This is why I disconnected my parents Roku tv from the internet last year, when they started to get updates that wouldn’t download, and freeze the whole tv, i said enough is enough
Can i pleace find a decent TV without smart-capabilitys? I just want HDMI thats it
Don’t give your TV wifi access, use a separate device to watch stuff (Chromecast, FireTV, Android box, etc…)
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.
We use Moonlight instead of Steam Link. It requires a little more setting up at the PC end, but overall seems to be a more smooth result.
Witch brands have moonlight available natively? I think I remember Samsung. Anything else? LG doesn’t…
Anything that runs android, but still, just get an old laptop with a broken screen and duct tape it to the back of the screen
Yeah, that was my approach, but the forced ads are also on the roku stick :(
Technically you can get commercial TVs but many companies stopped selling them. They are literally the new screen tech with no “Smart” capabilities. They are also much cheaper than their smart counterparts.
I’ve had luck with just not giving a smart TV my wifi password.
Cheap computer monitor works well for me.
Just a heads up that the Smart Cancer has already begun infecting PC monitors. Samsung makes Smart Monitors.
It won’t be long before there are no longer Dumb Monitors.
Commercial displays
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.
I only ever tried using a Roku so I could stream my PC to my smart TV, but it turns out there’s MASSIVE latency. Of course I returned it. If I had to deal with that AND ADS, I would have set that shit on fire
Steam Link works well if they’re still around.
this is the worst, next they’re gonna put ads on cars
Stellantis is already doing this on new cars in the US. (Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Maserati, FiAT, etc) Soon as you press the brakes and come to a stop ads play on your infotainment system. Have the car in park? Yep more ads.
Have I got horrible news for you
@surph_ninja urgh
Bro they already tried charging you monthly sub for unlocking seat heating functionality… if they are not already here, you can bet they are coming.
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.
isn’t their a foss os you can flash on your tv?
Lineagos can be flashed on some android TV sticks
Almost downvoted instinctually as a reaction to the headline. Visceral reaction. I hate this beyond belief.
I was thinking about changing my Roku TV anyway. “Dumb” TVs are the future for me.
So glad I ditched Roku. My modified Onn box (with an open source, ad-free launcher) is so much better.
I got to know more about your setup. How much was the device and what software are you running?
Sure. The device I use is an Onn streaming a Android TV box. I think I got the 2023 4k streaming version and it was about $20, from Walmart. You can probably get cheaper models, but I wanted one with an Ethernet port.
Then I installed a couple of alternative launchers from the Play store on device. I also loaded F-Droid as well (though I had to do that directly through an apk). I can’t remember which launcher I went with in the end, but it was either FLauncher or Projectivity. They were both good.
The wrinkle here is that the OS defaults back to the default launcher (which has ads and a lot of clutter on it). But I used a free command line tool called adb to switch the default launcher off.
I’ve been very happy with the new setup. My kids (who use it all the time) occasionally complain that an app will crash while they are watching something, and take them back to the home screen/launcher. But I haven’t run into that, and it’s probably just them accidentally hitting a remote (which I know they accidentally do a lot).
I documented the process and posted them here, in another thread a few months ago.
Additional note: The default YouTube app isn’t very conducive to quick profile switching, which can be annoying. To switch profiles you basically have to go back to the OS level and do it there, then go back into the YouTube app. It’s an Android TV quirk. But I discovered that if you side-load the Amazon Fire version of the YouTube app onto the device, you can switch profiles within that version of the app, and it works just fine.
It’s 1000% worth it to spend a little extra on a TV to get one that runs Google TV. Android is just superior compared to Roku in this regard. I actually have an Apple TV 4K as well, and regularly switch between the two.
Manufacturers need to put the cheap ass software on a cheap ass $20 stick. Stop fucking up TVs with it. Stop accepting any ‘smart’ features and stop calling them smart. They’re invasive advertisement platforms, full fucking stop. It is in fact NOT worth it to get a google TV, because they’ll pull this shit or worse next week. We had perfectly functional TVs for decades before this shit, stop acting like the only choice is to surrender your hardware.
I prefer a dumb TV.
So far. And I actually prefer the Roku UI even though the Google TV will do more things, like let you sideload apps. Roku is propietary.
The sad thing is Roku’s UI was pretty dang good before they added a row of ads at the top, a half screen ad on the left and replaced the background with an ad every 2 weeks, waiting a full minute for it to load the latest nonsense the highest bidder paid them to shove in my face. The ads absolutely ruin a good platform.
Nvidia shield is android and works like a roku or chromecast
They’re working hard to make sure piracy provides the best experience.
It’s approaching 1984 levels of BS control.
Sorry to inform you, but we are already in the Brave New World.
I seem to be lacking in Soma and orgies.
Ah crap. That means I’m an Epsilon.
Ugh I wanna be in Brand New Animal
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Shit. I got a Roku TV. That’s one big fucking stick to toss.
Shall I introduce you to the folks over at [email protected]?
We’re pretty neat I like to think
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.
You can trust her. She’s from Toronto!
You been getting that noise too?
Seems like everyone’s been getting that noise lately. I’m on my third.
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.
I bought a Samsung TV that wouldn’t let me change the input until I connected it to the internet, I returned that crap within the hour.
That would instantly result in the TV being returned to the store I purchased it from.
Eh, I just started connecting cheap ($30 or so) used Apple TVs to mine. I saw the writing on the wall.
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.
I’ve much preferred Google TV for some time now. The recommendations and live free tv options are essentially built into the UI. Although I do use the Roku app as one of my free streaming options lol.
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.
I just block all ads at the router level. When looking through the most blocked domains I see a lot from Roku.
How do you do that?
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???
Gently down the byte stream
Get an Nvidia Shield Pro and disconnect your TV from the internet.
Or spend less money and get a brand new Apple TV 4K
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.
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.
My tv is dumb. The roku is the device that connects to the internet.
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.
I totally get it I could definitely bypass the ads. However the point is that they are doing it at all. I dont want to use their service if this is going to be their strategy.
