It's time to dump Roku
7h 52m ago by piefed.social/u/Skavau in television@piefed.social from www.engadget.com
I'm so done with Roku.
If you feel similarly grossed out by the Fox acquisition, I'd recommend you make similar moves. Instead of a Roku Stick, you could use the Google TV Streamer or Apple TV 4K, both of which offer more modern interfaces than Roku's.
Oh yes, the exemplar of stealing your data and the biggest walled garden in tech are far superior choices!
Maybe I'm confused, but those are pretty much the only choices?? Oh wait throw amazon in there too I guess lmao
There are always options.
Plug a laptop into your TV via HDMI and buy a cheap Bluetooth keyboard. Install ublock origin. Sail on over to a certain community on Db0 for some advice on free streaming services.
For most people, that's work, not an "option" per se. Also, most people run win11 and we can all agree that's a horrendous option on a tv
And most people are fine with giving their data to Google, Samsung, etc. and that's fine if it works for them, but for the people who don't mind a little more work, the options are there.
Most people are not dealing with that. Making a laptop work as well as a dedicated remote first device is a pain in the ass for most people. People want panel and remote based ui's first.
It takes such a minimal amount of effort nowadays to set up a barebones pi or laptop with Linux , hook to TV and just watch in web browser or use a graphical frontend like kodi. Theres millions of sources for doing all of this.
Oh well , my coworkers can complain to me about $250 monthly cable bills. I'll just smile.
This is exactly what I do almost to a T, but I use an Atari VCS (not the original 🙃) and a Logitech wireless KB. Or my phone through KDE connect.
It works just fine, SO likes it. If people would try, but theyre lazier than they have ever been, and dumb. It really was not that long ago that an HTPC was somewhat common.
People only know what big tech feeds them.
Divide by zero?
Google is literally a spyware company.
Until roku starts shitting the bed it is the least worst choice for those that want ready to go streaming sticks or TVs. I will continue using my roku sticks until they force ads. I already turned off all the home ads and suggestions except the one for roklue or whatever I couldn't find a setting for.
least worst choice
I have Roku because they haven't died yet but AppleTV is a better choice. It's a Roku without the ads.
Does apple tv have a streaming stick?
I couldn't find one and couldn't tell if the box had some easy way to mount it to the wall behind the tv.
No stick.
But there's a wide range of Apple TV unit mounts for your wall or TV.
I'll consider spending nearly $200 each to replace each of my $40 roku sticks when they actually implement ads I can't turn off.
My personal choice has been the “walled garden.” And as “walled in” as it is, it streams Jellyfin just fine.
Can you put jellyfin on a USB/HDMI stick?
I like the form factor.
Jellyfin client needs to run on an OS. I use a raspi 5 as the local PC, then libreelec, to run the jellyfin for kodi client. It works flawlessly.
I have no idea. But to be wife-approved it’s got to be navigable from the couch, and a USB stock doesn’t sound like it would be.
Normies just aren't going to self host nor do they give a shit that big tech harvests their data.
Agreed
Nay better open source options for this, or should I just get a raspberry pie with a jellyfin client?
Yeah that works well. There is also Kodi, which is an excellent and deep FOSS project for HTPCs. It has native jellyfin clients from the jellyfin devs if you want to go all in on jellyfin, but also has its own interface as well for other apps like ad free YouTube/etc.
For an OS, I'd recommend "libreelec," which is just a Linux distro that boots immediately into kodi.
The better option is under development. Plasma Bigscreen is to be part of the next KDE release
And Switchfin is a TV friendly Jellyfin client for Linux
I was ready to discount this as pearl clutching but after reading it, I'm of the same mindset.
It's long been time to dump Roku. This is just the last few nails in the coffin.
What do I do if I already have roku and it's the only thing I have?
Factory reset and never connect it to the internet.
Edit: That's if you want to keep it a dumb tv. I know there are likely OS alternatives if you want to bother, but I ended up just resetting mine and keeping it connected to my mini-pc.
And what about Roku devices that aren't TVs?
Pi-hole all the domains not required for content streaming
They're great for screen casting. Reset and no more internet. Just screen mirror your phone playing apps that don't have ads.
What's a good alternative? I'm fine installing alternative OS and was looking at some lineageOS TV stuff but seeing mixed reports on whether you can get full quality on streaming services that way
Torrenting. The reddit piracy megathread is quite good.
The Onn streaming devices are recommended a lot. I picked one up for a new TV and besides needing a google account it's inoffensive and supports Projectivity launcher to customize and reduce ads.
I have a Shield TV running LineageOS. It tells me that the device is not optimised for Netflix, but it plays in 1080. I mostly just use Jellyfin, mostly.
What's the benefit of running LOS over stock Android Shield ships with? Asking as someone who has the device with Projectivity Launcher, Jellyfin, Immich Frame, etc. Is it for degoogling?
Does it playback Dolby Vision and HDR10+ content?
Not sure about Netflix, but 4k Dolby Vision / HDR10 through Jellyfin is fine. I don't know if I have any HDR10+ files to check, I'll find out and let you know.
Oh, cool. I read on the LineageOS wiki that Dolby Vision doesn't work on the shield with LOS installed, so good to hear that it works. The LOS wiki also says that Nvidia's AI upscaling doesn't work, so not sure if that's also the case.
Just steal the content and get a good android TV with Plex or jellyfin if you hate yourself.
Which of those three things do you do if you hate yourself?
Yo ho, yo ho,a
[The rest of this comment has been removed per a DMCA take down request. Piracy makes The Mouse mad.]
They bought tubi too which is a damn shame.
I'm going to turn off network access on my two Roku TVs (which will keep them from monetizing my attention). For those sets, I'm going to pick up a used Apple TV 4K and dig up my older 1080p Apple TV.
From frying pan to fire in one easy step.
Just connect a raspberry pi or a mini PC to your TV; you can steam Netflix/Hulu/etc from web browsers. Get yourself a wireless keyboard with a track pad to control it.
The raspberry pi supports cec, you can control it with the remote.
That's just an example link from eBay, not recommending that item or seller specifically. But you can get them that run off a USB dongle, or Bluetooth. They're absolutely fantastic.
Who are they kidding? It's been years since they started scanning everything you were watching to inject ads into it. If people were happy with that, they're happy with this.
Ditched my roku with the policy change that required agreeing, or no access to the device. It went in the bin.
I factory reset the Roku TVs and replaced the set top units with Google Streamers and Nvidia Shields.
I watch TV over antenna, and my Roku TV has a great interface for that. Antenna is just a simple tile right next to my other inputs or apps. It has a nice guide so I can see what's on, and I can pause and rewind. Is there any other TV or device that offers this convenience?
I really would like to switch because my Roku TVs are constantly freezing and crashing and have to be rebooted.
🙁
I only use my Roku for rifftrax. I wish those guys would make one for Android TV.
I did find their channel on YouTube and Pluto TV. if you can install Kodi, I'd look into the unofficial Pluto TV addon
E: or the Pluto app?
They have another app for streaming that has newer riffs behind a subscription. I started paying for it as reparations for getting riffs from places other than the website, but now it's become my wife and I's go to chill time. Last I saw it was only available on Roku or Fire TV. Hopefully I can install it on Plasma TV whenever that drops.
I don't have the skills, but I'd love to see some clean room design be done on roku.
Fuck em.
The epitome of capitalism. Cancer sucks everything.