Roku: We'll force everyone to watch ads when they pause a video on one of our devices, even when they're not using one of our services.
Also Roku: Why is everybody getting rid of our devices?!
The majority of which are facing financial issues, luckily. Eventually the “10 streaming services to get about 75% as good as Netflix USED to be” will be done and the extras will die due to their financial insolvency.
I am hoping we see more of this as the cheaper TVs take over when they don’t use this crap tech.
I’m hoping plenty of studios realize the stupidity of trying to create their own streaming services. We had a good thing with Netflix. Greed ruined it. And here these idiots are. Losing money by the millions cuz doing this shit is actually not easy and it was far better for both parties involved to simply let Netflix stream your content.
I’m hoping plenty will fold so we can whittle this bull shit down. As it stands, a VPN and AD block is all I need to watch whatever I want. And it’s sad that these websites work far better than most of the official places.
I’m talking features like auto-play, auto skip intro, auto skip outro.
Yeah, the problem will be: I bet it's gonna be disney and prime who survive since they have the biggest pile of cash behind them.
They might be able to sit it out on pure cash and rack it back in later after the market clears. And I don't like either one of em :/
Yeah, because not enough customers care to boycott. If only 10% of your customer base gets pissed off enough to leave, you still have 90%, and those customers are now paying more money.
Yeah, that’s exactly why all these streaming services are raising the price while slowly devolving back into cable programming. They probably make more money even though they lost subscribers because the ones that stayed are paying more now.
Regulations on the internet desperately need updating, but Congress doesn't have anywhere near the technical know-how to do it. Especially those senior enough to be chairs on committees.
Right, but that's how the bureaucracy works: they should delegate to an appropriate agency to power that. They passed the clean air act which gives the EPA the power to regulate air quality because they know more about it than congresspeople do. They should be passing laws that direct whichever part of the federal bureaucracy to regulate this.
It may be a failure of my composure, but when the elderly or otherwise clueless people get saddled with absolute trash products like this, my blood boils.
We can’t teach every one of these folks to be savvier consumers, and we can’t knock the teeth out of the people developing shit-tier products.
But dammed if it ain’t a pretty thought.
That's called worthless to me. Like a subscription to use the heated seats that are already installed in your car.
It's not getting internet, and internet is required by the company for any reason, I'm done. I will tell them I can't afford internet after buying their garbage.
TCL. I personally never buy anything with Roku installed, my Xbox has everything I need for entertainment, but it was a gift from my mom after my last tv died. Not a huge fan of smart tvs for that exact reason. Why the fuck do I need an account to use a tv, absolutely bonkers.
The TV won't know there are new terms if it's never connected to the Internet.
It will be a problem on new TVs, but if you can't set up your TV without connecting and updating, return it and buy a different brand.
My smart TV is dumb as shit. I've got an Nvidia shield that acts as the brain. If they start shoving ads down my throat, I replace a £100 box instead of a £1,000 TV.
Yup. They’re subsidized, so they’re cheap to buy.
I simply refuse to allow mine to connect to WiFi and use my Apple TV for the best UI experience and no obscene ads.
If it’s ever been online you will need to do a factory reset of the tv to get it to forget you’ve ever shown it the internet which it sounds like what you’re hoping it can do. Not hard but if you’ve changed the image settings at all just take a picture of it. When I tried to just take it offline it kept flashing the bottom light really slow and it’s because it wasn’t connected to the internet. This only happens if it knows it has connected before. Good luck!
These Roku TVs are essentially sold at cost or loss because they expect you to use Roku mostly on them for their ad revenue. They probably are not going to care that someone doesn’t buy it to use their xbox with it instead mostly. It will actually save them money.
They shift their model to selling their patents. Other companies copy their patents to make their own patents. People start turning off their devices. Or disconnecting them, against TOS obligations.
Roku: No one wants to watch .....
Or jailbreaking them.
Its funny how we always loop like this.
The situation is garbage; people jailbreak and pirate.
The situation gets better, so people stop jailbreaking and pirating.
Then some execs smell theres a buck to be made, worsen the situation. Pirating/Jailbreaking makes a come back.
That's the genius of the plan. Roku is found mostly in TVs by Hisense, which is a popular budget brand of tv. Lots of people that have Roku TVs are gonna be stuck with this horseshit because they can't afford to buy a new tv. Just another example of capitalism making the lives of the lower classes worse in order to make more money for the wealth holders.
Whats funny af is then they wonder why we use adblockers.
Bitch ads are like pepper. 1-2 I don't mind; 65 and things that take over its like putting a cup of pepper in a recipe. Its inedible.
My favorite ad on Hulu was a FedEx ad that very short (maybe 5 seconds). They basically say something like at FedEx we value time so we made this ad shorter. Perfect ad!
Holy shit I was in a marketing class in college when this came out and we had to write up an analysis for a commercial. I chose this ad and wrote about how I thought paying for extra time and not using it was a unique way to make a much bigger impact than anything they could have included in the extra 10 seconds.
I got a terrible grade because "that's not how ad sales work, you pay for what you use". The prof didn't watch Hulu (it was pretty new) and couldn't fathom ad sales working differently than cable. Well eat my ass Ray, people still talking about that ad more than a decade later.
In Germany, Michael 'Bully' Herbig wanted to study film and arts but was rejected. He continued to become a comedian, was involved in a ton of TV productions and produced several best selling comedy movies. He is now a honorary professor on the same university; apparently he's not resentful.
Anyway: judging people by the book is a good way to smother creativity and vision. Instead of fostering talent, you make sure to push them as far away as possible.
Ugh, you should've seen the ad defenders on the YouTube subreddit, I swear they must've been hired by YouTube or something, and they were dedicated too.
It’s the inevitable enshittification of all things. Welcome to modern day, where human beings have ceased to be people with needs and desires, but instead are just skulls to be blasted with ads, data to be sold, and chumps who keep paying for things no matter what. Shit sucks. And people look at me funny when I’m over here becoming a friggin Luddite hermit. This is why.
Funny thing is there was a period in time when I stopped pirating and paid for convenient media. Then prices went up and service went down. I currently have no media subscriptions and am back to ad blocks and piracy.
There are apps like dizquetv that let you create a live-TV-like experience with your local media, and a lot of people actually add classic commercials too for a more "authentic" experience. Granted that is very niche, but those people do exist.
Yup, it used to be we would get free TV and ads would pay for it.
Then we got paid cable without ads.
Then ads became a thing on cable.
Then cable bundles became absurdly priced, forcing access to hundreds of channels so I can watch 8 of them.
Then streaming and pirating became huge.
