Roku says unpopular autoplay ads are just a test

Users are unimpressed, eager to toss devices if test sticks.

See full article...

 

[LtKernelPanic]

I used to love my Roku sticks and only switched to fire sticks because our cable company (we only have it because my mom wants it and pays for it) switched from traditional cable so streaming. Hell I have no idea how many I sold during football season when I took mine to work and plugged it into one of the big display TVs so I could watch the game on my weekend to work.

I just signed up for an account after many years so I could post. Surprised all the tech folks here don't know about OSMC: https://osmc.tv/ Based on Kodi, open source and they have a box, Vero V, for those who wish to avoid Apple products. I am a very long time Apple user but not Apple TV. Have a very cheap Roku thing that plugs into HDMI on my less than state of the art Samsung, pretty dumb TV that I got for free. I mostly stream to it via free tier Emby but am in the process of switching to Jellyfin as it's improved a lot since last I looked. I don't run a PiHole as it's too much fuss/work for me but I do use free DNS resolvers from ControlD, which is a companion company started by my VPN provider Windscribe. I can use Windscribe on a secondary router for the Roku but found it messed up some channels so went with changing the DNS to the Hagezi Pro list on my main router and have been very happy with the browsing results and no problems with the Roku. If I start seeing the crap ads in question I'm probably going to ditch Roku. Haven't used the Vero but they has a pretty big community and there are lots of things one can do with it apparently. Jellyfin also has the Streamio/Debrid thing for those that swing that way.

Thatrlooks pretty nice but at £150 ($195USD) that's pretty damned pricey. Probably switch to ATV when our current fire sticks die.

 

[mikeschr]

I ditched my Rokus when they put ads in the menus. You get used to making a certain number of clicks, and now there's an ad in that spot. Went to Apple TV.

 

[mikeschr]

It's the silly "skippable self-promotions are not 'ads'" meme.

Yeah, the ads on Apple TV are a whole lot more tolerable than what Roku's doing. But no, sadly the platform is absolutely not ad free.

The TV app honestly is especially egregious in how far it makes you go out of your way to get to what you're already watching / already paying for. The amount of design effort put into ensuring that you see at least some promotional material is actually kind of impressive, from placing the show title right above the skip button on pre-roll promotions, which itself only shows up after a 5 second timeout, to dumping you back on the main page focusing almost exclusively on promotional content after a set timeout.

And yet, it's still the best legal option out there.

It's easy to avoid using the TV app, though, if you don't use AppleTV+. Make sure the home button doesn't point to it and move it off the top row.

 

[Simon Green]

So, what are the options for streaming to a TV without BS like this?

I mean, I could go buy a mini-PC and attach it to the TV and stream from that via a web browser. But that seems kind of overkill. I don't really need a full desktop OS when all I really need to do is open a service, select a show and hit Play.

I suppose it depends on how much you despise having ads shoved down your eyeballs and ear holes at even the slightest opportunity. Having a mini-PC attached to the TV (or in my case, projector) is exactly what I do and I don't see it as overkill at all. A cheap one off AliExpress gives you the ability to connect to all the streaming services as well as play anything you ripped onto your NAS.

I'll take "two extra clicks" over non-stop f***ing ads any day.

 

[Hichung]

How come pirates never have to deal with this cr*p?

Probably because we figured it out years ago. Easiest way to skip ads is to never have them to begin with.

 

[Thxe]

If this has changed your opinion of the device, don't forget to update any reviews you may have left or post a new one if you haven't already.

 

[BananaWarrior]

Roku sucks balls anyways, don't know why anyone uses them.

No wait, it's because Walmart sells shit tier 43" Roku TVs for $169

 

[magao]

I'm using the Roku app for one thing, re-watching "Dead Like Me"

Fantastic show. Pity it didn't go for longer.

 

[robco]

I have a Roku-powered TV, never again. At least I was able to find the setting that keeps it from changing the theme to the sponsored ones.

 

[Ianab]

What other options are people using?

