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After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

arstechnica.com

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Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#71

Post by jonathanlydall »

sharkweek wrote: post #51
ensignavenger wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Apple TVs not display ads? I have Google TV devices, in part because I can install what er I want on them, including 3rd part launchers that don't have ads.

Apple TV advertises its own content when you are on the homepage (even as a non-Apple TV+ subscriber so it's a little more aggressive than like sitting on the Netflix homepage as a subscriber) but as far as I can tell nothing more than that. Been a user for the last 7-8 years and I love the UX.

A year or two back they changed the home button to actually go to their TV app, fortunately this can be reverted in the options.

Otherwise, there aren’t really any ads except that if you linger over their app icon, it has a kind of “now showing” effect (no sound though). Seems a little more privileged compared to other apps in how much of the Home Screen it can use, but it’s really not obtrusive.

I really like my Apple TV.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#73

Post by mmh0000 »

hnlmorg wrote: post #70
whalesalad wrote: post #7

The trick is to never give your TV access to the internet and to pair it with an Apple TV. If you buy a TV and it won't even boot or work without an internet connection - return it and get a different one.

That only works as long as TVs connect to the internet via WiFi. Unfortunately there are protocols out there for IoT that bypass per device WiFi settings entirely by setting up mesh networks.

Amazon Sidewalk[1][2] being one of the biggest players:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Sidewalk

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sidewalk/b?node=21328123011

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#74

Post by ladberg »

stronglikedan wrote: post #38
whalesalad wrote: post #7

The trick is to never give your TV access to the internet and to pair it with an Apple TV. If you buy a TV and it won't even boot or work without an internet connection - return it and get a different one.

Even if it requires an internet connection, it surely has an option to start up on the Apple TV input, bypassing the home screen.

I have a Roku TV (it was free) that I've never connected to the internet. Even when starting it up with an Apple TV it'll still hang out on the Roku home screen for 5s before even starting the input change.

It's pretty infuriating and definitely an intentional dark pattern.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#76

Post by sharkweek »

ace2358 wrote: post #57
sharkweek wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple TV advertises its own content when you are on the homepage (even as a non-Apple TV+ subscriber so it's a little more aggressive than like sitting on the Netflix homepage as a subscriber) but as far as I can tell nothing more than that. Been a user for the last 7-8 years and I love the UX.

If you count the top-app-row preview as an ad, maybe there are ads. If you move the tv+ app off the top row you don’t see anything by Apple. There are no app suggestions or notifications on Apple TV (or at least I turned them off about 8 years ago). I have been happily streaming media off my computer with Apple TV and have never had a single issue with it.

Oh that's interesting, didn't even think about moving it.

Even then though, I'm an on-again/off-again Plus subscriber so I don't even mind it because it often times suggests shows that I might want to subscribe for.

I'm not sure how many Apple TV devices they sell, but I've always viewed it as super underrated, just a clean piece of hardware with great "It Always Works" functionality.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#77

Post by KennyBlanken »

RajT88 wrote: post #8
edhelas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how you think that TV can be throw away when used You're like a Environmental Hero to me.

You'll notice I did not mention what we do with it when done with it. Point of fact, we use the (many, free) electronics recycling programs available to us in our area. Thanks for making dumb and uncharitable assumptions.

Less than 1/5th of e-waste is actually recycled, and most of it ends up in places with little or no environmental regulation or health and safety protections for workers.

And that's the stuff that makes it into the e-waste stream. Most of it just gets tossed in the garbage with everything else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVnu0doouJI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axYKPbr9_MA

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#78

Post by mdasen »

extraduder_ire wrote: post #53

Can you root or otherwise put an alternative ROM on these things? They are basically just running android, right?

Yes and no. People have figured out how to unlock the boot loader of some Fire TV devices, but it can sometimes involve opening up the device and making physical modifications (like shorting something on the motherboard) or having an older version of the Fire TV OS installed (it depends on the device).

So yes, you can put an alternative ROM on some of these things, but I think the practicality of it isn't really there. I would just say "no", but someone will link to an XDA post showing how you can (at least on some Fire TV devices) through a really complicated setup that even a lot of people on HN wouldn't get though.

If you actually want a custom rom, it's better to get something like an Nvidia Shield where you can just unlock the boot loader. The problem with the Nvidia Shield is that it isn't cheap like the Fire TV devices. It's priced more expensive than an Apple TV with less capable hardware ($130 gets you an Apple TV 4K with A15 processor getting 2,100 single-core and 5,100 multi-core, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage; $150 gets you a Tegra X1+ with 300 single-core, 800 multi-core, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB storage).

When a company's business model (like the Fire TV) is selling you cheap hardware and then pumping you full of ads, they often don't make it easy to avoid that.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#79

Post by lotsofpulp »

ladberg wrote: post #74
stronglikedan wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it requires an internet connection, it surely has an option to start up on the Apple TV input, bypassing the home screen.

I have a Roku TV (it was free) that I've never connected to the internet. Even when starting it up with an Apple TV it'll still hang out on the Roku home screen for 5s before even starting the input change. It's pretty infuriating and definitely an intentional dark pattern.

That is a device that belongs in the trash. I have always bought the cheaper Sony TVs ($600 to $700) and never experienced anything like that. All I ever do is use the Apple TV remote and it just turns the TV on directly to that.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#80

Post by Semaphor »

sharkweek wrote: post #51
ensignavenger wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Apple TVs not display ads? I have Google TV devices, in part because I can install what er I want on them, including 3rd part launchers that don't have ads.

Apple TV advertises its own content when you are on the homepage (even as a non-Apple TV+ subscriber so it's a little more aggressive than like sitting on the Netflix homepage as a subscriber) but as far as I can tell nothing more than that. Been a user for the last 7-8 years and I love the UX.

So it's not adfree at all? That's all I see on my tv with Android TV as well.
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