Tag: Samsung

  • How to change the langage of the “Samsung Account” webpage

    When I visit my account on the website of Samsung, it is always displayed in Dutch (used in Brussels, my location) instead of French (my language).

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    Setting the language “French (European)” in my profile is not fixing this issue. The solution is to change the language on this membership page.

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  • Reinstall Apps, Themes and Watch faces purchased on Samsung Galaxy Story

    After reinstalling my Gear S2 to connect it with a new Galaxy phone, I couldn’t find how to reinstall watch faces bought years ago.

    This can be done using the “Galaxy Store” app.

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    1. “Galaxy Store” is an app preinstalled on Galaxy phones. Open it (Configuring your Samsung account if not yet done).
    2. Tap the 3 vertical dots on top right of screen
    3. Select “My page” (previously named “My Apps”).
    4. Select “All”
    5. Select the Watch, Apps or Themes
    6. Then re-download what you wish.

    To manage your Watch, install the “Galaxy Wearable ” App (previously named Galaxy Gear) via the Google App Store.

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  • Check if Samsung Smart TV is alive with Php Server Monitor

    Samsung Smart TVs have two http ports that can be queried from Php Server Monitor: 8000 and 8001.

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    If the TV is on, querying on http://IP:8000, you get the response:

    Server is running...

    If the TV is on, querying on http://IP:8001/ms/1.0/, you get a response like:

    {
      "DUID": "08f0d181-0096-1000-82d5-c4576e33a21d",
      "Model": "14_X14_BT",
      "ModelName": "UE48H6500",
      "ModelDescription": "Samsung TV RCR",
      "NetworkType": "wired",
      "SSID": "",
      "IP": "192.168.0.180",
      "FirmwareVersion": "Unknown",
      "DeviceName": "[TV]Samsung LED48",
      "DeviceID": "08f0d181-0096-1000-82d5-c4576e33a21d",
      "UDN": "08f0d181-0096-1000-82d5-c4576e33a21d",
      "Resolution": "1920x1080",
      "CountryCode": "BE",
      "SmartHubAgreement": "true",
      "ServiceURI": "http://192.168.0.180:8001/ms/1.0/",
      "DialURI": "http://192.168.0.180:8001/ws/apps/",
      "Capabilities": [
        {
          "name": "samsung:multiscreen:1",
          "port": "8001",
          "location": "/ms/1.0/"
        }
      ]
    }

    When the TV is Off (powered off or in standby mode), you won’t get any response from those ports but:

    ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

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  • Add AC3 support within MX Player on Samsung Galaxy S7 

    By default, MX player doesn’t support ac3 audio due to licensing issue. Using a custom codec solves this.

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    Don’t download  and install the «NEON Codec 1.8.9 for Android 6+» usually suggested for MX player in order to support AC3 (available on Google play as «MX Player Codec for ARMv7 NEON CPUs»).

    Instead, download the custom codec for arm v7 neon 1.8.6 (available here). Unzip that file, open MX Player, click on the menu …, go to  settings > decoder. Scroll down to the very bottom and select Custom Codec.  There, pick the file libffmpeg.mx.so.neon.1.8.6 you have just unzipped.

    MX Player will next restart. You can now try a video with ac3 codec. Ex.: download a sample from here.

    Et voilà.

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  • How to connect a bluetooth headset with a samsung tv UE48H6500

    Yes, this is possible. But you have to enable the support for «Bluetooth headphones» via a hidden menu.

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    To access the samsung hidden menu:
    – Switch off the tv with your remote
    – Press the key «Info»
    – Press the key «Menu»
    – Press the key «Mute»
    – Switch on the tv and wait for a few seconds

    The hidden menu is now appearing on the screen. With the keys «up» and «down» you navigate between entries (submenus or settings). With the key «ok» (Enter) you enter a selected submenu or edit a setting. With the key «Return» you exit the submenu or the edit mode. With the keys «Left» and «Right» you change the value of a setting in edit mode.

    To enable the support for «Bluetooth headphones»:
    – select the entry «Option»
    – select the entry «MRT option»
    – select the setting «BT support»
    – change the value of that setting to set: ON
    – exit that setting
    – exit the submenu
    – select now the entry «Engineer Option»
    – select the setting «BT_AUDIO_ON_OFF»
    – change the value of that setting to set: ON

    And now switch off the tv. Voilà. The feature should be enabled. To access it, switch on the tv and press the key Menu. Then go to > Sound > Speaker Settings > Bluetooth headphones. From there you can search for Bluetooth devices and pair them.

    Later, to reconnect a Bluetooth which is already paired, use the key «tools» and in «Speaker Select», pick «Bluetooth headset». If it does not connect immediately, switch off and on your headphone and retry changing the “Speaker Select”. Notice that you must do this before starting any application like Plex or Netflix in the SmartHub.

