By modifying the DNS server settings of Samsung Smart TVs, the SmartHub works again. Samsung's Smart TV platform has been down for at least a day now. Currently two temporarily workarounds are known, one is as simple as changing an IP address in the TV settings, the other requires some technical knowhow.
1) Method by changing DNS server IP (credits to KMaru)
On your Samsung TV, add 151.80.14.237 as the name server in your internet settings(See update2)@carlitoscarlos4 @FerCarolei @samsung @myce @whipitup69 Network settings change ip DNS to manual 151.80.14.237 pic.twitter.com/PF1amr1i2D RT
— Justin ?? (@Ju5t_1n) February 26, 2015
2) Method using Synology NAS - Follow these steps
- On your Samsung TV, internet settings, set DNS to manual
- Add Synology IP (internal IP, something like 192.168.xxx.xxx)
- Install DNS server on Synology
- In DNS server settings, Resolution, check all
- Source-IP services add 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0
DNS-servers add 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4/Forward First- Then zones, create Masterzone "samsung.com"
- Add 23.66.247.46 as master DNS server
- Source records, create A-Type "www" with IP address 23.66.247.46
3) Bonus! Some users report they see incorrect apps for their location (credits resident tech support: @Ju5tin_C)
https://twitter.com/Ju5tin_C/status/570752444898144256
We've received several reports that these settings work and solve the issue.
The downtime of Samsung's Smart TV platform appears to be caused by a failing Smart Hub server update. Samsung’s Smart TV platform has been down for more than a day, making it impossible for users to use popular apps like Netflix and HBO.
Another major outage in April last year was caused by a fire in a Samsung datacenter and also affected Samsung smartphones. From that incident we already learned that all TVs connect to a Samsung server and when that is down, the Samsung Smart TV platform is also down for all users.
In this case some users report that the TV indeed fails to connect to a Samsung server, allegedly due to a Domain Name Server (DNS) failure. The above methods are workarounds to bypass the failing server.
Update: The outage appears to be resolving now. More and more users are reporting their Smart TV works as intended. There still has not been an official statement from Samsung on the cause of the outage.
Update 2: User Kmaru who was so friendly to setup a VM for method 1 has informed us that he has taken down his solution. So this can't be used anymore!
