Samsung has recently added Skype support to its newer LED SmartHub HDTV models, but this functionality can also be enabled for plasma TV's by following just a few simple steps, which we have put together in a small How To.
The Skype application is compatible only with the Samsung CY-STC1100 webcam, which has to be purchased separately (it appears like the
FREETALK TV Camera for Samsung can also work for Skype).
Sadly, the webcam won't officially work with anything other than
Samsung LED TV's, but this is only an artificial limitation that can be easily overcome by using this How To.
The guide was tested using a Samsung 55-inch HDTV, model number PS50C7000, but it should work with other Samsung plasma HDTVs as long as they are SmartHub enabled.
After getting a hold of the Samsung webcam, the first thing that one has to do is to update its firmware to the latest version available (in our experiments this was T-VALDEUC-3009.2 - 11.05.11).
This is achieved by connecting the camera to an empty USB port on your computer and running the firmware update application that is available on
Samsung's support website.
The next step is to download the Samsung Skype app that is available
here. One this is done, connect the plasma TV, over wireless or Ethernet, to the same network as the one used by the computer with the Skype app.
In order to transfer this application to the
HDTV, one has to install a small web server on its PC. I recommend Small HTTP server since this is very easy to use and requires only a minimal set of system resources (get it from
here).
After installing the HTTP server, the next step is to unzip the archive with the Samsung Skype app. Now copy the contents of the archive in the root directory of your web server.
This should now contain a
widgetlist.xml file as well as an widget directory with
Skype.zip inside it.
The widgetlist.xml file has to be edited to point out to the PC that the files are placed on. In order to do this you have to find out the IP of the computer running the HTTP server (running ipconfig in a terminal window should do the trick) and edit the following line in widgetslist.xml to contain your IP:
<download>http://192.168.1.110/widget/Skype.zip</download>
As you can see, in our case, the IP of the network computer was 192.168.1.110.
To verify that everything worked OK and that the file is accessible from the network, you can try to access the link in widgetslist.xml from a web browser. If this will ask you to download the file to your PC, then everything worked as intended.
Now it's time to head over to the Samsung
plasma TV and install the Skype application.
Start your TV and go to Internet@TV -> Settings -> ID -> Create. Here create a new account called
develop with any password you would like. Go back to the Internet@TV menu and press the red A key to log-in with the newly created profile (develop).
After the log-in procedure, a new tab should appear in the Settings menu called Developer. While here, setup the server setting to point out to your computer (in our case 192.16.1.110).
In order to get Skype installed on the plasma TV, you should Sync your apps. If everything worked out OK, then Skype should be among the applications installed.
After completing this step, the HDTV should find an update for Skype. Install it to get the latest version and you now you can use your Samsung smart TV to chat on Skype with your friends and family.
In our experiments, the camera supported only SD resolutions. Thanks to Courage on our Romanian forums for putting this small how-to together.
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