“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen
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Use a separate, not ad-riddled device plugged in via HDMI. If you have a game console it can do this.
I don't know what's good for Android TV boxes it used to be the NVIDIA Shield was a well regarded streaming device but it's really old now. Google makes one (Google TV Streamer) and you can install a custom launcher if you're a bit technical and the "suggested content" of the stock launcher bothers you. Same for other Android TV boxes.
Apple, like them or not, makes a really decent TV box with no system level ads and an interface that mostly stays out of the way.
Shield is very old, but it still works pretty well and unlike apple TV you can have true surround sound with bit pass audio.
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Shield is very old, but it still works pretty well and unlike apple TV you can have true surround sound with bit pass audio.
Yeah but I wouldn't recommend anyone go and buy one at this point.
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Apple has absolutely no interest in injecting ads like this. That’s not their business model. Apple has a thousand things wrong but it’s reasonable to assume they aren’t going to pull this kind of rug pull.
Apple has some serious catching up to do with enshitification on the appletv end. I think they are going to really blow our minds when they finally release a new appleTV. It's quite overdue and I'm guessing they are cooking up a doozy for us!
My predictions : still don't fix bit pass audio issue, eliminate ethernet port, crappier remote that still has no back lighting, siri/ appleai is everywhere but only makes things more frustrating, and who knows - maybe ads!!
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Apple has some serious catching up to do with enshitification on the appletv end. I think they are going to really blow our minds when they finally release a new appleTV. It's quite overdue and I'm guessing they are cooking up a doozy for us!
My predictions : still don't fix bit pass audio issue, eliminate ethernet port, crappier remote that still has no back lighting, siri/ appleai is everywhere but only makes things more frustrating, and who knows - maybe ads!!
Like I said, lots to complain about. But intrusive ads is not really their style.
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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.
Why is your Roku TV even on the Wi-Fi if you just block its internet?
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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?
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There you go putting words in my mouth again
Other people having their own opinions isn't putting words in your mouth.
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Step 1. Factory reset.
Step 2. Do not allow it to connect to the Internet.
Step 3. Connect a Linux based computer to it and run everything through the computer.
Instructions unclear. TV now controlled by Nicole the fediverse chick.
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Why is your Roku TV even on the Wi-Fi if you just block its internet?
It probably doesn't need to be - but it was required to set up. Before I had my shield, I allowed local connections for local streaming, but you are correct, it's probably no longer necessary.
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Instructions unclear. TV now controlled by Nicole the fediverse chick.
You can trust her. She's from Toronto!
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Why is your Roku TV even on the Wi-Fi if you just block its internet?
They have models that blink the large white LED light until it’s connected to WiFi. Annoying as hell.
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Im not very computer savvy and currently only have a tablet and a mac mini from 2008.
If you're not tech savy, how do you row row row your bot???
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They have models that blink the large white LED light until it’s connected to WiFi. Annoying as hell.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that - mine does do this, and the LED is right in the bottom middle, and it's super bright.
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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
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.
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Other people having their own opinions isn't putting words in your mouth.
Ok then you’re making strawmen. Same difference.
FFS dude do you have so little grasp of the English language you legitimately can’t infer anything or are you just being dense on purpose?
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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.
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Ok then you’re making strawmen. Same difference.
FFS dude do you have so little grasp of the English language you legitimately can’t infer anything or are you just being dense on purpose?
Having an opinion and stating it isn't making a strawman.
At this point I'm just having fun pissing you off.
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Having an opinion and stating it isn't making a strawman.
At this point I'm just having fun pissing you off.
I'm definitely not the one being a tryhard here.
When did I call you a try hard?
Also, Linux ain't safe from corporate influence when Linus dies, either.
When did I ever talk about corporate influence in any way, shape, or form?
You’re responding to shit I am not saying. That’s a strawman or putting words in my mouth.
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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.
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.
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I'm definitely not the one being a tryhard here.
When did I call you a try hard?
Also, Linux ain't safe from corporate influence when Linus dies, either.
When did I ever talk about corporate influence in any way, shape, or form?
You’re responding to shit I am not saying. That’s a strawman or putting words in my mouth.
I guess you can't infer that other people have their own opinions. The whole thing that started this was me having the opinion that you can't trust corporations to not change in the future.
You don't have to say certain things for me to be willing to make statements of my own opinion. That's how a conversation works but I guess you must not have a lot of those in real life.
