OLED, and I have beef with LG since they made me wait nearly four months trying to get a refrigerator repaired or replaced under warranty (and it was a no cool problem… Not like a broken ice maker or something). So I stay away from LG.
I had the same battle with Samsung over my fridge. Never buying a Samsung fridge again after this, had 2 replacements under warranty since October 2020, which is when I bought it.
It’s crazy isn’t it? I used to work in electronics and appliance repair. No cool calls were given top priority and if we couldn’t fix it within days, most warranties would just replace it. This was only a decade ago. I am so glad I don’t have to stand in a customer’s home and tell them they’re SOL because Samsung, LG or any other company won’t authorize replacement/buyout, despite being unable to repair it due to the lack of available parts.
I just disabled the “smart” features on my Samsung S95B and set it to run the last used “app.” Which is just the last used input.
It’s not perfect, but combined with HDMI CEC I almost never need to go into the ugly menu. I don’t mind the smart menus of the older TVs when it was a separate part of the TV you could ignore. But the integration in these new TVs where inputs are treated like another smart app and you have to go past apps to get to picture settings is just bad design.
Not to mention serving ads for each manufacturer’s own streaming apps on a device someone spent a lot of money on us completely unethical. But at least disabling the Internet features took care of that issue.
Yikes! So you mean you just can’t switch inputs without the smart TV side anymore? Time to avoid the Samsungs then…
You can switch inputs. But it forces you to go through the home screen to do so. And to make things worse, game consoles are relegated to a different section of the home screen (there’s gaming and media).
It’s an awful user experience initially. But once I disabled a lot of it and just got a Roku, it’s a great TV. But I wasn’t going to spend the extra nearly $1k to get the Sony QD-OLED, and I have beef with LG since they made me wait nearly four months trying to get a refrigerator repaired or replaced under warranty (and it was a no cool problem… Not like a broken ice maker or something). So I stay away from LG.
I had the same battle with Samsung over my fridge. Never buying a Samsung fridge again after this, had 2 replacements under warranty since October 2020, which is when I bought it.
It’s crazy isn’t it? I used to work in electronics and appliance repair. No cool calls were given top priority and if we couldn’t fix it within days, most warranties would just replace it. This was only a decade ago. I am so glad I don’t have to stand in a customer’s home and tell them they’re SOL because Samsung, LG or any other company won’t authorize replacement/buyout, despite being unable to repair it due to the lack of available parts.