Welcome to Incremental Social! Learn more about this project here!
Check out lemmyverse to find more communities to join from here!

Own a Roku TV or streaming device? You're about to see a lot more ads on your home screen

Ugh. Roku was one of the platforms with fewer ads.

  • Roku will be adding more ads to the home screens of its devices and TVs in the near future.
  • The ads will be interactive and 'shoppable' and will cover a range of industries, including restaurants and cars.
  • Roku already has a significant amount of ads on its home screen, and it is unclear if users will be able to change their preferences for the new ads.
thecookingsenpai ,
@thecookingsenpai@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you Roku, a step forward towards self hosting and self managing of every service

ShepherdPie ,

How are you going to self-host streaming hardware? A HTPC for every TV in the house along with a mouse and keyboard?

trash ,
@trash@lemm.ee avatar

Small SBCs and keyboard/remote combos. That's what we do.

grue ,

I was already thinking of upgrading my old Roku to a $20 Onn (Walmart brand) Google TV box (which I'm told is hackable), but this will only accelerate that decision.

OR3X ,

I have one of these on every TV in my house and they're great!

0x2d ,

yes they are. you can put lineage and degoogle these

averyfalken ,

Yes I have a thinclient attached to my TV running linux mint

bigb ,

Use Android TV with an alternate launcher like FLaunchee

lemmyvore ,

No need for HTPC, just a small USB device with HDMI output and DLNA support. You use your phone as a DLNA controller, a server running Jellyfin as DLNA provider, and the device attached to the TV as DLNA renderer. And sometimes TVs have DLNA support built-in (my Toshiba does).

On Android there's an amazing app called BubbleUPnP that can source media from a wide variety of places, make playlists, and cast to DLNA devices as well as proprietary protocols like Chromecast.

Blue_Morpho ,

It works but it isn't family friendly.

lemmyvore ,

Jellyfin supports DLNA too, if you have a DLNA rendering device on the network it will just appear in the cast menu. Or if you want something that works with a remote directly on the TV you can install Kodi. There's really no point nowadays in getting tied up into proprietary stuff.

andyburke ,
@andyburke@fedia.io avatar

Hey, nice, I get to build an HTPC again and check out the latest streaming shit for Linux.

I'm not even being ironic. Tired of this corporate hellscape and finding joy in returning to the kind of hobbyist tech I grew up on.

Uranium3006 ,
@Uranium3006@kbin.social avatar

corposhit used to at least be worth paying for with all it's flaws but they're shitting it up so bad it's increasingly not even worth it in the slightest

andyburke ,
@andyburke@fedia.io avatar

Yep. There was a little while there where things coulda maybe been fine but the greedy psychopaths decided they wanted to fuck it up.

dorumon ,
@dorumon@lemmy.world avatar

Well time to replace my roku TV with a Goodwill special TV because fuck that shit. Fuck smart tvs in general and what they have become. They used to be neat little editions added on for value on your TV back when Netflix made sense. But now they don't especially with the ads that automatically get shoved into your face depending on what you are doing that have started to interrupt your viewing experience. It's not like I'll be downgrading at all when just using a computer with a TV using Stremio and AllDebrid.

negativenull , (edited )
@negativenull@lemm.ee avatar

PiHole Domain regex blacklist:
(ads|logs|cloudservices).roku.com$

PM_Your_Nudes_Please ,

And there it is, folks.

I added the Roku and Samsung TV servers to my blocklist months ago, (maybe even years ago, at this point?) My three smart TVs are the most blocked devices on my network, by far. It’s not even close. Here are today’s stats from my pihole:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8b634a7b-a95e-40d0-a629-ceb70010c283.jpeg

For reference, my phone (my most used device) is number four on that list. My three smart TVs (two Rokus and a Samsung) are numbers 1, 2, and 3. I haven’t even watched TV today. These blocked requests are simply from the TVs idling. Smart TVs are hilariously, mind-bogglingly invasive, and you should block them ASAP.

grayman ,

Why did you black out your private IP addresses?

ji17br ,

He doesn’t wanna get hAcKeD duhhhhh

lazynooblet ,
@lazynooblet@lazysoci.al avatar

They are called private for a reason!