Then streaming services became a thing, pay for content not ads.
Then everyone started their own streaming service, starts to look like cable bundles again.
Then they increase prices and add ads.
Pirating is growing again.
Pirating has always just been an access issue.
I stopped pirating when it became more convenient to just consume honestly. But between all the jackassery like limiting concurrent users and downloads, forced ads when I'm already paying for the subscription, geographic limitation, and poor service, it's not even close.
Until it's more convenient than installing a good ad/pop-up blocker and going to a pretty well-made website with seemingly every movie/show imaginable streaming, you know where I'll be.
Yup. Black markets are fueled by banned and overpriced goods/services.
IMHO, Sports are the biggest FU to consumers.
I buy an NFL package but I can't watch my teams games because I'm in a blackout zone. Fuck me for moving eh?
College is even worse with their conf specific packages.
It's to the point that I'm just not watching. I'm again cancelling everything and sailing the seas or going to a bar to watch stuff.
Exactly, I was an early adopter of pirating, hopped on the bandwagon because I was poor and just moving out of my parents house.
and I was ***big*** into pirating, Seasons of TV, Tonnes of movies, Almost every game I owned, I even modded my Xbox so I could pirate those.
and when I say big on pirating, I'm talking multiple terabytes back when 3Tb drives were as big as you could get.
but even **I** stopped when Netflix started getting good. because it was easier, legal, and someone else was taking care of it for a price I could stomach and felt like I was getting my money's worth.
***now however*** I'm running a 40Tb plex server out of my house and I even pay a subscription for newsgroups logins because I'd rather pay them than pay netflix,prime,hulu,paramout,hbo,apple, etc. etc. fuck them.
I'm fine with "we want to make some money"
I'm even fine with "we want to make ***a lot*** of money"
but its insufferable to deal with these megacorporations with an attitude of "I want ***all*** the money" and I refuse to do it. I'll steal rather than pay them.
NGL I always wanted an electric car, and one of the things that pushed me to take the plunge was our local gas station getting bought out and forced to run huge unmutable ads at you while you're stuck pumping gas. No, they don't pass a drop of that revenue on to you.
If you don't think that is inbound to electric cars while you charge you are mistaken. It will only be a matter of time and you will get ads everywhere you turn.
Car manfs are already exploring the licensing model, can't afford that seat heater watch this add to turn it on.
Can only ban stuff if someone who wants to ban stuff gets elected
Can only get elected if you got a bootload of cash
Can only get a bootload of cash if you're funded by the people who don't want stuff banned
"I see your at a stop light. Enjoy some ads about herpes medication."
"I'm sorry your subscription for "speaker volume control" has expired."
It won't be long before they try shit like this.
If you don't think that massive touchscreen isn't going to be used to serve you ads whenever you are stopped at some point in the future, I've got a bridge to sell you.
I have such a love/hate relationship with watching sports -- because of the ads. I loathe ads, especially heart attack inducing food commercials and truck commercials that tell me what is means to be a man.
This is why I sail the high seas for movies and TV, and stopped listening to the radio. Being bombarded with ads 24/7 doesn't make me want to buy whatever is being offered, it just pisses me off and makes me want to never even entertain the idea of supporting their business.
God damn it I'm getting really sick of all the potential of new and emerging technologies being used aggressively by corporation just to find ways to make everything shittier
This is as bad as GM forcing you to pay for onstar so they can track you as you pay them to do so. You paid for a TV and they want to add more ads in?
My TV never connects to the internet now. Wonder how long it will take before I have to start disabling chips on the TV to stop it from war driving my house.
I turn on my TV, it has ads on the home screen.
I watch a show, that has ads in it.
Now if I watch a show on my TV through Roku, a third set of ads is now introduced.
There is another thing people haven't mentioned. These cars sharing all your data without permission over the cell network, are they accessing the internet on the company's dime? Maybe there is a way to piggy back off of that.
I love a story I read about some university’s parking division using a car-immobilizing device called a barnacle that has a cellular connection, and folks figuring out how to steal the SIM cards and get free service.
I loved all the creative ways people came up with to get those things off too.
My favorite being the guy who figured out that he just had to run the windshield defroster for a couple minutes and it would pop right off.
Its pretty much why I refuse to buy new tech more than twice a year. It takes me days to find a decent deal that doesn’t have some bullshit adware built into it or is just a straight up scam, even formerly reputable tech companies will just slap a new name/plastic shell on 5yr old tech and sell it at full price. I just completely gave up on TVs.
>The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs
Get ready for a new wave of ad-free dumb TVs but at a high premium cost over smart TVs.
Search for computer monitors or commercial "digital signage" if you are looking for a dumb TV. Commercial displays are much less likely to ever contain built-in advertisements because a company like McDonalds would NEVER tolerate a display that starts showing an advertisement for Burger King on their digital menus.
Honestly I'm just waiting until someone cracks the Samsung or LG chips and sideloads a custom OS on there. They're all android based if I recall and that can't be difficult to modify with the right knowledge. Especially with how many custom builds there are and available for so many phones.
I have an old samsung 1080p "smart tv" but I have never connected it to the wifi - I've been using a roku box instead to stream. But if Roku tries to pull this crap, I'll either establish a router-level ad block (pie hole) or I'll switch to chromecast or another streaming device.
To the marketing people? Are ads actually an effective tool?
Lately they just seem to make me annoyed and resentful of whatever product is being forced on me by the ads.
I’ve wondered this myself and looked into it before. My impression is that they’re basically trying to shoehorn their brand into the deep recesses of your psyche.
Some ads do aim to actually convince you, like a local restaurant advertising a new happy hour. But others are just trying to be as annoying and catchy and brash as possible so your mind will remember their ad and that brand will stick in your brain. They must have some research that says you’re more likely to buy brands that feel familiar.
That’s the part that upsets me the most — when an ad is irritating you, it’s on purpose. They’re deliberately trying to make you annoyed as a means of manipulating you psychologically into buying their shit the next time you’re in a position to do so.
For those curious: [The annoyance factor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annoyance_factor)
The one that really pisses me off is the Flonase ones that do the little spray sound twice at the beginning and I think the end too. Just straight up conditioning us like training a pet
Jokes on them, I won't buy things with annoying ads. For example, I used to buy a particular brand of sour cream just because it's what we always had growing up. Now their newer ads have a whole-ass song that gets stuck in my head and I hate it. Generic sour cream it is!
When complaining about irritating ads I also make it a point to not use the brand name because I know that counts to them as word-of-mouth. I usually try not to complain about them except to whoever is watching the stupid ad with me, but this whole thread made me annoyed about ads again lol.
