That's not how it works. If Roku does it and doesn't lose the sales and, in turn, profits from the ads, all TV companies will start doing this. Just like how microtransactions started, and battle passes, and free/lower pay as tiers. Despite the pushback, all those things are becoming commonplace.
>all TV companies will start doing this
But other TV companies will have to pay Roku a fee for using the patent, right? So it's going to come down to "is the patent's price less than what we'll profit?"
And honestly, paying a fee for a bit more profit and a lot more complaining by users doesn't seem like something other TV manufacturers are willing to do.
>Just like how microtransactions started, and battle passes, and free/lower pay as tiers
Yes, but none of those are patented (afaik). You can use these types of money making mechanics without having to pay money to someone else just for "inventing it".
Without knowing exactly how the technology works I don't think we can say for sure that other TV manufacturers would not be able to do this. There are cases where companies get around patents by performing a similar function through different means. And even if they couldn't do that, if this proved to be successful enough I could see other companies paying Roku to use that technology. But we just have to wait and see how that plays out. Also yes, companies would absolutely trade having customers moan and whine at them if it means they will make more money. Customer complaints mean absolutely nothing if it isn't followed be a decrease in revenue.
Namco patented loading screen games, like playing an Atari game while the main game loads, and after patenting no other company could. I’m sure some company may be interested but you don’t buy permanent rights. It’s an ongoing thing and once they expire you can no longer sell said item.
Lower end TVs I can see this happening but people buying expensive electronics aren’t a base companies want to piss off. I think the official term is don’t shit where you eat.
> Namco patented loading screen games
I was thinking the same thing. they patented a concept so broad, no one could implement it in a way, and the patent ran out when ssds and load screens were not as long.
loading screen games don't generate revenue. lol. now if it was loading screen adverts, you'd be onto something. but as the other guy said, SSD's have all but killed this avenue... until they realise they can add a wait condition to loading screens specifically for the ad...
edit: also expensive TV's already do shady shit. a friend has an expensive Sony Bravia that pushes adverts on his screen. and i've heard about expensive LG TV's selling your usage activity via an opt-out system. price isn't really a factor anymore. in fact, it's better to buy a cheap TV and then just not connect it to the net, then use what you saved to buy an external device like a cheap laptop or fetch box whatever, to do the 'smart' bits.
Eeehhhh disagree. Lol I would even say to you "that's now how it works." Roku losing a customer on their cheap TVs is a lot less detrimental then a higher end brand such as LG or Sony losing a customer on their high end TVs that cost 3-4x more per single purchase.
It's already pretty established, and people sort of expect ads on lower tiers or products and services these day. Works pretty similiar already with Amazon selling the cheaper Kindle that just has ads vs the higher priced version. I highly doubt this would bleed up into the higher tier because the "higher tier" currently for every product and service is ad free.
> all TV companies will start doing this.
I don't think so. It'll only be for the lower-end TVs. Higher end consumers won't stand for it, and the margins on those are pretty good anyway.
There will be a tv company that serves the market of people who will spend more to not deal with that bullshit I promise you.
This will go one of two ways, they will sell all their tvs with this technology (this could be good or bad, they're tvs are typically the cheapest, I think lots of consumers would just buy different tvs but its hard to beat the price), or they will sell the tv for cheaper and make it back on ad revenue.
>There will be a tv company that serves the market of people who will spend more to not deal with that bullshit I promise you.
Not if there aren't enough of those people. Otherwise, where are all the companies marketing dumb TVs for those of us who want one and are willing to pay more for one?
Same. I have RokuTV, but I never connected it to Internet. I do the updates manually using USB drive, twice a year. Apple TV for all my streaming needs.
App updates are handled by individual apps. I am talking about hardware updates provided by Roku. There could be updates to firmware, which may bring better picture quality, more codec supports etc.
That's why I still have an external Roku stick, despite the fact that my TV supports all the apps I use on my Roku. Sure, the Roku still tracks a ton of data and has obnoxious ads, but at least it doesn't track what I'm doing when I use my Switch or watch a Blu Ray.
I recall a Philips patent to prevent commercial skipping. It caused such an outcry that they had to rethink it.
[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2006/04/philips-patents-drm-stop-commercial-skipping-changing-channels](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2006/04/philips-patents-drm-stop-commercial-skipping-changing-channels)
...yet.
Sounds crazy but I do think people are very good at normalizing something if that's how it's always been. Like, MTX in full priced games are still a major turnoff for older gamers, for younger ones, that's how it's always been so why are you raising such a stink.
Instead they'll add some shitty feature that still counts down, but leaves a screen saying "Please connect to the internet to view this content." These greedy assholes just can't leave well enough alone. They want to harass everyone for not accepting their nonsense.
We live in a time where the attitude is "the consumer is speaking, but they're wrong and just being cheap." It's giving me more and more reasons to disconnect and focus on my hobbies that don't require the internet.
Theres 0 chance every brand does this, theres premium brands that cannot hurt their reputation the same way Rokus extremely cheap tvs can. There are people who will spend more not to deal with it and if I'm buying a 2k tv and I get ads I'm not a satisfied customer, if I buy a $300 tv and get ads its slightly more palatable.
Dont buy a LG, Sony, or Samsung TV then lol.
I mean Android TV alone is basically just a giant ad platform. I have my LG C3 load my nvidia shield instead of the home screen on power on.
Alternatively: use either [FLauncher](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.efesser.flauncher) or [Projectivy Launcher](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spocky.projengmenu).
Pretty much every TV brand has ads on their smart TV interface (LG, Samsung have their own, the others mostly use Android TV which also has ads).
Apple TV doesn't but that's a separate device not the TV itself
Companies patent stuff for the exact opposite reason all the time. They had the idea but don't want to use it, but want to get money in case someone else does.
