System would detect paused content on external devices and show ads on top.

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.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              2·
              9 months ago

              If only they made 60"+ monitors, I’d do the same. But since those don’t really exist, the options are:

              • prevent TV from accessing the Internet
              • get a commercial grade monitor - more expensive
              • projector - most seem to not have smart nonsense
              • pihole - may or may not work

              I’m going to try out the first, but allow certain accesses (Netflix and Disney+). If that works, I may not need to worry about the rest of the list.

    • APassenger@lemmy.worldEnglish
      26·
      9 months ago

      Yeah… I’ve been evaluating moving to Plex or Jellyfin.

      Kinda getting done with a lot of this smart stuff. The Monopolies are flexing and I don’t enjoy it.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        10·
        9 months ago

        Just do it. I ripped our DVDs and put them on my NAS with minidlna configured, and I can now stream my stuff directly to my TV through the “Photos and Videos” app. My other TV has a Raspberry Pi running Kodi, so if my next TV doesn’t support dlna, I’ll just do that.

        Screw all of these companies and their predatory practices.

      • ours@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        Do it, it’s great. The NVidia Shield is a great client for it but is getting more and more adds on the homescreen. The are alternative loaders without the add you can put on it.

    • Threeme2189@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      9 months ago

      You’ve got it the other way around. Roku sell their TVs at a loss. Buy one, use it as a dumb screen and help them go bankrupt faster.

    • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
      27·
      9 months ago

      I can’t imagine anyone that would leave the device plugged in after the first ad comes up. Pretty much anyone using such a device would also know how to unplug them. They clearly have other uses for that screen, so it’s not a total loss to keep it unplugged till the user can switch to a different brand.

      Ah it’s a Roku TV entirely. Reminds me of the Samsung TV ads

      Roku TV sets come with ads. Generally, these are restricted to Roku’s home and menu screens, its screensavers, and its first-party video channels, and once you start playing video, the only ads you’ll see are the ones from the service you’re streaming from. That said, Roku TVs have shown ads atop live TV before.

      Now, the company is apparently experimenting with ways to show ads over top of even more of the things you plug into your TV. A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads […]

  • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.worldEnglish
    131·
    9 months ago

    So we just ordered a new tv and just want the universe to know that Roku wasn’t even considered and this shit is why.

    • ilmagico@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 months ago

      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…

      • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.worldEnglish
        61·
        9 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.

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        3·
        9 months ago

        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.

        • ilmagico@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          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?

          • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
            1·
            9 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.

  • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1234·
    9 months ago

    I’m glad they patented it so that any of the products I actually buy won’t be able to do this

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          9 months ago

          I think they’re erroneously stating that there will be so much technical information in the patent that it will be trivial to reverse engineer and remove from Roku products.

          Unfortunately that isn’t the case.

          • dutchkimble@lemy.lolEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Ahh you’re right that’s probably what they meant, but yeah in that case every patented software would be hacked

        • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          Well, the idea is that anything and everything can be hacked. It’s just that the difficulty varies wildly; some being trivial whereas others are impossible until someone finds an exploit. If you’re working with a total black box, you’ll have to make many assumptions, which means that figuring stuff out may take a while. If there’s at least some documentation, such as a patent, you won’t have to guess absolutely everything. That doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to be easy. Maybe the patent doesn’t go into much technical detail, but still manages to describe the product in just enough legal detail that the company can sue anyone trying to come too close.

      • 667@lemmy.radioEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        It will be licensed to manufacturers with advertising incentives and packaged into consumer electronics.

        Savvy electronics users will supply their own HDMI cables; this product will be for people who only understand enough to plug the ends between their box and the entertainment system.

        Hell, you might even see these cables being handed out for “free”, akin to the AOL disc days.

  • Nora@lemmy.mlEnglish
    88·
    9 months ago

    The amount of ewaste they will be producing when they push that update. Should be against some environmental laws.

        • melpomenesclevage@lemm.eeEnglish
          31·
          9 months ago

          Bread and circuses. They’re gouging us on the bread and making the circuses inaccessible, these dipshits are practically begging for a red terror, by making the worst outcome still better than the ongoing white.

          If I were making their decisions for them; I’m not sure I could do much better at priming the populace for revolution.

    • jaybone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      9 months ago

      Can’t we put these devices in some kind of dev mode and install software to stop this shit?