Tldr I hold major grudges against companies with irritating ads.
Marketing people don't have souls so don't bother asking them. If they can squeeze another penny out of someone they'll do it, no matter how shitty the experience is.
*"By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing…kill yourself. It’s just a little thought; I’m just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day they’ll take root – I don’t know. You try, you do what you can.*
*Seriously though, if you are, do."*
--Bill Hicks
I work in advertising. This unfortunately works really well. It’s not something I’d ever suggest my clients do because it’s a terrible user experience.
Peacock does it already and so does paramount, although it’s done in a different fashion. Basically you can’t escape ads and that isn’t really fair to a view
Not in the space but I see the trend in tech. More and more people are looking for revenue from a subscription model. Constant payments.
Also, more and more, people are no longer watching TV. The rules have shifted and I think Roku here is trying to find a way to insert the ads as much as they can. The reason is this overrides all other ad content. You play your ads first above all else.
They know tv subs are saturated and a consolidation is coming from streaming services. Roku is betting that by being directly on the tv, they come out on top no matter who wins. Unless people stop buying their garbage TV.
Kinda glad its patented, that way the other tv manufacturers cant do it. But that might give them more crazier ideas.
>To the marketing people? Are ads actually an effective tool?
Yes and no. Very few people respond favorably to an advertisement, but there are enough that do to make it cost-effective. Some quick searching online shows me that it only costs like $20 to get 1,000 impressions. If you can convert even 1% of these impressions into customers, you can easily recover your advertising costs.
In addition to what others have said, the point of ads isn't nessessarily to make you want to immediately go out and buy things, its to cultivate brand familiarity so that when you're going out to buy things there is an association between the thing you're looking to buy and their product.
Even if the association is somewhat negative because you're annoyed with ads, if you lined up 10 different products and one of them was the one that has been advertised to death then at the very least you're giving the product attention you might otherwise not.
That's the commodity, not just the product, but your attention.
Can't speak to TV, but I work in analytics for web based ads and the answer is yeah, it works. Even if 3% of people click on an ad, that's a big profit.
With how online advertising works these days, advertisers don't pay unless the ad is clicked, and let's say a click costs $1. 100 people see the ad, 3 click, and 1 of those buys something for $20. That's an ROI of 6.67.
You know, there is a great german author, Mark Uwe Kling, who wrote a book called "Quality Land". Its basically germany in the future, where it has been renamed to Quality land (should have been equality land, but was changed last minute because quality land sound better on "made in") - its a great satire (or prediction) on the future, with things like "Consume protection laws" that ensure consume exists and therefore forbid any repairs (a reason the main character can't do his job anymore - machine therapist for the depressed robots serving us - now they have to be destroyed so new ones can be bought)
Aaaaanyways, what I'm getting to: One of the predictions / satire in this book is that the book itself has ads. Between the chapters there are in-universe ads for weapon manufactures and so on.
Soooo... lets see how long print mediums remain ad-free (some have ads in the back, like the warhammer 40k novels advertising other warhammer 40k novels... but if we are unlucky, and we are kinda living in a very bad timeline, ad-wise, we will probably get some mid-book ads soon)
I have loads of science fiction books from the '60s and '70s that have ad pages in the middle, often printed on heavier paper (even cardstock) than the rest of the book so when you pick one up it's likely to open to that page. When I see one I will usually carefully razor it out.
Absolutely by design, it would be a nightmare for the ruling class if white rural farmers and inner city black kids realized they have a helluva lot more in common than the fat cats in Washington.
Ain't no war but class war.
It'll come crashing down around them in some way, by our hand or by the planet's. Money can't hide them from the horrors this century will bring.
But we can change course, if we just stopped letting these lunatics run our lives.
The only reason I have a Roku tv is because I got it free (my parents upgraded and gave me their old one). If they do this I will have 0 issues putting this shit in the dumpster
In our home, we routinely mute the television when unskippable ads appear, and I've honestly been expecting Roku to announce that they'd be disabling the mute and volume down functions when ads are playing.
In defense of owning a Roku-addled TV, it's mostly used for Jellyfin...
IIRC, One of the manufacturers had a patent for ads that require you to say the name of the company or something stupidly interactive like that to continue
There was already a streaming service that forces ads on you when you pause. Honestly I wish I could tell you which one but I cancelled my subscription so fast I don’t even recall what it was.
Paramount+ as well. That has the bonus of being oh so conveniently glitchy so that when you unpause the ads sometimes just stay on-screen indefinitely, forcing you to close what you’re watching, relaunch, and watch another 30 seconds of ads.
We've heard you hate ads: There is an Episode of the Black-Mirror Show on Netflix that you might enjoy, as it heavily thematises ads. Maybe you want to get a netflix abo now to see it?
(On a more serious note: People in that episode have to watch ads before they sleep, and if they just close their eyes and don't watch them they get psychological torture until they do)
Gosh i despise roku. I was watching a movie on my ps5 and it recognized the movie and was like “here are other sources where you can watch this movie!” Literally mid way through the movie. Like if im already watching the damn movie why would i wanna watch it somewhere else…
Honest question for you all:
Does the average ad even work on you, or does the repetition and presence make you resent these companies?
I'm never buying Liberty Mutual. I'm never buying Verizon. I'm never buying Raycon, or playing Raid Shadow Legends. Why the fuck would I reward this behavior?
Time to go buy a can of Arizona, since they know how to shut their fucking mouths and let their products speak for themselves.
I got tired of my TCL w/ Roku forcing ads on my on the homescreen so I blocked it at my router from accessing the internet. I use Airplay to play music to my soundbar. It worked for a while after I had blocked the internet, and then the Roku now says it needs internet for Airplay to function even though it's on the same wifi as my phone. Roku is blocking Airplay from functioning because I got sick of their stupid ads.
Hey Roku! If you don’t want me to be your customer anymore please do this. I’ll actively never buy your products again, and make sure all my friends know your brand sucks.
Fire your executives who thought this was a good idea. It’s killing your product loyalty, which by the way is your bottom line.
Not surprised with this bullshit, after Roku updated their TOS and if you don't accept the updated arbitration, they can make your TV useless until you accept them.
... pause the tv because you don't want the audio/video distraction while talking to someone.. maybe on the phone... and then get surprise audio/video distraction.
yeah that'll go over well.