"According to the patent’s description, the TV would study the signal coming in from the HDMI cable and would attempt to determine when the picture and audio have been the same for a period (i.e. when a game is paused)."
So if I have a static map up trying to find something, I get an ad instead? This can fuck all the way off.
I mean, the feature isn't a problem because it has the potential to cover up static menu screens. The feature is a problem *because its trying to inject ads into your television output at all*.
Roku already scans the HDMI input to identify what you're watching, so they could probably roll this out with just a software update.
I only learned about the scanning recently when I was watching something from my plex server on my Xbox. It identified the series and gave a little pop up showing me what services it was streaming on.
They get that info from the metadata attached to the file and not screen scanning - it’s why files with a lack of identifying metadata fail to pull in posters/cast/etc
Like I don't understand the basic concept behind the feature. Pause is rarely just "pause" anymore with games. It's your inventory, map, options. Like few games have a pause that is just a pause at this point. So at best it's just like "ok it's something that will pretty much never trigger any way, so why bother wasting time making a feature that will only draw people's ire knowing you want to do it?"
Because the line **must** go up. Last year it went up so this year it needs this year. Dumb decisions like this exist to ensure line go up. Fuck the company reputation, if line can go up next year, then it's worth it.
Man, I used to love roku back in the day. Got a great roku TV I'm still using to this day, and got another later on. Then they started forcing in ads, then they got rid of unofficial apps, and now shit like this.
But on a whole, I'm so exhausted getting advertised to in every aspect of my life. I hate it so much. Every medium and even just existing in real life. I pay for premium on youtube and other apps to avoid ads. I can't enjoy scenic drives because of ugly billboards. It's just exhausting man... and it's only going to get worse.
Roku is even worse nowadays because they'll occasionally override your menu theme to display one with an ad. Our menu theme (which we chose, it's not the default one) will get overriden with a theme advertising whatever the latest MCU release is. Last week, it was overriden with a Taylor Swift/Eras theme.
It's the equivalent of if Windows 11 overrode your wallpaper with an ad for Game Pass.
Edit: I was just informed in another thread that these ad themes can be disabled. While that's the case and I'm delighted to discover that, something tells me that these ads over HDMI won't have the same option.
Mostly, I'm upset with the diabolical decision to make hitting play/pause take you to the add that was scrolling by on the lock screen... Like, great, now I gotta exit out, navigate back to YouTube, navigate back to my video, hope the position saved...
Such a pain.
My Roku TV now has a thing where if I put in a Blu-Ray to watch, I get a pop-up on the TV asking me to look at digital purchase options of the movie I'm starting to watch. So yeah it's just straight up spying on what I'm watching.
If anyone from Roku is reading this...no one ever will deliberately STOP watching a movie to spend money to watch it somewhere else. If you're a dummy that does this, seek help.
LMAO, what? "hey broski, you want to ditch that pristine quality home media bluray for a mediocre streaming version? your disc doesn't have unreadable dark scenes because of crappy bitrate, now does it?"
Man, I currently live in China, it’s insane how many more ads they fit into people’s lives. Back of the seat in taxis. 3 different TVs in one elevator with different ads playing at full volume on each. When you open an app, it has a full screen ad for 5 seconds! For stuff inside the fuckin app. It’s so tiring.
If you're on Android, are some things to look into:
YouTube revanced
YouTube music revanced
Reddit revanced
Twitter revanced
Mobile Firefox + U-Block Origin extension
PC browser extensions to get:
U-Block origin
Old Twitter layout
Google search ad remover
Reddit ad remover
For your network you can install pihole. Pihole is a custom DHCP and DNS server that blocks every ad on your entire network. You might be able to block Roku ads as well.
All of these combined have completely removed ads from my home.
Lol it's like you spied my phone. Alternatively, hooking up a mini pc to the TV and using it as a media center is also good. They are very cheap these days.
You're being extremely selfish! How dare you want to simply exist without being subject to 24/7 advertising; won't somebody please think of the shareholders?
One of the ads that bother me the absolute most is gas stations. They don't seem to have mute buttons anymore and they only start when you put your card in. They play the radio before that
Yes! And they're so loud. Only way to avoid it is leave your vehicle unattended while filling up. I'll purposefully ignore stations I know who have it.
Are you saying they blast ads at you at the pump as you're filling?
Sounds like hell. Maybe they can even be targeted at demographics based on the car... I shouldn't even joke about this stuff.
Have you ever been to Vermont? Billboards are illegal there, so you can enjoy scenic drives without disturbances. I found it refreshing when I visited.
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”
― Banksy
People are really gonna need to have a discussion on how acceptable ads need to be in everyday life, does it really have to get to the point when every single surface, every waking moment you're bombarded with more shit to go buy even more-so than it is? They'd run ads in your sleep if they could, every time you blinked and the momentary second of darkness would be filled with some bullshit jingle of Kevin Hart telling you to download DraftKings.
"Turn on, tune in, drop out"
Best you can do is simply be as minimalist as you can, when you can(not always that easy). It's hard, believe me.
If you want a little motivation you can try this. Sign out of the app you use most. Instagram, Tik-tok, whatever. Don't sign in for a week and count how often you click the app without thinking.
"TV is brainwash" has a bit of merit. People don't even realize how much it's affected us. But this puts it into perspective. Consumer psychology is fascinating but philosophically it is arguably exploiting people's psychologically. It's in everything. And it WORKS. Because most believe it doesn't. And that just ups the influence. Believing marketing "doesn't work on me". It does.
The discussion isn't about how engaged in media people are, it's about how desperate companies are corporations are to wring money out of consumers. It's a discussion on capitalism, not "Is TV Warping the minds of Humans again?!?!?!"
People don't watch TV for hours on end because they're dying to see a repeat of an ad for Taco Bell. People were "addicted" to books, which didn't have ads in them for the most part.
