1y ago

Own a Roku TV or streaming device? You're about to see a lot more ads on your home screen

www.techradar.com Own a Roku TV or streaming device? You're about to see a lot more ads on your home screen

…and it’s not just entertainment ads either

Ugh. Roku was one of the platforms with fewer ads.

Roku will be adding more ads to the home screens of its devices and TVs in the near future.
The ads will be interactive and 'shoppable' and will cover a range of industries, including restaurants and cars.
Roku already has a significant amount of ads on its home screen, and it is unclear if users will be able to change their preferences for the new ads.

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274 comments

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.
- Apple TV is a premium streaming box without ads. The privacy aspect is less clear, but probably better than Samsung, Google and Roku that are all harvesting data.
  An open source solution would be better.
  
  The privacy aspect is less clear, but probably better
  I love how dividing by an unknown somehow makes a bigger number for you. The bias is leaking.
  
  Apple chargers more and isn't openly selling data (Samsung) or openly selling ads (Google). The commercial activity provides some insight here, that suggests Apple is better for privacy.
- IMHO, for a quick out-of-the-box solution, the AppleTV is still the better streaming box.
  Performant, tight software experience, large software catalog, proactively asks about blocking tracking data, and no ads all over the place.
  
  It does advertise Apple content but its not too bad.
  
  You can turn that off. If you don’t want the TV app to show new TV+ shows when it’s highlighted in the dock, you can set it to display recently watched content. And recently watched content will be app agnostic.
  The feature is a little buried, but it’s a nice experience upgrade that is worth switching over to.
  
  It still clutters on OS upgrades.
  
  Can you elaborate? Mine has remained set to show “up next” for several OS upgrades. That feature has never switches itself off.
  
  Hmmm, maybe I need to dig in settings. When Apple Arcade became a thing I found new apps on the Home Screen. I still think it's the only streaming box outside of a shield that is appropriately powered amass doesn't serve ads. And unlike the shield, Apple tv has a clear future.
  
  Ahh. Yeah, when Apple adds a new app to an OS, they love to throw that thing right in the dock so you can see it. I usually end up moving a lot of those things out and I put my preferred apps in that dock.
  I thought you meant it was changing your preferences for “settings > apps > tv > homescreen” after you installed OS updates. Sorry, I was confused.
- Mainly because the major streaming services wouldn't allow their platforms to run on it.
  
  I don't use major streaming services. I just want something that runs NewPipe and Jellyfin. Lol
- Until then, a Raspberry Pi or SFF PC will do the job just fine. They even work with remotes if you get an IR receiver for them.
  
  How do you set up the IR receiver? I would like to use Linux if possible. It's often such a pain to set up things like this. Took me forever to get my Xbox controller to pair.
  
  I've used LIRC in the past. Takes a bit of setup, but it works well once you get it going.
  
  Thanks for that. Were you ever able to get something like this to power a device on from a full shut down?
  Edit: power on using the remote.
- Because people won't pay for it. We are in the minority.
- We need a fediverse streaming service.
  
  Torrent? PeerTube?
  For paid options I see no sense in decentralization. But a standard protocol for rental tied with some protocol for payments (like GNU Taler) to rent movies from any source with one tap and no install would be cool.

274 comments