Our smart TV is yet another device that connects to our network. For the same reason, it is important keep your Smart TV updated. This process is not only going to solve bugs and provide new features and stability, but it is going to solve programming errors that can lead to a vulnerability in our device. As a general rule, our smart TV will update automatically. However, there are times when our television will not be able to find the necessary files and we will have to do the process by hand. In this post we will teach you everything you need to know to find the latest firmware version for your LG Smart TV and how to install it easily.
Why is it advisable to have updated television?
The latest firmware updates usually correct problems and introduce new adjustments that allow to obtain a better calibration of the general image of the panel. At LG they are especially attentive to these aspects in their OLED models, which is why in recent months they have launched many consecutive updates.
One of the latest updates that have been released for these models seems to improve HDR performance, obtaining better blacks and higher contrast at maximum brightness peaks. Therefore, if you are a film buff who does not forgive a shadow, this latest version of the software will interest you.
The most important thing is the safety of the equipment
However, updating your TV is essential to keep it secure. Like any device that connects to the Internet, your TV also receives firmware updates to fix some of the security holes that are being found, thus preventing malicious programs or attackers from taking control of your machine or stealing your private data. Just as we keep our Windows computer or mobile phone up to date, it is also important to update our Smart TV. In this way, we will solve bugs, improve security and enjoy the latest advantages and improvements included in the webOS operating system.
Manual or automatic update?
Normally, LG TVs are capable of updating the software automatically. However, there are times when the system loses the ability to check LG's servers for new updates, thus losing the ability to update in just a few clicks. If this is your case, don't worry. There is an infallible method to update your television manually, which is especially useful for these users who have momentarily lost the possibility of doing an OTA (over the air) update of their televisions.
What firmware version do I have installed?
Before starting this process, the first thing is to know the firmware version of the system that you have installed on a Smart TV. To know this information you only have to visit the section of TV setup (hold down the gear button to go directly to this menu) and enter the section Support.
Once inside, click on the option Software update, and there you will see the version of software you have installed at the moment. From there you can also activate the option “Allow automatic updates”. With that feature active, your TV should be able to check itself on LG's servers if there are new firmwares ready for it and proceed to update without us having to do much more.
However, as we have commented, this option does not always give results, since we ourselves have tried to search for a new update (which already existed) and the TV returned the message "there are no new software updates". In these cases, we must not give up either. As we said, the manual process exists, and it serves as a backup plan when the automatic update fails.
How to download the latest LG firmware manually
To get rid of any doubts, all you have to do is visit LG's official support page to see if there really is a new version of the system available to download on our television model. To check it, you just have to access the following link that we leave you below:
Once on the support website, you must enter the model of your television to immediately search for the download options available at this time. If you don't know exactly what model of TV you have at home, you just have to enter the menu Setting, access the section Medium, and select the option "TV information”. There you can find all the details of your television, such as the model, the serial number, the version of WebOS Tv, etc.
With the exact model written down, you will have to enter it in the LG support form to know the download options that are available. In our case, we were able to download the latest version of the system, Version 03.21.16 at the time we tested for this guide. The file that we have downloaded will be placed on a flash drive and we will use it to update the television as we will tell you in the following steps.
How to manually install the firmware
With the new firmware already downloaded, it is time to install it on your TV, and for this you will need a USB memory. The process is quite simple as the TV will take care of everything, but you will have to save the firmware to the USB stick the right way. These are the steps to follow:
- Unzip the .zip file you downloaded from the LG support website
- You should get a file with an .epk extension
- Erases the USB stick completely so that it does not have any files on it. The flash drive should be in FAT32 format to avoid compatibility problems.
- Create a new folder in the root of the pendrive that is called LG_DTV
- Copy the firmware .epk file into the LG_DTV folder of the flash drive
- Insert the flash drive into the USB port of your LG TV
Your TV will immediately detect the flash drive and the firmware stored inside. Next, the wizard will ask you if you want to install it immediately, so you will accept and the process will begin. If for some reason the system invites you to switch to the SmartShare view, select 'Don't Switch' so we don't get lost in the process.
As soon as the installation process is complete, the TV will turn itself off and start again completely automatically, so you don't have to touch anything.
After a final installation process, the system will welcome you back, and you will already have the latest version of the system installed on your Smart TV. The normal thing after this update is that you recover the possibility of updating automatically. Even so, if this is not the case, you simply have to repeat the process of checking on the LG website from time to time and do a manual update of the device. As you have seen, it is not a method as easy as clicking, but it is a simple process that can be carried out by practically any user. If you have ever updated a device with an offline method such as a console, you will have noticed that the process that we have just explained is exactly the same. As a recommendation, bookmark the address of the LG page where the firmware for your television is published in your web browser. In this way, you can save yourself the steps of having to check the model each time and enter it manually in the search engine.
With these steps, you can now enjoy your LG Smart TV with the latest firmware available, so you will have all the security improvements and also the new features that have been implemented.
And if everything keeps failing?
If the method of manual update It's still not working, there's still hope. Here are the extra measures you can take to fix the problem once and for all:
- Check that you are downloading the correct version: that is, that the firmware that you are downloading from the LG website is the correct one for your television. The Korean brand manufactures hundreds of different models, so it would not be unusual to be wrong. Bad firmware will always give some kind of error.
- Put your TV in factory state: If all else fails, there may be some kind of corrupted data in the firmware currently on your TV. A drastic way to fix this problem would be to format the system to return the TV to factory settings. Of course, you will lose all the information that you have downloaded to the television and you will also have to later install all the apps that you have downloaded from the LG Content Store.
- Call technical service: If all this still doesn't work, feel free to call TV support. They will know more than anyone how to guide you to solve this problem.