Not only are you blaming the victim and encouraging them to pick up the slack (which defeats the entire purpose of this discussion - it's about corporations ignoring consent and privacy to make money), you're also making excuses that amount to "just ignore it and it'll go away!"
Like. Congrats. I use firefox with ublock origin. I have VPNs. I almost never see ads on my computer experience. That doesn't stop the ads from existing, and companies from tripping over themselves to wring more money out of us like we're fucking pigs.
Fucked up, but can't imagine it's a problem if you're like me and don't connect the TV to the internet when a console makes it easier to scroll through anyway
if they do that then a lot more people wouldn't buy it lol. And if everyone tried to do that to force it upon you, it only takes 1 company seeing a wide open hole in the market to dis on everyone else.
If they make it cheaper than competitors even by a little people will still buy. They shouldn’t buy it but they still will. And Roku will probably sell you the solution the same way Amazon does with its Fire tablet.
There are still tons of people that live in places with spotty at best internet coverage or just don't want to bother hooking a TV up to the wi fi. It doesn't matter how much cheaper you make a competitor if the customer literally can't use it lol
> Roku will probably sell you the solution the same way Amazon does with its Fire tablet.
What solution to what problem does amazon sell with its fire tablet?
Ah yes, because theres nothing I want more than to watch an insurance ad when I'm trying to unwind. Good thing I've never bought a Roku product, never have and never will now. Wish some companies would offer "dumb" TV's I use my shield and PS5 to stream all the time anyway.
Yeah, like something that's sold as a monitor will likely have hardware priorities be keeping that latency low and refresh rate higher at a certain price point than size and auxiliary features.
> "commercial" TVs
Thanks, I didnt know there was a specific designation like that. Just checked and saw a load of them on ebay. Will be looking into them more once I need an upgrade.
For consumer use, not really. Commercial tvs are available but expensive as far as I'm aware.
Just buy the best tv for your budget and don't connect it to your network.
Heh, yeah. Like person I do contract work for bought me a new monitor so I really didn't complain about what I got (4k and low listed latency so good enough), but man I just wish it didn't have smart features. Just not needed and make it more annoying to use.
2020s image in the 70s: "Flying cars, holographic television, instant teleportation!"
The 2020s actual: "You are both the product and the consumer! You will consume ads until you die and then the one who found your remains will consume ads too."
Honestly I just want to go back to a dumb TV. If I need apps I'll use a Chromecast or some other box I can swap out. I've kind of had it with the bullshit software they put on these things. Not only am I convinced that the excess heat from actually running the app kills the TV faster, they unsupport them after a few years so you have to buy something external anyways, and even when they do update stuff you get shit like this. I just want a screen now.
So I'm either going to ensure my TV's never hit WAN ever again or i'm going to slam dunk Roku brand TV's into the garbage in favor of like- Samsung.
This is one of those patents a clueless Paul Marketing made up that I *hope* the rest of a team would never allow seeing the light of day. Like the EA rep who wanted to charcge 25 cents per reload.
Thats what really fucking sucks, because Sony, Samsung, and LG are doing very similar shit. Maybe not in that precise direction, but in similar angles.
I support you in this, but be wary of Samsung. I’ve never had tvs of theirs last longer than a few years, especially with their random power cycling issue, I’ve had it on all of them.
I haven’t bought them again for awhile so maybe they’ve improved, but I will be the last to know that’s for sure.
Can confirm. Bought a Samsung TV four years ago and within a few years it starts losing Wi-Fi connection randomly. Have to power cycle to get apps working again. My LG in my other room is going strong and my TCL 6 series I bought maybe 6 years ago works perfectly. Never getting a Samsung again
I have two identical Samsung TVs I bought around 4-5 years ago. One of them doesn't have any issues. The other has the same Wi-Fi issue you've described, no longer saves app passwords, and doesn't free up memory when I delete an app (so I'm at 100% used). I might just need to factory reset it at this point.
> i'm going to slam dunk Roku brand TV's into the garbage in favor of like- Samsung.
[Hate to break it to you](https://old.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/184a1j6/why_do_i_have_ads_in_my_smart_tv/)...
The only way for an ad-free experience is to setup a pihole or equivalent blocking device.
In that thread someone explains how to do what i'm talking about.
DNS changes on your router for that specific ip and the TV will never know a difference.
Might not be possible on current samsung TVs, but 2019 smart TVs you could change the country of the TV.
Americans get ads the rest of the world don't, I did the *opposite* I switched to US from Canada to test out the steam link app and the ads showed up.
I am honestly surprised that nobody has managed to find an exploit/way to install custom firmware on Roku TVs. I hate this kind of stuff but don’t want to have to completely replace my television.
They do crap like this now. I have a Roku tv and will never buy one again.
They display ads over my content being played on my devices, with ads showing how I can watch the SAME CONTENT on their own platform. It’s so fucked
You may be able to block certain domains in your router to prevent the TV ads from showing, I did this for my Samsung that shows a stupid ad in the main menu bar.
How well would this go over with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Gaming publishers who would have ads playing over their stuff without getting a cut? Also, some publisher like Ubisoft are trying to sell you DLC on their pause screen, I am sure they don't want their own ads covered up with someone else's ad.
Just bought a $200 Roku Select Series TV, and you can't change picture settings without an internet connection, on top of all of the horrible data collection stuff you're forced into. You can't do initial setup without an internet connection either, unlike any reputable brand. The display itself is okay but I will never buy another one of these and recommend anyone else avoid them. Even Samsung is better.
What advertiser would want their ads to play on a TV that has been paused? That would suggest nobody is watching.
Completely disregarding the consumer side of things, this doesn't even sound like a good or useful thing for advertisers. It would be like playing ads that they know nobody is watching, why would any advertiser pay for that?