Linux on an old office PC, connected to a dumb TV. Remote keyboard / mouse on the coffee table. Bonus is the DVD player still works for when I want to go old school and re-watch Babylon 5 or Serenity.

Sure it doesn't have the fancy front end, just internet shortcuts to the local TV streams / Netflix / Youtube etc. Most expensive part was the HDMI cable I had to buy.

 

[magao]

I've been messing around with LibreElec (A Kodi-specific linux distro) on a Raspberry Pi 4 working off a jellyfin server and/or a NAS share. It's not perfect as it still requires a fair bit of technical knowhow and you might have to work around a few odd networking bugs until you get it how you like it, but if you're okay with a little hobbiest fiddling, it's entirely ad-free and can play everything I've thrown at it codec-wise. Supposedly works fine on a Pi3 as well, but a 4 is what I had around the house. It seems there's a Netflix plugin for it, but I haven't set that up yet. If I have to replace the streaming stick on the other TV, I'll have to get that going 'cause other household members browse for content instead of just acquiring what they want to watch ahead of time.

Edit: LibreElec is also smart enough to do the HDMI/CEC stuff, so my TV remote can navigate the menus, no need for keyboard/mouse.

Long-presses over HDMI-CEC are very hit-or-miss, depending on the device you're using the remote for.

I used to use LibreELEC, but I also have a Google TV (now a TV Streamer) and Kodi works really well with it (better on the TV Streamer, it's got hardware support for AV1).

I still use a Logitech 650 remote (I bought 5 of them a few years ago) and where possible I program the codes of the individual devices. Unfortunately more and more devices don't have discrete IR codes (or don't support IR at all) in which case HDMI-CEC ends up being the only option - or needing to keep that device's original remote around just for a few esoteric things.

 

[altsuperego]

Question: do they even make dumb TV’s anymore?

Sharp, LG and Samsung make commercial displays. They are more expensive, but not terrible:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1766894-REG/sharp_4pb55ej2u_4p_b55ej2u_55_class_4k.html/

 

[scpATL4now]

PFBlockerNG will block these ads. My logs are full of blocked ads on my Roku devices

 

[scpATL4now]

My pi-hole has been blocking Roku's static ad banner but if it's going to be an OS update, looks like it's time to take my RokuTVs offline and just run everything from an external stick.

PFsense's ad on PFBlockerNG blocks all of the Roku device ads. I don't know about the one built in to TV's though, but it works on the boxes.

 

[raschumacher]

And still no numeric remote. Sheesh.

 

[scpATL4now]

I can get some limited, but very high quality, content for free (OTA) from my local PBS affiliate.

Yeah, until Trump kills PBS

 

[Flipside79]

I guess it’s finally time to pony up for Apple TVs.

 

[serinx]

Yeah. We’re pretty deep into the Appleshit ecosystem at Family Jester: iphones, iPads, laptops. So far no watches, streaming devices, and (lol) AR shitware. Might be crossing one of them off the list.

Apple: for a few bucks more, often the least worst option!

Put that on a billboard, Tim!

Might I suggest the "One For All" streamer remote – it's a ROKU work alike that is way easier to use than the Apple TV remote. I even replaced my remaining ROKU device remotes with this as it is more versatile / durable / bigger in hand. One bad part is that it is IR only, not bluetooth so do need the Apple TV to be in a spot that is line of sight / or reflected IR beams path.

 

[crepuscularbrolly]

This is getting down voted, but it is so true. Using an Apple TV without an iPhone is painful-to-impossible. The whole selling point of Roku is that it was completely standalone.

And given Tim Cook is clearly a Trump fanboi, that's not an ecosystem I want to jump into. At least Roku is honest about being scumbags.

¿Qué? I always use my Apple TV without an iPhone.

 

[kaibelf]

I see behavior like this, and then I read statements like that and I feel a strong urge to innovate my hand across the face of the marketing person who wrote it,

 

[mikeschr]

This is getting down voted, but it is so true. Using an Apple TV without an iPhone is painful-to-impossible. The whole selling point of Roku is that it was completely standalone.

