How SmartTV forgot about the main thing
Why do people buy SmartTV? Probably, some want to play games on them, some want to use applications like Skype, but for the most part, people buy SmartTV to watch video files, listen to audio and watch streams, like IPTV. However, judging by the implementations of these functions in televisions, manufacturers seem to forget that people buy TV to watch it.
I have a Samsung SmartTV UE40EH5300 . This is the 2012 model, i.e. last year's lineup. This is not to say that it is outdated, updates are released from time to time.
The series has just downloaded, and in anticipation of you sit down on the sofa, turn on the TV, choose the first series, and ...
“How is that?”, You say, “I listened to so much music on FLAC on this TV.”
Yes this is true. How could it be broken - I have no idea. But the overwhelming part of the Blu-Ray rip comes with sound to FLAC, and it remains to either transcode the sound and overload the file, or tune the DLNA server to automatic transcoding.
Or, for example, Vorbis. Ogg audio files play great, but even WebM support is there, and Vorbis plays inside it, but in MKV it doesn't. What, Samsung, too loose?
And don't tell me that this is a limitation of a hardware decoder or something like that. Through a third-party application "plex" everything works without transcoding.
Here, I must say, everything is fine, how good hardware decoders can have. My model even plays a 10-bit video, which is more common in anime than an 8-bit one. Of course, it is decoded incorrectly (with artifacts, as it was in the players of 2010-early 2011), but it is reproduced. This is not specifically Samsung, but all the hardware decoders that are on the market. But, for example, in the 2013 model Samsung 40F7000, it is not reproduced at all. Somewhat strange.
')
The most painful topic. About the declared support .ass, I will not even write anything, just take a look.
How subtitles should be displayed:
As they are displayed on TV:
TV does not reboot because of the subtitles, but simply does not like something in a specific .mkv file. Strange, considering that all desktop players and the console with Android play it.
If you rebuild mkv, the TV tries to show several lines from the subtitles, then it stops showing them at all, and if you exit the player, the TV hangs completely, it does not even restart itself, you have to pull out the power cord.
But to hell with it, with karaoke in .ass, this is not the main thing. Subtitles are not configured at all. They are always displayed at the bottom, in one font size and in white, without a stroke. When displaying several lines at the same time, TV more often than not at all displays anything than displays. All this is completely unacceptable.
For comparison, the subtitles are displayed on the Android console for $ 70:
The rewind is done poorly, and there are as many as three ways to rewind here, for some reason. The rewind with the “left” and “right” buttons is somehow crooked: if you hold one of the buttons, the panel with the current position of the video will never appear, it will only come out if you release the button. So you have to either wind roughly and blindly, or constantly press and release it.
The second way to rewind - "Search by file." I have no idea for whom it is intended: the video file is divided into several uncomfortable parts with a preview.
The third approach, which is the most sane, is “Time Search”. Allows you to within minutes to choose the place of viewing.
Access to the last two methods of rewinding through the menu.
On the remote control, which, I note, the standard for this TV and was bundled with it, there are buttons “P. Size ”,“ AD / SUBT. ”And“ DUAL ”, which respectively change the picture output mode, switch subtitles and audio tracks. For some reason, they do not work in the built-in AllShare player, which plays with DLNA and flash drives, although they work in all third-party applications. Did they forget to appoint them? You have to go into the menu every time.
That's about the case with Samsung SmartTV. I think you now understand why people still collect HTPCs for themselves. Hope other companies have better implementations.
If anyone is interested, here are the files I used for the test:
yadi.sk/d/BY7ctPz0E7A7n - 8-bit video
yadi.sk/d/8WwiGYXGE7Bfj - 10-bit video
The video should have beautiful subtitles and 10-bit video should be without artifacts.
I have a Samsung SmartTV UE40EH5300 . This is the 2012 model, i.e. last year's lineup. This is not to say that it is outdated, updates are released from time to time.
Audio format support
The series has just downloaded, and in anticipation of you sit down on the sofa, turn on the TV, choose the first series, and ...
“How is that?”, You say, “I listened to so much music on FLAC on this TV.”
Yes this is true. How could it be broken - I have no idea. But the overwhelming part of the Blu-Ray rip comes with sound to FLAC, and it remains to either transcode the sound and overload the file, or tune the DLNA server to automatic transcoding.
Or, for example, Vorbis. Ogg audio files play great, but even WebM support is there, and Vorbis plays inside it, but in MKV it doesn't. What, Samsung, too loose?
And don't tell me that this is a limitation of a hardware decoder or something like that. Through a third-party application "plex" everything works without transcoding.
Video format support
Here, I must say, everything is fine, how good hardware decoders can have. My model even plays a 10-bit video, which is more common in anime than an 8-bit one. Of course, it is decoded incorrectly (with artifacts, as it was in the players of 2010-early 2011), but it is reproduced. This is not specifically Samsung, but all the hardware decoders that are on the market. But, for example, in the 2013 model Samsung 40F7000, it is not reproduced at all. Somewhat strange.
')
Subtitle display
The most painful topic. About the declared support .ass, I will not even write anything, just take a look.
How subtitles should be displayed:
As they are displayed on TV:
TV does not reboot because of the subtitles, but simply does not like something in a specific .mkv file. Strange, considering that all desktop players and the console with Android play it.
If you rebuild mkv, the TV tries to show several lines from the subtitles, then it stops showing them at all, and if you exit the player, the TV hangs completely, it does not even restart itself, you have to pull out the power cord.
But to hell with it, with karaoke in .ass, this is not the main thing. Subtitles are not configured at all. They are always displayed at the bottom, in one font size and in white, without a stroke. When displaying several lines at the same time, TV more often than not at all displays anything than displays. All this is completely unacceptable.
For comparison, the subtitles are displayed on the Android console for $ 70:
Control
The rewind is done poorly, and there are as many as three ways to rewind here, for some reason. The rewind with the “left” and “right” buttons is somehow crooked: if you hold one of the buttons, the panel with the current position of the video will never appear, it will only come out if you release the button. So you have to either wind roughly and blindly, or constantly press and release it.
The second way to rewind - "Search by file." I have no idea for whom it is intended: the video file is divided into several uncomfortable parts with a preview.
The third approach, which is the most sane, is “Time Search”. Allows you to within minutes to choose the place of viewing.
Access to the last two methods of rewinding through the menu.
On the remote control, which, I note, the standard for this TV and was bundled with it, there are buttons “P. Size ”,“ AD / SUBT. ”And“ DUAL ”, which respectively change the picture output mode, switch subtitles and audio tracks. For some reason, they do not work in the built-in AllShare player, which plays with DLNA and flash drives, although they work in all third-party applications. Did they forget to appoint them? You have to go into the menu every time.
Conclusion
That's about the case with Samsung SmartTV. I think you now understand why people still collect HTPCs for themselves. Hope other companies have better implementations.
Files
If anyone is interested, here are the files I used for the test:
yadi.sk/d/BY7ctPz0E7A7n - 8-bit video
yadi.sk/d/8WwiGYXGE7Bfj - 10-bit video
The video should have beautiful subtitles and 10-bit video should be without artifacts.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/205612/
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