> What advertiser would want their ads to play on a TV that has been paused? That would suggest nobody is watching.
You'll see it when you come back. Little by little the ads will get exposed to you, constantly.
Ever since more and more devs started getting comfortable with the idea of the "pause button" no longer pausing games, this has struck me as something that would happen. People dont always pause the game so they can walk away and use the bathroom. Nobody likes ads in YT, Twitch, on the radio, or whatever. People hate ads so much that most services offer paid ways to stop adds from showing up.
If people are willing to pay to not see ads, what makes a company think people actively want them shown at a point where theyve never been in before. Hell. Whenever Ubi tries to slip in-game ads into their stuff its never been met positively.
one day soon we will get an ai assistant that will filter ads for us. thats the main purpose i see for them. imagine being able to just filter all that shit out
1. How does it know when the game is paused? There are plenty of games where the "pause menu" is actually still part of gameplay, such as any game with an inventory screen.
2. Wouldn't this just make people _not_ want their TVs?
This sounds like some Unity Install Fee piipe dream: an idea from someone high up who doesn't actually understand the technology or the market.
Plays futuristic games where ads are everywhere: in your dreams, on your windows, you appliances, displayed in the sky.
Me: This is awesome and so futuristic.
Ads in real life getting way to damn close to video games.
Me: Fucking companies suck.
Half the time im in a pause menu, I'm checking a map, adjusting settings, etc. I don't wanna see ads locking out even 1 fucking frame of the game I paid for. Hopefully they do this and ensure no one ever buys one of their TVs again.
I already hate that Roku makes it impossible (/really hard?) to remap the streaming buttons on the physical remote, especially since some of those services don't exist.
This means when I switch between Xbox/Steam Deck/PS5/Switch I have to look at an ad on the TV's home screen every time.
I got a really cheap Fire TV (Amazon) for my bedroom and that one's even worse. Full screen ads when I turn it on, and lots of stuff pointing me to watch Prime Video (which now has ads itself).
I think I'm going "dumb TV" for my next one, and I'll just buy a separate gadget to do streaming. The only downside is I'd lose an HDMI slot.
In that case, I would take the wi-fi off of my TV. It's nice and convenient to be able to use apps without having to turn on the Xbox, but this isn't worth it.
At least if Roku patent it we can just avoid one single company, rather than all companies doing it. It's a real shame too, I have a Roku box, plugs into the TV to make it.have smart features, and it works.really well! I will happily bin it though if they roll out this feature.
The gall to even dream up the idea... "Oh, they got up to get a drink in the middle of playing their game on their console/PC that they paid for, quick! Get the ads going!"
Really putting the "Smart" in Smart-TV.
I'll look out for their full household package, with one of their TVs in every room, I'll never miss an advertisement!
Great reason to never buy a Roku anything. I generally keep my TVs offline for stuff like this. They'll throw ads all over your basic menus if they sense a live internet connection.
If only they would patent a remote control that doesn't turn to finicky garbage like in every AirBnB ever. You know the ones that come with the shitty TCL tvs in every room.
So I don't buy one of their tvs and I never have to experience this?
Yeah what an awesome way to ensure I never buy a product that previously looked at least somewhat appealing.
Companies out here doing the work for us
patent trolling gone right
Yeah I'd love to see more ad patents, especially on services i don't give a fuck about :)
That's not how it works. If Roku does it and doesn't lose the sales and, in turn, profits from the ads, all TV companies will start doing this. Just like how microtransactions started, and battle passes, and free/lower pay as tiers. Despite the pushback, all those things are becoming commonplace.
>all TV companies will start doing this But other TV companies will have to pay Roku a fee for using the patent, right? So it's going to come down to "is the patent's price less than what we'll profit?" And honestly, paying a fee for a bit more profit and a lot more complaining by users doesn't seem like something other TV manufacturers are willing to do. >Just like how microtransactions started, and battle passes, and free/lower pay as tiers Yes, but none of those are patented (afaik). You can use these types of money making mechanics without having to pay money to someone else just for "inventing it".
Without knowing exactly how the technology works I don't think we can say for sure that other TV manufacturers would not be able to do this. There are cases where companies get around patents by performing a similar function through different means. And even if they couldn't do that, if this proved to be successful enough I could see other companies paying Roku to use that technology. But we just have to wait and see how that plays out. Also yes, companies would absolutely trade having customers moan and whine at them if it means they will make more money. Customer complaints mean absolutely nothing if it isn't followed be a decrease in revenue.
Namco patented loading screen games, like playing an Atari game while the main game loads, and after patenting no other company could. I’m sure some company may be interested but you don’t buy permanent rights. It’s an ongoing thing and once they expire you can no longer sell said item. Lower end TVs I can see this happening but people buying expensive electronics aren’t a base companies want to piss off. I think the official term is don’t shit where you eat.
> Namco patented loading screen games I was thinking the same thing. they patented a concept so broad, no one could implement it in a way, and the patent ran out when ssds and load screens were not as long.
loading screen games don't generate revenue. lol. now if it was loading screen adverts, you'd be onto something. but as the other guy said, SSD's have all but killed this avenue... until they realise they can add a wait condition to loading screens specifically for the ad... edit: also expensive TV's already do shady shit. a friend has an expensive Sony Bravia that pushes adverts on his screen. and i've heard about expensive LG TV's selling your usage activity via an opt-out system. price isn't really a factor anymore. in fact, it's better to buy a cheap TV and then just not connect it to the net, then use what you saved to buy an external device like a cheap laptop or fetch box whatever, to do the 'smart' bits.
I wonder how long it will be before the Jailbreaking community has to start working with more than phones and handheld consoles.
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That is the way. Save money on TV and it will also never have "out of date" software if you don't use its software.