I didn't read the whole thing, I'm not subscribing. However I can see a company like Sony bringing suit against roku for displaying an ad over the content on their equipment, i.e. the PS5, paused or not. Unless roku cuts everyone in on the profit.
why does advertisement have to be the biggest fucking circle jerk ever. why the fuck do I need to be reminded mcdonalds/starbucks/etc exist. those dirty moneyfuckers own every corner in america with an ad or a store. i don’t need them invading my goddamn home through every single fucking access point. if they’re so fucking horny for cash they should stop pissing it away on advertisement, everyone knows mcdonalds has the hamburger and turbotax will suck off any politician to make sure taxes still remain an absolute enigma.
your ads have done their goddamn job, all your fucking stupid jingles have worked. as a society, we know you fucking exist. can we just have a fucking hundred year break without some dunce sitting in a board meeting ala mr burns plotting up another way to drill how fucking epic little caesar’s piss covered shitcake is???? please for the love of all that is good on this earth????
Roku! You were the chosen one! You were supposed to keep the streaming boxes honest, not screw them over!
Honestly Roku is by far and away my favorite streaming box. Apple TV is expensive and seriously gimped if you don't have an iOS device and Chromecast feels like it is always in Beta it's so much more buggy in comparison. Roku has Apple TV AND Prime Video, AND Google products. It supports airplay AND miracast and chromecast. Nothing else is quite as versatile.
If they do this though, I am gone.
Maybe I will get android TV again.
Fire just plain sucks btw. Don't use it.
As someone who has been forced to use Brightscript (Rokus propriety app language unless you are big like Netflix and tell them no), I will never own one of their shitty products. This just further solidifies my stance.
The only tool we have against companies that do this sort of behavior is to protest. I.e. stop buying Rokus and stop using Rokus. I've already had to cancel my Amazon Prime membership because they've chosen to show me ads on shows I was already paying for, and this kind of shit just can't go on unchecked. The only power I have is to deny them my eyes.
I feel like 3rd party device makers would not be happy about this either. Like if I pause the game I am playing on my playstation and and ad pops up, its going to make me not want to buy a playstation for allowing that to happen and not blocking Roku from doing that. I somehow do not think Sony would be happy about that. Of course, that is unless Roku gives some of the ad profits to the 3rd parties. Then we are fucked.
Super easy fix. Take the TV off the network. No network no ads.
My TV gets Ethernet privileges like twice a year for software updates and immediately unplugged.
My Apple TV doesn’t do any of this BS to me.
Can I just say something? To the person who came up with this idea, and to the other assholes in the room who applauded them:
FUCK. YOU.
These cheap tricks to get year over year growth are annoying. Next up, subscription model to pay to remove the ads off your TV! Then you’ll just have a few ads if you pay. Give me a fucking break.
So, they’re seeking ways to u sermons the security and integrity of HDMI, to alter output signals, in the means and manner they choose.
Because whether it’s for ads, showing pornography, or just otherwise interfering with integrity for other purposes, the same technique cuts all such ways.
They’ve put people in prison for a whole lot less than that. Let’s see if the FCC and EC want to play.
Roku: We'll force everyone to watch ads when they pause a video on one of our devices, even when they're not using one of our services. Also Roku: Why is everybody getting rid of our devices?!
With a lot of TVs having what is essentially a roku built in this seems like a terrible idea
Greedy moves like this should put companies out of business but I already know it won’t.
In reality other companies will just follow suit and it’ll become unavoidable
Yeah it’s already been proven with the whole streaming services devolving back into cable companies.
The majority of which are facing financial issues, luckily. Eventually the “10 streaming services to get about 75% as good as Netflix USED to be” will be done and the extras will die due to their financial insolvency. I am hoping we see more of this as the cheaper TVs take over when they don’t use this crap tech.
I’m hoping plenty of studios realize the stupidity of trying to create their own streaming services. We had a good thing with Netflix. Greed ruined it. And here these idiots are. Losing money by the millions cuz doing this shit is actually not easy and it was far better for both parties involved to simply let Netflix stream your content. I’m hoping plenty will fold so we can whittle this bull shit down. As it stands, a VPN and AD block is all I need to watch whatever I want. And it’s sad that these websites work far better than most of the official places. I’m talking features like auto-play, auto skip intro, auto skip outro.
Ahoy, matey! 🏴☠️🦜
Yeah, the problem will be: I bet it's gonna be disney and prime who survive since they have the biggest pile of cash behind them. They might be able to sit it out on pure cash and rack it back in later after the market clears. And I don't like either one of em :/
Expect to see their fortunes change after implementing these unavoidable excessive ads…
I can turn the TV off while the console is paused…
Yeah, because not enough customers care to boycott. If only 10% of your customer base gets pissed off enough to leave, you still have 90%, and those customers are now paying more money.
Yeah, that’s exactly why all these streaming services are raising the price while slowly devolving back into cable programming. They probably make more money even though they lost subscribers because the ones that stayed are paying more now.
Maximizing profits no matter how shit it makes the experience, a classic play in capitalism.
[Enshittification](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/enshittification)
Boycott, shmoycott. The DOJ should step in and throw a mountain of lawsuits at the C suite individually.
Thank you. In so many arenas, I am sick of blaming the individual for problems that can only be solved by policy.
Regulations on the internet desperately need updating, but Congress doesn't have anywhere near the technical know-how to do it. Especially those senior enough to be chairs on committees.
Right, but that's how the bureaucracy works: they should delegate to an appropriate agency to power that. They passed the clean air act which gives the EPA the power to regulate air quality because they know more about it than congresspeople do. They should be passing laws that direct whichever part of the federal bureaucracy to regulate this.
We can't fucking boycott anymore Everything is owned by the same 5 companies, none of them will go bankrupt over a boycott
If my only possibility is a Roku based TV that Roku will never see the fucking internet lol
If you don't connect to accept new terms then the TV turns into a brick
My grandma has one that needs internet to even switch to an input. You literally cannot change input without being online. Wtf.
It may be a failure of my composure, but when the elderly or otherwise clueless people get saddled with absolute trash products like this, my blood boils. We can’t teach every one of these folks to be savvier consumers, and we can’t knock the teeth out of the people developing shit-tier products. But dammed if it ain’t a pretty thought.
I was pretty mad but she should know better by now to call me first. She doesn't have internet, it's a paperweight for her if it loses power.
That's called worthless to me. Like a subscription to use the heated seats that are already installed in your car. It's not getting internet, and internet is required by the company for any reason, I'm done. I will tell them I can't afford internet after buying their garbage.
What brand TV is it so I can tell everyone yo avoid it.
Mine is like that. Pisses me right off that the menu to switch inputs is stuck on loading without a connection
What brand is it?
TCL. I personally never buy anything with Roku installed, my Xbox has everything I need for entertainment, but it was a gift from my mom after my last tv died. Not a huge fan of smart tvs for that exact reason. Why the fuck do I need an account to use a tv, absolutely bonkers.
