Are there any streaming boxes that do NOT have ads? Our Roku Ultra just started spamming ads

[Bingie 99]

OMG!!!!!!  What is WRONG with these companies??????

We trashed that piece of crap Amazon Fire Stick, because it was MASSIVE bombardment of ADS everywhere.  If you watched 10 episodes, you also watched 10 ads.  Even the damn screen saver was an ad to buy a new car!

Now our Roku Ultra's just started with the ads.  The first month there were no ads, and we were like THANK GOD!  No more damn ads!  Now, it's starting to put ads on the main menu.  WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?  I just went to Amazon, and gave the Roku Ultra a blistering 1-star review.  They deserve it.

Are there ANY streaming boxes you can connect your tv to, that do NOT hit you with ads?  Do I have to build some kind of custom linux box, just to get rid of ads?

I am so disgusted with the market right now.  The people running these companies have no shame at all.

[ebr 14903]

Roku has always had ads...

I'm going to stand up for these companies and then duck out of here before the bombardment.  The simple fact is that these companies cannot sustain themselves by selling you a $50 piece of hardware every 5 years.  They have expenses every single month (including paying their employees) just like you do.

The reason hardware is so cheap is because it is simply a vehicle to deliver to you the real product - which is the content of the providers (and, to an extent, the influence they can exert on you).  If you want to go back to the day where a normal PC cost $2k and you needed a new one every 2-3 years, then you can probably do away with ads.  But that is no longer the business model or the market.  The market is content and your eyes.

Let the beatings begin...

[Bingie 99]

I'll try this:

https://jasonpearce.com/2020/09/16/how-to-disable-ads-on-the-roku-home-screen/

[Gilgamesh_48 942]

Unlike most other streaming boxes Roku's ads are static and silent unless you choose to stream an app that uses ads for revenue.

I simply turn off almost everything on the home screen and I use no apps that  use ads for revenue and I effectively see no ads.

In fact the only adds I have seen in months (maybe years) is when I have watched the Euros, or other live soccer, live and there the "mute" button works very well.

I pretty much agree with @ebron ads but I find them so objectionable that I avoid them at almost any cost. On the Roku avoiding them is quite easy as it is on my Shield but both my Fire TV and my Apple TV are so cluttered with ads that I tend to use them quite seldom.

For me ads are a pain but on most boxes pretty easily avoided.

[Gilgamesh_48 942]

7 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

I'll try this:

https://jasonpearce.com/2020/09/16/how-to-disable-ads-on-the-roku-home-screen/

If you do much of that (the stuff external to your Roku. Changing your Roku's settings is exactly what I have done except I do not do the periodic changes that are discussed.) you are spending way too much effort on a minor issue.

Personally I watch content. I do not watch the interface except minimally when browsing for content to watch. Mostly I do not even see the home screen ads.

[speechles 1917]

Are you getting fullscreen advertisements playing video on your Homescreen? Going to full screen and playing nonsense at you? This will happen when you connect your Roku to a Motel 6 Wifi. It will start to play video during your homescreen ads rather than just show that panel on the right.

If this happens frequently for you your ISP is causing this to happen because of a deal they made with Roku. Both your ISP and Roku are share the revenue from advertisements.

https://blog.roku.com/en-ca/now-launching-customize-your-roku-home-screen-with-new-custom-themes-including-game-of-thrones

Roku also has custom themes that can be advertisements of sorts. If you have your Roku set to use custom themes you may see these. The last one shown was for Disney Pixar Luca. The Luca advertisment also took over the "Scrolling Cityscape" screensaver. It changed into a complete advertisement for Luca with double parallax and clickable play buttons. Even before Luca could be watched. They wanted people to sign up early and wait for it to drop.

These are called "events" and are coordinated to align with when major movie/tv titles drop on Roku. It is to keep you aware for the most part.

 

This is the same exact thing as in the Grocery store. Those big TV they place on aisles simply to advertise a product. Static images are going away in favor of full motion video. The future is here and advertisements are part of it. Have you ever been to or seen Times Square in New York? Have none of you seen Blade Runner? It is riddled with advertisements everywhere. Watch it again. This is our future.

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by speechles

[Bingie 99]

Thanks for all the great feedback.

The ads we're now getting appear to all be from "The Roku Channel".  Just removed that app, all the content from that app has ads anyways, so adios.

I'll have to keep an eye on the source of ads, and if it's an app, uninstall it if we don't really need it.

That article on ISP's colluding with advertisers is new to me, but not surprising at all.

Anyone remember the original netiquette from the 80's?  No ads, don't spam, don't sell, etc.  It died a quick death., and has since been subjugated to mean something else entirely now.

[Gilgamesh_48 942]

I have NEVER seen or heard of full motion ads on the Roku home screen unless someone stupidly added some screen saver that allows ads. If that were to happen on my Roku then I might have to rethink my favorite streaming box.

Those images just serve to remind me why I thoroughly dislike big cities and why I almost never travel anymore. At least at home I can kill everything if I wish. Of course, now, if I were to visit a big city I might get killed myself. Small town America is mostly quite conservative but, at least, the shootings are retail rather than wholesale.

