Samsung have broken SmartThings / Samsung TV integration!

I am annoyed so apologies if my anger comes across in this post.

Samsung 7 series TV’s by default have auto firmware update enabled. Samsung have released firmware 1208 (latest version currently) which doesn’t support SmartThings!!! WTF?!?!?!!? I can no longer control my 7 series with ST.

So in short, Samsung have broken all of their 7 series TV’s. I purchased that TV only because it was ST compatible. Have Samsung ever hear of change control? Pre change testing? Are Samsung using all of our TV’s as their test platform? I am pretty annoyed to say the least.

This has all been confirmed by Samsung on a web chat ID: [3520323]

Its been broken for quite a long time now. Someone needs to lose their job over this. Such bad IT management.

From Samsung: (Bear in mind that firmware auto update is enabled by default)

If it is set to auto update, it should. If the TV has updated to the recent firmware 1208 then that means it has the OCF update that was released by Samsung TV/AV. The SmartThings app currently doesn’t support this functionality. However, not to worry, our SmartThings engineers are working together with Samsung engineers to look into solutions for this.
9:16

auto update is enabled and the version of the firmare is 1208
9:16

great
9:16

so Samsung broke my TV?
9:16

It was working fine… then you released a firmware update. Now its broken.
9:17

How do I rollback the firmware to the previous version?
9:17

The TV isn’t broken, it has received a firmware update that currently means that the SmartThings integration does not support it fully. There is a way to add it back again, but the functionality is limited as it stands. The ticket is a priority investigation at the moment for our Engineers and full support is being worked on as we speak.
9:19

Samsung Smart Things is currently unable to control my Samsung TV because Samsung released a firmware update. The TV isn’t broken but its also not working.
9:22

I just want to turn it on and off!
9:22

How hard can it be?
9:22

It terms of coding, it can be rather complex. Essentially the OCF update changed the way that the TV integration platform communicated with SmartThings. Due to this, our Engineers are working on an update that will allow for SmartThings to add TV’s as a device again, with the same support as before.
9:25

As it stands, there is a way of adding the TV as a device, but I believe that the function is limited to only being able to turn the TV off.
9:26

Are you there, Lewis?
9:29

yes
9:29

one sec
9:29

well thats all I need to do
9:30

turn it off
9:30

Was this functionality disabled deliberately then?
9:31

Absolutely not.
9:31

So its been accidentally borked
9:31

It was an oversight that was made by the TV/AV side of Samsung, I believe the assumption was that the OCF update would not bear any impact on the SmartThings side.
9:33

That was inaccurate, so as it stands our Engineers must come up with a way around this.
9:33

The update is in development, as a priority one task.
9:33

1 Like

There are a few threads on this, I am equally annoyed.

One point to note, is that even if the firmware updates were turned off, 12.08 rolls out to your tv regardless.

I have two 7000 SUHDs, one with updates enabled and one without. Both are now 12.08. The one with the updates off was 12.01 until a few weeks ago.

Ironically, I may consider moving from Smartthings to Homey as that can control the Samsung TV at least. It’s been a bit too long, and around here if things take too long to get fixed it usually means they won’t get fixed.

I understand the anger.

Its a tough lesson that everyone involved in smart home automation has to go through sometime. My Samsung TV stopped working with SmartThings a while ago, and it stopped working with my Samsung tablets for screen mirroring, and they stopped releasing Evolution kits supposed to upgrade your TV without the need for a new panel. They removed Skype from my TV too, so it now has an unusable camera stuck on the top!

However I have now come to a new realisation. Those unique features that are often seen as selling points can’t be guaranteed to keep working forever as the tech all around us keeps changing. Its just too expensive for manufacturers to keep all the possible integration features working with every other piece of kit they have sold. I would rather keep getting updates if they keep my IoT equipment better protected from network attack.

The worst things for this are ecosystems that tie you in to one manufacturer, as you have nowhere else to go if you integration breaks on one piece of your chain of equipment.

