“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen
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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.
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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.
This method will not work on all Roku tvs, some Roku TV brands require you to phone home to activate the TV before you can use it for the first time. Which requires you to not only connect to the internet but also log into a Roku account on it. It's stupid.
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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?
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).
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Instructions unclear. TV now controlled by Nicole the fediverse chick.
You been getting that noise too?
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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.
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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.
You are an insufferable child and I won’t let you waste my time further. Frankly I’m embarrassed I rolled in the mud with you this long.
Feel free to have the last word. I’m sure it’s very important to you.
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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.
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I see this thrown around a lot.
90% of us watch Netflix, Plex, YT TV or some other streaming service, how do I watch these with 4k quality without connecting to the Internet? That's just an unrealistic request for 90% of TV users.
If you have some technical knowhow, you can configure your router to let things like Netflix through, but not the rest of the OS. Or you can try your luck with PiHole or similar.
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It's not that they won't do it. It's that they currently don't so it's a good choice.
When they add ads, then we can find something else. I'm on Roku now but have been increasingly annoyed by the increase in ads.
Or just... don't. Self hosting video content isn't that hard, then you have full control.
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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?
The best is unironically to pirate and use something like Kodi on a SBC that can run libreElec.
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Or just... don't. Self hosting video content isn't that hard, then you have full control.
I do. But I also see a need to support content creators.
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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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I do. But I also see a need to support content creators.
You can support content creators without streaming services. I buy and rip DVDs and Blurays, which directly supports them.
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Get an Nvidia Shield Pro and disconnect your TV from the internet.
When was the last time they even refreshed the hardware? Kinda hard to justify a $200 streaming box that runs Google services on 6 year old mobile hardware.
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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!!
I love how Dolby content doesn’t work with my Hue sync box!
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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?
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-bigscreen
A tv-like front end for Linux but the project doesn’t see enough support yet
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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.
Hasn’t Apple seriously considered the ad business in the past? I think I saw a video about it years ago. Most likely, they will switch their strategy as soon as it makes financial sense to do so.
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If you're not tech savy, how do you row row row your bot???
Gently down the byte stream
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Won't hurt my feelings to throw their shit tv right in the trash.