Plex for Samsung app 2.014 for E/F-Series in beta

Plex Players Smart TVs
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I just finished polishing the new release for the very old orca-app for samsung smart-hub devices.

The issue is, that with very old Samsung TVs (aka E/F Series) you cannot switch users anymore or register the device with the plex-service. So this is really just for users who have the plex-pass and an old Samsung Smart-Hub TV.

Thanks to @Fabio.Pergola i know, that H-Series is currently not affected.

I there took the old app from orca and modified it, so it will work by using a server of mine to talk to and then relay the communications to plex.tv

Before i release the app, i would like to beta-test it, with some people who are affected. If you are, please send me a PM or write a message here.

If the tests go well, i will release the app for sideloading here.

If you want more technical in depth details, see this thread:

Known Bugs so far:

  • in the user-login screen, the icons of the users are missing [not critical]
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Ok, I normally stay out of the chat as much as I can , but this is a bit sketchy.
Although I don’t not think you have bad intentions, I must advise anyone to not do this.

What is going to happen: All your Plex traffic will be send to a server that has full access to anything you send to it! It can see your Plex client codes and everything!. Do not do this!

Oh , and I do not grant you the right to distribute any version of the app modified in this way!

If you want to help users, explain them how they can setup a reverse proxy themselves that will handle the upgrade to TLS 1.2. It that way they are in control, and are not compromising their data.

7 Likes
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@orca thanks your response it is very much appreciated!

To everyone else: yes, he is right. All of the traffic can be intercepted with the modified version because you would be talking to a different server. I think I made that clear enough. That is one of the main reasons I did not release the app. The missing authorization from orca was another reason (even if you might think it is abandonware). There are multiple other reasons not to release it, or maybe to rebuild it from scratch.

The biggest issue for E/F-Series users is: your system is compromised. TLS 1.1 has have too many bugs and they are not fixable. That is why all servers are shutting down the obsolete protocol. Many Smart-TVs talk back to “home” and the Samsungs are no exception. Even if they are old, my E-Series talks to many different sites and I would assume (almost verified!) not just for checking for updates.

So what are the options? Throw away a perfectly usable Smart-TV? Buy an Amazon-Stick? You name it.

I am very short on time but I would take on the development, this is all about trust. Do you trust plex.tv? Do you trust me? You should not trust anyone! (on the internet, as far as that goes :wink: ).

I am glad, that @orca replied, and that he reinforced the security concerns! That is a vital component of an open source mindset.

I also like the idea of enabling each and everyone to run their own reverse proxy to do it. At first I thought of running that on the TV itself, but rooting is not for everyone. So I guess @orca is right. Everyone should run a reverse proxy on their own, if they want to use an old Smart-TV. This would be the safest thing to do!

It is not especially hard to setup, nor does it take many resources. But to do it, everyone else must be able to make some minimal changes to the individual apps. I am willing to put up a full “howto” and release that to the public. But if we want to improve it even further, a full open source access to the previous app would be helpful. @orca: are you willing to release your source so that the community is able to take on? This would be very much appreciated by all of us!

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I’m sorry, but this never has been an open-source project as everyone assumes.
Plex has the intellectual rights to the code, so therefor it’s closed.

P.S. I didn’t want to get pulled into any discussions, so I’m going back in hiding.

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@orca: that’s very unfortunate. I was hoping to get access to the source code of the “unofficial” app so I could improve on that.

I know, that plex is closed-source, but since the different player-apps are not all derived from official work, I have had hoped to open up the gates. It seems I have failed.

I also think it is a (desired?) design flaw that all devices, even clients, have to report back to plex.tv even if they have been paired beforehand. What does that mean for paying customers (mostly for lifetime users)?
If the service is shutdown, you are out of luck. Even if you are hosting the service yourself, you cannot take advantage of the extra users.

A better way would be to link the device once, and then let the user-handling been done by the local-server. Plex business-model may have worked so far, but will it be fine in the future? If it doesn’t, all users will be affected.
Sidenote: I never wanted this discussion to get this far, but I have to!

Back to the smart-hub-app: it is very unfortunate that orca is not willing to share the source, but it is his decision to do so and we have to respect that.

The other thing is, that I live in the EU. I can use reverse engineering as much as I want to AFAIK. So I am not bound to any obligations, even though I would have liked everyone to get along. Just did this “research” to find a solution for myself, which is working pretty well.

I never suspected that it would get this hard, to improve it for everyone. And I did many OSS-Projects, believe me. I think it is time for me to leave plex, and move on.

If anyone is in need, please do contact me, as I might help. If I have the time, I will try to help – teach you how to help yourself!

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Orca client contains Plex logo’s, trademarks and icons, which was granted to Orca to use in his application. I do not imagine, you asked for the same rights?