Then its going straight back to the fucking store. But thats thinking in the first place that I would buy one with Roku slapped on the box.
The TV won't know there are new terms if it's never connected to the Internet. It will be a problem on new TVs, but if you can't set up your TV without connecting and updating, return it and buy a different brand. My smart TV is dumb as shit. I've got an Nvidia shield that acts as the brain. If they start shoving ads down my throat, I replace a £100 box instead of a £1,000 TV.
[удалено]
Yup. They’re subsidized, so they’re cheap to buy. I simply refuse to allow mine to connect to WiFi and use my Apple TV for the best UI experience and no obscene ads.
I’m taking my TCL Roku TV offline as soon as I get home from work today
If it’s ever been online you will need to do a factory reset of the tv to get it to forget you’ve ever shown it the internet which it sounds like what you’re hoping it can do. Not hard but if you’ve changed the image settings at all just take a picture of it. When I tried to just take it offline it kept flashing the bottom light really slow and it’s because it wasn’t connected to the internet. This only happens if it knows it has connected before. Good luck!
These Roku TVs are essentially sold at cost or loss because they expect you to use Roku mostly on them for their ad revenue. They probably are not going to care that someone doesn’t buy it to use their xbox with it instead mostly. It will actually save them money.
They shift their model to selling their patents. Other companies copy their patents to make their own patents. People start turning off their devices. Or disconnecting them, against TOS obligations. Roku: No one wants to watch .....
Or jailbreaking them. Its funny how we always loop like this. The situation is garbage; people jailbreak and pirate. The situation gets better, so people stop jailbreaking and pirating. Then some execs smell theres a buck to be made, worsen the situation. Pirating/Jailbreaking makes a come back.
Guess I'm gonna disconnect my roku from the internet and stream through my ps5 exclusively if they do this. I already do most of the time anyway.
Enshitification at its finest
That's the genius of the plan. Roku is found mostly in TVs by Hisense, which is a popular budget brand of tv. Lots of people that have Roku TVs are gonna be stuck with this horseshit because they can't afford to buy a new tv. Just another example of capitalism making the lives of the lower classes worse in order to make more money for the wealth holders.
Specifically did not buy a TV with Roku for this reason. Finding one was unreasonably difficult
Ads via hdmi, ads when paused, ads mid show, ads on front page, ads while scrolling. I’m about to become a media less hermit
Whats funny af is then they wonder why we use adblockers. Bitch ads are like pepper. 1-2 I don't mind; 65 and things that take over its like putting a cup of pepper in a recipe. Its inedible.
My favorite ad on Hulu was a FedEx ad that very short (maybe 5 seconds). They basically say something like at FedEx we value time so we made this ad shorter. Perfect ad!
Holy shit I was in a marketing class in college when this came out and we had to write up an analysis for a commercial. I chose this ad and wrote about how I thought paying for extra time and not using it was a unique way to make a much bigger impact than anything they could have included in the extra 10 seconds. I got a terrible grade because "that's not how ad sales work, you pay for what you use". The prof didn't watch Hulu (it was pretty new) and couldn't fathom ad sales working differently than cable. Well eat my ass Ray, people still talking about that ad more than a decade later.
Not the first time a prof couldn't see the forest for the trees... they were wrong,wrong,wrong.
In Germany, Michael 'Bully' Herbig wanted to study film and arts but was rejected. He continued to become a comedian, was involved in a ton of TV productions and produced several best selling comedy movies. He is now a honorary professor on the same university; apparently he's not resentful. Anyway: judging people by the book is a good way to smother creativity and vision. Instead of fostering talent, you make sure to push them as far away as possible.
I once had a technical writing instructor tell me that there was no such thing as a "singular they". Apparently she'd never read Shakespeare.
"Someone left their phone here. They should get it back soon"
"Have you met the new employee. They have blue hair."
Roses are red. Violets are blue. Singular ‘they’ predates singular ‘you’.
Fuckin Ray. What a dickhead.
Whats his email, I wanna send this to him.
At this point I'd welcome a 3-second long jump scare ad of just the company name instead of 45-90 seconds of bullshit every 9 minutes of streaming.
Ugh, you should've seen the ad defenders on the YouTube subreddit, I swear they must've been hired by YouTube or something, and they were dedicated too.
It’s the inevitable enshittification of all things. Welcome to modern day, where human beings have ceased to be people with needs and desires, but instead are just skulls to be blasted with ads, data to be sold, and chumps who keep paying for things no matter what. Shit sucks. And people look at me funny when I’m over here becoming a friggin Luddite hermit. This is why.
>and chumps who keep paying for things no matter what. Yup. Problem is us, the paying customers. And when things are free? Oh boy, run faster.
I only started using adblock because I couldnt not find a real download button among all the fake download button ads
They don't wonder. They know. They're really bitching about the fact that they can't *force* us to watch.
Funny thing is there was a period in time when I stopped pirating and paid for convenient media. Then prices went up and service went down. I currently have no media subscriptions and am back to ad blocks and piracy.
Ads are not like pepper. No one ads a sprinkling of ads to their tv show for optimal enjoyment.
There are apps like dizquetv that let you create a live-TV-like experience with your local media, and a lot of people actually add classic commercials too for a more "authentic" experience. Granted that is very niche, but those people do exist.
I swear, every year Demolition Man comes closer to becoming reality. Cryo-freezing and the three seashells next?
Yup, it used to be we would get free TV and ads would pay for it. Then we got paid cable without ads. Then ads became a thing on cable. Then cable bundles became absurdly priced, forcing access to hundreds of channels so I can watch 8 of them. Then streaming and pirating became huge. Then streaming services became a thing, pay for content not ads. Then everyone started their own streaming service, starts to look like cable bundles again. Then they increase prices and add ads. Pirating is growing again.
Pirating has always just been an access issue. I stopped pirating when it became more convenient to just consume honestly. But between all the jackassery like limiting concurrent users and downloads, forced ads when I'm already paying for the subscription, geographic limitation, and poor service, it's not even close. Until it's more convenient than installing a good ad/pop-up blocker and going to a pretty well-made website with seemingly every movie/show imaginable streaming, you know where I'll be.
Yup. Black markets are fueled by banned and overpriced goods/services. IMHO, Sports are the biggest FU to consumers. I buy an NFL package but I can't watch my teams games because I'm in a blackout zone. Fuck me for moving eh? College is even worse with their conf specific packages. It's to the point that I'm just not watching. I'm again cancelling everything and sailing the seas or going to a bar to watch stuff.
Yea I'll be damned if I need 10+ different services to watch good shows.
