Bought a Roku back in 2020 or 2021 because the Apple TV was more expensive.
Now I know why.
For what it is worth, I have Roku set up as a REGEX in my Pi-hole so for the most part, any of this nonsense is completely blocked on my Roku.
Needless to say, I shouldn’t have to do this shit with a device I paid for and mainly use for Plex streaming.
Reasons I turn off WiFi on any TV I buy and use a streaming box
Roku will do this on their boxes too.
Yeah I don’t get roku boxes lol. I have an nvidia shield pro, and I’m considering loading the lineageOS software on it
Roku devices and fire sticks belong in the recycle bin.
I switched everything to Apple TV .
I think this happened to me last night with an ad for Moana 2 playing automatically. I just assumed I accidentally hit a button. I was on the home screen but it enlarged and played in the basically the top quarter of the screen. I hit Close and it closed.
Also, the Netflix app is absolute garbage on the TCL Roku TVs. Constantly freezes and crashes, sometimes while not even try to rewind or pause/resume. It just decides its had enough and causes the TV to restart lol.
PiHole.
My friend doesn’t understand this reference, could you elaborate, please?
If this happens on my box I’ll be taking them to small claims court and let you all know how it goes…
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?
What a goofy thing to ask. You know exactly why people use smart TVs on the Internet.
Casting, using your phone for a remote, so the popup for connecting goes away
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
Buy a commercial signage display. It’s just a TV without the smart garbage.
Or, get a projector :)
A Sharp Aquos TV from the late 2000s, pre-Hisense days. We have a 42" model from ~2007. It’s only 1080p (which is honestly just fine for its size and our usage), but there’s plenty of I/O for modern and legacy equipment, and lots of configuration options. It is an absolute monster at 75 lbs, but an incredibly high quality unit nonetheless, especially considering it’s age. I’ve owned it since 2019 and it’s needed zero repairs or anything.
For comparison, we also have a much newer 55" curved Samsung TV (in our basement, wall-mounted up high) which has already needed a backlight driver board replacement. Luckily that was only $50, but still, I expect better.
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.
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.
Don’t give your TV wifi access, use a separate device to watch stuff (Chromecast, FireTV, Android box, etc…)
Yeah, that was my approach, but the forced ads are also on the roku stick :(
Yeah about time for me to switch to something else :/
Is there anything that’s a better alternative?
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
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
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.
That’s what I do
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.
Try this brand https://www.sceptre.com/
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.
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.
So far what?
Even if they do start putting ads on Android TV, all I have to do is switch over to my Apple TV. That’s the best performing streaming device on the market, regardless of your opinion on Apple.
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.
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.
That’s such a cool and novel opinion. Wow. My Android TV does everything I need it to right out of the box. Never fucking shows me advertisements, and actually made it easier for me to stop paying for an overpriced Hulu subscription.
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.
Nvidia shield is android and works like a roku or chromecast
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.
At the moment I just have an old laptop and connect it to my TV via hdmi and installed Parsec on both devices. It’s a nice, free method.
In the future though I do want to look into getting a mini PC and doing essentially the same thing except it could be an individual device for the most part.
Not sold new
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.
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.
Just wait, they will find a way to make biking just as shitty
How? There are no electronics in the first place.
I’m sure “smart bikes” will come soon
Have I got horrible news for you
@surph_ninja urgh
isn’t their a foss os you can flash on your tv?
Lineagos can be flashed on some android TV sticks
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.
Almost downvoted instinctually as a reaction to the headline. Visceral reaction. I hate this beyond belief.
