• blazeknave@lemmy.world
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    34 minutes ago

    Almost downvoted instinctually as a reaction to the headline. Visceral reaction. I hate this beyond belief.

  • drascus@sh.itjust.works
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    2 hours ago

    I have a vero-V but honestly the apps are lack luster. Its amazing if you have your own library of content. I saw my first homescreen add on roku yesterday. I am pissed.

  • Tim_Bisley@piefed.social
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    2 hours ago

    The only reason I still use my roku is because it has sound leveling capabilities that is much better than anything else I have. I use my PC for just about everything but recently Sling stopped working on the PC or at least the DVR is directing me to download some app? Also Paramount doesn’t handle 60fps content (sports) on the PC very well, it stutters a lot.

    Windows has sound leveling but I haven’t had much luck with it when its really needed. My receiver is old and has only rudimentary sound leveling.

  • nul9o9@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Roku had the best smart tv ui. I was seriously bummed when the ads started rolling in a few years ago.

    I want an open source streaming client, but from what I hear DRM gets in the way of that.

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      This is already my experience but still use a Roku to access Plex. Looks like I’ll need to get something else or figure out if i can block them with Ad Guard Home

      • unconsciousvoidling@sh.itjust.works
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        4 hours ago

        I use pi hole and the experience is not entirely smooth. I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this but my pi hole blocks ads but every few weeks Roku has an update and it locks up the entire operating system and I’m stuck in a loop of trying to get my update so I can return to normal. I for the hell of it disabled pi hole for 5 minutes and it wound up working but not until I dropped pi hole. So it’s as if it every so often decides to hold the operating system hostage if I don’t drop pi hole for updates. Makes me think they likely get all the telemetry they are trying to collect for selling data. I like not watching ads 90 percent of the time but it pisses me off that they are likely still spying on me by forcing me to communicate with their servers every now and then.

        • Ulrich@feddit.org
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          18 minutes ago

          My brother in Christ, please just connect another device to your TV and disconnect your TV from the internet. No one should be using the built-in software for exactly this reason.

        • LeeroyTubbins@lemm.ee
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          2 hours ago

          Interesting, I use PiHole as well and have no issues with any of my Roku devices. I wonder if you have more restrictive blocking or some particular rule that I don’t. What lists are you using in PiHole?

        • Tim_Bisley@piefed.social
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          2 hours ago

          I can’t recall having that issue but I stopped using pi-hole because it was blocking certain functionalities on some websites. It required a more hands on approach than I wanted to dedicate at the time.

  • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
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    6 hours ago

    Not a surprise for Roku. The company has been getting progressively worse in the last few years and their enshittification is accelerating. Their recent forced download of an update that requires users to agree to arbitration to even use our TVs was intended to ultimately take control of those TVs completely away from the people who own them.

    Right now it’s possible to block Roku’s static ads and presumably the autoplaying ones using a local DNS server like Adblock Home or Pihole, but it’s only a matter of time before Roku blocks everything unless we watch the ads they are trying force down our throats. I’m already in the process of obsoleting all 5 of our Roku devices.

    It has taken Roku years to build up enough market share to allow this kind of behavior and it will take years for the market to abandon them. Their executives will claim ignorance as to why users are walking away when it finally hits their bottom line.

  • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    Im literally willing to ditch the device and cancel all streaming services because of this. When I turn on my TV I don’t want to be forced to consume ads when I haven’t been provided with anything in return.

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    What’s the best alternative? I have a fire cube, and I’m getting sick of it. Apple TV? Is there a FOSS solution that’s close to the same quality interface?

    • frank@sopuli.xyz
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      36 minutes ago

      I have a Raspberry Pi 500 running PiOS that works well like a computer to just play things in browser. No ads or anything of course. But also no casting from a phone or anything

    • underisk@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      The best is unironically to pirate and use something like Kodi on a SBC that can run libreElec.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      2 hours ago

      TL; DR - No. But actually maybe, depending on what you’re looking for and what you can put up with.

      Are you looking to access streaming services? Or are you okay with self-hosting?

      The FOSS solutions that support streaming services are pretty janky IMO because they don’t have support from the service, so you’re probably better off hooking up a laptop running Linux and access stuff in a browser. I had Netflix working through Kodi on a Raspberry Pi, for example, but like I said, it was super janky. Maybe it’s better now, idk, but check out OpenELEC and Kodi. You’ll need some hardware to run it on.

      If you can self-host your videos, Jellyfin is pretty great, and I think there are a couple more options. You’ll need to get the content yourself though and connect it to the TV somehow (e.g. the Jellyfin app if you have a smart TV).

  • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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    8 hours ago

    Roku is bad, I have one older Roku ““smart”” tv that I just block from accessing the internet entirely, and use a shield with a custom launcher instead.

      • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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        7 hours ago

        So, I use regex to block all Roku domains on my network via pihole:

        (ads|logs|cloudservices|image|images|web|prod.mobile|wwwimg|captive|customer-feedbacks|amoeba|amoeba2|sr|giga.sb|cs).roku(.admeasurement)*.com$

        Then, possibly overkill due to the above, I used OpnSense firewall rules to block all traffic from my Roku tv. I think I just got fed up with seeing Roku spam in my pihole, as the above regex seems to completely “break” Roku.

