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Smart TV - Ads on the Menu Bar

(Topic created on: 24-10-2020 05:34 PM)
2647 Views
MrShak1982
Pioneer
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Surely there must be a way to disable this? If I'd known I'd be getting this I'd have brought a different brand. It's annoying me to the point where I'm serious considering getting rid. Sounds dramatic but it feels invasive. 

226 REPLIES 226
gbottesini
First Poster
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Ah, that seems pretty annoying... Another reason I was looking at Samsung is that it's the only brand that has the Crave TV (Canadian streaming service which includes HBO) app, but that seems too much of a hassle. Probably better to use Google Chromecast...

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adriansmith31
Journeyman
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Can't be disabled, I've tried everything in this thread. 

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Alhelor
Apprentice
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It does not affect your experience once you're inside an app, such as Netflix. However, if you want to change some settings (e.g. brightness/HDR, dolby settings, device manager, etc.), you have to access the menu bar with the ad in it. To get to settings, you have to click past the ad. The moment you target the ad (to click past it), it starts an annoying ad clip. Depending on your country (Germany for me), I find some of those ads super intrusive and insulting, such as life insurance (showing some dad that has an accident and thinks in his last moments how the children will grow up without him, haven't left them anything) or Tesla (yeah, sure, totally buying a 70k+ car that has half the range of my 20k Mercedes).

 

If you leave on the option of "targeted advertisement" in your settings, they promise "better" advertisement based on your interests. They then basically spy on everything your watch and try to make the ads more interesting to you. I haven't tried that. I instantly turned it off. When you have it on for a while and turn it off, the ads disappear for a day or so, before you get targeted with the random, insulting ads. That's what people in this thread mean when they say they did that and the ads are gone. They're only gone for a day or so as the system readjusts.

AlexT123
First Poster
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Absolutely disgusting that they have ads embedded in their software!

Nick4477
Journeyman
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Makes the TV feel like junk.

Toumal
Apprentice
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I have successfully disabled the ads on the menu bar. I'm using pihole on my home network, and blocked the domain "tvx.adgrx.com" via the pihole blacklist. You can install pihole yourself on any pc or even a dedicated small raspberry pi. Simply use that as DNS server instead of whatever your ISP gives you, add the tvx.adgrx.com domain to the blacklist, and the entire ad area is gone.

chungospoogle
Student
Options

Can I thank you for that Toumal! I've tried a number of domains and that seems to have done the trick - cheers.

 

Some background... I had a 37" Samsung for just over 10 years and it just packed up. As the picture was so good, especially at upscaling, I thought I'd have another one. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to get a "dumb" tv, so I plumped for a QE49Q80T. Whilst the picture and upscaling are superb, I've had a lot of hassle with the "smart" side of things. I've had to bypass all DNS routing on my router for this TV (only) as nothing internet related was reliable otherwise.

 

The ads in the bar were the last straw. Totally unacceptable. If I'd known about this beforehand I wouldn't have bought it. I won't be updating the firmware again just to remain ad free. P.s. I'm not into "apps" but Emby is superb and super easy to set up a server.

Pouryashamsi
Explorer
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Toumal,


Thanks for the domain name. 
I added that to the block rules of my modem and it blocked it. 

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LukeLove
First Poster
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So is there a way to disable add on app menu!??! It is absolutely messed up!! I have been a big a big samsung supporter since I bought my first galaxy phone almost 10 years ago buy TV's monitors and mobiles of theirs ever since. Just spent alot of money on a new 65inch samsung smart TV only to see a frciking Ford add on the app bar. If im not able to remove these ads I will definitely no longer be buying anything samsung and will be leaving plenty terrible reviews on this TV on online electronics stores.

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HJD1
Pioneer
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You're preaching to the converted here, Luke!

So far the only 'solution' which has worked for more than a couple of weeks is one based on Toumal's post.

I didn't use a pihole but blocked the 'tvx.adgrx.com' site in the parental settings of my routers security settings and the ads have not been seen since! What used to happen with my TV was that, after a few weeks or months, the menu would slow down and the TV would become less responsive to the remote control. Voice control would also stop working until I did a factory reset. 

I think we're all in agreement that Samsung are now the pits as far as TVs go and I no longer advise people to even consider them as they seem to develop problems due to the adverts you are forced to accept if you want the full smart TV function. 

At the moment all my catchup apps are still working and I'm not seeing ads in the app bar.

Unfortunately, based on previous 'successes', I fear it is only a matter of time before Samsung finds a way around the tvx.adgrx.com  fix and the remote response slows to a crawl again.

 

I'm old enough to remember when Samsung began selling stuff in the UK. Simon Cadell, from Hi-de-Hi, appeared in the ads and Samsung was marketed as selling high quality products at a lower price than the big name brands.

Now, Samsung are a premium brand and they are taking their customer base for granted!

The only saving grace for my Samsung is that it is good for playing games! Compared to my LG there is a very noticeable lack of delay in game mode. Then again my LG is almost ten years old so perhaps the newer ones will have improved their game response!

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