And given Tim Cook is clearly a Trump fanboi, that's not an ecosystem I want to jump into. At least Roku is honest about being scumbags.

I used an Apple TV without owning an iPhone for a long time with no problems. I can't even think of what problems there could be with that setup. Even after I got an iPhone, it and the Apple TV have nothing to do with each other.

 

[serinx]

Not sure why you're being downvoted here. It's correct. The caveat is that the ads are just for apple's own streaming content, not other shit.

The Home Screen top half stuff is kinda arguable in terms of it being an ad but I'd like to disable it if I could.

On the upside it preserves Home Screen scroll position unless to do a hard restart. So if you have enough apps, you don't effectively see the top of screen often. IE my Apple TV sleeps unless I need it and the Home Screen is just a wall of apps for me (after the first reboot / scroll down to whatever... so might see a teaser 'ad' on silent once a month, maybe).

 

[AlaskanDruid]

I already bought the hardware. I am not using their services. And they show ads? Aka getting paid aka charging me. And they are also doing video ads?

Something about continuously charging people for something they already bought without explicit permission comes to mind … if only there is someone rich enough to remove those responsible of such crimes.

 

[softcore]

What is the best dump tv to buy these days?
So high res, good image quality, no burn in issues, doesn't even need sound, no ads, microphone, not even connected to the Internet? So big, good display for the living room.

 

[chucklepie2]

The problem, is you can turn off the network on your tv, but roku is also a device so turning it off means you might bypass it's startup, but you then can't use it unless you turn it back on. Then they'll just add adverts on resuming sleep...

So, next Amazon will do it, and before long you have no choice other than cheap Chinese devices with higher risk of malware...

 

[DrMcCoy]

In lieu of a TV, I bought myself a laser projector (a Capsule 3) last month. Regular TV is coming over my cable router anyway if I was watching that, but I'm more interested in not-regular TV anyway. And I get to use it both in the bedroom and the living room without having two devices and without carrying a heavy thing around each time.

So far, I'm pretty happy with it. But it is running Google TV / Android, which is both a blessing (I can, for example, use an alternative ad-free YouTube app, etc.) and a curse: I do have ads on the home screen, even after enabling app-only mode. I still need to experiment with a different home screen app to get rid of those, so far I'm undecided how I want it to look and work.

I really hope something like these pre home screen ads aren't coming to that device in the future...

 

[krhodes1]

I guess I'm just a relative old. I don't care anymore than I cared when the only entertainment option on the boob tube was ad-supported OTA television. I ignored the ads then, I will continue to ignore them no matter the medium. Things need to be paid for one way or another, and if ads reduce my out of pocket cost, I am OK with that. Ad revenue is part of the reason I can buy an 85" TV for less than I paid for a 32" one 25 years ago, and have insane amounts of content available to me for the price of 3-4 videotape rentals a month. TANSTAAFL.

 

[M Doiron]

From the article: "Forum users who worried the change was permanent called the ads 'unacceptable' and 'intrusive.'"

Honest, I find Roku unacceptable and intrusive. When I hit "Live TV" on my remote control, I expect to go to the TV antenna. But Roku prevents that. All I use that TV for is live news when there is foul weather in the area. When there is an F5 tornado barreling across Oklahoma, I want the news NOW!, not after scrolling down to channel 5 from channel 1735 because that's what Roku forces on me! I never (never means NEVER!) want streaming TV. I have no use for it. I support the creators of movies and TV series by buying their productions on DVD or BluRay and watching those (ripped to eliminate the garbage nonsense).

 

[Socks Mingus]

"Forum users" sure, they'll care... but just think of all the people who watch things in the wrong aspect ratio because it "fills the screen" and refuse to let you disable motion smoothing even though they were just loudly complaining about how weird the picture looks...

 

[rodmont]

Question: do they even make dumb TV’s anymore?