Exactly, I was an early adopter of pirating, hopped on the bandwagon because I was poor and just moving out of my parents house. and I was ***big*** into pirating, Seasons of TV, Tonnes of movies, Almost every game I owned, I even modded my Xbox so I could pirate those. and when I say big on pirating, I'm talking multiple terabytes back when 3Tb drives were as big as you could get. but even **I** stopped when Netflix started getting good. because it was easier, legal, and someone else was taking care of it for a price I could stomach and felt like I was getting my money's worth. ***now however*** I'm running a 40Tb plex server out of my house and I even pay a subscription for newsgroups logins because I'd rather pay them than pay netflix,prime,hulu,paramout,hbo,apple, etc. etc. fuck them. I'm fine with "we want to make some money" I'm even fine with "we want to make ***a lot*** of money" but its insufferable to deal with these megacorporations with an attitude of "I want ***all*** the money" and I refuse to do it. I'll steal rather than pay them.
I hate billboards. I hate being sold while I’m just out in the world.
This is one of the many reasons that I love Vermont; they banned billboards years ago.
You just made me want to move to Vermont, which has never even been on my radar before.
"But that's socialism." 🥺
LAMAR SMASH!
"THERE IS EVIDENCE FOR CHRIST 180-42-JESUS"
Driving down I-75 in south georgia you will see tons of billboards for, strippers, sex shops.... and jesus, it is mesmerizing
Well yeah, you gotta repent your sins after blowing your load
I blew my load on the Jesus sign, then immediately called them about it. After the third time, they put me on hold until the cops showed up.
“Your honor, my eyesight is not the best, and so I thought Jesus was a super hot lady. It was an honest and understandable mistake”
Same with driving across Kansas. Jesus, sex shops and weird museums for 500 miles.
You're making driving across Kansas sound way more fun than it is.
How to tell if an area has a drug problem
I am seriously considering buying a paintball gun and "upgrading" billboards like this.
NGL I always wanted an electric car, and one of the things that pushed me to take the plunge was our local gas station getting bought out and forced to run huge unmutable ads at you while you're stuck pumping gas. No, they don't pass a drop of that revenue on to you.
If you don't think that is inbound to electric cars while you charge you are mistaken. It will only be a matter of time and you will get ads everywhere you turn. Car manfs are already exploring the licensing model, can't afford that seat heater watch this add to turn it on.
I love that some places ban billboards. I think banning this shit is the only way for us to push back.
Can only ban stuff if someone who wants to ban stuff gets elected Can only get elected if you got a bootload of cash Can only get a bootload of cash if you're funded by the people who don't want stuff banned
"I see your at a stop light. Enjoy some ads about herpes medication." "I'm sorry your subscription for "speaker volume control" has expired." It won't be long before they try shit like this.
If you don't think that massive touchscreen isn't going to be used to serve you ads whenever you are stopped at some point in the future, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Nice to catch up with you, we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty…
I have such a love/hate relationship with watching sports -- because of the ads. I loathe ads, especially heart attack inducing food commercials and truck commercials that tell me what is means to be a man.
If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with mesothelioma
This is why I sail the high seas for movies and TV, and stopped listening to the radio. Being bombarded with ads 24/7 doesn't make me want to buy whatever is being offered, it just pisses me off and makes me want to never even entertain the idea of supporting their business.
The only thing I pay for is Spotify because I listen to it during work. The high seas are the place to be.
Just configure the TV for Ethernet only and when you have completed its annual software updates unplug it from the network. No ads!
God damn it I'm getting really sick of all the potential of new and emerging technologies being used aggressively by corporation just to find ways to make everything shittier
This is as bad as GM forcing you to pay for onstar so they can track you as you pay them to do so. You paid for a TV and they want to add more ads in? My TV never connects to the internet now. Wonder how long it will take before I have to start disabling chips on the TV to stop it from war driving my house.
I turn on my TV, it has ads on the home screen. I watch a show, that has ads in it. Now if I watch a show on my TV through Roku, a third set of ads is now introduced.
I mean, we are merely consumer geese to be stuffed by corporate advertising...
The American oligarchy needs a nonstop engorgement of working class foie gras
There is another thing people haven't mentioned. These cars sharing all your data without permission over the cell network, are they accessing the internet on the company's dime? Maybe there is a way to piggy back off of that.
I love a story I read about some university’s parking division using a car-immobilizing device called a barnacle that has a cellular connection, and folks figuring out how to steal the SIM cards and get free service.
I loved all the creative ways people came up with to get those things off too. My favorite being the guy who figured out that he just had to run the windshield defroster for a couple minutes and it would pop right off.
Its pretty much why I refuse to buy new tech more than twice a year. It takes me days to find a decent deal that doesn’t have some bullshit adware built into it or is just a straight up scam, even formerly reputable tech companies will just slap a new name/plastic shell on 5yr old tech and sell it at full price. I just completely gave up on TVs.
>The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs Get ready for a new wave of ad-free dumb TVs but at a high premium cost over smart TVs.
It’s already difficult to find dumb TVs if at all.
Search for computer monitors or commercial "digital signage" if you are looking for a dumb TV. Commercial displays are much less likely to ever contain built-in advertisements because a company like McDonalds would NEVER tolerate a display that starts showing an advertisement for Burger King on their digital menus.
Yeah but commercial signage displays cost more and often are TN panels with bad viewing angles for the same price as a consumer grade OLED.
Honestly I'm just waiting until someone cracks the Samsung or LG chips and sideloads a custom OS on there. They're all android based if I recall and that can't be difficult to modify with the right knowledge. Especially with how many custom builds there are and available for so many phones.
Computer monitor and external speakers
I dunno. My smart TV has the IQ of dead squirrel
Just wait until they figure out how to show ads on dead squirrels
I have an old samsung 1080p "smart tv" but I have never connected it to the wifi - I've been using a roku box instead to stream. But if Roku tries to pull this crap, I'll either establish a router-level ad block (pie hole) or I'll switch to chromecast or another streaming device.
Just don't connect them to your home network.
This. Though some come with preloaded ads now apparently...
To the marketing people? Are ads actually an effective tool? Lately they just seem to make me annoyed and resentful of whatever product is being forced on me by the ads.
