Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
Used to recommend Roku to others. I will never buy anything from them or recommend them to anyone again.
Someday maybe boards will figure out that “business” people have no idea what they are doing.
They know what they’re doing! Maximizing share price for the next quarter while they jump ship… It’s legitimately disgusting.
Boards only understand “line go up” or “line go down.” If something turns off a few weirdos like us but it lets them sell access to millions of eyeballs they’ll do it.
They’d step over their own dying mother to make a buck.
History is littered with companies that decided they should “milk” their customers instead of providing new and innovative products. They usually don’t last all that long, but you’re right that the current board members might not gaf about any kind of longer term existence.
That may have been true in the past, but we’re in a corporate fuedal system now, with a bunch of little fiefdoms we can’t escape ruled by people who wish they had the rizz of Henry VIII or Louis XVI
Damage private property, destroy the chains that bind us.
I mean, if she’s already dying, what’s the issue here? I’m losing money if I have to stop and call 911, when she has a perfectly good phone to do it herself.
You’ve got a great UI Roku, but now stop being evil.
That is definitely way too invasive. Plugging something on to a Roku TV shouldn’t enable them to show you ads through that other device.
I was actually thinking about getting a Roku once too. Really dodged a bullet.
The article says Roku is attempting to detect breaks, which are the only places Roku will try to show you an ad. So you open your inventory in the pause screen to fight a boss and an ad pops out.
Alright, time to stay with Google Chromecast. At least I know they inject me with ads in their apps
Man… My personal list of banned companies not to buy is getting scary long.
You wanna DM me that list? And some decent alternatives would be nice too :)
That’s a hypothetical list in my head :P
As for alternarives, I use so many “alternative”/FOSS things daily that compiling one list would just be a waste of time at this point.
Lmao rip.
Amazon seems the hardest to get away from. The shipping is so fast compared to everything else, and prices are usually good.
I’m sure someone has made a list of all of the popular services and alternatives
At this point just start using a white list.
Would you mind sharing the list? Or is it just inside your head?
If they decide to go through with this I will literally replace every Roku TV I own, fuck that shit!
You should probably plan on that anyway. I’ve already seen screenshots of ads popping up over DVDs, offering to sell you what you’re already watching.
This isn’t a threat from Roku. This is a promise to their real customers, the glorious advertisers.
Yeah now I’m never buying a roku I think when amazon eventually manages to wreck my cube (which they really seem to be trying to) I’ll have to try something like a raspberry pi or maybe a small ryzen card.
I’m really not sure but The one thing I’ve decided is to take it out of another company’s hands.
They’ll have a hell of a time with that. My roku TCL’s don’t even know the internet exists over here.
If Roku actually does this I would definitely never use them again. Completely asinine behavior. Especially because most people aren’t even using stand alone boxes with their smart TVs.
I don’t know. If done well this could be a much better option than pausing whatever you’re watching to show an ad.
If youtube showed ads on the corner of the screen while you’re browsing around searching for something to watch, it would be a much better platform than what it is today and it would probably make more money too. If Netflix did this they would triple their revenue.
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you’ve described youtube in 2008 and it was a much better platform.
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the issue isn’t what time to show ads, or where. It’s the furthering invasion of marketing into private spaces and lack of apparent concern for end-user consent. There are security concerns when devices can hijack eachother. This technology is likely to rely on some means of detecting idle time, like comparing consecutive frames as the article states, so you try reading a long text on screen in an RPG, and then you’re local kroger brand ad plays.
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patents don’t mean shit tho, companies usually just patent whatever they want without any plans of implementation
patents don’t mean shit tho
It’d be safe to say that there’s a much higher probability of this kind of a patent being implemented than something that takes real problem solving and engineering to implement. This one is clearly made with to increase revenue and will most probably be pursued by them as much as possible. I can even see them getting royalties for this stuff, from other Smart TV companies.
Things that may hinder this:
- PR
- Laws
Really just make forced arbitration illegal and these things will reduce significantly.
Never connect your smart TV to the internet. Just don’t do it. Get a third party device or ideally use an old PC with an appropriate HTPC Linux distro or something.
I use Arch btw
Do you know of a good HTPC UI other than Kodi? I was never a huge fan of Kodi.
Get a signage TV instead of a smart TV. Then you also don’t have to deal with the slow ass UI.
Wait, why? Is the TV spying on me any more than my phone, every app I use, my desktop OS, every website I visit, all of my smart home devices, my car, my bank, traffic cameras, and my bottom left molar?
Can’t I just slap a PiHole on my home network and pretend I’ve done something about it?
If tv is talking home using ip directly, DNS blocking will not work. You have to ether disconnect tv from your network or give the tv a static ip and block all traffic to and from WAN (internet) from that device Update tv manually using USB stick.
Reply to old reply, sorry. Technically blocking the IP isn’t perfect either. In theory, as long as it has the wifi credentials, and your wifi has access to the internet, your TV will be able to access the internet if it really wants to. All it’d have to do is ignore the IP assignment or fake/change a MAC address during DHCP. I don’t know why a “legit” TV would do this, but if you get some unbranded Chinese thing, or if any wifi device wants to be malicious, it can bypass DHCP+IP filters very easily.
I hate this timeline
I was permitted to close my account…without any hassle. Sign into my.roku.com and delete account is as the bottom. Selecting “don’t want to use this anymore” gives you a box with 255 charachter limit (because of course they don’t want to hear a real reason) and then when you hit send you just get “Thank you, account closed, if you come back you will need a new account”
Surprisingly, suspiciously, painless.
Does nobody in this thread know about HDCP? This wouldn’t fly at all.
HDCP signal is decoded by the TV before being displayed on the screen. The TV has complete control over what is shown to you.
Don’t get it wrong: HDCP was not made to protect user interests, but specifically for the publisher and display device OEMs who subscribe to it.
Have you heard of the analog hole? Or wondered how your TV can display things like volume changes over the program you’re watching?
Can you elaborate? I thought hdcp was mostly about preventing piracy type of things, what does it do for this situation?
It (in theory) prevents signal tampering of any kind, which would include injecting advertisements into the stream.
My cousin wanted a Roku TV as a wedding gift. I said no. Got Sony instead. I like to think he’s thankful for that with all the shit Roku has been doing
