…and it’s not just entertainment ads either

Ugh. Roku was one of the platforms with fewer ads.

  • Roku will be adding more ads to the home screens of its devices and TVs in the near future.
  • The ads will be interactive and ‘shoppable’ and will cover a range of industries, including restaurants and cars.
  • Roku already has a significant amount of ads on its home screen, and it is unclear if users will be able to change their preferences for the new ads.
  • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    170·
    10 months ago

    After all the issues with software updates, ads, and just overall terrible experience of TV operating systems and those little media boxes, I just finally accepted that my life is better using my TV as a dumb screen that’s connected to a PC and then using Steam Big Picture for games and Jellyfin for media.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      65·
      10 months ago

      After various trial and error, not to mention irritation, I have determined that this is the way. It’s what I did in the dark ages back in the day (with a Pentium 3 that had enough hardware acceleration to play DVD’s!) and it’s what I do once more. By hook or by crook, one way or another you’re guaranteed to be able to retain complete control over a PC even if that ultimately means you have to install some flavor of Linux on the fucking thing.

      You can get a perfectly capable media center PC for very little money if you don’t need it to be able to run AAA games, which in my case I don’t. Even the various nanocomputer boards like one of the beefier Raspberry Pi’s or any of its myriad competitors can do the job these days, fit in a tiny enclosure, make no noise, and consume very little power.

      Fuck all the Chromecasts, Fire sticks, Roku boxes, Apple TV’s, and other sundry and bullshit devices of the world.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        181·
        10 months ago

        Nvidia SHIELD is still ok, because it’s Android TV, and you can install custom launchers on Android. Therefore no ads on your home screen.

        Granted, Nvidia is letting the SHIELD line twist in the wind, and the most recent model is from 2019, but it’s not outmoded just yet. I’ll still be using mine for a number of years.

        • Funderpants @lemmy.caEnglish
          12·
          10 months ago

          The shield is great for the reasons you mention here. I use primal launcher and have a custom home screen experience without annoying ads.

          The shield also outputs music over HDMI without resampling, which makes it awesome for my digital music listening, except the app support is lame.

          • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            10 months ago

            Yeah unfortunately Android TV is neglected versus Roku and Firestick and so on, but most major apps are there, and you can sideload shit.

    • nicetriangle@kbin.social
      9·
      10 months ago

      Yeah I was getting fed up with apps and boxes said fuck it and am running a mac mini hooked up to a shitload of storage now and it’s been great. Plays media, works as a competent file server for said media, and emulates a bunch of console games. We don’t use anything else now.

    • Odelay42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      10 months ago

      I’ve been doing this for a decade.

      Highly recommend it. The only thing some people don’t like is using a keyboard and mouse on the couch, but there are endless solutions for that.

      • MentallyExhausted@reddthat.comEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        I have a little mini keyboard/trackpad controller. Primarily just use the directional pad and media controls to navigate Plex, but if I need to pop into a web browser or whatever, it works great.

      • chakan2@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        10 months ago

        Actually…that’s the sticking point at my house. I’m ok with mouse keyboard, but my wife and kids are not.

        Still trying to find a remote that will suit that use case.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        I have like four or five Logitech K400 keyboards, they’ve got a touchpad and they’re super inexpensive!

        • mrnarwall@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          Not the OP, but I have been getting a bug where I select a show/movie to watch in the roku app, and instead of playing it will exit out to the list of shows/movies menu. These same shows work just fine in the app on a google android TV, or on a computer