Ok I'll take your word for it. It was Youtube that I was really interested in on top of catch up TV. I am hoping that what I store into my play list of things to watch can be watchable on the TV once I access my account on the TV. I doubt I can do that on i player which means I will only be able to watch things that have been shown within the last 7 days.

40D seems to have a lot older programmes though and the Beeb should allow people to watch programmes that were broadcast some time ago too.

On Zx spectrums, no when I was a kid in the 80's, it never occurred to me about how future products could affect us but I sure did get a lot of tape loading errors and when the Sega's and their instant loading game consoles came out, it was too pricey for me. back then.

I actually downloaded it like yesterday by the remote control and its "keyboard" that appears on the TV. The salesman said it would be an app though but it's not on the app listings.

There are thousands of nasties out there on the internet if you want to scare the wotsit out of yourself. But that doesn't mean they will have any effect on you.

To be affected by a virus you first need a mechanism to download and store the virus code on the device you are using. A TV cannot do either. But even if it could it still does not mean any virus you encounter will do anything.

Once the virus code is on the device it has to be able to execute. And that depends on what operating system to virus is written to run under. So, for example, an Apple Mac is perfectly capable of downloading and storing a Windows virus on it's hard drive. But the virus won't do anything because Windows code won't run on Mac OS.

So any TV virus would have to be written for whatever operating system the TV uses to even stand a chance of being able to do anything. And that requires development tools be available for whatever OS that is. Which may well be far harder to come by than Windows, Mac OS, Linux or whatever equivalents.

Then you have to consider what value it would be to a potential virus writer to make it worth while. Virtually zero I would think.

The chances of getting a correct answer are very small

Why not simply visit the app store ?


http://www.samsung.com/uk/tvapps/

And yes Youtube is listed

YT definetley does not come up on the choices on my TV so unless its hidden away somewhere else its not there. The choices start from i player to all other free to air channels catch up tv and amazon, netflix and one or two others but no YT.

That link of yours says all apps but not for this particular TV, its probably available on some TV's as an app but not all but I'll try loading it again and see how much of my playlists I can watch on it.

Have you actually visited the app store and downloaded the appropriate app ?. It may not be available initially, it should be a free download, along with any of the others listed ?

The list I posted is specific to UK IP addresses, so assuming you actually live in the UK it should not be an issue (note the UK in the url).

If you have the app, there is no guarantee it will support all the video formats on Youtube. Only a non dedicated microprocessor with the ability to add extra codec support (like a PC can) do that.

Smart TV's use a large scale dedicated CPU, if the required codec wasn't incorporated it may not be possible to add it.

This may or may not apply to UK models but there should be something similar (hopefully)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bym8uGdrYuw

It seems that a youtube app may be available

EDIT: Just noticed this in the comments in the link

Youtube was removed from samsung apps, so we can't download it amymore..

I came onto post that I have found YT via the search button on the remote control. It doesn't come up under the smart hub button, that gives you choices from i player to skype but doesn't include YT but YT is there on the search button.

After seeing your post mac, I just tried the app settings option, and YT nor other app's were there. I think it would want me to create an account with samsung first and until I read the t+c's properly then I'd be reluctant to create an account. I skim read part of the T + C's and there is something about having to pay to use some apps but it doesn't say how much and how to pay. I've been put off using some apps on windows 8
because of charges and it doesn't list how much things cost and how to pay.

I found my YT account again so will hopefully be able to watch things that way too. Thanks for your tips and help.

Not true really -- the Spectrum had no OS (only a monitor app in ROM, which was more akin to a bootstrap/BIOS than anything else), and no live storage. Any malicious code could be removed by the simple operation of pulling the power lead out of the back.

Spectrum discs could contract viruses (a couple of proofs of concept were devised in the 1990s by hacker groups) but they had no practical use, and were unable to propagate except under some very specific circumstances.

