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Fox to buy Roku

wsj.com

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Re: Fox to buy Roku

#191

Post by rhubarbtree »

freeAgent wrote: post #186
andrewla wrote: post #4

As a long-time[1] customer of Roku I am tentatively extremely pessimistic. I have always been unhappy with Roku's decision to get involved in streaming content at all, because it could potentially cut into their service-agnostic architecture. Bad enough in my mind that they had in-platform ads instead of just charging for hardware, but way worse when they are actively competing with streaming services. And now it loo…

Ironically, I think the Apple TV is the best streaming box out there. Of course, Apple is both the manufacturer and a streamer in their own right. And they definitely privilege their own store and streaming over other services. However, everything else already sucks so much with UIs chock full of ads that Apple wins anyway. It’s awful.

Can confirm Apple is best but Roku is amazingly good number 2. In some ways its UX beats Apple.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#192

Post by harimau777 »

airstrike wrote: post #108
nrmitchi wrote: post #96

I may be lambasted for saying this, but I do not believe that Fox (or any large media company, really) should be permitted to purchase direct access to the TV hardware of roughly 30-50% of american households.

that law does not exist, probably because not enough people feel that way

Or because the Epstein class has used their stranglehold of the media and politics to push that belief.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#193

Post by timeinput »

tmp10423288442 wrote: post #161
timeinput wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They (ETA nvidia shield) added ads many years ago. Really left a bitter taste in my mouth after paying for an ad-free "premium" device to have them shoved out there.

Who is they?

horsawlarway is correct regarding the nvidia shield. I'm not sure how much is nvidia, and how much is google in the "they". I kinda blame nvidia more than google (if I bought a google device I would expect google ads as part of the purchase), but it's hard for me to say. "they" the people who actually own the streaming device (nvidia shield) I "purchased" updated the software and added a lot of ads.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#194

Post by tombert »

yndoendo wrote: post #55
baggachipz wrote: post #6

Time for the 'Fox News' button on the Roku remote. Truth Social tweets on your screensaver.

[flagged]

When I got my house, I needed to set up internet, and Verizon FIOS was what I went for.

I called them to get it set up, and when I suggested the internet dude on the line kept trying to upsell me TV packages. I was polite at first but eventually I said something like "listen, I don't want your 'Movie Lovers' package. I don't want your 'Sports Fan' package. I don't want your 'Family Entertainment' package. I don't want your 'Comedy Lover' package. I just want internet. I do not want anything but internet. If you pitch more more packages I will still only want internet".

Admittedly a little rude, but the guy did get the point after that and he was perfectly helpful getting everything set up.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#195

Post by tombert »

willismichael wrote: post #100
yndoendo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I'm impressed that you were able to cancel SiriusXM. I thought that it was set up to cling to people for life, and possibly continue billing their estate after death.

I think they actually got in trouble with a lawsuit over that?

FWIW I canceled my SiriusXM like a year ago and it wasn't too hard. Just a web form.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#196

Post by nemomarx »

rurp wrote: post #190
horsawlarway wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming the nvidia shield. I'll also echo my general disappointment with the direction of these devices. A decade ago, they were one of the best streaming devices you could buy. then a couple years back it was "there's a new discover tab, filled with ads! Don't you love it?" then it was "not enough people are viewing the discover tab, so we're merging the discover tab with the home tab! Don't you love it?" --- They'…

Are there solid existing launchers that can be swapped in? Changing the launcher is one of the first things I do when I get a new Pixel phone and highly recommend it, but I don't really want to have to maintain a vibe coded one.

I tried projectivity launcher on one of these and it seemed reasonably good.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#197

Post by prepend »

andrewla wrote: post #4

As a long-time[1] customer of Roku I am tentatively extremely pessimistic. I have always been unhappy with Roku's decision to get involved in streaming content at all, because it could potentially cut into their service-agnostic architecture. Bad enough in my mind that they had in-platform ads instead of just charging for hardware, but way worse when they are actively competing with streaming services. And now it loo…

I was an early roku user and ditched them because they’ve sucked for 10+ years. Their players have been trash and had poor support.

Amazing they got $22B and tivo must be really kicking itself.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#198

Post by prepend »

etothet wrote: post #170
literatepeople wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Apple TV seems to be the closest ive found to not being riddled with ads though. the home screen doesn't have ads at all, the closest which exists is the "top shelf" feature when you hover over the Apple TV app, and that can be turned off in settings. But it has some other issues

I do a lot of my streaming with Apple TV, but the worst parts about the Apple TV app are in my opinion are: - Too many promos of other shows before watching a show. This is often for shows I've already watched and am watching. Apple knows which shows I watch. It shouldn't need to give me promos for shows I've watched or am actively watching. - Poor UX for "Play Next Episode" functionality. If I just finished an episo…

I think GP was talking about the hardware AppleTV, not the streaming service AppleTV (which are stupidly named).

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#199

Post by timeinput »

horsawlarway wrote: post #183
tmp10423288442 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is they?

Assuming the nvidia shield. I'll also echo my general disappointment with the direction of these devices. A decade ago, they were one of the best streaming devices you could buy. then a couple years back it was "there's a new discover tab, filled with ads! Don't you love it?" then it was "not enough people are viewing the discover tab, so we're merging the discover tab with the home tab! Don't you love it?" --- They'…

At this point if I'm dealing with that level of hassle I'm much happier running linux on a computer. The value add of these devices was plug and play, and if it's not that why bother.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#200

Post by prepend »

socalgal2 wrote: post #180
literatepeople wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Apple TV seems to be the closest ive found to not being riddled with ads though. the home screen doesn't have ads at all, the closest which exists is the "top shelf" feature when you hover over the Apple TV app, and that can be turned off in settings. But it has some other issues

I'm pretty happy with AppleTV except for the walled garden. I want to run Kodi. I do run it via XCode and a dev account but because of the app restrictions it's a 2nd class experience. Looked for alternatives like Jellyfin but the only ones on the app store all appear to spy on what you view.

I run Plex and am pretty happy. Will likely eventually switch to Jellyfin as Plex is getting lamer and lamer.
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