this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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It's time to dump Roku (www.engadget.com)
submitted 1 month ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] ryan_@piefed.social 120 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Instead of a Roku Stick, you could use the Google TV Streamer or Apple TV 4K…..…..Amazon's Fire devices are also an option, but I figure anyone with moral qualms against Fox may have similar issues with anything tied to Jeff Bezos.

I got a kick out of the article recommending Google and Apple like they’re the ethical option against Amazon here. Any sane person with moral qualms against Bezos will have plenty about Google and Apple too, so let’s not pretend that any of them are anything less than evil.

[–] malios@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago (11 children)

What suggestions do you have for simple media players that techy people could recommend to their families? It seems like for the most part we're limited to Android-based devices or the Apple TV.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

It's not there yet. But I'm hoping KDE plasma big screen continues to receive love. If it gets into mainstream distributions. It will likely be big. It's a much more smart TV like shell for the KDE desktop. All the familiarity of your Google TV, Apple tv, fire stick, Roku etc. But none of the advertisements or lockdown. With waydroid it should even be able to run most of your Android applications as well as all the native Linux and KDE applications. But again this is something to watch for. Not quite ready for deployment yet.

[–] mrnngglry@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This would be awesome!

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It absolutely would be. I'm watching it with great interest. The thought of having a Raspberry Pi and old E-Waste business PC or a cheap n100 or 150 system at the television. Running Games movies everything. It's very attractive.

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[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Build a media stick out of something like a pi seems like the only option? I wouldn't want to deal with that though and I'm not aware of anyone selling a plug-n-play ready options like that unfortunately.

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have no idea what anyone in the following comments is talking about and I'm otherwise "techy". I couldn't imagine a non techy person dealing with any of these recommendations. They just want something to work out of the box without lots of obscure configurations and zero support. As soon as they have a problem they are stuck. They aren't going to search through tech websites and special interest groups. I think a lot of folks don't understand how alien any of this is for the vast majority of people.

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[–] amgine@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was just looking into this recently and CoreELEC came up. That or LibreELEC that run kodi. The hardware that was recommended would be a ugoos x4q

[–] malios@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Depending on how maintenance-free this is once it's configured (because non-technical people are not going to mess with things), this actually looks like a pretty solid solution. Thank you!

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[–] FullPenguin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

An Onn box with protectivity launcher, all bloatware removed, and ReVanced apps is the simplest/cheapest way to go.

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[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I mean, the Apple TV is doing significantly less sketchy shit, selling your data, and spying on you.

It also doesn’t have Home Screen ads and ads stuffed everywhere.

Of the options, regardless of how you feel about Apple, it’s the only viable commercial tv box.

[–] kobra@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago (8 children)

The creepiest thing mine has done is have the Peanuts cartoon screensavers be relevant to the weather in my area. Seeing Snoopy and Woodstock get blown around on a windy day is oddly nice haha

I don't actually know its happening, I might just be more aware of the windy cartoons or rainy cartoons when I'm actually experiencing that weather 🤷‍♂️

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[–] programmer_belch@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)
  1. Buy a second hand Google TV or amazon Firestick so your money doesn't go to the tech overlords
  2. Change the android rom to linageOS
  3. Profit
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[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That time was long ago. The writing was on the wall as soon as they put a giant perpetual ad on the home screen.

Here's the worst part, there are no parental controls on the home screen, so if I'm trying to get my kid to Disney+, while it loads we're staring at some ad for a horror flick. Great job Roku...

Honestly, the parental controls on the Roku are non-existent and it's definitely on purpose, really pisses me off.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The Fox acquisition was the last straw for me too. I've watched Roku go from a user-friendly streaming device to a front end for an advertising company. A couple of years ago it became so irritating it finally pushed me to implement an Adguard Home DNS sinkhole after years of thinking it wasn't worth the trouble. Roku has also made it difficult to block ads, big gaps are shown in the UI when you do, and some apps can't be updated without disabling Adguard and downloading a bunch of Roku's ads too.

Yesterday I bought an Onn streaming box (Android TV) and it's like going from a abacus to a computer. After a couple of hours configuring, loading a new launcher, and using ADB to debloat I've got an ad-free, clean interface with much of Google's tracking disabled (at least as much as possible). Even better, some things (like the remote's volume control) work that never worked with Roku.

It was such a breath of fresh air I just ordered a couple more ($15 for the 2k model right now) and will have completely dumped Roku by the end of the week.

It's been a long time coming.

[–] GenitalHurricane@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not seeing anywhere close to $15 for any of their models

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

They've upped the price I see to $19.88 in the last hour. The nearby stores are now out too. What prices are you seeing?

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[–] ironycanal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (7 children)

If they make you do all that work to scrape the shit out of their asses, why do you still dwell there, rather than sailing the high seas?

