We have seven Samsung televisions masquerading as computer monitors in the office, so getting them to work is a challenge. Here are some cool things to do:
- The remote does not like having lots of televisions in the same room. Something as simple as scrolling doesn’t seem to work. You can power it on and off, but for some reason the remotes are disabled. I wonder if this has to do with two way communications and having lots of TVs send IR. The solution is to download the Samsung mobile application and then connect it. This is a little tricky, but download the Samsung application and the TV will allow it (it’s really a computer after all!)
- The MacBook Pro (2016 or later) does not correctly recognize the HDMI connection is 60 hertz capable. Debian seems to work fine. The workaround is a little painful, but works. You basically have to install a custom resolution into the screen. Then you can delete the application.
So here is how to do it:
- First you need to disable System Integrity Protection which keeps you from doing things like this. First shutoff your Mac and then when booting hold the Command-R key down and enter the Restore utility. Choose Utility/Terminal and then type
csrutil disable
- Now go back and download ScreenResX and install it. It is a ten day demo version.
- Make sure you have an HDMI 2.0 cable and an HDMI 2.0 to USB C adapter that supports the full 60 hertz (aka 18Gbps). And reboot the machine.
- Now you should boot your Samsung screen into 30 hertz mode (boo!). Start System Preferences/ScreenResX and go to to the Custom Resolutions tab and entire 3840 x 2160 x 60 for the frequency and choose apply. That’s it, it should now appear in your display selection as the 60 option.
- Now you can remove the ScreenResX by going to System Preferences and right clicking on ScreenResX and uninstalling it.
- Now shutdown your computer and the power on while holding the Command-R and go back to terminal and type
csrutil enable
 to get back this important security precaution and you are done.
You can check it by power cycling the Samsung TV and it will tell you what resolution it thinks it sees.
Finally to get Netflix and Amazon, here are some of the tips:
- You need a Samsung account to enable the Smart Hub. For some reason, the passwords that you create on Samsung.com do not work with the television. First is that TVs force a 15 character limit and even if you type it, it doesn’t work. Best workaround is to use a secondary email account just for Samsung TVs and register from there.
- Now you have to laboriously type in the user name and passwords for Netflix and Amazon. It is almost worth it to connect a Bluetooth keyboard to the television just for this.
- Next up is getting UHD content on the two other televisions that I’ve tried it has just worked, you suddenly see UHD logos or 4K logos, but this doesn’t seem to happen on this model.