QN94A TV switching off with BBC iPlayer

[g0akc]

Our new QN94A TV keeps turning itself off mid way through watching different content on BBC iPlayer using the TV's own app. It's done it several times now.

I thought it might be the auto power off  - though there had been interaction/remote presses within the time set (4 hours)  - including to launch the app.

There was no dialogue box each time - TV just went dark/off - I had to turn TV back on with remote and relaunch the app to resume playing the programme.  It doesn't happen at any particular part of the programme.

I have the auto power off dialogue box come up when watching via a Virgin set top box - that at least gave me the chance to press a button on the remote to continue viewing.

Any ideas?

For now I've disabled the auto power off feature to see if that resolve it.  We are unlikely to forget to turn it off anyway.

[VJShuk]

Do you think it would be helpful or perhaps give Samsung a nudge if we reported the issue individually to Samsung while referencing your existing bug report and this thread?

I just thought if Samsung are claiming no one else is experiencing the problem this may be based on them receiving no other reports, whereas you have quite impressively persisted in getting them to recognise and hopefully address it.

Happy to do it myself if you think it might be useful to do so.

[Dseven]

You can try. They will probably want to do a complete reset on your TV (which means you'll have to configure everything from scratch again), amongst other pointless exercises, then they'll tell you contact them when it happens again. I tried to explain how my symptoms exactly match what's been described by others here, but they wouldn't accept it and said that they're required to go through their motions. Good luck....

[g0akc]

Update

As part of the ongoing investigation, Samsung have now replaced our TV.  It's been swapped for a QN95B model.

To recap, we had already tried various resets and re-installations of the BBC app.  Samsung had captured traces off our TV and supposedly looked at those with the log I gave them of when the incidents occurred.

Samsung say they will test our TV to see if it occurs for them.  I will also see if the issue occurs with this TV.

The inference could be that it is hardware related and only affects certain units?

I guess this new unit is an upgrade (it's a 2022 model rather than 2021).  The QN94A was itself a replacement for a previous curved model where the screen 'died' after less than a couple of years (but the BBC app worked fine!).

I wasn't looking to swap but it also benefits from having Dolby Atmos speakers (I had thought of getting an Atmos soundbar since we do have sports channels with Atmos content).  To be honest it sounds a bit 'tinny' compared to the 94A but hopefully we'll get used to it.  It's certainly not as good as a full Atmos AV set up where you have a subwoofer and speakers all around the room.

I will keep checking with the BBC app on this new unit to see if it cuts out, and update here accordingly.

[VJShuk]

Thanks for the update g0akc. Wow, quite surprised that they swapped out your TV! I guess it’s no loss given that it’s an upgrade.

I haven’t used the iPlayer app much since Wimbledon finished as I hold no real interest in most of the BBC’s programming. Of the rare occasions that I have used it I’ve not noticed the issue again, but I don’t think that’s very useful info given how little I’ve used it.

[g0akc]

I guess you could say I’m collaborating with Samsung on it. I’m hoping to get to the bottom of it for others as well as myself.  As to whether or not I’d push for a replacement to address the issue I’m not sure.

I watch a fair bit of BBC content via iPlayer including some of the special events in UHD and box sets.  Also for time shifting programmes without using a PVR. I have a workaround which was to use a set top box that has the iPlayer app instead of the app on the TV itself.  Nonetheless I’m hoping to be able to run without a STB if necessary.

Anyway, so far so good 😊 - the iPlayer app has been running for several hours now without issue on this unit - on the ‘faulty’ one I would have expected it to fail by now.  It will be interesting to see if that set exhibits the fault for Samsung.

I’ll post updates in due course.

[Mipal]

Well done, congratulations on persevering, a great result for you.

I have been considering reporting this and another problem as guarantee faults, to the retailer I bought it from. They offered their own guarantee as well as the manufacturers.

[g0akc]

Update:  The QN95B has continued to work fine here this week - no issues with the BBC iPlayer app crashing and causing the TV to switch off/reboot.

Same setup, peripherals and connections.

I therefore conclude that there was a fault with the QN94A.

I don’t know if the bug/issue affected just our unit, some of the population or all QN94A televisions?  From several reports from other Samsung customers on here I guess it could be a hardware issue on some units or the firmware on that model.  I can't recall if anyone saw the problem with other models.

It will be interesting to know if the Samsung engineers are able to recreate the issue on our QN94A unit and their findings.

I've fed this back to Samsung.  If I learn anything further, I will aim to update here.

[ChrisT93]

I have this issue too and it still occurs on my QE65. It's not all the time or consistent in any way, only that is only when iPlayer is in use. It also turns off my Pioneer AV as part of switching off (which the tv does when I switch it off), which to me suggests it's a 'genuine' switch off command to the TV and not a crash/power drop as such.

@g0akc Any luck with the investigations? It really is rather frustrating. Tonight it has done it after 15 minutes of viewing a show.

[Mipal]

Hi Chris. 

yes it's a pain in the backside. Fortunately I do not use the iplayer a lot.

All I can suggest s that you raise a guarantee fault with your supplier. I suggest you wear a crash helmet though unless you enjoy banging your head against a wall.

Good luck.

[g0akc]

“Any luck with the investigations? It really is rather frustrating.”

Only that Samsung eventually replaced our TV foc - but for a 95B model.  Fault has never happened with that. Same set up and connections.  The 95B suffers a different fault - speaker panel on rear of TV  vibrates/buzzes - mentioned on these forums.

Samsung were/are supposed to be testing the TV that they collected from us, but said they would only ever share any results internally and not with me/publicly.

I’ll probably never know if ours was a bad unit, bad batch or all that model do it…..