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  • Awful Bluetooth Audio Quality on Galaxy S7

    Since I have my Galaxy S7, I only connected it twice with my Philips Bluetooth headphones CB8100. Once to play with an Oculus Game and once to listen music. Twice, I was surprised how bad was the reception. Sound was crackly and skipping continuously. It was due to the WiFi !!

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    When I used my headphones to play an Oculus gamen I thought that the mobile was not powerful enough to stream the sound via Bluetooth while playing the video. Weird, but ok… it was also not powerful enough to mirror the video on my Samsung TV, so….

    But when it failed also to stream fluently music, either from YouTube or from by DS Audio Stations (Synology), I thought there should be a reason behind this.

    As it’s known that Bluetooth and WiFi are both using the frequency 2.4GHz, I tried to disable the WiFi… and it solved immediately the problem.

    I never never had such a problem with my previous mobiles 🙁 Also, I am quite sure I would not have that issue if I could connect on a WiFi 5Ghz.

    Support page for GS7 in Belgium is: http://www.samsung.com/be_fr/support/model/SM-G935FZDALUX

    Awful support from Samsung!

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    I did post a request for support to Samsung on the 2nd May and only got an answer on 20th May. I said that the noise was awful when the Wifi was on and great if it was off. I also said that I had not such issue when streaming from my 300€ OnePlus One mobile (the S7 was 799€) or from my Sony Laptop or from my Lenovo Tablets.

    They answered that “Samsung does not guarantee the proper functioning of Samsung products. with other branded”

    WTF Samsung! Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are standard wireless protocols. My headset works perfect with 3 other brands.

    Numéro de dossier client : 2812699319

    Merci pour votre courriel concernant votre Galaxy S7. Vous indiquez que vous avez un fonctionnement anormal avec votre casque Philips tout en ayant le Wifi activé.

    Nous vous informons que Samsung n’assure pas le bon fonctionnement des produits de marque différente que Samsung avec des produits Samsung.

    Si vous avez des questions vous pouvez toujours contacter notre centre de contact. Cela peut se faire par téléphone, par courriel, Facebook ou Twitter.

    Cordialement,

    EL HARIM Med

    Customer Care Representative

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  • Expand Galaxy S7’s Internal Storage with a SD card

    Samsung does not support officially the “Adoptable Storage” feature available with Android 6.0. But there are many posts on the web explaining how to do it via “ADB” (Android Debug Bridge).

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    Android Marshmallow has the ability to take a SD card and partition it as semi-permanent device storage. But it’s not accessible on the Samsung Galaxy S7.

    I applied this recipes with success: http://www.modaco.com/news/android/heres-how-to-configure-adoptable-storage-on-your-s7-s7-edge-r1632/

    • Download and Install “Samsung Usb Drivers” from http://adbdriver.com/downloads/
    • Download and copy in a folder the “ADB kits” from http://adbshell.com/downloads
    • Enable the “Developer Options” menu via Settings > About Device > Software Info > Type 5 times the “Build number”.
    • Enable “USB debugging” via Settings > Developer Options.
    • Plug your mobile into your PC via an USB cable.
    • Open a command prompt as administrator and type adb shell
    • Type next sm list-disks to see the Disk ID. It looked like this on my phone “disk:179,0”
    • To use 100% of the SD card as internal storage, type sm partition <Disk ID> private
      • Ex.: sm partition disk:179,0 private
    • After formatting the microSD card
      • Reboot
      • Go next into Settings > Storage. Select the “SD card” and hit the menu “More” to “Migrate data”. This moves everything to the SD card. Everything in the future should install to the SD card until it is full and then moves to internal.

    Before this, due to Oculus VR stuff, my internal storage was full although I already moved manually most Apps to the SD card. Now, after the “Migration of the Data” only 18GB are still used out of the 32GB (~13GB have been moved to the SD Card).

    NB.: Since I did this, I notice that moving Apps to the SD often results in an error message : “Not enough storage space”. I usually just retry and then the move succeeds.

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  • Netflix Sound continuously interrupting for 0.5s on Samsung TV

    Since a few weeks, when kids watch Netflix on our Samsung TV, the sound is continuously interrupting for an half second (I would say about every 60 seconds although something more frequently). I did fix it by switching from Audio Format “Dolby Digital” to “DTS Neo 2:5”.

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    I noticed that the issue was not occurring when using TV’s built-in speakers. It was only occurring when using my Sound Bar Yamaha YSP3300 as audio output, and with some movies. The sound-bar had short term pauses (< 1 sec) in sound every once in a while.

    Googling for similar issues, I found that Dolby Digital was not well supported by the combination Samsung/SmartHub/Netflix/Soundbar/5.1 movies…

    • http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/samsung-soundbar-skips-audio-when-streaming-netflix-601070/
    • https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24846
    • http://www.myce.com/news/netflix-removes-dolby-digital-5-1-supports-from-apps-for-samsung-tvs-73052/

    So, I did change the audio format via TV’s Menu > Sound > Additional Parameters > Audio

    Et voilà 😉

    NB: it works both with DTS Neo and PCM…

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  • Smart Apps don’t run, update or install anymore on Samsung TV

    Yesterday, I discovered that Plex, DS Video and a few other Apps didn’t run anymore on my Samsung Smart TV. I was also unable to install new Apps. After looking for solutions, I finally decided to reset the TV. It solved the problem.