      I assume these devices run some kind of Linux kernel, with a stripped down Linux distro.

      • swab148@startrek.websiteEnglish
        22·
        9 months ago

        The problem there is proprietary hardware blobs, no one’s made open-source drivers for any of the myriad TV manufacturers, each with their own OS.

        • jaybone@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          How do emby or jellyfin devs develop clients on roku?

          I would think, if you have that level of access, you could also stop or patch whatever OS services they run.

          Surely you can ssh into these devices right?

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            The API for developing apps is absolutely open, but the OS isn’t. They’d give you some kind of development environment (like Android with Android studio), and a way to get logs out. The apps are often vetted by the platform like Android and iOS apps are, and they’d be able to override anything your app could do anyway.

            So think consoles, phones, tablets, etc. The OS is locked down, but you can develop apps for it.

            So probably no SSH access unless you find a backdoor or something. Your time is better spent buying something without that crap, like certain projectors, commercial displays, etc. They subsidize the cost of the TVs with that nonsense, so they’re going to prevent you from removing it.

      • 0x2d@lemmy.mlEnglish
        44·
        9 months ago

        roku generally puts a lot of effort into security

  • DogPeePoo@lemm.eeEnglish
    69·
    9 months ago

    Now, if only they would invent the exact opposite of this, I would buy it

    I want zero ads. Ever.

    • melpomenesclevage@lemm.eeEnglish
      273·
      9 months ago

      They did! Its called a pihole plus ublock origin plus piracy.

      You can’t buy it, only the hardware, but the software is all free.

      • Llewellyn@lemm.eeEnglish
        51·
        9 months ago

        You can’t defend against ads with pihole if the ads server has the same address as content server

          • Llewellyn@lemm.eeEnglish
            13·
            9 months ago

            But with the risk of malware infection, unfortunately.

            When something is free, you’re the product.

            I’d advise to continue to use non-pirated products, but only from those companies, whose service you’re satisfied with.
            And if there’s none, don’t consume product at all. It’s not like movies are vital for you.

            • melpomenesclevage@lemm.eeEnglish
              21·
              9 months ago

              Vlc is pretty good, and I run a pretty strange distro. If I’m extra scared, I’ll use qubes or get a sacrifice machine.

              I think the poor having culture is important. Either art is important, or it Fucking isn’t. You seem to be arguing its the frivolity, not the substance and fruit of civilization.

              Video isnt my favorite medium, I have a lot of criticisms of it, but its still art, still precious. And so everyone deserves to have it.

              • Llewellyn@lemm.eeEnglish
                12·
                9 months ago

                And so everyone deserves to have it.

                And authors along with those, who maintain content distributing infrastructure, deserve to be rewarded for their labour.

                • melpomenesclevage@lemm.eeEnglish
                  21·
                  9 months ago

                  But I can’t pay them. Its not generally an option. Have you seen the terms on their Fucking contracts?

                  Literally the closest I can get is wandering around Los Angeles giving money to people who look vaguely familiar or give off writerly vibes.

    • KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      Have you heard about our new ad-blocking TVs?
      Thanks to our patented Ad-Away technology, they’re guaranteed to keep you free from all ads! Get yours now, Ad-Away subscriptions start at $49 a month!

      • quaddo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        9 months ago

        2 years later, somewhere in their sales and marketing departments:

        “Hey, you know what would make us even more money?”

        “No, but do tell”

        “Advertising”

        “Genius - how is it nobody has ever thought of this before?”

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    671·
    9 months ago

    I’ve just invented a way to never use a Roku product again, and I’ve chosen not to patent it.

    The process is this:

    1. Don’t buy anything from Roku anymore.
  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    9 months ago

    My TV set is like a dumb monitor: HDMI in, colorful image out, basta.

    Not even audio. And of course it does not get any internet connection. And I don’t feed it any caviar.

  • Teon@kbin.social
    50·
    9 months ago

    Sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
    Imagine that you pay for an ad free streaming service through your roku, like HBO for example. And now you have ads streaming over it?
    People will sue for a way to disable it over ad free paid content.
    Also, this will lead to way more pirating. People are sick of advertisements.

    • whodatdair@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      381·
      9 months ago

      That’ll be why they just pushed a “agree to our new license with arbitrage or your tv is a brick” update

    • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      525·
      9 months ago

      Even if people sue, doesn’t mean they have any legal grounds to win. What law is Roku breaking? You can’t sue your TV manufacturer for not being 4k when you pay for 4k content. Your content display technology has the right to display content how they see fit.