PM_Your_Nudes_Please ,

Old habits. Just as a general rule, I black out most IPs, even when private. I used to deal with a lot of horribly insecure devices at work, with default passwords that couldn’t be changed, no port security (so anyone who found the wrong Ethernet port could connect to the network,) etc…

So anyone on the network could fuck things up if they were on the wrong wifi and tried to reconfigure something they shouldn’t be touching. It was only an issue a few times, since the vast majority of people using said network were other techs who knew what they were doing. But there were a few times that someone screenshotted something, it got passed around to all the managers, and someone who didn’t know what they were doing got curious and went digging when they saw the IPs.

It was never anything catastrophic since the network wasn’t even connected to the internet, and we had backups of any important settings. But it was just a practice that we all eventually picked up, to prevent random employees from sniffing around. Because it always sucked to come into work the next morning, and discover that a particular piece of gear wasn’t working properly because someone decided to tick a stray checkbox or change a polling rate.

rob_t_firefly ,
@rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world avatar

I, for one, appreciate that someone called @PM_Your_Nudes_Please understands the value of good OPSEC. You go ahead and fiercely guard any electronic data you might happen to have, neighbor.

madcaesar ,

Did you add the expression by the user you are replying to?

Does it just block the Roku / Samsung spam, while leaving the platform otherwise in tact?

WalkableProgrammer ,

What does it look like on your tv after blocking the ads

herrvogel ,

Not the guy you replied to, but my LG webos TV worked just fine after I added a whole bunch of domains to my pihole blacklist. Got rid of A LOT of crap from the "homepage". Made it a hell of a lot cleaner and overall more usable. There are compiled lists of domains per brand and per region. Just find one that fits your bill.

I use past tense because last week I finally created a kodi box and took the TV offline entirely. Now it's even better.

phoenixz ,

So you go from owning a multi media entertainment system to owning a online store front where you must buy crap that you don't need.

This is bait and switch level bullshit

stinerman ,
@stinerman@midwest.social avatar

DNS blocking at the router never fails.

Wooki ,

Linux and Finish jelly is the way

smileyhead ,

Until they put everything onto the same domain

Lianodel ,

I've been doing some research for the last few days on setting up a home server/NAS. If anyone's going to ruin my entertainment, it's going to be ME

stealth_cookies ,

You are still likely going to want some sort of streaming device though. I have an old computer of mine running unraid with Plex in a docker container and still use a chromecast in apps only mode to stream to my TV.

Lianodel ,

Oh yeah, I already have a Chromecast. I know this is a post about Roku specifically, but it was just another example of enshittification getting me to finally set up my own system. It was honestly the HBO Max disaster that got me started.

Good to know about App Only Mode, though! So far the Chromecast interface doesn't bother me, but it's good to know there's a ripcord I can pull if it gets worse (unless they take that away).

gregorum , (edited )
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

I know a lot of people here reeeeeaaaaalllly hate apple, but, having used many different streaming boxes over the years, I’ve never had a better experience than with my Apple TVs. I have a Gen 4 (Apple TV HD) and a Gen 5 (Apple TV 4K first generation), and they both have worked flawlessly and trouble-free since they day I bought them many years ago. I primarily use them for the Plex app (there are very nice Jellyfin, Kodi, and Emby apps too, chill), and sometimes for some other stuff, all of which they do very well, even the older one, and even still after all these years. tvOS updates have, historically, been pretty essentialist— that being, slim and performant. Old Apple TVs still run great.

YES, for those who don’t like Apple and/or who aren’t totally into the who Apple ecosystem, one won’t get all of the benefits (yet will still get about 90% of them) and one might see friction with some of Apple’s “way of doing things” — especially that fucking annoying remote of theirs - but, all things considered, it does what it does extremely well, and it’s far better and more powerful than its competition IMO (for which you do pay a premium I feel is well worth it). and it is especially good at both protecting your privacy (compared to its competitors) and keeping ads far, far away (except when individual apps insert them, i.e. Hulu or Netflix with ads).

