Technology

They're working hard to make sure piracy provides the best experience.

Not a surprise for Roku. The company has been getting progressively worse in the last few years and their enshittification is accelerating. Their recent forced download of an update that requires users to agree to arbitration to even use our TVs was intended to ultimately take control of those TVs completely away from the people who own them.

Right now it's possible to block Roku's static ads and presumably the autoplaying ones using a local DNS server like Adblock Home or Pihole, but it's only a matter of time before Roku blocks everything unless we watch the ads they are trying force down our throats. I'm already in the process of obsoleting all 5 of our Roku devices.

It has taken Roku years to build up enough market share to allow this kind of behavior and it will take years for the market to abandon them. Their executives will claim ignorance as to why users are walking away when it finally hits their bottom line.

Roku is bad, I have one older Roku ""smart"" tv that I just block from accessing the internet entirely, and use a shield with a custom launcher instead.

Im literally willing to ditch the device and cancel all streaming services because of this. When I turn on my TV I don’t want to be forced to consume ads when I haven’t been provided with anything in return.

Can i pleace find a decent TV without smart-capabilitys? I just want HDMI thats it

For years I was a big fan of Roku. It represented a better value alternative from the big corporations pushing their own agenda like Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon. They made products that were intuitive and user oriented and carved out a very nice and stable market share for themselves because of it. Now they're just leveraging their hardware relationships to transform the software into something terrible.

I used to look for tvs with Roku built in. Now I've disabled Roku features from my smart TVS and use a separate streaming device.

Shit. I got a Roku TV. That's one big fucking stick to toss.

I have a Roku ultra in my kid's room.

I do not want her subjected to ads when she turns on the TV.

This is unacceptable to me and I will be replacing all my Rokus immediately.

Don't connect your Roku to the internet.

Almost downvoted instinctually as a reaction to the headline. Visceral reaction. I hate this beyond belief.

This is why I disconnected my parents Roku tv from the internet last year, when they started to get updates that wouldn't download, and freeze the whole tv, i said enough is enough

Get to the endgame. Just strap us to a chair and make us watch your crap ads Clockwork Orange style.

Roku had the best smart tv ui. I was seriously bummed when the ads started rolling in a few years ago.

I want an open source streaming client, but from what I hear DRM gets in the way of that.

this is the worst, next they're gonna put ads on cars

Looking around Roku's site, I found this email address: AdsPR@roku.com

I'm planning on giving them a brief but firm "oh hell no" letter. I wonder how many others will do the same 🤔

So glad I blocked my TVs access to the Internet at the router level. Never complainrd about not setting up a network if the network doesn't work.

Uh huh, but collecting Blurays is just silly I've been told.

If this happens on my box I'll be taking them to small claims court and let you all know how it goes...

They just did this to me. How can I tell them they failed this test?

Watching Roku steadily decline from a trusted brand has been something. For a time, they were the alternative to the other bigger more Ad driven companies. I’ve owned 2 and used to enjoy them overall. Now, they’ve slowly become just as bad or worse than their competitors in some regards. When history looks back on streaming boxes as a failed delivery method, Roku might just get to be the example in the forefront.

So glad I ditched Roku. My modified Onn box (with an open source, ad-free launcher) is so much better.

If you force Ads then I will replace your equipment. The only reason I use Roku is to avoid the Ads built into "smart TVs"

Bought a Roku back in 2020 or 2021 because the Apple TV was more expensive.

Now I know why.

For what it is worth, I have Roku set up as a REGEX in my Pi-hole so for the most part, any of this nonsense is completely blocked on my Roku.

Needless to say, I shouldn’t have to do this shit with a device I paid for and mainly use for Plex streaming.

I only ever tried using a Roku so I could stream my PC to my smart TV, but it turns out there's MASSIVE latency. Of course I returned it. If I had to deal with that AND ADS, I would have set that shit on fire