      I see this as a job for the free market. As consumers we need to show Roku how we feel about that.

      • NounsAndWords@lemmy.worldEnglish
        24·
        9 months ago

        If I purchase a TV, that I now own, and after I own it the company “updates” my TV that I now have to watch ads in order to use the TV I purchased without that condition?

        At minimum it’s a breach of contract

        • GooseFinger@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          Their recent ToS update: “We bricked your TV until you ‘consent’ to waiving your right to sue us if we do something illegal. Also, we won’t tell you what you’re consenting to up front, instead we’ll make you spend hours reading through pages and pages of legal garbage to find where we buried this statement.”

          They know that nobody would agree to this if they put it in big bold letters right above the “agree” button, so they bury it behind hours of tedious reading so that people cave in and just “consent.”

          If you roofy someone’s drink and pester them until they “consent” to sex, you would get thrown and jail and probably shanked in the liver. If Roku bricks the TV that you purchased and won’t let it work again until you consent to something that you’re nearly guaranteed to miss or not understand by design, their profits go up because people can’t sue them.

          This capitalism hellhole can’t burn down fast enough.

      • Kedly@lemm.eeEnglish
        10·
        9 months ago

        The free market has failed dude. THIS IS THE RESULT of it!

        • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          15·
          9 months ago

          Capitalism and our current implementation has many failings. A company making a really shitty anti-consumer decision when there are plenty of alternative competitors and options is not one of them.

          • Kedly@lemm.eeEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            Capitalism rewards the most ruthless pursuits of money. Without regulations monopolies, shit products, and the cheapest wages possible are the end results of it as those are the most efficient ways to get as much profit as possible. In the end, any company that doesnt participate in such tactics gets out competed

            • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
              21·
              9 months ago

              Capitalism, has a bunch of problems. Those are some of them. Frankly I think it’s due to collapse and I hope we’ll be better for it. But Roku? Monopoly? They’re a mediocre company making a possibility short sighted decision. This is capitalism working as intended. Don’t buy it if you don’t like it.

              If you don’t like capitalism call out real problems, because this just sounds like you’ll take anything that looks bad and blame it on capitalism. Which weakens the overall argument against it, IMO.

              • Kedly@lemm.eeEnglish
                4·
                9 months ago

                Bud, you just agreed with me what the real problems are, yeah monopoly doesnt apply to Roku, but shit product DOES with this change. But all THREE are huge problems for “regulation FREE MARKETS” which is what I listed them in response to

                Edit: Formatting

                • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
                  3·
                  9 months ago

                  Ah, I think I misunderstood. My mistake. I would make the point that I think many consumers would actually prefer the cheap ad riddled version of many services. Like, many streaming services people complain about having ads, have an ad free tier they’re unwilling to pay for. But I assume you’d make the argument that’s from the poverty created by the other problems within capitalism. Which is a valid criticism.

      • mPony@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        9 months ago

        a job for the free market

        Hey, as long as there is a way for ordinary people to attend shareholders meetings in person and have direct physical access to the humans who made these decisions, I’m sure everything will work out in the end.

        • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          Is that how you think the free market is supposed to work? People don’t get to decide how companies operate. They have every right to create a shitty product. As long as there’s room for competition to punish them for that bad decision.

  • SplashJackson@lemmy.caEnglish
    511·
    9 months ago

    The best way to prevent ads is to figure out every way in which they can be served in the future, and patenting every one.

    And then do nothing with them.

  • EdibleFriend@lemmy.worldEnglish
    48·
    9 months ago

    Hopefully this ends up something they never actually do like that sony patent for ads that only go away if you call out the name of the product.

  • reksas@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    481·
    9 months ago

    if they patent this, it could be slightly good thing because it might prevent other companies from doing it

      • reksas@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        202·
        9 months ago

        still, others will have to pay for it which might reduce how widely its used.

        Sometimes i wonder if it could be worth it to invent shit like this and patent it just so no one else cant do it themselves

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          17·
          9 months ago

          Nah, they’ll patent it anyway and then tie you up in BS lawsuits over it. Fighting it will cost you way more than you’re willing to spend, so you’ll settle out of court for a licensing agreement that definitely doesn’t benefit you but makes the lawsuit go away.