Samsung Smart TV Setup

[lajackson]

Can you access the Church website through the TV without setting up a Samsung account?

Do you set up a stake Samsung account, or do you link your stake gmail account, for example, to access the Internet features. We want to be able to run Church broadcasts through the TV itself without having to drag up a laptop and associated cabling.

[ksgentry]

The following is according to my own understanding, we've had the mounted smart TVs for a while, but the Ward Technology Specialist has been slacking in his duties (me):

Can you access the Church website through the TV without setting up a Samsung account?

• We could not find a way to bypass it.

Do you set up a stake Samsung account, or do you link your stake gmail account...to access the Internet features?

• The Bishopric created a Samsung account; not sure if they associated with the ward email account or not. I'll find out and edit this response. HDMI, USB, and Coax work w/o account

We want to be able to run Church broadcasts through the TV itself without having to drag up a laptop and associated cabling.

• "To little; too late" from me as GC just ended, but yes, church broadcasts can run on it. BYUtv and Gospel Stream are available as downloadable apps for the Samsung and work very well.

I really wish the Church would've created their own custom firmware/ROM for the TVs, especially given concerns about appropriate content. We've had a small number of instances where Samsung has displayed inappropriate icons, ads, and search results. But I think we can tighten it down once we get the Ward's Samsung acct loaded (using a member's Samsung acct right now).

[russellhltn]

We've had a small number of instances where Samsung has displayed inappropriate icons, ads, and search results. But I think we can tighten it down once we get the Ward's Samsung acct loaded (using a member's Samsung acct right now).

Let me know if you succeed in locking it down. When I added ours to "no splash", it immediately went into full entertainment mode advertising upcoming features. I removed it from "no spash" and we just use it with a laptop. It still works with Windows screen sharing, so no cabling required.

[ksgentry]

I removed it from "no spash" and we just use it with a laptop. It still works with Windows screen sharing, so no cabling required.

One thing I found out was the Church's website works with the TV Internet browser, even without splash page terms acceptance, good solution for Gospel Library. I couldn't trigger the splash pageby going to Google.com, but did so trying to go to a sports website I like. Feels like it isn't super-reliable method though.

Thanks for mentioning the undesired results after using the NoSplash method. Really the TVs just need access to the BYUtv, Gospel Stream, and (maybe) YT apps. I'll probably be fiddling with it a lot over the next few weeks

[ksgentry]

Also wanted to add this: I haven't tried the Samsung SmartThings app, but really I don't like the idea of more accounts and such, but I found a Bluetooth remote app for Android that works very satisfactory with the tvs. It also enables an your phone screen to use like a mouse pad and your touch screen keyboard as input as well. It is called bluetooth remote (simple I know):

• F-Droid (FOSS)https://f-droid.org/packages/com.atharok.btremote/

• Google Playhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... mote.gplay

Also a very recent software update to the TV (a late March / early April) supposedly enabled Google cast functionality, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work when I tried it. And their help section under connection settings still doesn't list anything about Google cast.

[russellhltn]

I couldn't trigger the splash pageby going to Google.com, but did so trying to go to a sports website I like. Feels like it isn't super-reliable method though.

The key seems to be forcing a DNS lookup by entering a website that's not in the cache. Preferably something it doesn't have a certificate for since the splash screen is effectively a man-in-the-middle attack, which gets defeated by https.

You might have better luck with a website like http://httpforever.com.