A 'smart' TV does have an OS, and many do have applications that can be installed in active storage. This is carefully controlled by the TV manufacturer, but you only have to look at the way apps like Plex can be sideloaded into a Sky NowTV box to see the principle by which malicious code could be loaded onto a TV.

The mere fact that the TV's CPU and OS is limited is no measure of its potential vulnerability -- such a system is many orders of magnitude more powerful than an XT-class PC, for example, which was vulnerable to many viruses. The key measure is how well the OS developers have defended the root user account.

Will it happen in practice? No.

You're still thinking of it as a computer - but there's no way provided of downloading, installing, or running a virus program - and this presumes one could be written for the processor and OS involved in a specific TV.

That's because it is a computer -- if you accept that an Android dongle or Roku-type system is a computer.

Most smart TVs are essentially just a standard set, with a module quite similar to a Roku box integrated into them. It is possible to load software into these (as stated above, and which you conveniently missed in your quote).

It is extremely unlikely, bordering on impossible, that a virus could be installed on such a system (and in any case, most of these appliances are Linux-based in any case, and as such are not particularly susceptible even if it were likely). However, malicious code can be stored, and run, on these systems and it certainly is not an impossibility. So, if you extend the definition of 'virus' to include trojans, then yes it is possible.

The operating systems on these appliances are quite close to a smartphone in the way they operate -- and will become more so as they become more sophisticated (as has been previously mentioned, Android and Web-OS are now being used in some TVs). As for the processor in a specific TV; most will be running an ARM- or Motorola-based CPU, it makes no sense to implement anything else.

There was a case a few years ago of malicious code being built into a $10 MP3 player, never mind a Smart TV. The Actions chipset used in the majority of Chinese players was Z80 compatible, meaning code was very easy to assemble for them; someone decided to place a payload-dropper into a third-party firmware for one common player which installed a virus onto a PC when inserted into the USB port. A $10 MP3 player is considerably less sophisticated than a Smart TV!!

I accept that Android/Roku are computers - because you can download and run programs (so could catch a suitably targeted virus, by doing something stupid) - but SMART TV's don't have either of those capabilities.


I've never heard of, or seen, any such SMART TV - all the ones I've dealt with have the SMART functions as an integral part of the set itself.

This is perhaps where you're confused?, you're assuming a SMART TV has a separate 'box' inside, that has the capability of downloading and running programs.

Have you ever seen a SMART TV where you can download and run programs?, like an Android dongle/box.

As there are Smart TV experts here then perhaps you'd be able to listen and advise on an Apps problem I have with my Sony Smart TV. Although the connection to my router is fine I can no longer Refresh Internet Content so I can use one of the Apps for which I pay an annual subscription. Each time I refresh, it fails and I get Error 5010. According to a search the only way to get rid of this is to do a factory reset and hence lose all my tweaks and settings (these, however, are noted down in a book).
This is a b nuisance, having had the TV 8 months.

Yes, the LG set I played with a few months back had exactly this functionality. I'm guessing this was one of the Web-OS sets referred to earlier in this thread (it did seem to have a similar look and feel in places to my HP Touchpad, which runs Web-OS).

I accept that 'dumb-smart' TVs which merely have access to iPlayer and maybe a couple of other features, would not be so easily hacked (though not necessarily impossible; it depends on what is running underneath the surface, and as I say I'd be very surprised if any currently available solution wasn't fundamentally a Linux/ARM appliance -- everything from $5 routers up are the same).

UPDATE:

Having found youtube via the search button on the remote control, Youtube now appears on the choices on the smarthub button too alongside the main terrestial catch up TV services where it didn't before I found it on the search button.

Also I can load youtube and I assume any other website via the search button too by the looks of it but so far I've only tried Youtube to download. Thought I'd mention if in case anyone else was thinking of buying a smart tv and got put off.

That reminds me, I was in John Lewis in April and I asked for a demo of a Smart TV. The salesman didn't seem best pleased about it but he decided to go ahead with it anyway. He gave the demo and by the time he was finished I was in a fit of laughter I was still laughing when I left the store. They really are not that smart at all.