Before you start
- A Samsung Smart TV from 2016 or later, running Tizen
- A Samsung account signed in on the television
- Either your Xtream login or your personal M3U link, depending on which app you use
- Around ten minutes
Nothing issued yet? Take the 24-hour test run first, or pick a term and skip straight to it.
Doing it, step by step
Find the Samsung Apps store on the television
Press the Home button on the remote and look for Apps, usually represented by four coloured shapes. Open it and use the search icon in the top right. You will need to be signed in to a Samsung account to install anything; if you have never made one, the television will prompt you through it, and it costs nothing.
Search for IPTV Smarters and install it
Type IPTV Smarters into the search box. Install it and let it finish before opening. On some 2016 and 2017 models the app store is noticeably slow and can appear to have frozen partway through an install - give it a full minute before assuming anything has gone wrong, because interrupting it leaves a half-installed app that has to be removed first.
Open the app and choose the Xtream login
On first launch the app asks how you want to sign in. Choose the Xtream Codes option rather than the M3U one. Enter the server address including http:// and the port, then the username and password from your WhatsApp thread. Typing on a television remote is tedious, so take it slowly and check the server address twice before submitting - it is where nearly every failed login goes wrong.
If Smarters is unavailable, use Smart IPTV instead
Some regions and some older models do not carry Smarters. In that case install Smart IPTV, open it, and write down the MAC address it displays on screen. Go to siptv.app on a phone or computer, enter that MAC address along with the M3U link from your activation message, and upload. Restart the television app and the channels appear. There is a small one-off charge per television after a short trial period.
Wait for the list, then prune it
The channel list downloads on first launch and takes a minute or two on a television of this era. Once it is there, turn off the categories nobody in the house will ever open and add your regular channels to favourites. On a set with no box attached, and a remote that was designed for six inputs rather than twenty-five thousand channels, this matters more than it does on any other platform.
Put the television on a cable if you can reach one
Samsung sets from this period have adequate rather than excellent Wi-Fi, and Ultra HD feeds are unforgiving of a weak signal. If there is any way to run an Ethernet cable to the television, do it - it removes at a stroke the most common cause of evening stuttering and costs the price of a cable.
Keep the old box connected for a week
The set-top box you are replacing can stay on another HDMI input while you make your mind up. Switch between the two over a few days, particularly on the evenings the household cares about, and cancel the package only once nobody has reached for the old remote in a while.
When something goes wrong
The app is missing from the Samsung store
App availability on Tizen varies by region and by model year, and Samsung removes things without notice. If IPTV Smarters is not there, try Smart IPTV, and if neither appears your set is probably older than 2016 or the store is filtered to a region where they are unavailable. The reliable answer at that point is a cheap stick in the back of the television, which sidesteps Samsung's store entirely.
Smart IPTV shows no channels after the upload
Check the MAC address first, character by character, since it is easy to misread a B as an 8 on a television screen from across the room. Then confirm the M3U link was pasted complete, including everything after the question mark, which is the part that carries your credentials. Finally, close the app fully and reopen it rather than just returning to it, because it only fetches the playlist at launch.
The login is refused
On a television remote this is usually a typing error rather than a bad account. The server address needs http:// at the front and the port at the end. Passwords are case-sensitive and the on-screen keyboard does not always make the current case obvious. Re-enter all three values slowly before asking support to check the account.
Everything works but the picture is soft
Confirm the television is actually receiving an Ultra HD feed rather than the HD copy of the same channel - both are in the list, usually adjacent. If it is on the 4K entry and still looks soft, the bottleneck is likely the connection, and moving the set onto a wired connection is the fix that works most often.
Picking the player for this box
Smart IPTV (SIPTV)
Set up the Smart IPTV app on a Samsung or LG television: find the MAC address, upload your playlist, and the set collects it. 25,000+ channels.
IPTV Smarters Pro
The player that runs almost everywhere. Install it on Firestick, Android, Samsung, LG, Apple or a computer, sign in with Xtream and load 25,000+ channels.
The whole index
Every box, television and player we have written up.
Point your Samsung Smart TV at something better
A month costs $15 and opens 25,000+ channels. Message us and the details come back in under 15 minutes, with no box to rent and no engineer to let in.
Questions people ask about the Samsung Smart TV
Will this work on a Samsung made before 2016?
Generally not. Sets older than that run an earlier Tizen version or Samsung's previous platform, and the current apps will not install. This is not worth fighting: a stick plugged into an HDMI port gives you a better experience than the built-in apps would have anyway, and the outlay is less than one month of the bill you are cancelling.
Is Smart IPTV really a paid app?
There is a short free trial, after which it asks a small one-off payment for that particular television - not a subscription, and not per year. It is paid to the app's own developer and has nothing to do with your Orca4KTV subscription. If you would rather not pay it, IPTV Smarters is free where it is available.
Do I need a box if the television already does this?
No, and for a lot of households the whole appeal is having one less thing plugged in. Be aware that the built-in apps are less capable than TiViMate on Android hardware, particularly around the programme guide. If you find the guide frustrating after a fortnight, a stick is an easy and cheap upgrade at that point.
Can I use the same account on the television and a phone?
Yes. Installations are unlimited; what your plan caps is how many streams run at the same moment. On a one-connection plan the television and the phone can both be signed in, but only one will play at a time.