today I fucking learned Roku is now a Murdoch Box.
Roku will automatically switch the Aquatic Life screensaver on affected devices to the Roku City screensaver, another popular animation that includes subtle advertisements, according to the user notice
Ugh.
Roku has been a poster child of enshittification for a long time. I struggle to think of any ways they could get worse. But I’m sure they’ll think of something.
Last month I took my Roku offline but let it connect to LAN so the Jellyfin app would work (for now until it gets too out of date probably). I knew Fox would fuck things up somehow and I was right sooner than expected.
As an aside, it’s still connected to my pihole and for about a week it tried to send logging data to 2 different websites every 3 seconds for around a week. It was funny seeing my blocked percentage at 91.5%, even funnier that it’s programmed to give up.
It probably gives up only not to accidentally DDOS their own telemetry servers
Or maybe it’s just a reaally slow exponential backoff
Linear backoff. Add one millisecond per retry.
Piracy is the only moral choice when it comes to large services
My nephew has a Roku in his bedroom for the screen saver. He’s severely autistic. He is not good with change. Losing those damn fish will be a HUGE problem in that house.
disconnect it from internet?
It already got the update and threw the warning and will flip it off by itself. I’m going to try and cavenga an old Pi or mini pc to run the OG screensaver version for him
“still flip by itself”, I think I understand that.
Cavenga?
Scavenge, I think. I had to think hard on it.
Same fishtank screensaver as you might remember from the early 00s, in case you’re wondering.
Well, this explains it.
I changed the screensaver to the fish tank because the default cityscape on has all those stupid ads plugged in.
The other day, it had a banner that said the fishtank was being removed. I couldn’t figure out why.
I guess I will have to find a new streaming box? Sheesh.
I had long ago blocked all telemetry at my edge network box for the whole house. Now I presume it will not be sufficient.
I went all in on Roku years ago because it worked so well with Plex. The menus and remotes were consistent across all the TVs, so nobody had to learn anything new. Now Fox will probably turn it into another advertising platform. This sucks.
I was curious what the reason was behind this. As good of time as any to setup some different streaming sticks/machines I guess. Anyone have any suggestions? FOSS is preferred.
Roku used to be the safe haven from ecosystem lockin.
Now with free-my-tv and other projects, this can be resolved.
Slop btw
I think that makes a bit of a dilemma. Which is better slop software with quality issues or proprietary closed source which could be running any number of malicious processes?
I would say this goes to a digital right to repair. Slop indeed but open slop that works as advertised.
Now before this I was looking for openelec or other projects to solve this issue, but this “fixed” my issue not just with my TV but also removed a need to use Roku.
Very true. Good thinking.
The problem is I don’t know the answer! It’s a case by case issue that takes real effort to resolve each time.
Yep, samesies.
My hate for slop battles the usefulness of some of the products.
I’m flipping between this comment thread and another one about a tv that looks similar to mine saying it’s out of storage with the discussion being about thee fact the storage has likely been filled with unsynced log files. I’ve been thinking about loading some custom slop firmware on my tv for a while now but I’d rather work on fun projects than have to ward off the onslaught of major corporations trying to abuse us.
Support standing up, support Sachs at Serene Screen!
Any not terrible alternatives that my parents will actually be able to use without me?
It’s pricey but I have heard good things about Apple TV. I think someone else in the thread has a list of FOSS alternatives but you’d still have to set them up.
The used ones aren’t too expensive and they last forever. But I have found the AppleTV to be kinda crappy for old people because it constantly updates and moves things around and interrupts what you wanted to do with some kind of screen after updates telling you some bullshit or asking you some bullshit and that can scare old people.
But it’s still worth it, because there aren’t any fucking ads.
Eh, they should pitch it as promoting brain elasticity and combating dementia. There is evidence of new situations and/or problem solving is helpful in old age. :]
All good things to point out (I haven’t used one as I have an aging nvdia shield, but it does seem to be a go to recommendation if you don’t want ads).
Onn Android boxes work well for my parents. As long as you install Projectivy launcher to get rid of ads and clean up the UI. I make it so there are three app icons and nothing else on the screen, then it’s easy to understand and navigate.
Awesome, thanks!
Reset the TV, don’t choose Internet during setup. Connect something like an AppleTV. In Roku settings, set the TV to automatically switch to the AppleTV on power up. The remote for the AppleTV box can be used to power on/off the tv and control volume.
Google tv streamer 4k is pretty good but recently went up in price due to RAM shortages
WTF a screensaver on a TV that requires money? Is this like a free money glitch for doing nothing? Just bundle a few free images, buy them at a reasonable price (not $80k/year) or tell your company photographer to take them.
Also how often do you see a screensaver on a TV: Short answer almost never because a) you’re watching stuff or b) you turn the device off
Also who buys this Roku trash in the first place? Apple users? Just plugin a laptop/PC via HDMI & Co or slap some Android/Linux TV device/Raspberry with Kodi behind the TV.
I was in a meeting recently and the smart tv had a screensaver showing a 1950’s-esque street scene sidescrolling and showing what looked like at least one text ad in the bacground.
The new OOB experience.
Wait, is it Fox Disney, or Fox News?
I thought NewsCorp/Murdoch doesn’t have ownership of MOST of Fox anymore, just Business, Sports, and News.
