Technology

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.

PiHole Domain regex blacklist:
(ads|logs|cloudservices).roku.com$

Step one.

Buy a thing. It is a good thing.

2. Oops, now it only works if you pay monthly. Ok maybe they're doing some upkeep.

3. Now there's ads. You're paying them money, but they want even more so now you're the product.

4. Haha it broke! My family tech guy says it's literally impossible to fix without the cheat codes.

Final step. Don't buy the thing again. Don't buy anything with "terms may be altered. Pray I do not alter them further." Probably stick to open source.

For those with Roku TVs or any of their products, I found that a PiHole blocks the ads on the home screen so far. Hoping I could pick up an ONN box in the future so I can just not deal with this shit lol.

Thank you Roku, a step forward towards self hosting and self managing of every service

Jesus, I hate that word, “shoppable”. It just sounds dystopian.

Anyone jailbreaking these damn things yet?

Yes, this is what the people want! More ads! Skip the content, just show ads 24/7! That will definitely keep people from pirating out of sheer frustration.

I just recently started using my Samsung TVs as dumb screens because they're slow as shit, but a nice side effect is zero ads.

ONN 4k streaming box for $20 at Walmart.
Install a custom launcher.
Install a button remapper for the remote.
Install SmartTubeNext for YouTube (no ads, SponsorBlock).
Install whatever other apps you need (Plex, etc).

FAR better experience. Turn the TV on and it's ready to go in a few seconds, not the ~60-90 seconds it takes the Tizen nonsense to "warm up."

It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better. Can recommend, especially for only $20.

Y'know what I love most about the high sea, matey? She never gets enshittified.

Can these ads be blocked with pi-hole?

Google is already doing this with their default Android TV launcher. I tolerated their home screen 'recommendations' for a while as they occasionally highlighted something interesting to watch, but one day I switched on the TV and was greeted with a huge advert banner for a fucking watch on the home screen.

At that point I spent a few hours setting up FLauncher on all my ATV devices.

God damn this shit is so fucking annoying. I paid something like $100 last year for the Roku Ultra because it was better than the built-in software on my TV and now I have to see ads? Fuck em, I'll repurpose a mini PC I have and replace the Roku.

Hey, nice, I get to build an HTPC again and check out the latest streaming shit for Linux.

I'm not even being ironic. Tired of this corporate hellscape and finding joy in returning to the kind of hobbyist tech I grew up on.

Enshittification strikes again!

Well time to replace my roku TV with a Goodwill special TV because fuck that shit. Fuck smart tvs in general and what they have become. They used to be neat little editions added on for value on your TV back when Netflix made sense. But now they don't especially with the ads that automatically get shoved into your face depending on what you are doing that have started to interrupt your viewing experience. It's not like I'll be downgrading at all when just using a computer with a TV using Stremio and AllDebrid.

After reading so much about this, I'm definitely going to start reading up on running a Pihole at home

I'd like to ask for suggestions on FAQs or guides that'd help me get started.

TIA!

I do see the appeal of non-smart TV's now. Just getting a device that host your media is a good option.

Not with pihole I wont.

I've been doing some research for the last few days on setting up a home server/NAS. If anyone's going to ruin my entertainment, it's going to be ME

They've gotten great at this war of attrition. They know if they make changes incrementally people wouldn't accept all at once then most people won't notice or care. That's why I through that trash and two firesshits out in the garbage where they belonged when they started with "related" ads and app store ads.

So you go from owning a multi media entertainment system to owning a online store front where you must buy crap that you don't need.

This is bait and switch level bullshit

Why won't anyone make a privacy focused premium streaming box with no ads? I'd pay so much for this thing that will never exist.

Is there any way to repurpose an old android phone into an android TV? Sometimes like Linage OS but TV focused. Even older Android phones can be considerably more powerful than any current streaming box. Add on privacy and you've got the perfect solution. It also would save on e-waste.

Anyway to roll back firmware on some of these TVs?

Mine was never connected, except once a friend came over and connected it and it updated and now it requires a connection to rename inputs...

It's never been connected since that day either.

Hate this kind of crap.

So how about a Raspberry pie with jellyfin connected to your TV?

I don't mind if it's an ad for a new tv show or movie or streaming platform. But if it's shopping stuff I'll need to find a new tv.

DNS blocking at the router never fails.

Pi-Hole/AdGuard works to stop these ads, never even have to see them.