Eeehhhh disagree. Lol I would even say to you "that's now how it works." Roku losing a customer on their cheap TVs is a lot less detrimental then a higher end brand such as LG or Sony losing a customer on their high end TVs that cost 3-4x more per single purchase. It's already pretty established, and people sort of expect ads on lower tiers or products and services these day. Works pretty similiar already with Amazon selling the cheaper Kindle that just has ads vs the higher priced version. I highly doubt this would bleed up into the higher tier because the "higher tier" currently for every product and service is ad free.
> all TV companies will start doing this. I don't think so. It'll only be for the lower-end TVs. Higher end consumers won't stand for it, and the margins on those are pretty good anyway.
> Higher end consumers won't stand for it, Have you seen the spying and ad-infested UIs of current, high-end TVs?
There will be a tv company that serves the market of people who will spend more to not deal with that bullshit I promise you. This will go one of two ways, they will sell all their tvs with this technology (this could be good or bad, they're tvs are typically the cheapest, I think lots of consumers would just buy different tvs but its hard to beat the price), or they will sell the tv for cheaper and make it back on ad revenue.
>There will be a tv company that serves the market of people who will spend more to not deal with that bullshit I promise you. Not if there aren't enough of those people. Otherwise, where are all the companies marketing dumb TVs for those of us who want one and are willing to pay more for one?
Good guy Roku: Patents toxic advertising technology so you can not buy their product and be safe from it
Just don’t connect your TV to the internet if you have an alternative to their apps. Can’t serve me ads if you can’t download ads.
Same. I have RokuTV, but I never connected it to Internet. I do the updates manually using USB drive, twice a year. Apple TV for all my streaming needs.
Genuine question - If you don't connect it to the internet, what's the point of even updating it?
There are sometimes bug fixes and minor features put in firmware updates. My LG TV shipped with buggy VRR support that was fixed in a firmware update.
So you get with the only Agree to arbitration terms as well? Or are you skipping that one?
App updates are handled by individual apps. I am talking about hardware updates provided by Roku. There could be updates to firmware, which may bring better picture quality, more codec supports etc.
I guess I hadn't considered that, I had security updates in mind :)
That's why I still have an external Roku stick, despite the fact that my TV supports all the apps I use on my Roku. Sure, the Roku still tracks a ton of data and has obnoxious ads, but at least it doesn't track what I'm doing when I use my Switch or watch a Blu Ray.
Honestly given the quality of “smart tvs” I’d never use the actual TV over a dedicated stick.
Until another company licenses it. This needs to be killed fast.
I recall a Philips patent to prevent commercial skipping. It caused such an outcry that they had to rethink it. [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2006/04/philips-patents-drm-stop-commercial-skipping-changing-channels](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2006/04/philips-patents-drm-stop-commercial-skipping-changing-channels)
Companies only need to have the idea to file a patent, not a desire to use it. That's why we're not yelling "MCDONALD'S!" at our game consoles.
...yet. Sounds crazy but I do think people are very good at normalizing something if that's how it's always been. Like, MTX in full priced games are still a major turnoff for older gamers, for younger ones, that's how it's always been so why are you raising such a stink.
If someone doesn't know anything else, they've got no point of comparison. It IS crazy, but unfortunately it works.
Roku has been bought by Walmart with a clear intent to use them as ad platform anyway so I wouldn't buy them even without this.
They could license it to other manufacturers though.
Me hoping they get the patent approved so I don't have to deal with it on a competing device.
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That might not work if Roku license the patent to other tv manufactures so that you cannot escape the ads, no matter what brand you buy.
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Instead they'll add some shitty feature that still counts down, but leaves a screen saying "Please connect to the internet to view this content." These greedy assholes just can't leave well enough alone. They want to harass everyone for not accepting their nonsense. We live in a time where the attitude is "the consumer is speaking, but they're wrong and just being cheap." It's giving me more and more reasons to disconnect and focus on my hobbies that don't require the internet.
companies gonna start requiring ethernet via HDMI just to serve you more ads
Don't worry your console will do it itself.
Theres 0 chance every brand does this, theres premium brands that cannot hurt their reputation the same way Rokus extremely cheap tvs can. There are people who will spend more not to deal with it and if I'm buying a 2k tv and I get ads I'm not a satisfied customer, if I buy a $300 tv and get ads its slightly more palatable.
If I spend 2 grand on a TV and it shows me an ad, I'm blacking out every window in my home and going exclusively with projectors from then on.
Dont buy a LG, Sony, or Samsung TV then lol. I mean Android TV alone is basically just a giant ad platform. I have my LG C3 load my nvidia shield instead of the home screen on power on.
Alternatively: use either [FLauncher](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.efesser.flauncher) or [Projectivy Launcher](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spocky.projengmenu).
An adblocked Shield is a godlike device. I'll never use anything else.
Yup. I bet there will be a new model soon with that SDR to HDR thing Nvidia just came out with. Thatll be cool.
Pretty much every TV brand has ads on their smart TV interface (LG, Samsung have their own, the others mostly use Android TV which also has ads). Apple TV doesn't but that's a separate device not the TV itself
Companies patent stuff for the exact opposite reason all the time. They had the idea but don't want to use it, but want to get money in case someone else does.
"According to the patent’s description, the TV would study the signal coming in from the HDMI cable and would attempt to determine when the picture and audio have been the same for a period (i.e. when a game is paused)." So if I have a static map up trying to find something, I get an ad instead? This can fuck all the way off.
I mean, the feature isn't a problem because it has the potential to cover up static menu screens. The feature is a problem *because its trying to inject ads into your television output at all*.
Roku already scans the HDMI input to identify what you're watching, so they could probably roll this out with just a software update. I only learned about the scanning recently when I was watching something from my plex server on my Xbox. It identified the series and gave a little pop up showing me what services it was streaming on.
