Samsung TV / videos / WQED+
REVIEW
WQED+ on Samsung Tizen mirrors the LG build, with Bixby search wired in.
The Pittsburgh PBS station's streaming channel reaches Samsung TVs through the Tizen Smart Hub — feature-parity with the webOS sibling, plus voice search through the Samsung remote.
BY THE APP COMRADE DESK · MAY 10, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
WQED+ on a Samsung TV is the Tizen sibling of an app that already exists on every TV platform worth shipping to. The catalogue is identical to the LG webOS build — single-station Pittsburgh public-TV programming, the Mister Rogers archival material, and the slice of national PBS content WQED airs locally. What changes between platforms is the install path, the remote, and the voice-search layer wired into them.
The Tizen install path is the Smart Hub Apps row, a Samsung-account-optional flow that finishes in under a minute and pins WQED+ to the home ribbon next to whatever else the household keeps there. Bixby voice search through the remote is the Samsung-specific win: proper-noun queries land cleanly (“Mister Rogers,” “Rick Sebak,” “Pittsburgh history”), broader topic queries land less cleanly, and the on-screen keyboard remains the fallback for the things voice misses. None of this changes the underlying product — the channel design carries over from webOS, the thin-tile problems and the unreliable resume-watching carry with it.
For Samsung TV owners in the Pittsburgh metro, this is the same reasonable Smart Hub install that the LG version is on webOS. For Mister Rogers viewers anywhere, the archival context is worth the slot regardless of which TV brand sits under the channel. For broader PBS programming, the national app on Tizen still covers more catalogue with sharper navigation. The Tizen build doesn’t change the verdict; it just delivers it to a different remote.
WQED+ on Tizen is the same single-station public-TV channel as on LG webOS — install path different, catalogue identical, Bixby search the one real Samsung win.
FEATURES
WQED+ is the Tizen Smart Hub channel for WQED Multimedia, the Pittsburgh PBS member station that has produced regional programming since 1954 and that housed Fred Rogers and his Neighborhood for nearly four decades. The Samsung build is a near-clone of the LG webOS app — same single-station catalogue of Pittsburgh-produced documentaries, regional history series, archival Mister Rogers material, and the slice of national PBS content WQED carries.
Install path on Tizen is the Smart Hub apps row: open Apps, search WQED+ (or "WQED"), install, and the channel pins to the home ribbon. No Samsung account requirement for the base catalogue, no sign-in wall before playback. The channel runs on Tizen 5.0 and newer — meaning every Samsung TV from 2020 onward, including the current QLED, Neo QLED, OLED, and The Frame lineups.
Tizen-specific feature: Bixby voice search through the Samsung remote. Holding the mic button and saying "WQED Mister Rogers" or "Pittsburgh history" hits the channel's search index reasonably well — better on proper-noun queries (show titles, host names) than on broad topic phrases. Multi View support is present on the Neo QLED and OLED hardware that ships with it; nothing in WQED+ is engineered for picture-in-picture but the platform allows it.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Feature parity with the LG build is the achievement, and on a single-station public-TV channel that's not nothing. Samsung TV owners in the Pittsburgh metro now have the same access to local station programming that webOS viewers got, including the Mister Rogers archival collections that are genuinely hard to find elsewhere on a TV-native surface.
Bixby search is the Tizen-only upside. The remote-mic query path is more useful on this app than the directional-pad navigation that the LG Magic Remote bypasses with its pointer — pointer beats voice for browsing, voice beats both for "play that thing I half-remember." On Tizen the on-screen keyboard is the alternative, and the alternative is slow. Playback quality on a Samsung OLED matches what the webOS build delivers on an LG OLED; the streams are broadcast-grade encodes either way.
ROOM TO IMPROVE
The thin-channel problems carry across from webOS. Tile artwork is inconsistent across collections, episode metadata is sparse, the home rail reshuffles between sessions, and resume-watching on episodic series still drops viewers back at the series page rather than the next episode. None of this is Samsung-specific — it's the channel design, and the channel design is the same.
Update cadence on the Tizen build appears to trail the LG version by a few weeks on new series additions, and Samsung's app-store certification process has historically been the slower of the two TV platforms. Bixby search misses some title variants that the on-screen keyboard finds, which is the wrong way around for a voice-first feature.
CONCLUSION
WQED+ on Tizen is the right install for Samsung TV owners in the Pittsburgh metro and for Mister Rogers viewers anywhere who want the archival material on the station that made it. The Bixby integration is the modest upgrade over the LG webOS build; everything else is parity. Pin it to the Smart Hub home ribbon if the heritage angle lands. For broader public-television viewing, the national PBS app on Tizen covers more ground.