Last year I disconnected both of our TVs from the internet and setup Apple TVs for all of our streaming needs. One of them was a TCL with RokuOS built in; using that TV was a total nightmare. Ads, unwanted firmware upgrades, slow apps rendered at 1080p instead of native 4K. Just exhausting to work around when trying to watch something. No product is perfect but I feel like putting a new Apple TV on there was absolutely the way to go.

Anyone I talk to about home entertainment stuff always gets this advice from me: "make your TV as dumb as possible and use a separate set-top box for streaming."

I’ve used a 2008 non Full HD Samsung TV(1080i) as a secondary TV on the living room. I had a 1st and 3rd Apple TV devices for years until forced to update to one newest 4K Apple boxes. I was able to ditch fibre channels TV plan and use the device with channel apps. Works great if one’s tolerate Apple devices. The main TV is also a 2022 Samsung smart one which I‘ve ”parasited” with another Apple device. The original TV OS was slow to change channels, difficult to use interface and the Apple TV works quick enough.

This is still vulnerable by individual providers behaviour later on, but it works so far. If I’d get a new TV I’d look for dumb ones too.

 

[rodmont]

It seems we should be giving more attention to paper books instead, and that they never read this commentary and think ways of making advertisement onto them. Streaming content is reaching toppest enshitfication lately.

 

[Carewolf]

Pay for ad-free tier on all your streaming services.... still get ads from your TV. Hell no I will never buy a Roku.

Many of the ad-free tiers doesn't consider ads for movies ads, so you might see the very same the same thing an ad for a movie with a skip button.

 

[maadmole]

Roku was the absolute OG of streaming. Shame how the mighty have fallen.

They used to be in somewhat ratty office space off Saratoga Avenue... now that they've moved into their massive puzzle palace complex along Coleman there are surely more bills to pay. Whoever thought of this idiocy spent too much time at Airfield Supply just across the street. Streaming devices are cheap enough for consumers to ditch them if they displease.

 

[maadmole]

Every year we inch closer to ads being beamed into your dreams like Futurama joked.

You'll be richer than musk if you can patent that (and keep your mouth shut)...

 

[Ianab]

The good news here is that millions of otherwise-good PCs won't support Windows 11. I foresee lots of media PCs running Ubuntu in the near future...

With the bonus that you probably get a DVD player built in for the old school stuff.
Probably need to get into selling good long range remote keyboards and mice.

 

[Ianab]

I have visions of my near future, where I have an entire Linux computer attached to my TV.

Old office PCs or small new NUC boxes make that practical. Try watching TV on your PC for a while, and if that works, then it's the same, with a bigger screen.

 

[Ianab]

So, what are the options for streaming to a TV without BS like this?

I mean, I could go buy a mini-PC and attach it to the TV and stream from that via a web browser. But that seems kind of overkill. I don't really need a full desktop OS when all I really need to do is open a service, select a show and hit Play.

Overkill possibly. But you are in control of what it does. You can buy commercial grade ex lease Mini PCs with decent i5 CPUs for chump change. While I wouldn't put it past MS to put adverts on a Windows Boot screen, it hasn't happened yet, and there is always Linux.

Fit an SSD so it boots and loads faster, then shortcuts to your various services on the desktop. Crude, but it works.

 

[migrena]

Some of us bought Rokus specifically to avoid using the built-in smart TV features. In my case that was probably about a decade ago but, nevertheless: egg on my face.

What are the ad-free streaming box or stick options now? Just the Apple TV?

are there no options to load homebrew software on those tvs?

 

[chrontius]

Are there any good alternatives that aren't Apple (or a decade old unsupported Nvidia product)?

I'm reasonably confident that the answer is a solid "no".

 

[Ianab]

Many of the ad-free tiers doesn't consider ads for movies ads, so you might see the very same the same thing an ad for a movie with a skip button.

Or, it you pay to go to a movie, and they show you previews (ads) for some other movie first. We accept that. We also accept the radio station playing adverts, because that's part of the deal. We can listen for free, and they play adverts. Don't like deal, don't tune to that station etc.

But this is like your car playing adverts when you start it, to drive to the movie theater.

Crap, I've given them an idea....