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[–] sol6_vi@lemmy.makearmy.io 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Plasma Bigscreen will be here soon keep an eye.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 5 points 1 month ago

So excited for Bigscreen. Might just finally replace my Kodi setup.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Goddamnit. I got my Boomer parents to ditch cable and get a Roku, in part, to keep them away from Fox News.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Move them to a cheap Onn Android TV device. You can configure it with a completely clean interface with no ads at all, and no asshole company's changing the menus constantly once you install an alternate launcher. You can also debloat it like any other Android device and shut off most of the tracking (as much as is possible with Google involved anyway).

I bought my first one yesterday. After configuring it and seeing what a massive improvement it is over Roku I bought a couple more today. 2K ones are on sale for $15 right now.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I have a couple of them that I bought shortly after the LTT video on the topic with the intention of rooting. After figuring out that I'd unfortunately got the newer hardware revision that can't be rooted, I had them just sitting in a box.

If "debloating" them without rooting and installing Lineage or whatever is "good enough," maybe I should take another look. Do you know of a good guide to follow? Is there anything special that needs to be done, such as preventing it from updating or connecting to the Internet before the factory malware is removed?

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The one I bought can be rooted and I had planned to do so, but found it wasn't needed.

You can use ADB by itself, but this tool makes debloating a breeze. Deleted packages can be easily restored if you make a mistake. ADB needs to be running for it to connect. Be aware the remote is a Bluetooth device so don't make my mistake and turn BT off.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wait, the $15 2K model you bought yesterday can be rooted? I figured anything made in the last few years would've been patched.

Can you tell me the exact model (the code on the box, like this, as explained in this XDA thread about the model I got where I experienced disappointment), and where you found the information about rooting it?

I appreciate that you're happy with yours even without rooting, but I don't think I'd be able to trust it not to enshittify in the long run on the stock firmware.

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[–] LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe 18 points 1 month ago

Way ahead of you.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 weeks ago

I bought a ROKU TV once. Got it unboxed. Plugged in. It wanted me to register to activate the TV even if I only want to use the HDMI input.

I unplugged it. Put it back in the box. Returned it.

One day they'll shut off the registration system and if you ever factory reset the TV, it will be bricked. Fuck no to that.

[–] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 11 points 1 month ago

I like Roku. Their products have so far had the best functionality.

If they go through with their current plans to turn half the home page into an ad, I'm probably gonna try and sell mine (better to drive down the overall market with more supply).

I pay for a number of streaming services, and I pay extra so I don't have my time wasted with ads. I don't want ads in my home. If the device I purchased to bring me ad-free TV is going to itself show me ads, then as far as my needs go it's no longer fit for purpose.

[–] Flatfire@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

It saddens me, as I liked Roku for being the least ad-ridden option of the bunch. The apps don't advertise to me as I hover over them, and a DNS change renders the single poster-style advert on the screen inert.

I've got a couple Roku devices that realistically I'll continue to use unless I manage to find a hospitality TV or something to replace my TCL with. I'd just use my PS5 if it weren't for the fact Sony won't approve Jellyfin's app

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[–] Nytefyre@piefed.social 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Until the browsers I use axe ad-blocking, it's as simple as a HDMI cable and watching through PC tunneled to TV.

I've given stream sticks an honest try, but they're all abysmal. It feels like I'm caged in an advertisement ecosystem.

[–] capt_kafei@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

For real, a long HDMI cord from my PC to my TV with a wireless keyboard & mouse is the peak couch setup. I love it.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Pretty soon I think I'm going to try using a Raspberry Pi as a streaming box. As long as it can play 4K content from Jellyfin and Youtube then it'll work great

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[–] natecox@programming.dev 7 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

A raspberry pi 4 running libreELEC (which runs Kodi) is a much better investment if you're looking to stay away from evil corpos.

There's a really nice subreddit (which also has a Lemmy community) to teach you how to get content for it.

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

There's a really nice subreddit (which also has a Lemmy community) to teach you how to get content for it.

If someone wanted to build the streamomg box you mentioned: it would be helpful to provide the names of those communities.

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[–] Kandy4me@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

What do we do with existing TVs that have the Roku OS? I imagine alternative FW isn't an easy option since so many different HW brands use Roku

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

You can reset the tv and set it up without internet. It still works as a “dumb” tv.

[–] kurmudgeon@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (5 children)

As reddig33 mentioned, reset the TV and don't connect it to the internet. Buy a Google TV or Apple TV device of some kind, set the TV to that HDMI channel and use it instead of what's built-in.

Some recommended options for Google TV devices:

Hope this helps.

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[–] GutterRat42@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I regret not having bought the 42in non-smart Insignia tv for $120.00 at Best Buy 3 years ago. Now there aren't any decent brands without the smart component.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 5 points 4 weeks ago (7 children)

As long as it supports booting straight to your chosen input it's good enough. Then you can just not put the tv online

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

currently looking at using older laptop motherboards to build a Linux based streamer box. be it native Linux or ASOP, I'm getting the fuck out of this bullshit.

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