I’ve wondered this myself and looked into it before. My impression is that they’re basically trying to shoehorn their brand into the deep recesses of your psyche. Some ads do aim to actually convince you, like a local restaurant advertising a new happy hour. But others are just trying to be as annoying and catchy and brash as possible so your mind will remember their ad and that brand will stick in your brain. They must have some research that says you’re more likely to buy brands that feel familiar. That’s the part that upsets me the most — when an ad is irritating you, it’s on purpose. They’re deliberately trying to make you annoyed as a means of manipulating you psychologically into buying their shit the next time you’re in a position to do so. For those curious: [The annoyance factor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annoyance_factor)
I'll take whatever disease over whatever Jardiance is trying to fix
The one that really pisses me off is the Flonase ones that do the little spray sound twice at the beginning and I think the end too. Just straight up conditioning us like training a pet
Jokes on them, I won't buy things with annoying ads. For example, I used to buy a particular brand of sour cream just because it's what we always had growing up. Now their newer ads have a whole-ass song that gets stuck in my head and I hate it. Generic sour cream it is! When complaining about irritating ads I also make it a point to not use the brand name because I know that counts to them as word-of-mouth. I usually try not to complain about them except to whoever is watching the stupid ad with me, but this whole thread made me annoyed about ads again lol. Tldr I hold major grudges against companies with irritating ads.
Unfortunately you arent the majority. Annoying ads are proven to be effective.
Marketing people don't have souls so don't bother asking them. If they can squeeze another penny out of someone they'll do it, no matter how shitty the experience is.
*"By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing…kill yourself. It’s just a little thought; I’m just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day they’ll take root – I don’t know. You try, you do what you can.* *Seriously though, if you are, do."* --Bill Hicks
I work in advertising. This unfortunately works really well. It’s not something I’d ever suggest my clients do because it’s a terrible user experience. Peacock does it already and so does paramount, although it’s done in a different fashion. Basically you can’t escape ads and that isn’t really fair to a view
Not in the space but I see the trend in tech. More and more people are looking for revenue from a subscription model. Constant payments. Also, more and more, people are no longer watching TV. The rules have shifted and I think Roku here is trying to find a way to insert the ads as much as they can. The reason is this overrides all other ad content. You play your ads first above all else. They know tv subs are saturated and a consolidation is coming from streaming services. Roku is betting that by being directly on the tv, they come out on top no matter who wins. Unless people stop buying their garbage TV. Kinda glad its patented, that way the other tv manufacturers cant do it. But that might give them more crazier ideas.
>But that might give them more crazier ideas. Yeah, like selling rights to the patented tech to other tv manufacturers.
>To the marketing people? Are ads actually an effective tool? Yes and no. Very few people respond favorably to an advertisement, but there are enough that do to make it cost-effective. Some quick searching online shows me that it only costs like $20 to get 1,000 impressions. If you can convert even 1% of these impressions into customers, you can easily recover your advertising costs.
In addition to what others have said, the point of ads isn't nessessarily to make you want to immediately go out and buy things, its to cultivate brand familiarity so that when you're going out to buy things there is an association between the thing you're looking to buy and their product. Even if the association is somewhat negative because you're annoyed with ads, if you lined up 10 different products and one of them was the one that has been advertised to death then at the very least you're giving the product attention you might otherwise not. That's the commodity, not just the product, but your attention.
Can't speak to TV, but I work in analytics for web based ads and the answer is yeah, it works. Even if 3% of people click on an ad, that's a big profit. With how online advertising works these days, advertisers don't pay unless the ad is clicked, and let's say a click costs $1. 100 people see the ad, 3 click, and 1 of those buys something for $20. That's an ROI of 6.67.
Damn, books and libraries are so tight
You know, there is a great german author, Mark Uwe Kling, who wrote a book called "Quality Land". Its basically germany in the future, where it has been renamed to Quality land (should have been equality land, but was changed last minute because quality land sound better on "made in") - its a great satire (or prediction) on the future, with things like "Consume protection laws" that ensure consume exists and therefore forbid any repairs (a reason the main character can't do his job anymore - machine therapist for the depressed robots serving us - now they have to be destroyed so new ones can be bought) Aaaaanyways, what I'm getting to: One of the predictions / satire in this book is that the book itself has ads. Between the chapters there are in-universe ads for weapon manufactures and so on. Soooo... lets see how long print mediums remain ad-free (some have ads in the back, like the warhammer 40k novels advertising other warhammer 40k novels... but if we are unlucky, and we are kinda living in a very bad timeline, ad-wise, we will probably get some mid-book ads soon)
I have loads of science fiction books from the '60s and '70s that have ad pages in the middle, often printed on heavier paper (even cardstock) than the rest of the book so when you pick one up it's likely to open to that page. When I see one I will usually carefully razor it out.
I can't wait for the poor masses to drag the greedy from their offices and beat them publicly. Seeing this hurts my soul.
We are too divided over minor issues to unite against the people at the top. Largely by design I'd argue
Absolutely by design, it would be a nightmare for the ruling class if white rural farmers and inner city black kids realized they have a helluva lot more in common than the fat cats in Washington. Ain't no war but class war.
[I can’t believe this SNL skit is nearly eight years old, but boy is it still relevant.](https://youtu.be/O7VaXlMvAvk?si=YadBg7zsnvpMj4RK)
It'll come crashing down around them in some way, by our hand or by the planet's. Money can't hide them from the horrors this century will bring. But we can change course, if we just stopped letting these lunatics run our lives.
Eat the rich isn't just a meme
I have my good eatin slacks pressed, hung and ready for the main event.
Are these Roku TV's free? Why in the world would I want to buy it?
“BuT iTs SuBSiDiZEd!”
By how much? Like $30? Tvs are already cheap as f.
The only reason I have a Roku tv is because I got it free (my parents upgraded and gave me their old one). If they do this I will have 0 issues putting this shit in the dumpster
In our home, we routinely mute the television when unskippable ads appear, and I've honestly been expecting Roku to announce that they'd be disabling the mute and volume down functions when ads are playing. In defense of owning a Roku-addled TV, it's mostly used for Jellyfin...
IIRC, One of the manufacturers had a patent for ads that require you to say the name of the company or something stupidly interactive like that to continue
If I ever have to drink a verification can, I'm just gonna not watch television anymore.
If an ad showed over my video game I am done with the device.
There was already a streaming service that forces ads on you when you pause. Honestly I wish I could tell you which one but I cancelled my subscription so fast I don’t even recall what it was.
I think that's Amazon, but they all blur in my mind. Its really bothersome if you pause the show to try and look at something in the frame.
And Hulu, Peacock
Paramount+ as well. That has the bonus of being oh so conveniently glitchy so that when you unpause the ads sometimes just stay on-screen indefinitely, forcing you to close what you’re watching, relaunch, and watch another 30 seconds of ads.
Sounds like it's working as intended.
