As I have found trying to see if I can sideload or jailbreak or otherwise hack the software of my Samsung TV, I have found plenty of ways to totally disable ads on a Roku or Android TV or anything that runs on Android in general (Chromecast, and firestick also IIRC). Too bad I don't have one of those... π©
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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Wild idea - if youβre concerned about ads, maybe donβt buy the streaming box or TV that puts permanent ads on its remotes.
~~Is there some sort of FOSS DIY thing you can make (or buy) that would function like a Roku/Chromecast stick for any TV with a USB port?~~
Er I guess a raspberry pi or similar micro computer could do it quite easily.
Anyone jailbreaking these damn things yet?
Rokus are not worth the effort. Nvidia literally publishes dev roms for the shield tv boxes.
I love the RF remote, the functionality, and the responsiveness.
Is there any way to repurpose an old android phone into an android TV? Sometimes like Linage OS but TV focused. Even older Android phones can be considerably more powerful than any current streaming box. Add on privacy and you've got the perfect solution. It also would save on e-waste.
I'm not sure, but the easiest solution is an old laptop or a mini-PC.
PiHole Domain regex blacklist:
(ads|logs|cloudservices).roku.com$
And there it is, folks.
I added the Roku and Samsung TV servers to my blocklist months ago, (maybe even years ago, at this point?) My three smart TVs are the most blocked devices on my network, by far. Itβs not even close. Here are todayβs stats from my pihole:
For reference, my phone (my most used device) is number four on that list. My three smart TVs (two Rokus and a Samsung) are numbers 1, 2, and 3. I havenβt even watched TV today. These blocked requests are simply from the TVs idling. Smart TVs are hilariously, mind-bogglingly invasive, and you should block them ASAP.
Why did you black out your private IP addresses?
He doesnβt wanna get hAcKeD duhhhhh
They are called private for a reason!
Thank you Roku, a step forward towards self hosting and self managing of every service
How are you going to self-host streaming hardware? A HTPC for every TV in the house along with a mouse and keyboard?
No need for HTPC, just a small USB device with HDMI output and DLNA support. You use your phone as a DLNA controller, a server running Jellyfin as DLNA provider, and the device attached to the TV as DLNA renderer. And sometimes TVs have DLNA support built-in (my Toshiba does).
On Android there's an amazing app called BubbleUPnP that can source media from a wide variety of places, make playlists, and cast to DLNA devices as well as proprietary protocols like Chromecast.
It works but it isn't family friendly.
For those with Roku TVs or any of their products, I found that a PiHole blocks the ads on the home screen so far. Hoping I could pick up an ONN box in the future so I can just not deal with this shit lol.
I just recently started using my Samsung TVs as dumb screens because they're slow as shit, but a nice side effect is zero ads.
ONN 4k streaming box for $20 at Walmart.
Install a custom launcher.
Install a button remapper for the remote.
Install SmartTubeNext for YouTube (no ads, SponsorBlock).
Install whatever other apps you need (Plex, etc).
FAR better experience. Turn the TV on and it's ready to go in a few seconds, not the ~60-90 seconds it takes the Tizen nonsense to "warm up."
It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better. Can recommend, especially for only $20.
After all the issues with software updates, ads, and just overall terrible experience of TV operating systems and those little media boxes, I just finally accepted that my life is better using my TV as a dumb screen that's connected to a PC and then using Steam Big Picture for games and Jellyfin for media.
I want to love jellyfin, but the Roku app is a buggy mess.
I'm one of the Jellyfin Roku devs. What bugs are you experiencing?
Not the OP, but I have been getting a bug where I select a show/movie to watch in the roku app, and instead of playing it will exit out to the list of shows/movies menu. These same shows work just fine in the app on a google android TV, or on a computer
Yeah, something is failing in playback and it's simply falling back to the previous screen. I'd suggest posting this to the troubleshooting forum. I'm sure the support team will be happy to help out!
After various trial and error, not to mention irritation, I have determined that this is the way. It's what I did in the dark ages back in the day (with a Pentium 3 that had enough hardware acceleration to play DVD's!) and it's what I do once more. By hook or by crook, one way or another you're guaranteed to be able to retain complete control over a PC even if that ultimately means you have to install some flavor of Linux on the fucking thing.
You can get a perfectly capable media center PC for very little money if you don't need it to be able to run AAA games, which in my case I don't. Even the various nanocomputer boards like one of the beefier Raspberry Pi's or any of its myriad competitors can do the job these days, fit in a tiny enclosure, make no noise, and consume very little power.
Fuck all the Chromecasts, Fire sticks, Roku boxes, Apple TV's, and other sundry and bullshit devices of the world.
DNS blocking at the router never fails.
Linux and Finish jelly is the way