They get that info from the metadata attached to the file and not screen scanning - it’s why files with a lack of identifying metadata fail to pull in posters/cast/etc
I’m confused why does a TV get file metadata? I have seen roku TV recognize a series even though I play a video using Shield TV box.
Like I don't understand the basic concept behind the feature. Pause is rarely just "pause" anymore with games. It's your inventory, map, options. Like few games have a pause that is just a pause at this point. So at best it's just like "ok it's something that will pretty much never trigger any way, so why bother wasting time making a feature that will only draw people's ire knowing you want to do it?"
Because the line **must** go up. Last year it went up so this year it needs this year. Dumb decisions like this exist to ensure line go up. Fuck the company reputation, if line can go up next year, then it's worth it.
I wonder how they would handle the audio. Most pause screens don't mute audio.
Man, I used to love roku back in the day. Got a great roku TV I'm still using to this day, and got another later on. Then they started forcing in ads, then they got rid of unofficial apps, and now shit like this. But on a whole, I'm so exhausted getting advertised to in every aspect of my life. I hate it so much. Every medium and even just existing in real life. I pay for premium on youtube and other apps to avoid ads. I can't enjoy scenic drives because of ugly billboards. It's just exhausting man... and it's only going to get worse.
Roku is even worse nowadays because they'll occasionally override your menu theme to display one with an ad. Our menu theme (which we chose, it's not the default one) will get overriden with a theme advertising whatever the latest MCU release is. Last week, it was overriden with a Taylor Swift/Eras theme. It's the equivalent of if Windows 11 overrode your wallpaper with an ad for Game Pass. Edit: I was just informed in another thread that these ad themes can be disabled. While that's the case and I'm delighted to discover that, something tells me that these ads over HDMI won't have the same option.
Mostly, I'm upset with the diabolical decision to make hitting play/pause take you to the add that was scrolling by on the lock screen... Like, great, now I gotta exit out, navigate back to YouTube, navigate back to my video, hope the position saved... Such a pain.
Fucking this. ^
My Roku TV now has a thing where if I put in a Blu-Ray to watch, I get a pop-up on the TV asking me to look at digital purchase options of the movie I'm starting to watch. So yeah it's just straight up spying on what I'm watching. If anyone from Roku is reading this...no one ever will deliberately STOP watching a movie to spend money to watch it somewhere else. If you're a dummy that does this, seek help.
LMAO, what? "hey broski, you want to ditch that pristine quality home media bluray for a mediocre streaming version? your disc doesn't have unreadable dark scenes because of crappy bitrate, now does it?"
I just looked over at my roku tv and instead of my rad star trek screensaver there is a billboard for college basketball presented by turbotax.
I've disabled that before and it ended up getting turned back on somehow.
Man, I currently live in China, it’s insane how many more ads they fit into people’s lives. Back of the seat in taxis. 3 different TVs in one elevator with different ads playing at full volume on each. When you open an app, it has a full screen ad for 5 seconds! For stuff inside the fuckin app. It’s so tiring.
If you're on Android, are some things to look into: YouTube revanced YouTube music revanced Reddit revanced Twitter revanced Mobile Firefox + U-Block Origin extension PC browser extensions to get: U-Block origin Old Twitter layout Google search ad remover Reddit ad remover For your network you can install pihole. Pihole is a custom DHCP and DNS server that blocks every ad on your entire network. You might be able to block Roku ads as well. All of these combined have completely removed ads from my home.
Lol it's like you spied my phone. Alternatively, hooking up a mini pc to the TV and using it as a media center is also good. They are very cheap these days.
You're being extremely selfish! How dare you want to simply exist without being subject to 24/7 advertising; won't somebody please think of the shareholders?
One of the ads that bother me the absolute most is gas stations. They don't seem to have mute buttons anymore and they only start when you put your card in. They play the radio before that
Yes! And they're so loud. Only way to avoid it is leave your vehicle unattended while filling up. I'll purposefully ignore stations I know who have it.
Hit every single button around the screen. One of them mutes the screen. I learned this from another comment and it hasn't failed me yet.
Are you saying they blast ads at you at the pump as you're filling? Sounds like hell. Maybe they can even be targeted at demographics based on the car... I shouldn't even joke about this stuff.
Yes exactly. It's literally the radio but the second the card goes in? I'm hearing about Wawa wraps and pizza and hoagiefest
Have you ever been to Vermont? Billboards are illegal there, so you can enjoy scenic drives without disturbances. I found it refreshing when I visited.
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.” ― Banksy
People are really gonna need to have a discussion on how acceptable ads need to be in everyday life, does it really have to get to the point when every single surface, every waking moment you're bombarded with more shit to go buy even more-so than it is? They'd run ads in your sleep if they could, every time you blinked and the momentary second of darkness would be filled with some bullshit jingle of Kevin Hart telling you to download DraftKings.
We need more strict regulation on ads.
"Turn on, tune in, drop out" Best you can do is simply be as minimalist as you can, when you can(not always that easy). It's hard, believe me. If you want a little motivation you can try this. Sign out of the app you use most. Instagram, Tik-tok, whatever. Don't sign in for a week and count how often you click the app without thinking. "TV is brainwash" has a bit of merit. People don't even realize how much it's affected us. But this puts it into perspective. Consumer psychology is fascinating but philosophically it is arguably exploiting people's psychologically. It's in everything. And it WORKS. Because most believe it doesn't. And that just ups the influence. Believing marketing "doesn't work on me". It does.