[Bingie 99]

23 minutes ago, speechles said:

Are you getting fullscreen advertisements playing video on your Homescreen? Going to full screen and playing nonsense at you? This will happen when you connect your Roku to a Motel 6 Wifi. It will start to play video during your homescreen ads rather than just show that panel on the right.

 

No, not yet, but won't be surprised when they start, but it will tick me off.

Also turned off seasonal themes, thanks for the tip!  Just removed every app we don't essentially depend on, for now anyways.  Next will implement the router filters to block all advertising servers LOL.  Only takes a few minutes, and the effects may be profoundly worth it, we'll see.

[vdatanet 1549]

Apple TV does not display ads (at least now) but Emby for Apple TV has some major shortcomings. It's the platform I like the most but has the least developed client application.

Edited July 9, 2021 by vdatanet

[Bingie 99]

We tried the new Apple TV box, but it was just too hard for my mom to learn.  Way too busy, too many options, nested menu's, etc.  The only way she could find anything was the voice command.

Even the new remote was hard to use, try to flick it left and it goes down two up one sideways one.  Drove me crazy.

 

[Sammy 735]

You can always use a NUC or other SFF PC with Emby Theater but IDK how to control things like Netflix or Prime with a remote on a PC and that's why I use AndroidTV boxes.

 

I find the adds useful in that they give me notice of new content to add to Emby and they really are not all that intrusive or bothersome.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Sammy

[Bingie 99]

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!

Tell your router to block all Internet access (from Roku's) to any site name that includes:

ads

logs.roku.com

amoeba

customer-feedback

ravm

samples.voice

sr.roku.com (EDIT: can't block this one, used for searches, will prevent search results)

wwwimg

No more ads on my Roku main page, just a blank space where they used to be LOL!  Haven't encountered any other ads yet, so we'll see.

If anyone is wondering, I got the above block list from:

https://jasonpearce.com/2020/09/16/how-to-disable-ads-on-the-roku-home-screen/

Cheers

Edited July 9, 2021 by Bingyyyy

[Bingie 99]

Okay, can't block "sr.roku.com" it's used for when you search for something.  Blocking this prevents searches.  Still no ads though.

 

[Carlo 4330]

You know how I get away from ads on the home page of the device?

I load up Emby straight away and just leave the box on so 99.999% of the time I'm looking at Emby.  Short of side loading an app or similar I don't use much else on any box I've got.

I may lookup a youtube video on a PC or Google Nest and then cast it to the device on occasion.

The only exception to the above is my Shield TV. Currently the Shield only has one add up top on the home screen which is super easy to ignore.  I do use Youtube on the Shield as it's easy to voice search.

On my Android boxes I've reprogrammed buttons like "Netflix" to instead load Emby so I don't even need to use a menu to load Emby. 

[Bingie 99]

1 hour ago, cayars said:

I load up Emby straight away and just leave the box on so 99.999% of the time I'm looking at Emby.

Yeah, every time I load an app like HBOMax, and it takes 30 seconds before it asks who's watching, or peacock just sits there for 30 seconds telling me it's peacock, I wish I could do the same as you.  It's my goal, for sure.  Build up a collection so I don't need anything else

I've started down that path... will take a while though.

[Carlo 4330]

It takes time for sure to build a nice collection of media. Quality is more important IMHO than quantity but with that said I do have quite a lot.

I was just calculating this the other day and I've got over six times the content titles of Netflix.
But unlike Netflix where they may have 3 or 4 seasons of a show I'll usually have every episode of every season. for binge watching. 

Now you know why I rarely leave my Emby screen on any device. LOL

[clarkss12 295]

20 minutes ago, cayars said:

It takes time for sure to build a nice collection of media. Quality is more important IMHO than quantity but with that said I do have quite a lot.

I was just calculating this the other day and I've got over six times the content titles of Netflix.
But unlike Netflix where they may have 3 or 4 seasons of a show I'll usually have every episode of every season. for binge watching. 

Now you know why I rarely leave my Emby screen on any device. LOL

I know a good therapist is you need one???     LOL

[Carlo 4330]

Stopped paying for therapists and put money into buying discs and HDDs.

Much better now.  LOL

[vdatanet 1549]

21 minutes ago, cayars said:

Stopped paying for therapists and put money into buying discs and HDDs.

Much better now.  LOL

Better and cheaper!

[Sammy 735]

1 hour ago, cayars said:

It takes time for sure to build a nice collection of media. Quality is more important IMHO than quantity but with that said I do have quite a lot.

I was just calculating this the other day and I've got over six times the content titles of Netflix.
But unlike Netflix where they may have 3 or 4 seasons of a show I'll usually have every episode of every season. for binge watching. 

Now you know why I rarely leave my Emby screen on any device. LOL

It'd sure be nice to shake my wife from her Netflix addiction but you have to pick your battles sometimes.. She wanted to watch Real Housewives of NYC from the beginning and for the life of me I could not ascertain Season 5 and a couple of episodes from Season 4 so for that, Prime is getting a few bucks. To me it is a waste of money but happy wife.. happy life!

[Bingie 99]

when mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy

[Bingie 99]

oops wrong thread lol, can't delete this post?

Edited July 9, 2021 by Bingyyyy