I refuse to connect this TV to the internet because if it does get connected it will force an update that says unless you agree with forced arbitration your TV will be unusable. I just want to change the HDMI slot 2 spaces over 🤦. Gargle my nutsack Roku.
After they announced that they would snoop on the HDMI port and then push targetted ads during paused media, I decided I will never own a Roku device again. Before they had TVs I’d recommend to anyone to get their smart boxes. Then Roku, like everyone else, enshitified.
Roku was the most enshittified ecosystem well before anyone else. They were always the worst.
The early days with roku channels like rev3 were great. They took a while to go down hill
Most smart TVs do this by default, unfortunately. They use a technology called ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) to determine what you’re watching, essentially like Shazam but for TV shows and movies. This gets sent to the manufacturer who can then build an advertising profile about you.
At least they don’t show ads, yet.
Never connect a smart TV to the internet. Put it on a separate VLAN that doesn’t have internet access. For streaming, use something like an Nvidia Shield (or if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, an Apple TV).
We’ve gotten to the point we are recommending NVIDIA or Apple over Roku.
Is there a way to just put the Roku in some kind of dev mode, and then manually remove this shit?
I think roku has a dev mode but not like adb, it’s still pretty locked down. Read more here
Edit: Requires agreement to a license and an internet connection
Not that I’m aware of… Roku is a very locked down ecosystem.