today I fucking learned Roku is now a Murdoch Box.
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Last month I took my Roku offline but let it connect to LAN so the Jellyfin app would work (for now until it gets too out of date probably).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
Piracy is the only moral choice when it comes to large services
Same fishtank screensaver as you might remember from the early 00s, in case you’re wondering.
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.
Support standing up, support Sachs at Serene Screen!
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 also went all-in, but in the last year and a half, the ads went bonkers. I went all in on ONN 4k boxes with projectivy installed. I get smarttube now and it’s the tits. Sure, the chinese are spying on me now, but at least it isn’t murdoch.
Roku used to be the safe haven from ecosystem lockin.
Now with free-my-tv and other projects, this can be resolved.
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.