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    Most of the Apps installed (except Youtube and Netflix) refused to start. Trying to start an App only resulted in a spinning wheel… spinning for minutes… the TV finally exiting the Smart Hub without having opened the App.

    I tried to uninstall some of the Apps and reinstall them next. But it appeared that it was impossible to install any new or previously installed Apps.

    I was also unable to update installed Apps although an update was available.

    However, network connection was fine (I did use the diagnostic menu of the TV to check it).

    Finally, I decided to reinitialize the TV, also using the diagnostic menu. During the reconfiguration, the TV got an update of its system. After the reconfiguration, all preinstalled Apps appeared to work fine. And I was also able to install new Apps and run them.

    NB.: Maybe updating the TV system without doing a full reset would have been enough to solve the problem…

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  • “Authentication Error Occurred” with my Samsung Galaxy – Android 4.1.2 – due to Wi-Fi

    Depending on the place where I was located at home, when trying to connect my Galaxy via Wi-Fi, I could got or not this infamous message “Authentication Error Occurred”. I did possibly solve it by changing the channel of my access points.

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    My experience with this error message is that it really depends on the received signal(s) and possibly having several network with the same SSID.

    I have 3 Wi-Fi Access Points in my house. All are configured with the same password and encryption (WPA2/AES), the same SSID and the same channel. This is creating a large and stable wireless network in the house.

    But at some locations where I get either a poor signal or two signals of quite the same strength, I get the infamous “Authentication Error Occurred” message with my Galaxy SII (Android 4.1.2) just after enabling Wi-Fi. And I get this message whatever Access Point I am trying to connect from those locations.

    At those very same locations, my laptop “Sony Vaio” (Windows 8) can connect without any issue, as well as my tablet “Nabi 2” (Android 4.0.4). Reason why I conclude it’s probably an “Android/Galaxy issue” and not a “Router/Access Point issue”.

    Moving from those locations just a few meters away, I can successfully connect quite immediately after enabling the Wi-Fi. But in such cases, although I only moved a few meters away, I get at least one signal much better than the others.

    My access Points are “Devolo DLAN 200 Wireless N”. From security/encryption point of view, they only support WPA/TKIP and WPA2/AES. I tried both mode without success.

    I also tried to use shorter password (minimum being 8 chars) without success. But I admit I didn’t try to connect using WPS (which is supported by my Devolo and reported by some users on various blog to solve this issue).

    I finally tried to completely disable the security/encryption. I did enable the MAC filtering instead. In that mode, the connections succeed really more often, but still not always. And there is at least one location where I can never connect with my Galaxy SII although I can with my laptop and my tablet: my bed 🙁

    During my tests, I was monitoring the wireless signals using “Wi-Fi Analyzer”, to be sure that the signal was kept “fair”. So, loosing the signal for any reason is not presumed to be the issue either, especially as far as I was doing the same test (I.e.: I enable the Wi-Fi and wait for a connection) simultaneously with my Galaxy SII Android 4.1.2 and my Nabi 2 Android 4.0.4.

    As the quality of the signal was “fair” and as far as I had no issue in most other locations with free Wi-Fi, I started to consider that the problem was possibly related to some small signal disruptions in my area.

    Here in Europe, the frequency 2450 MHz is used by microwave ovens. Those could possibly disturb the Wi-Fi channels 9 and 10. But if your does, change it immediately ! Radiation that escapes from a microwave oven while it is in use may not exceed 5 mW (per cm2 at a distance of 5 cm ). So, if your experience Wi-Fi issues when using your microwave oven, the leakage radiation is probably exceeding a lot that limit (It happens as some of my colleagues already experienced). But I don’t have any special device turned on when I do my tests…

    Looking for more information about Wi-Fi signals, I discovered that frequencies from 2400 to 2450 MHz (Wi-Fi channels 1 to 8) are used by “radio amateur”. Those could effectively impact the Wi-Fi signal as their radio signal goes up to 120 Watts while Wi-Fi is usually around ~18-30 mWatts. It would therefore be advisable to check within the neighborhood if anyone has such a hobby. This could likely be the case if the Wi-Fi issues are only experienced during certain period of the day (e.g.: the evening) or during the weekend.

    I finally read that channels 1, 5, 9 and 13 are known to be used by some wireless transmitter and camera (at least here in Europe). As I don’t have such devices, and taking into account the info about the frequencies used by “ham radio”, I decided to use the channel 9 or 13.

    Concretely I did switch from channel 6 to channel 13 on all my access points and could immediately connect flawlessly from all locations where I was experiencing issues previously. That being said, there are possibly some other locations still to be discovered where I will experience again the problem. But for sure, changing the frequency has an impact on the connection!

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