Roku TVs could one day show ads as soon as you pause playing a game on a connected Xbox, or stop a stream on an Apple TV.

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.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.caEnglish
    271·
    5 months ago

    Any company trying to use the HDMI-CEC protocol in such a subversive manner should lose their license to the HDMI standard IMO.

        • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          I’m sure that a DisplayPort device in a chain can also inject video, but I have to admit that I would kind of like to not have two competing video standards, and my impression is that DisplayPort tends to lead HDMI technically, so…

          • pivot_root@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            5 months ago

            DisplayPort: We have

            • Higher maximum resolution.
            • Better support for higher refresh rates.
            • Multi-stream transport so you can use a single display cable for multiple monitors.

            HDMI: Oh yeah? Well, we have

            • Royalties.
            • Specifications hidden behind contracts.
            • An emphasis on implementing DRM technology that makes it hard to use a capture card.

            Fuck HDMI.

      • SmoothLiquidation@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I’m mad that they did their broken implementation of sending control codes between devices that never works. I have to disable it on everything so that the correct input gets set.

        And then they are killing the universal remote industry so there is nothing to replace it with.

    • Jimmycakes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      5 months ago

      You know HDMI is not some big secret they can use it without the license and ship from overseas like 90% of shit shipped from China.

  • qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.oneEnglish
    61·
    5 months ago

    Is there an anti-ad community on Lemmy? Or another non-Lemmy place to work through blocking/avoiding this bullshit? I’m so fed up with the advertisement industry. I don’t want ads on my devices. I don’t want ads in my operating systems. I don’t want ads in my content. I don’t want ads in the sky. I don’t want ads in the ocean. I don’t want to be forced to see or hear ads while putting gas in my car.

    I really can’t emphasize how much I am willing to go through to rid my life completely of advertisements.

  • andyburke@fedia.io
    44·
    5 months ago

    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.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      5 months ago

      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.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      I’ve always found their monetization strategy icky. Their remotes, with streaming service ads on them, always made me feel gross. Especially since those services change every couple years, and you get stuck with remotes plugging stupid services like Blockbuster and Redbox.

    • HC4L@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      5 months ago

      A simple PC, you can also use it to browse, download stuff, Steam stream etc. The possibilities are endless

    • ShadowRam@fedia.io
      62·
      5 months ago

      Is nVidia Shield an alternative?

      That’s what I’ve been using for years now. It’s great.

    • qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.oneEnglish
      4·
      5 months ago

      I blocked my TV from using WiFi, but there have been times I have need to unblock it (like using AirPlay or Google Cast), so it gets updates occasionally. I’m open to throwing my TV straight to the dump and buying another TV to avoid this at all costs.

    • kevincox@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      Nothing, all TVs are crap.

      The best options are usually buying large “monitors” or digital signage. However these both tend to be more expensive than a similar TV. Monitors also often lack a remote which may be valuable for a TV and digital signage may have less input ports than you may want.

      I would love if a major manufacturer made a TV that just displayed what signals I put into it.

      Right now the best option still seems to buy a Roku TV and never connect it to the internet. But some features will be disabled. For example Miracast doesn’t work for some explicitable reason until you connect it to the internet. (Then again it barely works anyways, so no major loss)

    • eksb@programming.devEnglish
      01·
      5 months ago

      Get an A/V receiver, a computer monitor or dumb TV, and speakers. Then you can get a Roku streaming player and it cannot show you anything when you do not have its input selected on the receiver.

      Even an inexpensive pair of bookshelf speakers placed on either side of the TV will sound better than built-in TV speakers. Add a center speaker and a subwoofer drastically improved sound.

      Non-4k AV receivers are dirt cheap used.

  • Moose@moose.bestEnglish
    16·
    5 months ago

    If a consumer watches something on their Apple TV and then presses the pause button, a Roku TV set could use either audio or video-based content recognition technologies (known in the industry as ACR) to identify what’s being watched, match the current scene to a database and extract relevant information to pair an ad with it.

    Wow somehow their idea is even worse than I imagined, glad I don’t own a Roku now.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    11·
    5 months ago

    Roku is pretty great for what it is, but the day I see such an ad is the day it hits the bin. That would finally bother me into driving the TV with an actual PC.

    • andyburke@fedia.io
      171·
      5 months ago

      As a former Roku fan, forced arbitration or a brick was the breaking point. Roku can fuck off.

      • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
        91·
        5 months ago

        Forced arbitration is a cancer and should be illegal, but at least it’s useful and technically my 5 yo agreed to it, so how is this legal again?

      • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I’m not sure. These old eyes can’t see the difference and I don’t own 4k hardware. It is possible that you need a locked down system for some content levels.

  • Fester@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    5 months ago

    Hardware that is supported by ads or requires a subscription should be free, or better yet, not exist at all. Fuck paying $800+ for a TV that leeches forced ad revenue on top of the sale.

    And fuck the TV manufacturers for enabling this behavior. Bring back non-smart TVs. I’ll never use Roku or Google built-in streaming, so they shouldn’t be on my TV at all.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      5 months ago

      you have to boycott all of the HDMI consortum and the streaming services who demand HDMI for full features. The idea of widevine levels on android are put to prevent “stream piracy” and why all the streaming services push you to use their apps.

      basically all TV manufacturers are part of the HDMI consortum, or adhere to it.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    5 months ago

    Our TV can fortunately bypass all the “smart” shit, and run like dumb monitor, maybe because it’s an older TV? We use it with an external computer with Linux mediacenter, where we have full control and no adds.
    Would it even be possible to run a new “smart” TV as a dumb monitor?

    We are very happy with our TV, because we can run it as a plain monitor no problem, but it could break.

    • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      Would it even be possible to run a new “smart” TV as a dumb monitor?

      Never connecting the TV to the internet and never updating the firmware usually works. If they are determined to show you ads, they may not let you use the TV without an internet connection though. I would suggest that you avoid buying a roku TV.

      • ArbiterXero@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        5 months ago

        Okay but they can also mesh the TVs with your neighbour’s tv of the same brand so that if your neighbour’s TV has internet, your TV can leapfrog onto his tv to download the ads

    • lordmauve@programming.devEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      Unless that person happens to be with their dad, that would then require finding their dad. That’s a whole extra person to find. It might be easier to skip straight to finding their dad.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      Get a CEC TV and a separate streaming box that supports that. Get a Shield and install an ad free launcher, or pick up an AppleTV.

  • 8ender@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    5 months ago

    Roku, I already had you blocked at Pihole, but now I’m just straight up turning off your network access.