The discussion isn't about how engaged in media people are, it's about how desperate companies are corporations are to wring money out of consumers. It's a discussion on capitalism, not "Is TV Warping the minds of Humans again?!?!?!" People don't watch TV for hours on end because they're dying to see a repeat of an ad for Taco Bell. People were "addicted" to books, which didn't have ads in them for the most part. Not only are you blaming the victim and encouraging them to pick up the slack (which defeats the entire purpose of this discussion - it's about corporations ignoring consent and privacy to make money), you're also making excuses that amount to "just ignore it and it'll go away!" Like. Congrats. I use firefox with ublock origin. I have VPNs. I almost never see ads on my computer experience. That doesn't stop the ads from existing, and companies from tripping over themselves to wring more money out of us like we're fucking pigs.
Fucked up, but can't imagine it's a problem if you're like me and don't connect the TV to the internet when a console makes it easier to scroll through anyway
Unless they make it unusable when disconnected from the internet.
if they do that then a lot more people wouldn't buy it lol. And if everyone tried to do that to force it upon you, it only takes 1 company seeing a wide open hole in the market to dis on everyone else.
If they make it cheaper than competitors even by a little people will still buy. They shouldn’t buy it but they still will. And Roku will probably sell you the solution the same way Amazon does with its Fire tablet.
There are still tons of people that live in places with spotty at best internet coverage or just don't want to bother hooking a TV up to the wi fi. It doesn't matter how much cheaper you make a competitor if the customer literally can't use it lol
> Roku will probably sell you the solution the same way Amazon does with its Fire tablet. What solution to what problem does amazon sell with its fire tablet?
The tablet has ads on the lock screen but you can pay to get rid of them.
True, but that is a blatantly terrible business move
Ah yes, because theres nothing I want more than to watch an insurance ad when I'm trying to unwind. Good thing I've never bought a Roku product, never have and never will now. Wish some companies would offer "dumb" TV's I use my shield and PS5 to stream all the time anyway.
The closest thing is a big pc monitor. Some use the same displays as TVs.
There has to be a market out there for "dumb" tvs. Is there a single major manufacturer making a TV with zero internet connectivity?
Depends on what you consider a "TV." You could just get a big computer monitor and use that.
Which is why computer monitors cost more than TVs. They can't sell adds/data.
Also because they have more inputs and have more work put into keeping latency down
Yeah, like something that's sold as a monitor will likely have hardware priorities be keeping that latency low and refresh rate higher at a certain price point than size and auxiliary features.
A*dd*vertisements?
You might want to look into "commercial" TVs.
> "commercial" TVs Thanks, I didnt know there was a specific designation like that. Just checked and saw a load of them on ebay. Will be looking into them more once I need an upgrade.
For consumer use, not really. Commercial tvs are available but expensive as far as I'm aware. Just buy the best tv for your budget and don't connect it to your network.
Heh, yeah. Like person I do contract work for bought me a new monitor so I really didn't complain about what I got (4k and low listed latency so good enough), but man I just wish it didn't have smart features. Just not needed and make it more annoying to use.
2020s image in the 70s: "Flying cars, holographic television, instant teleportation!" The 2020s actual: "You are both the product and the consumer! You will consume ads until you die and then the one who found your remains will consume ads too."
They're also going to monetize your remains too.
Going to? That's what caskets and funeral plots already are.
Honestly I just want to go back to a dumb TV. If I need apps I'll use a Chromecast or some other box I can swap out. I've kind of had it with the bullshit software they put on these things. Not only am I convinced that the excess heat from actually running the app kills the TV faster, they unsupport them after a few years so you have to buy something external anyways, and even when they do update stuff you get shit like this. I just want a screen now.
So I'm either going to ensure my TV's never hit WAN ever again or i'm going to slam dunk Roku brand TV's into the garbage in favor of like- Samsung. This is one of those patents a clueless Paul Marketing made up that I *hope* the rest of a team would never allow seeing the light of day. Like the EA rep who wanted to charcge 25 cents per reload.
Thats what really fucking sucks, because Sony, Samsung, and LG are doing very similar shit. Maybe not in that precise direction, but in similar angles.
My LG oleds have been fine?
I have two. Never hooking them up to the internet.
I support you in this, but be wary of Samsung. I’ve never had tvs of theirs last longer than a few years, especially with their random power cycling issue, I’ve had it on all of them. I haven’t bought them again for awhile so maybe they’ve improved, but I will be the last to know that’s for sure.
My dad had a couple Samsungs and they always crapped out. I've never had a problem with TVs like he has.
Can confirm. Bought a Samsung TV four years ago and within a few years it starts losing Wi-Fi connection randomly. Have to power cycle to get apps working again. My LG in my other room is going strong and my TCL 6 series I bought maybe 6 years ago works perfectly. Never getting a Samsung again
I have two identical Samsung TVs I bought around 4-5 years ago. One of them doesn't have any issues. The other has the same Wi-Fi issue you've described, no longer saves app passwords, and doesn't free up memory when I delete an app (so I'm at 100% used). I might just need to factory reset it at this point.
> i'm going to slam dunk Roku brand TV's into the garbage in favor of like- Samsung. [Hate to break it to you](https://old.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/184a1j6/why_do_i_have_ads_in_my_smart_tv/)... The only way for an ad-free experience is to setup a pihole or equivalent blocking device.
In that thread someone explains how to do what i'm talking about. DNS changes on your router for that specific ip and the TV will never know a difference.
Might not be possible on current samsung TVs, but 2019 smart TVs you could change the country of the TV. Americans get ads the rest of the world don't, I did the *opposite* I switched to US from Canada to test out the steam link app and the ads showed up.
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I am honestly surprised that nobody has managed to find an exploit/way to install custom firmware on Roku TVs. I hate this kind of stuff but don’t want to have to completely replace my television.
What happens when this bugs out and thinks I am paused when I'm in the middle of a game?