        After that, I set up FLauncher (following the method #2 instructions on the gitlab page) on my shield. This makes it so I only see the Roku launcher for a few seconds while the shield starts up, and then I’m dropped straight into flauncher. I chose flauncher because it’s very simple and barebones, so you might want to explore other options if you want more advanced features. I don’t really need those features since I’m usually using an app anyway.

        Note that I did all of that after the tv was configured and set up, YMMV if it’s a brand new tv as it may need to call home to do the initial set up.

    • firadin@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Is there any point in getting anything above the bottom tier Shield? Just trying to use it to replace my chromecast/stream tv and youtube

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        14 minutes ago

        You should not buy a Shield. They haven’t been updated since…2019? And there’s really no reason to. Get the $20 WalMart one.

      • limonfiesta@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Nvidia has destroyed the stock Shield TV experience with ads, but it’s easy to install custom launchers like Projectivy. The underlying system is still a privacy nightmare, but I don’t care that Nvidia knows what TV shows I watch.

        I mean, I do care, just not enough to use something like Kodi as my primary TV interface. Maybe if I used any ad supported services I’d feel differently, but I don’t, so meh.

      • consumptionone@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        I have been using an onn 4k streaming box, which runs Google TV. They’re $20. It’s pretty easy to disable the default launcher and have it boot to Flauncher. Then you can side load smart tube for an ad free YouTube experience asking with Plex, stremio, or whatever else you want to stream.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          I’ve got a couple of those that I bought shortly after the LTT video, but I’m still using my Roku because I still haven’t gotten around to jailbreaking and configuring them.

          • consumptionone@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            Do it. It’s very easy, and then you can ditch the Roku. There’s even an ADB app you can load to remove unwanted apps on-device.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    For years I was a big fan of Roku. It represented a better value alternative from the big corporations pushing their own agenda like Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon. They made products that were intuitive and user oriented and carved out a very nice and stable market share for themselves because of it. Now they’re just leveraging their hardware relationships to transform the software into something terrible.

    I used to look for tvs with Roku built in. Now I’ve disabled Roku features from my smart TVS and use a separate streaming device.

      • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        I think it depends on the model, but there should be something in the power settings to change the startup device. I did a factory reset first to clear any network settings or user data, skipped the setup, and set it to startup on the HDMI input.

      • Hellmo_luciferrari@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        I wouldn’t say this is “better”

        I do run a pihole, but I still will never connect my roku to the internet. It is much better to have a media PC or other streaming device I have control of fully connected.

        • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          34 minutes ago

          Amen. I run a PiHole, and also just use lil computers on all of my screens and download anything I watch and put it on a lil server they all can stream from! No ads, best quality!

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 hours ago

          True, but most people are buying off-the-shelf stuff and they don’t have their own localized piracy-enabled libraries with a Jellyfin server.

          Further, I’m pretty sure you’ve got to connect your Roku at least once to install player apps like Jellyfin. But maybe you don’t, I’m not at all familiar with if you can sideload on a Roku.

          • Steve@startrek.website
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            5 hours ago

            There is actually a way to sideload apps without internet. I did it once and forgot the details

      • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        Would you happen to know of any guides or have advice on identifying the adservers to block?

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 hours ago

          I’ve always just done it manually by viewing the Pi-Hole logs for the device I am on while the ad is loading. It takes getting into the weeds a bit.

          Further, I don’t have a Roku so I’ve never looked into it myself.

          That being said, a quick search brought up this hosts file:

          https://gist.github.com/sidward35/cea28bedd0ec0b1bceec8c2b22c163c4

          Adlist for Pi-hole with domains for Roku, LG, and Samsung

          Not sure if it’s current or not. Lots of threads about Roku ads making it through after being previously blocked.

          • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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            7 hours ago

            Appreciate the reply and link regardless! It’s always whack-an-ad with these intrusive jerks.

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      6 hours ago

      Don’t connect your Roku to the internet.

      I thought that Roku was some kind of streaming service to a device. Doesn’t that need to be Internet-connected to function?

      kagis

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku

      Ah. Apparently that’s what they originally did, but they’ve also subsequently come out with smart TVs, which I assume can operate without an Internet connection.

      • GreyBeard@lemmy.one
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        6 hours ago

        Roku started as a streaming media box. You paid them money, they gave you a box that could play Netflix and Youtube. It was a simple transaction. Unfortunately, at some point they decided to start selling/giving their OS to TV manufacturers. This was actually nice at the start. You got a smart TV who’s “Smarts” were designed by competent people. A revolution at the time. But the drive to drop prices lower and lower meant that there was no margin on the TV, which means Roku had to investigate other ways of making their revenue, AKA Ads and selling data.

        Of course, the stand alone box probably would have went that way anyways, but at least with selling a dedicated box, there is a clear financial benefit without the need to get invasive.

  • spongebue@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Looking around Roku’s site, I found this email address: AdsPR@roku.com

    I’m planning on giving them a brief but firm “oh hell no” letter. I wonder how many others will do the same 🤔

    • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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      6 hours ago

      I emailed them to let them know I cancelled Disney+ and cited this specific ad and advertisement campaign through Roku as to why I cancelled the service.

      Let’s make the companies who advertise this way feel pain.