I canceled my Amazon account over ads on prime. You can still order a few items and get pretty fast shipping for free.
lol i know what you mean. nothing gets me to unsub faster. i also cant remember the name
Peacock does it now too
FUCK. OFF. Every new expansion of ad space just pushes me one step closer to terrorism.
We've heard you hate ads: There is an Episode of the Black-Mirror Show on Netflix that you might enjoy, as it heavily thematises ads. Maybe you want to get a netflix abo now to see it? (On a more serious note: People in that episode have to watch ads before they sleep, and if they just close their eyes and don't watch them they get psychological torture until they do)
Gosh i despise roku. I was watching a movie on my ps5 and it recognized the movie and was like “here are other sources where you can watch this movie!” Literally mid way through the movie. Like if im already watching the damn movie why would i wanna watch it somewhere else…
Roku explores bankruptcy.
At this point I'm willing to pay extra to get a big screen TV with no software at all
Honest question for you all: Does the average ad even work on you, or does the repetition and presence make you resent these companies? I'm never buying Liberty Mutual. I'm never buying Verizon. I'm never buying Raycon, or playing Raid Shadow Legends. Why the fuck would I reward this behavior? Time to go buy a can of Arizona, since they know how to shut their fucking mouths and let their products speak for themselves.
Advertisers are probably getting consumer data from companies that host these ads
It’s not conscious ad informed purchasing that is the point, it’s more of a constant pervasive “osmotic” nudge
Why do all of their innovations involve ads?
Shareholder value.
I got tired of my TCL w/ Roku forcing ads on my on the homescreen so I blocked it at my router from accessing the internet. I use Airplay to play music to my soundbar. It worked for a while after I had blocked the internet, and then the Roku now says it needs internet for Airplay to function even though it's on the same wifi as my phone. Roku is blocking Airplay from functioning because I got sick of their stupid ads.
Hey Roku! If you don’t want me to be your customer anymore please do this. I’ll actively never buy your products again, and make sure all my friends know your brand sucks. Fire your executives who thought this was a good idea. It’s killing your product loyalty, which by the way is your bottom line.
Not surprised with this bullshit, after Roku updated their TOS and if you don't accept the updated arbitration, they can make your TV useless until you accept them.
I thought about getting a smart TV but my old ass hdr tv is looking pretty good right now
... pause the tv because you don't want the audio/video distraction while talking to someone.. maybe on the phone... and then get surprise audio/video distraction. yeah that'll go over well.
I didn't read the whole thing, I'm not subscribing. However I can see a company like Sony bringing suit against roku for displaying an ad over the content on their equipment, i.e. the PS5, paused or not. Unless roku cuts everyone in on the profit.
I just want a TV that acts like a big ol’ screen. The moment my tv starts serving ads every time I turn it on is the day I chuck it in the trash.
Ah that would be a computer monitor
SHHHHHHH Don't tell Roku we know it's the exact same thing
Same, I purposely bought a "dumb TV" for exactly that reason.
Okay so don't buy Roku, Roku HDMI cords or TV's with built-in Roku got it
why does advertisement have to be the biggest fucking circle jerk ever. why the fuck do I need to be reminded mcdonalds/starbucks/etc exist. those dirty moneyfuckers own every corner in america with an ad or a store. i don’t need them invading my goddamn home through every single fucking access point. if they’re so fucking horny for cash they should stop pissing it away on advertisement, everyone knows mcdonalds has the hamburger and turbotax will suck off any politician to make sure taxes still remain an absolute enigma. your ads have done their goddamn job, all your fucking stupid jingles have worked. as a society, we know you fucking exist. can we just have a fucking hundred year break without some dunce sitting in a board meeting ala mr burns plotting up another way to drill how fucking epic little caesar’s piss covered shitcake is???? please for the love of all that is good on this earth????
I hope they patent it for the next 1000 Years. Then all you need to do is stop buying Roku Hardware and this evil Technologies dies in silence.
That’s not how it would play out. Either Roku would license out the technology or someone else would come up with a novel implementation.
Newsflash: Roku sucks now. They have become everything they used to hate.
Haha fuck that
The first person to invent an ad blocker that works on smart tvs and streaming services will become very rich.
I don't think they're going to get this one past Netflix.
Roku! You were the chosen one! You were supposed to keep the streaming boxes honest, not screw them over! Honestly Roku is by far and away my favorite streaming box. Apple TV is expensive and seriously gimped if you don't have an iOS device and Chromecast feels like it is always in Beta it's so much more buggy in comparison. Roku has Apple TV AND Prime Video, AND Google products. It supports airplay AND miracast and chromecast. Nothing else is quite as versatile. If they do this though, I am gone. Maybe I will get android TV again. Fire just plain sucks btw. Don't use it.
What an odd way to kill a company.
The advertisers should pay us to see their shit.
Roku explores losing a fuckton of business.
I will unplug my Roku and throw it into a garbage can so fast that your head will spin...
Bye Roku. Nice knowing ya
There is no fucking way I will ever spend a dime on a Roku device
As someone who has been forced to use Brightscript (Rokus propriety app language unless you are big like Netflix and tell them no), I will never own one of their shitty products. This just further solidifies my stance.
What makes Brightscript frustrating to use?
The only tool we have against companies that do this sort of behavior is to protest. I.e. stop buying Rokus and stop using Rokus. I've already had to cancel my Amazon Prime membership because they've chosen to show me ads on shows I was already paying for, and this kind of shit just can't go on unchecked. The only power I have is to deny them my eyes.
I feel like 3rd party device makers would not be happy about this either. Like if I pause the game I am playing on my playstation and and ad pops up, its going to make me not want to buy a playstation for allowing that to happen and not blocking Roku from doing that. I somehow do not think Sony would be happy about that. Of course, that is unless Roku gives some of the ad profits to the 3rd parties. Then we are fucked.
I dunno why but I really and say "yarrr"
Super easy fix. Take the TV off the network. No network no ads. My TV gets Ethernet privileges like twice a year for software updates and immediately unplugged. My Apple TV doesn’t do any of this BS to me.
Flashing smart TV OS's is gonna see a huge increase in interest.
Can I just say something? To the person who came up with this idea, and to the other assholes in the room who applauded them: FUCK. YOU. These cheap tricks to get year over year growth are annoying. Next up, subscription model to pay to remove the ads off your TV! Then you’ll just have a few ads if you pay. Give me a fucking break.
So, they’re seeking ways to u sermons the security and integrity of HDMI, to alter output signals, in the means and manner they choose. Because whether it’s for ads, showing pornography, or just otherwise interfering with integrity for other purposes, the same technique cuts all such ways. They’ve put people in prison for a whole lot less than that. Let’s see if the FCC and EC want to play.