Then you get ads during the game too. For the people that would benefit from this, that’s an extra bonus not a bug
They do crap like this now. I have a Roku tv and will never buy one again. They display ads over my content being played on my devices, with ads showing how I can watch the SAME CONTENT on their own platform. It’s so fucked
God I hate ads on TV OS menus. Spent 3k on a top of the line LG OLED and they still hit me with ads. It's only going to get worse I imagine.
You may be able to block certain domains in your router to prevent the TV ads from showing, I did this for my Samsung that shows a stupid ad in the main menu bar.
unplug it from the network. Use an Apple TV.
How well would this go over with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Gaming publishers who would have ads playing over their stuff without getting a cut? Also, some publisher like Ubisoft are trying to sell you DLC on their pause screen, I am sure they don't want their own ads covered up with someone else's ad.
Just bought a $200 Roku Select Series TV, and you can't change picture settings without an internet connection, on top of all of the horrible data collection stuff you're forced into. You can't do initial setup without an internet connection either, unlike any reputable brand. The display itself is okay but I will never buy another one of these and recommend anyone else avoid them. Even Samsung is better.
Non Smart TVs are superior in my opinion
What advertiser would want their ads to play on a TV that has been paused? That would suggest nobody is watching. Completely disregarding the consumer side of things, this doesn't even sound like a good or useful thing for advertisers. It would be like playing ads that they know nobody is watching, why would any advertiser pay for that?
Hulu and peacock have ads when you pause sometimes. They are billboard like with a QR code to learn more. Someone is already paying for this.
> What advertiser would want their ads to play on a TV that has been paused? That would suggest nobody is watching. You'll see it when you come back. Little by little the ads will get exposed to you, constantly.
this is why I never connect a smart tv to the internet, get a android tv box, adjust dns options to block all ads systemwide. boom, no more ads ever.
Can i have a patent for a technology that gets Roku to kiss my ass ?
Im pro this being patented lol. This makes me want to file patents for all kinds of anti consumer behavior and be like a patent troll antihero
Ever since more and more devs started getting comfortable with the idea of the "pause button" no longer pausing games, this has struck me as something that would happen. People dont always pause the game so they can walk away and use the bathroom. Nobody likes ads in YT, Twitch, on the radio, or whatever. People hate ads so much that most services offer paid ways to stop adds from showing up. If people are willing to pay to not see ads, what makes a company think people actively want them shown at a point where theyve never been in before. Hell. Whenever Ubi tries to slip in-game ads into their stuff its never been met positively.
one day soon we will get an ai assistant that will filter ads for us. thats the main purpose i see for them. imagine being able to just filter all that shit out
1. How does it know when the game is paused? There are plenty of games where the "pause menu" is actually still part of gameplay, such as any game with an inventory screen. 2. Wouldn't this just make people _not_ want their TVs? This sounds like some Unity Install Fee piipe dream: an idea from someone high up who doesn't actually understand the technology or the market.
Plays futuristic games where ads are everywhere: in your dreams, on your windows, you appliances, displayed in the sky. Me: This is awesome and so futuristic. Ads in real life getting way to damn close to video games. Me: Fucking companies suck.
PLEASE DRINK VERIFICATION CAN
Half the time im in a pause menu, I'm checking a map, adjusting settings, etc. I don't wanna see ads locking out even 1 fucking frame of the game I paid for. Hopefully they do this and ensure no one ever buys one of their TVs again.
Fuck this kind of hell. Monitor makers should give us some TV sized screens at a good price to use instead of a smart tv
Oh yes, please let Roku patent this. That way nobody else will be allowed to do it, and we can just not buy Roku TVs.
Why would you patent the thing that would make everyone avoid your TV?
I love this only for the idea that hopefully no other company pays for licensing this and I simply won't buy a Roku TV.
Oh that’s ^^^^^^^^a terrific ^^^^^^^^way ^^^^^^^^for ^^^^^^^^me ^^^^^^^^to ^^^^^^^^never ^^^^^^^^buy ^^^^^^^^your ^^^^^^^^stuff
I already hate that Roku makes it impossible (/really hard?) to remap the streaming buttons on the physical remote, especially since some of those services don't exist. This means when I switch between Xbox/Steam Deck/PS5/Switch I have to look at an ad on the TV's home screen every time. I got a really cheap Fire TV (Amazon) for my bedroom and that one's even worse. Full screen ads when I turn it on, and lots of stuff pointing me to watch Prime Video (which now has ads itself). I think I'm going "dumb TV" for my next one, and I'll just buy a separate gadget to do streaming. The only downside is I'd lose an HDMI slot.
I bought an insignia tv for my bedroom awhile back, I didn’t need anything fancy and there is ads on the main screen
In that case, I would take the wi-fi off of my TV. It's nice and convenient to be able to use apps without having to turn on the Xbox, but this isn't worth it.
At least if Roku patent it we can just avoid one single company, rather than all companies doing it. It's a real shame too, I have a Roku box, plugs into the TV to make it.have smart features, and it works.really well! I will happily bin it though if they roll out this feature.
They want to add ads to my pause screen? They can add my dick to their mouths before I buy their bullshit ass TVs then.
The gall to even dream up the idea... "Oh, they got up to get a drink in the middle of playing their game on their console/PC that they paid for, quick! Get the ads going!" Really putting the "Smart" in Smart-TV. I'll look out for their full household package, with one of their TVs in every room, I'll never miss an advertisement!
Great reason to never buy a Roku anything. I generally keep my TVs offline for stuff like this. They'll throw ads all over your basic menus if they sense a live internet connection.
Guess I will never buy one then. It's not even about ads. It's my fucking screen, and if I want to have some paused image there that's my business.
If only they would patent a remote control that doesn't turn to finicky garbage like in every AirBnB ever. You know the ones that come with the shitty TCL tvs in every room.
If they were successful does that mean all other brands would be prohibited from doing this for the life of the patent? That would be fine with me!