Now, for control of my TV, I have a Harmony hub which also controls the rest of my hone entertainment, works with my SmartThings setup, works with Alexa, and has its own app on my tablet/phone. Its the best remote I have owned, and I may not have gone for it if I didn’t lose the Samsung TV to SmartThings integration!

So these days I look for devices which talk more openly to a range of systems/platforms and don’t invest large amounts in a device which will lose functions that are important to me if the manufacturer releases software changes.

I still find that SmartThings as a platform has by far the widest range of possible integrations of any commercial platform I have come across, with its combination of Official, Community, and self-written integration features. As a result, there are often several different ways to achieve what you are trying to do.

Yes… this is been going on for months. I spent almost 2 grand on this TV and it’s almost never worked as advertised. I believe it’s time for legal action. Can’t we do a class action? I’m no lawyer but I’m sick of paying for undelivered features!!!

Curious, do the TVs show up as Samsung OCF TV in the IDE?
image

So you can’t even stop the FW updates. I am actually shocked at Samsung.

Its true that other things can stop working as different manufacturers cannot always maintain their software to work with every other manufacturer on the block but we are talking about Samsung working with Samsung here. This is something completely within their control.

I am also no lawyer but yes I reckon there is a case to be had if. If we can be bothered.

I also reckon there is a news story to be had here. We need to approach the big IT news organisations as I am sure that this will get a publish.

I also use Harmony. It is good and I am going to have to fiddle around with it now to get it to do what I want it to.

I have now removed my TV from ST but print screened it before doing so:

Good place is submit it as a story on go public on CBC News:

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/gopublic

Looks like it might of got officially discontinued:

https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/12/samsung-discontinues-smart-tv-integration-smartthings.html

Very disappointing!

http://piunikaweb.com/2017/12/18/samsung-pulls-plug-on-smartthings-smart-tv-integration/

Yeah I’m pretty much done buying Samsung. 4, phones, 7 TVs, washer & dryer, fridge. My contempt for the company started with them changing the ui on one of my tv’s(The $3,000 one) then trying to force Bixby down my throat. It’s going to take a few years, but there will come a day when hopefully the only Samsung product in my house is SmartThings. It’s a company that has earned less respect from me than my cable company.

Yes but the support guy told me that they accidentally broke it with the firmware update. He has obvious tapped in to the internal IT word on the grapevine and told us the truth.

In order for Samsung to protect their reputation and stop someone from filing suit, they have had to announce that they have disabled it.

Surely someone can write a device handler for Samsung TV’s?

Was this functionality disabled deliberately then?
9:31

Absolutely not.
9:31

So its been accidentally borked
9:31

It was an oversight that was made by the TV/AV side of Samsung, I believe the assumption was that the OCF update would not bear any impact on the SmartThings side.
9:33

1 Like

Never really used this feature as I have Harmony Hub and that works GREAT!

Actually IMO the Harmony hub is absolutely appalling. I have one and turn off the TV should be a simple task right? Well if I spend more than 30 minutes trying to do this, its not worth the effort of pressing the off button on the remote each time. I have literally spent half a day trying to figure out how to get my harmony hub to power down the TV. Is a terrible piece of equipment. Some might suggest that maybe I am partially retarded although not so I have been building datacentres for 18 years now. I do know the world of tech.

And here is the latest twist in Samsung’s borked attempt to control a TV via smart things:

So I click the link. Im thinking this is a bit of a crap solution to my problem but sod it i’ll go with it. Good thing I don’t have a external HDD that lets me timeshift. AND… the link is broke. FFS Samsung. I really want to write nasty words now.

Such a nasty solution to this problem. So now this link is gone and didn’t work in the first place anyway how am I supposed to claim my free USB bork?

The extend has been dead for a while. The put stickers on them and now sell as the Nvidia shield link.

You may be a data center person, but this hub is easy to setup. All I did was use my PC and followed the directions. I use Samsung, Apple 4K, Roku Ultra, Cisco Cable Box and a sound system. Setup was easy and work flawlessly. Maybe you have a lemon?

FYI I use the Harmony Ultimate setup

So can someone tell me how I can control my Samsung TV via SmartThings please?