To redistribute, you’ll need Plex permissions

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And what prevents Plex from giving the same rights to someone new, preferably a team and not a one-man show, to continue the project? Would it not be in your interest to keep users at Plex?

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Nothing, if that’s what they want, I was simply pointing out that it was for sure not allowed as is.

I’m not Plex, so can only talk for myself, but building an app, that goes to an untrusted proxy, would make this a security issue for everybody, having a PMS server, if there users started to use that variant of the client!

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ok, i did not want it to get that far - but right now, after reading all of this, i am in a bad mood.

Please forgive me …

Orca client contains Plex logo’s, trademarks and icons, which was granted to Orca to use in his application.

thanks for bringing it up to my attention. of course. i will replace the logos with kitten pics if needed.

To redistribute, you’ll need Plex permissions

i highly doubt that. i am not a lawyer but i have released many libraries under the GPL for 20 years now. with the logos, you might be correct. but i do not like it, if someone is using public code and trying to tell the public what to do with it.

What I try to say

i am investing time to make something work. of course it has flaws, just as everything has downsides. the reactions in this forum are mainly negative and not helping at all. The exception are the real users. They are keeping me going forward. I could stop at anytime since my issue has been solved. But i want to help the community. This is why i am still writing here.

I think the main benefit of a community is to improve on itself, and move forward.

What I am saying

I am typically a very reasonable person. So i ask before i do something, even if i have the right to do it.

Example?

@orca said:

Oh , and I do not grant you the right to distribute any version of the app modified in this way!

The app uses GPL code. In some libs there even is the original GPLv2-Header included. That means, I (and everyone else!) has the right to get source code. This is what copyleft is all about.

I very politely asked for the source code. Right here and now I ask @orca again to give it to me, in compliance with the GPL. You can do it via PM if you like.

What comes out of it, is another story. I would really like it, if this forum was to help, discuss and improve on matters and ideas not just to blow them apart.

Thanks!

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I was referring to the use of Plex trademarks etc.

And the way I see it, you are providing “a man in the middle” that can be misused, and put everyone in danger, IMHO

The correct way of doing this in my book, is to teach users to use a reverse proxy by them self, IMHO

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yes, that is what i was trying to do, by saying:

I will try to help – teach you how to help yourself!

as soon as i have the source a simple dialogue could be implemented, asking for a proxy server which will do the TLS upgrade.

Without the source, it can be done (like I have) but this would not be for the general public.

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Hello, Tyrael.

Please don’t make yourself bad mood with the author said about this Smarthub Plex. Just continued your work. We, all real users who obtain Samsung E-Series from 2012, need an update to re-login with our account to Plex Smarthub.
Please help. Anything you did to help us, will be very very appreciated. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hy Tyrael,

Like user535 said, do what your best to help us, real users who don’t know any of these tech mambo jumbo things. All we need is just log on to our Smarthub Plex like we always did in the past, and enjoy our movie.

So, please help us out of this darkness. Upload all your work in others website. We will very appreciate you job.

Sincerely,

Plex User with Samsung UA40EH smart TV 2012 series.

1 Like
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Hi there,

during the night i thought alot about how to solve this dilemma. And i may have found a solution that works out for everyone and also adresses some of the security concerns.

i have 2 possible strategies.

to the users @purakrisna, @SikSkyliner and @user535
could you tell me on which operating system you run your plex-servers? Is it windows, is it linux or something else?

depending on this information i will take the appropriate strategy to implement this.

Thanks in advance!

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Hi Tyrael,

Mostly, I connected to my friend Plex Server in different city from mine. He run his Plex Server (2 server) under MacOS 10.14.5 (Mojave), and 1 server under Ubuntu, I don’t know what is the version of his Ubuntu, but I guess it runs Focal Fossa 20.04 LTS. I don’t have any local Plex Server in my own.

I hope this information can help you. Thanks in advance.

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Hi Tyrael, thanks for your reply.

My Old E series Samsung Smart TV Plex app always connected to two Plex servers located in my Office Data Center. The main plex server in a Mac Pro with latest MacOS, the 2nd server running with Ubuntu OS. I don’t know their version precisely. But anything you can do to help us, we will appreciated it very much. Thanks.

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@plex_tyrael_metaname_de Danke for looking into this. Do you think it’s possible to hijack plex.tv or is there more to it? Does the Plex client perform any checks? I don’t think my TV knows what a proxy is but I do have control over the DNS server.

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@plex_tyrael_metaname_de
My Plex is running under Windows, its always the acutal Version. Thank you for your Time to bring Plex back to old Smart-Hub Samsungs devices.

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Thanks so much for all your replies. I now get a clearer picture of the issues i should address.

I will get back to you!

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Hello Tyrael,

Thanks for all your effort. It will be very appreciated and means a lot to us, all user who obtain Samsung Smart TV E-Series. We will wait for your work. Thank you very much.

1 Like