Can Win 8.1 make a "Smart TV" dumb?

I use several of the smart features on my 60" Sony regularly. I was very disappointed to receive a notice on the TV that after this month I would not be able to render youtube videos on the tv. Sony's website puts the blame on YouTube for changing their API but I bought the TV from Sony and expected them to update firmware in cases like this. This TV was state of the art when I bought it 6 years ago - paid over $3K for it.

Other than having to deal with yet another remote, to me this is a strong case for dumb TV supplemented by a $100 external box (like Roku).

docj wrote:
IMHO Smart TV's are a huge rip-off. Last year I bought the least expensive Samsung in the size I wanted (39"). It was ~$100 cheaper than the Smart TV's of the same size. With my Roku connected to it, it has more "smarts" than any of the smart ones would have had and the Roku is continuously being updated to new channels, etc. Smart TVs are a gimmick for the unsophisticated consumer IMO.

Another "yes" to this. Our "smart" Sony could not stream anything without a lot of buffering. Even a direct ethernet line did not help. The Roku has eliminated the buffering and has so many additional choices.

Fred

docj wrote:
IMHO Smart TV's are a huge rip-off. Last year I bought the least expensive Samsung in the size I wanted (39"). It was ~$100 cheaper than the Smart TV's of the same size. With my Roku connected to it, it has more "smarts" than any of the smart ones would have had and the Roku is continuously being updated to new channels, etc. Smart TVs are a gimmick for the unsophisticated consumer IMO.

I agree. I bought 2 Vizio Smart TVs but ended up connecting Rokus to them because the Rokus do everything the built-in "smart" functions do but do it better with more capabilities/channels. I doubt I would ever purchase another Smart TV.

IMHO Smart TV's are a huge rip-off. Last year I bought the least expensive Samsung in the size I wanted (39"). It was ~$100 cheaper than the Smart TV's of the same size. With my Roku connected to it, it has more "smarts" than any of the smart ones would have had and the Roku is continuously being updated to new channels, etc. Smart TVs are a gimmick for the unsophisticated consumer IMO.

My Samsung Smart TV stopped being able to access the internet a few weeks ago. Like yours it also said it was accessing the router. I tried rebooting the TV by unplugging it for a few minutes but that didn't work. I ended up calling Samsung and the guy had me update the TV firmware. That worked and no problems since.

shakyjay wrote:
By chance is it a Samsung TV? I have read several threads regarding them having this or a similar problem.

Yes it is a Samsung. FYI I removed the wireless adapter and ran a Ethernet cable directly to my router...no help.
Checked my router and found no duplicate IP's or MAC's and it is set for DHCP.

Frankly I think "SMART" Tv's are kind of not smart.. They chew up valuable bandwidth.. YOu will figure out how valuable when you get your Verizon Bill some day.

Make sure your subnet mask is the same on the TV as it is on your router.

Mitch

Dozer wrote:
Thanks for the replies. The TV has an IP address, which I can ping with no problems.
Makes no difference whether the PC is on or off. I thought it might be a conflict between my wireless printer and the TV so I deleted the printer all together. No help.

It IS possible to ping a device with a duplicate IP address and yet the one device may not be able to access the network..

The router may have assigned the same address to your PC which may have caused your your TV to disable the network connection on the TV..

You may need to find out how to clear the network config info on the TV, turn off ALL devices on the network, reboot the router then turn TV on with no other devices on other than the router..

Once TV is on check to see if the error has cleared..

If cleared then turn on the PC with the TV on and see if no error happens..

You may want to go into the router and check to make sure it doesn't have any MAC addresses being blocked.. Since the TV MAC address may have been blocked by the router when a duplicate IP was detected..

This is assuming your TV is using a wired access, if you are using wireless then it could even be a problem with wireless security settings..

strollin wrote:
To answer your question, it was a coincidence. Merely installing Win 8.1 should not have had any effect on your Smart TV and it's ability to access it's "Smart" functions.

Hmm.. I thought the "Smart" functions of a "smart" TV is the additional capability to access "streaming" Internet programs and movies from Amazon and other pay streaming sources..

If I read the OP correctly, when they are TRYING to access the streaming features they are getting a Network interference message.

Seems to me that would conclude that there IS some possibility that Win8.1 may have managed to grab a duplicate IP address from the router that the TV is using.

The router may be HOLDING the IP address of the PC and not releasing it.

Typically in most cases the workstations involved would pop up a message on the desktop of a duplicate IP in use.. When that happens ONE of the PCs IS DISABLED and cannot access any network resources.

A smart TV is nothing more than a "Linux" appliance hung on the network.. As such the messages it gives may not be as straight forward as say a Windows PC..

Network Interference message is most likely being caused by another device on the network having the same IP address (causing "Interference").. The problem is finding it and solving the conflict..

OP may need to open a command prompt (DOS box)on the PC and run IPconfig to see if it has the same IP as the TV..

Under IPconfig the OP can use "ipconfig /release" to release all IP connection info..

Then run "ipconfig /renew" to renew the PC adapter ip info..

To get all command switches you simply type ipconfig /?