Samsung Smart TV Setup

Can you access the Church website through the TV without setting up a Samsung account?

Do you set up a stake Samsung account, or do you link your stake gmail account, for example, to access the Internet features. We want to be able to run Church broadcasts through the TV itself without having to drag up a laptop and associated cabling.

The following is according to my own understanding, we've had the mounted smart TVs for a while, but the Ward Technology Specialist has been slacking in his duties (me):

lajackson wrote: Sat Feb 14, 2026 4:38 pmCan you access the Church website through the TV without setting up a Samsung account?

• We could not find a way to bypass it.

Do you set up a stake Samsung account, or do you link your stake gmail account...to access the Internet features?

• The Bishopric created a Samsung account; not sure if they associated with the ward email account or not. I'll find out and edit this response. HDMI, USB, and Coax work w/o account

We want to be able to run Church broadcasts through the TV itself without having to drag up a laptop and associated cabling.

• "To little; too late" from me as GC just ended, but yes, church broadcasts can run on it. BYUtv and Gospel Stream are available as downloadable apps for the Samsung and work very well.

I really wish the Church would've created their own custom firmware/ROM for the TVs, especially given concerns about appropriate content. We've had a small number of instances where Samsung has displayed inappropriate icons, ads, and search results. But I think we can tighten it down once we get the Ward's Samsung acct loaded (using a member's Samsung acct right now).

ksgentry wrote: Sun Apr 05, 2026 8:10 pm We've had a small number of instances where Samsung has displayed inappropriate icons, ads, and search results. But I think we can tighten it down once we get the Ward's Samsung acct loaded (using a member's Samsung acct right now).

Let me know if you succeed in locking it down. When I added ours to "no splash", it immediately went into full entertainment mode advertising upcoming features. I removed it from "no spash" and we just use it with a laptop. It still works with Windows screen sharing, so no cabling required.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Apr 05, 2026 8:37 pm I removed it from "no spash" and we just use it with a laptop. It still works with Windows screen sharing, so no cabling required.

One thing I found out was the Church's website works with the TV Internet browser, even without splash page terms acceptance, good solution for Gospel Library. I couldn't trigger the splash pageby going to Google.com, but did so trying to go to a sports website I like. Feels like it isn't super-reliable method though.

Thanks for mentioning the undesired results after using the NoSplash method. Really the TVs just need access to the BYUtv, Gospel Stream, and (maybe) YT apps. I'll probably be fiddling with it a lot over the next few weeks

Also wanted to add this: I haven't tried the Samsung SmartThings app, but really I don't like the idea of more accounts and such, but I found a Bluetooth remote app for Android that works very satisfactory with the tvs. It also enables an your phone screen to use like a mouse pad and your touch screen keyboard as input as well. It is called bluetooth remote (simple I know):

• F-Droid (FOSS)https://f-droid.org/packages/com.atharok.btremote/

• Google Playhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... mote.gplay

Also a very recent software update to the TV (a late March / early April) supposedly enabled Google cast functionality, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work when I tried it. And their help section under connection settings still doesn't list anything about Google cast.

ksgentry wrote: Sun Apr 05, 2026 8:51 pm I couldn't trigger the splash pageby going to Google.com, but did so trying to go to a sports website I like. Feels like it isn't super-reliable method though.

The key seems to be forcing a DNS lookup by entering a website that's not in the cache. Preferably something it doesn't have a certificate for since the splash screen is effectively a man-in-the-middle attack, which gets defeated by https.

You might have better luck with a website like http://httpforever.com.

When did LG TVs with the custom Church interface start rolling out? Was it last year or this year? I assume units should be going through FM now for the LG TVs instead of buying off-the-shelf equipment.

Sorry if this should be a new thread, but it seems related to setting up the smart TV's...

Our stake center recently had 5 or 6 new TV's installed and most all of them are working fine. I can mirror to them using airplay with no problems. However, the one in the high council room does nothing when I select airplay in the casting menu (the others bring up the airplay settings page). When I go to the debug area, I can see on the log that airplay is failing to start on the high council TV. Everything else seems to be setup properly and it is starting the Google Cast app per the log, although I don't have an Android device to test it.

I have tried rebooting the TV with a power cycle and by pulling the plug, but neither makes any difference. Is there something that I need to do to get it to reinstall everything? Or is there a simpler solution to getting airplay to start on this TV?

Thanks,
Rick

Check to see if both are attached to the same WiFi name. Check and see if both have been added to the NoSplash group policy.

Airplay may require internet access to work. If the TV set is on wired internet, that's not a problem. If the TV is on Lehi that's not a problem (but you'll have to keep up with password changes). If the TV set is on Liahona and added to NoSplash, then it can access the internet.

Both TV’s are using wireless internet. I have tried both Liahona and Lehi with the same results. I verified that they can get to the gospel streaming library and are able to play videos. Is that sufficient to verify that they are connected to the internet?

Rick

Have you compared firmware versions on the TVs?

Good catch! I had compared the App version and it is the same but the TV software on the HC unit is 03.41.30. The bishop's office is 03.41.50. They are different models (HC room is larger) so I don't know if that makes a difference, but it might be part of the issue. Is there a way that I can force an update check on the HC room TV?

Rick

I don't know. I'm not a church employee, just a community member like you. I just hung around enough for them to put me to work keeping the spammers out.

I'd start by going to the Samsung support page.

LOL

Thanks for the help. I guess these are actually LG and not Samsung TV's. Plus I was thinking that they somehow have a special set of software on them for the church since they boot to the church logo. I'll see what I can figure out and post anything useful that I might discover to resolve the issue.

Rick