laughs in a Linux Raspi, hooked up to a dumb projector, sitting behind a pihole and streaming from an in-house Jellyfin media server
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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was literally about to buy a Roku TV. not anymore
anyone have suggestions for a decent new TV that isn't so invasive?
I can't tell what Spectre units do but they look like maybe an option
e.g.
https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U750CV-UMRD-75-4K-UHD-TV-product1131category1category73.html
I have an LG TV with all promotional stuff disabled. Not sure if they all do that, but my 65 inch TV is ad free!! For now.
I see Alexa is on the LG TV, and there's a way to turn it off in settings, but is it actually truly off when you do this (do u know)? lmao
I try to not accept any optional terms and conditions and never set up any assistant. If I don't accept all the legal stuff, those features stay disabled. Again, this depends on your TV and generation. I have the 65C1.
plain old TV, and then add what you want? I have a flat screen, and a little roku box ($30 at Best Buy). I always wondered what you do if your Roku tv farts out--take the whole thing off the wall and tote it back to where you bought it? If something happens to my roku, or I don't want it anymore, I just unplug it.
I built Kyu Launcher so you can get Roku experience on your Android TV.
Had to Google it but it looks pretty nice. I thought you meant that you were injecting giant ads into Android TV.
Fighting fire with fire, they'll never see it coming
How do people tolerate this? Just looking at this pic makes me want to turn it off and throw it out the window.
Literally nothing about the interface is about the user. It all screams everything except what you might want or need. Well, maybe the Zootopia tile is good, of all things, but not much else.
I'm on the home screen for one second. The remote, in fact, has buttons on it, I don't even need to look at the home screen.
You can add or remove tiles as you see fit (although they definitely like to add some for you from time to time), but like I said, I barely use the tiles.
I love people on here who don't and have never used it expressing any feelings on it at all. Like, why do you care, other than were all here (on the internet) just to get mad about shit?
They were born in it, moulded by it, they've never seen a world without an add somewhere in it.
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Roku used to be pretty great, but the writing was on the wall after the IPO in 2017. This is just one more step in the decade-long march toward total enshittification.
Feels nice to get some trade-in cash for my Roku tv. Digital TV with the local channels and YouTube more than satisfies.
Roku is another prime example of enshitification.
Now I have all my "smart" TVs disconnected, and I hooked up some inexpensive Android TV boxes (with a couple minor modifications). No more ads!
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People love to hate Apple, and that's fine (Tim Cook sucks ass), but the AppleTV is honestly the best streamer and you can't change my mind.
Zero ads on the Home Screen, and even the first gen 4K box that came out 8 years ago is still fast as hell and getting updates.
I know this because I had one in my closet and just took it out the other day when setting up a TV in my bedroom. It downloaded updates and is now rocking and rolling again.
It's best because everything else is worse
My family knows me as the anti-apple IT Guy. So, it shocked everyone when I brought home a Best Buy open box Apple TV 4K (saved me $20US).
Honestly, this is my first Apple purchase since my ipod and I have to admit: it's good.
Roku has lost their way and my 3 Roku Ultra devices are all dying for reasons unknown (freezing, random reboots, spinning endlessly when trying to open an app). I'm just so done with them (and Nvidia) for my streaming hardware business.
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does the UI just render blank squares in that case?
Yes. It's obnoxious.
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I don't have a Roku. I own a non-smart TV connected to a mini PC. But for folks that don't want to go through that setup, wouldn't using an adblock DNS block it?
TCL TVs (whose OS is just Roku, and I imagine Roku is the same situation) blink the front LED as an Error when there's no network connection or it can't hit whatever servers it has configured for FW update check. It can get stuck on partial firmware updates when it can't cokplete every check it wants to make. The LED has a diffuser on it so it's a significant negative impact.
I can't even tape that LED because that's also where the IR sensor is. My next step is to disassemble the thing and snip snip.
I don't use any smart features, just HDMI input like you. Finding a Dumb TV has been a challenge.
TCL makes Google TV models which explicitly allow you to set them up without Wi-Fi so only HDMI and antenna work. You should buy one of those next time.
Oh good to know. Much appreciated. Thisnines still going strong after 6.5y, great panels honestly. If LED neutering failed I was only going to look for other brands because of this thing so this is super good news
You might want to replace the LED with a normal silicon diode since if I were a piece of shit TV company I would measure that circuit as a voltage divider, and for a complete circuit. No current flow and no 0.6V drop, and that means I activate my out of warranty self lobotomize routine.
That's not something I would have considered and thank you for pointing me in the right direction. Now I know about silicon diodes.
Because this reminded of it: For a similar reason, and if you own an older vehicle, you don't want to replace the warning lights (battery, oil, engine/MIL) with LED bulbs. Or you'll need "error free" bulbs with built-in parallel resistors. LED gauge lights are usually fine but, on a lot of vehicles, an incandescent bulb is expected on the warning light circuits. If you replace, for example, the battery bulb with an LED - the alternator might not engage as it should, because there won't be sufficient current for it to do so, and your battery could drain despite a running engine.
(I'm far from an electrician, nevermind an automotive one, but I did a lot of research before upgrading/replacing my burnt out dash lights and that's a mistake I would've otherwise made)
I did a factory reset on my TCL roku tv and use a third party streaming box. Blinking red light on the TV went away after the factory reset for me.
Ooh, definitely gonna try this first. I actually assumed that factory reset would use the 1y old firmware that introduced the problem, but it could well roll back to the 6y original.
Don't worry, the next model they release probably won't allow you to do that.
This is technically correct, but it’s not new. They’ve had this ad for years.
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FYI if you already have a Roku, you can block these with a network level ad blocker like Pihole.
Edit: Here’s a list of common Smart TV domains to block.
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Roku has had a big ad on the side for a while now? I've been blocking it with DNS.
I know everyone shits on Apple but … my cheap Apple TV has 0 ads, except the ads the apps may have.
I assume Google has, and probably killed, at least 1 variant?
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Never used it, preferring my ways.
Yeah, this gives anyone with tech savvy a reason to avoid the damn thing and make their own media center.
It gives us what?
I thought it's always been like this? No?
Yep for like 10 years at least
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They updated my roku a few months ago with this and there was an opt out to revert, and I took it. It asked if I really wanted to change back to the old UI as it would be unable to swap back. I hope that stays true!
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