“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen
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You know I only ever get more glad that I didn't learn to drive and went with cycling instead. It started due to not being able to afford it, now I won't own their shit and I will be happy.
Just wait, they will find a way to make biking just as shitty
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So does my dumb TV. No subscriptions.
I don’t really understand the hate for Android TV. It’s pretty obvious to me (since I use both) that they’re trying to compete with Apple TV. Android TV has a lot of great settings and features. When I’m not doing anything with it, it automatically shows a screensaver of my choosing - just like Apple TV does. I have quick and easy access to the movies I’ve purchased on my YouTube account as well.
Any assumption that Android TV will force ads on its users tells me they haven’t used it.
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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.
Blame the rest of the market for being shit - Shield pro is still the best box on the market for streaming HD video with HD audio.
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Or spend less money and get a brand new Apple TV 4K
Does your Apple TV stream Atmos? TrueHD? I don't think so...
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So glad I blocked my TVs access to the Internet at the router level. Never complainrd about not setting up a network if the network doesn't work.
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About 10 years old actually. It's the TI-83 of streaming boxes at this point: an absolute fucking rip-off. Pretty on-brand for Nvidia though.
Yeah it's got about the same specs as a $30 Amazon tablet and you'd now be relying on the largest ad company in the world (Google) instead of Roku, so it does seem like a total ripoff at $200
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Just wait, they will find a way to make biking just as shitty
How? There are no electronics in the first place.
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If this happens on my box I'll be taking them to small claims court and let you all know how it goes...
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You should not buy a Shield. They haven't been updated since...2019? And there's really no reason to. Get the $20 WalMart one.
They just put out a huge update for the shield. Mine still plays the vast majority of things perfectly, even hevc and 4k content. I am perfectly happy with my shield pro. I'd buy one again if the current one shits the bed.
What are my other options? Apple TV and what else? Everything else is ad ridden underpowered and lacking licenses to play media.
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So, I use regex to block all Roku domains on my network via pihole:
(ads|logs|cloudservices|image|images|web|prod.mobile|wwwimg|captive|customer-feedbacks|amoeba|amoeba2|sr|giga.sb|cs).roku(.admeasurement)*.com$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.
Had no idea FLauncher existed. Thank you so much
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How? There are no electronics in the first place.
I'm sure "smart bikes" will come soon
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So glad I blocked my TVs access to the Internet at the router level. Never complainrd about not setting up a network if the network doesn't work.
Why even connect the tv to your local network?
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I must not be looking at the right thing. All I'm finding are expensive displays that have all this fancy scheduling, web surfing, etc. built into it.
Try this brand https://www.sceptre.com/
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I've had luck with just not giving a smart TV my wifi password.
I'm looking to upgrade the living room TV soon, and this is what I plan to do.
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Does your Apple TV stream Atmos? TrueHD? I don't think so...
The Apple TV 4K does do atmos and has since 2018.
You are correct about TrueHD. In order to get it with Apple tv you have to be using a tv and audio equipment that supports eARC but even then it’s a raw PCM stream which is technically different.
As the average consumer waits 6-8 years to buy a new TV at least half of the people reading this probably still don’t have eARC as it was only common in the highest end of tvs back then. But that probably also means their tv or audio equipment wouldn’t be capable of TrueHD anyway.
For anyone reading this, don’t spend $200 on a set top box with capabilities your TV can’t handle. Save money on the box and upgrade your other equipment sooner.
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I don’t really understand the hate for Android TV. It’s pretty obvious to me (since I use both) that they’re trying to compete with Apple TV. Android TV has a lot of great settings and features. When I’m not doing anything with it, it automatically shows a screensaver of my choosing - just like Apple TV does. I have quick and easy access to the movies I’ve purchased on my YouTube account as well.
Any assumption that Android TV will force ads on its users tells me they haven’t used it.
I.democratically hate all smart TVs.
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Why even connect the tv to your local network?
Casting, using your phone for a remote, so the popup for connecting goes away
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Yeah, that was my approach, but the forced ads are also on the roku stick
Is there anything that’s a better alternative?
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Wish it had more apps, but Apple TV is pretty solid. With the Steam link app, it’s also good for couch gaming on your pc.
I just dock my steam deck
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Is there anything that’s a better alternative?
Some people have mentioned apple TV, for now that at least isn't riddled with ads. Others have mentioned getting android sticks, but I'm not sure how smooth that process is (or how well they work with remotes).
