• LucidNightmare@lemm.ee
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    1 hour ago

    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.

  • cultsuperstar@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    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.

  • oyo@lemm.ee
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    6 hours ago

    If this happens on my box I’ll be taking them to small claims court and let you all know how it goes…

  • Tantheiel@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    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.

  • _sideffect@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    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

    • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 hours ago

      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.

    • scala@lemmy.ml
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      7 hours ago

      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.

      • CatZoomies@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        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.

  • PeteZa@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    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.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      9 hours ago

      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.

      • PeteZa@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        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.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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        8 hours ago

        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.

    • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      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.

      • PeteZa@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        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.

          • PeteZa@lemm.ee
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            6 hours ago

            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.

  • Brotha_Jaufrey@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    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

      • Brotha_Jaufrey@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        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.

  • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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    17 hours ago

    I was thinking about changing my Roku TV anyway. “Dumb” TVs are the future for me.

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        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.

  • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    Almost downvoted instinctually as a reaction to the headline. Visceral reaction. I hate this beyond belief.