I have had Rokus in several TVs I’ve owned, and… yeah, they were, technically, the closest to the great functionality I came to expect rom my ATVs, but, still, nowhere close. On top of that, my Rokus all wanted all my data and sleazily blasted me ads while making it nearly impossible to disable the ability to disconnect my wifi, disable ads or tracking, etc. The whole device/os seemed designed for data mining first, and showing me media second. ew. the only upside was that the Roku Plex app has one or two interesting UX and UI features the tvOS app didn’t due to some weird programming quirks in SwiftUI and tvOS limitations that didn’t exist in whatever development framework that Roku uses.

Veedem ,
@Veedem@lemmy.world avatar

I came here to say something similar. I love my AppleTV. Works like a charm and has a no-nonsense interface if you enable the grid Home Screen. No ads. Runs great. It’s perfect.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

Even for Apple haters, it’s a pretty decent device. Even for people who hate Apple stuff, you don’t have to have other Apple devices to make great use of an Apple TV. You do have to create an iCloud account in order to sign into it, but you can always use an iTunes account for that purpose.it’s just for the purpose of downloading apps and so forth. No other Apple device or service is required. It really does work great on its own and isolated from any other service or device. However, it does work excellently in concert with other Apple devices, if that is your thing.

AnActOfCreation OP ,
@AnActOfCreation@programming.dev avatar

Do you need any other Apple devices to make good use of an Apple TV?

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

No! Shockingly, this is the one Apple device, even aside from the iPhone, that you really don’t need another Apple device for it to be at nearly it’s maximum usefulness. Yes, more Apple devices do make it more useful, but on its own, it’s at nearly 100% of its usefulness. It does want you to have an iCloud account and register for that, but it doesn’t need to go further than that. All of the regular apps like Hulu or prime video or Netflix or whatever work normally on Apple TV, but they work in an Apple TV sort of way. For the most part, it’s actually much better than another platforms, but it is in Apple TV sort of way. It does take a little getting used to.you can always go into an Apple Store and try it out if that is convenient for you.

AnActOfCreation OP ,
@AnActOfCreation@programming.dev avatar

Thanks!

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

sure! I’m happy to answer any of your questions about it.

Sendbeer ,

AppleTV would be my recommendation for people that want a clean interface with no ads and they don't want to or can't modify an android TV box to a custom launcher. It's just about a perfect experience right out of the box. It's a shame about the shitty remote though.

For people willing to get their hands dirty, androidtv having SmartTubeNext is a killer tool for YouTube and for me gives it the edge.

QuarterSwede ,
@QuarterSwede@lemmy.world avatar

Just buy one of the 4K’s and it comes with the power button and better remote. Also, the remote isn’t bad if you turn off the swiping and just use the 4-way as a D-pad. You still get its great circular scrolling too.

nutsack ,

looks fucking stupid

ripcord ,
@ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, that sucks. That will definitely drive me elsewhere.

Like a modified Android TV or Apple TV or something

ji17br ,

Highly recommend Apple TV. My only issue is the insane amount of YouTube ads. Feels like more ads than content some days.

Lemonparty ,

They've already been adding them to mine. My home screen inputs got smashed into one (because I don't use any of the home screen apps, I only use the two HDMI inputs) so they could jam a bigger ad on the right, and then make suggested things some of the options. Like the last month or so it's been wanting me to watch super girl or Wonder woman or some dumb shit.

My other personal favorite thing they do is that they load slowly so sometimes I'll go to select an input and the cursor will jump to the wrong place because an ad loaded. Fun!

watson387 ,
@watson387@sopuli.xyz avatar

PiHole takes care of that.

cmbabul ,

I guess I get to ad more devices to my pfsense Adblock rule

cyborganism ,

Anyone ever read the short story "Sales pitch" by Philip K. Dick?

henfredemars ,

Enshittification strikes again!

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • technology@lemmy.world
  • random
  • incremental_games
  • meta
  • All magazines
    •