Users are unimpressed, eager to toss devices if test sticks.
We had one on our TV the other day. This will absolutely be our last Roku.
In the meantime I immediately installed PiHole, to block all their ads.
“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen
Submitted 5 days ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.zip
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/roku-says-unpopular-autoplay-ads-are-just-a-test/
Comments
Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Basically punishment for people who either don’t get their own streaming box/avoid tvs with roku built in.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 5 days ago
What? This is reported to be happening on both sticks and tv versions of the rolu app.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 5 days ago
It’s capitalism… When every CEO, Board Member, and shareholder wants a yacht, it’s literally never enough. They even created a term to describe this inevitable deterioration of every company’s product: enshittification.
Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
hence, punishing those who didnt get their own streaming box (that isnt roku based), or has a tv that has roku built into it.
floo@retrolemmy.com 5 days ago
I never plugged mine into the Internet. I just plugged in an Apple TV, and I’m good to go. No ads, no sweat, no problem.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
New devices don’t allow that
floo@retrolemmy.com 5 days ago
I got mine three weeks ago and Amazon. How much more new can it get?
FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 days ago
They’re not “smart” TVs. They’re TVs with shitty android spyware boxes attached.
Stop using that garbage. Don’t connect it to a network, just use it as a display.
If you need to watch YouTube on your TV go and grab an OSMC (Kodi-based OS for media boxes) media box. You can get a pre-built one for around $100, or install it yourself on a raspberry pi.
These manufacturers depend on you being lazy and accepting their spyware. You will save yourself so much more headache in the long run if you control your own hardware and software.
Trying to navigate through the world without some minimal knowledge of computers means you’re going to get taken by every scam like what Roku is pulling.
jacksilver@lemmy.world 5 days ago
It’s not just the tvs, they’re doing it on their streaming sticks too.
FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Yeah, every product that they sell will do it.
Using something like OSMC (or buying a Vero is you don’t want to mess around with the setup) will let you control what runs on your player.
Until you do that, you’re paying some random company while also giving root access on a device in your house and letting them waste your time with ads.
All you get out of the deal is avoiding having to learn how to use a new piece of software. A Pyrrhic victory due to the fact that you have to learn to use Roku.
I’d rather spend a few hours learning how to setup Kodi. It’s free software, you don’t pay for it and it’s Free software, you control it with no strings attached.
fakeplastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Roku is the worst thing to happen to TVs since motion smoothing.
Alienmonkey@lemm.ee 5 days ago
News to me, what Roku do?
fakeplastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
I don’t understand the question. I’m reacting to this story, what the company is doing, without distinction between the branded TVs and peripheral devices.
Snapz@lemmy.world 5 days ago
You ever wonder why many of Rokus remotes don’t come with a mute button? Weird huh… Maybe just an especially expensive button, huh?
Zachariah@lemmy.world 5 days ago
NVidia Shield 2 when?
nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 5 days ago
Apparently Valve might be releasing a shield-like thing. If they do it’s an instant buy for me.
doodledup@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I was expecting them to release one with the Switch 2 but haven’t heard anything yet unfortunately.
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Never, apparently. Dunno why Nvidia is dragging their feet on this one
Snapz@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Go look at the down votes on all your posts and just how universally unpopular your take is - That’s called being wrong. That’s fine, you can be wrong sometimes, that’s okay. It doesn’t define you, but stop digging in the wrong direction.
I can pay for music, I often don’t on principal. I work to find other ways to contribute to artists as directly as I can (patreon, merch, shows, etc). I’m not alone in that. You had some weird guilt socialized into you that tells you your value is in what you spend and own. Protest at any level is valid. Copyright law is bullshit, DMCA takedowns are bullshit, DRM and digital streaming music that you never actually legally own is all bullshit. Anything you can do to make that broken system nervous or hurt is a great and valuable thing to broader society.
You are unequivocally wrong here, you’re the last person to realize that, but you still can realize it here and now today and go forward from here. How about it, take the olive branch, bud?
Blaster_M@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I remember when Roku was the big cost saving alternative to TV. I remember when it was the all in one streaming aggregator.
Meh, I don’t even watch TV anyway
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Oh god, and I was considering getting a Roku stick for my old dumb TV, glad I went for a Xiaomi box instead 🫣
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Ive never looked into it but how viable is a raspberry pi zero for this? I mean, is the hardware powerful enough and is there software available for easy TV use? Potentially paired with an android bluetooth remote.
laurelraven@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
I don’t have personal experience trying to do that specifically but the zero is a really underpowered device that’s sluggish even updating itself. I’ve tried streaming games through a pi 4 which is way more powerful and even it struggled with the video being choppy, though it is more intensive than just streaming video by itself.
You’d probably have good luck with a pi 4 or 5, though, and they aren’t very big either.
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 5 days ago
You are right. Ive looked into it and it lacks memory for what I’d want out of it. Pi4/5 would certainly work though it would no longer be the “stick” form factor.
Phoonzang@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Tried this with streaming from the cable box, and it did not work really well. Upgraded to a Pi 4, which now runs a full Kodi MediaCenter and is connected via Gigabit Ethernet to the cablebox. I use a Logitech harmony with an IR USB dongle, which was a bit clunky to get to work because it’s old, there’s probably much easier Bluetooth solutions available, or you can just use your phone as remote. All in all I fiddled around an afternoon to get the whole thing to work, there’s tons of how tos on the web.
MasterBlaster@lemmygrad.ml 5 days ago
Advertisements suck and no regular person would ever advocate for seeing more of them. Enshittification is also out of control and ad-free services you pay a subscription for are more and more sneaking in ads where they can. This combination of facts is why I am a deranged data hoarder with self-hosted solutions wherever possible.
I just really really hate ads. If I had a Roku and this change rolled out to me I’d probably flip.
Cruxifux@feddit.nl 5 days ago
I think I wouldn’t hate ads so much if they weren’t constantly bombarding us.
laurelraven@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
That plus the gross manipulation techniques they employ for me
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Glad I never set up the smart features on my roku TV.
HTPC+PiHole 👍👍
Also if you’re cool 🏴☠️
doodledup@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Roku is terrible anyways. They can’t even accurately reproduce the colors.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 days ago
This is one of the many reasons why you should be your own streaming service. 🏴☠️
doodledup@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Shut up. Stop making every thread about piracy. I’m tired of this. Nobody cares.
Quadhammer@lemmy.world 5 days ago
U mad bro?
whostosay@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Really shit the bed with that one m8
_stranger_@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Image
Snapz@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Nobody decent shares your opinion. Shut your mouth and sit on your hands.
blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Lmao mate you’re on lemmy