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Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV (arstechnica.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November 2023, though it hasn't yet been granted.

The technology described would detect whether content was paused in multiple ways—if the video being displayed is static, if there's no audio being played, if a pause symbol is shown anywhere on screen, or if (on a TV with HDMI-CEC enabled) a pause signal has been received from some passthrough remote control. The system would analyze the paused image and use metadata "to identify one or more objects" in the video frame, transmit that identification information to a network, and receive and display a "relevant ad" over top of whatever the paused content is.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I mean, yeah sure, but are the alternatives that much better in this respect? Which alternative non-ad-ridden, privacy-respecting smart tv would you recommend (or ended up buying)? Asking for my future tv choice...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Commercial displays are your best bet, although they can be quite expensive.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Will probably last longer too since they're intended for 24/7 or at least 16/5 continuous runtime.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Samsung, but I’d rather report back when I see if it’s a mistake.

I intend to keep using my AppleTV and hope that’s the end of it. But the Samsung was a process of elimination of Roku and LG via shitty experience with the WebOS on the work TV. If Tizen doesn’t stay out of the way then I’ll start playing router games.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

We have a HiSense Android TV (most are now Google TV, but they're essentially the same). There are ads by default, but you can install a custom launcher with no ads, so the experience is much better.

I use Projectivity launcher and it looks nicer, has no ads, and it's much faster and more responsive.

As soon as I figured out how to install a custom launcher, I researched how to disable ads similarly on our Roku TVs and discovered all of the secret menus that could have disabled them, except they no longer work.

So the Roku level of lockdown on their custom OS is much worse now versus an android-based OS.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

While Google is hardly privacy-respecting and ad-free, I guess the fact it can be more easily customized is a plus, maybe I should consider it for the future. After all, that's the same reason I stick with Android.

Can GoogleTV be rooted like android can, preferably without resorting to hacks, like in some android phones where the bootloader is unlockable?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Can GoogleTV be rooted like android can, preferably without resorting to hacks, like in some android phones where the bootloader is unlockable?

Not that I've found, although over at XDA forums they seem to be working on it. I unlock and root my Android phones, but I doubt any TV manufacturer has even considered making their bootloaders unlockable so it's an uphill battle.