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Fox to buy Roku

wsj.com

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Re: Fox to buy Roku

#341

Post by 05 »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #221
05 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the box where I can’t set up a third party player to do the ‘replay last 5 seconds with subtitles on’ because it’s all locked down is the best then I don’t want to know what the worst is, I’ll just keep using LibreElec. At least if LibreElec does something I don’t like Claude can fix it.

What box do you put librelec on?

A cheap Android TV box. Between lack of proper hardware acceleration for 4K/Dolby Vision decoding and lack of sleep(!) support, I would never recommend that hardware, the ones that are actually recommended by the community are RP5 ($$$) and especially Intel Nx00 (N100 etc.) which are actually the gold standard of mainline(-ish in case of RPi) codec and hardware support.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#342

Post by sgerenser »

xp84 wrote: post #264
pseudosavant wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially because you can get TVs with Roku built-in. I would guess most Roku users aren't using a box these days.

> I would guess most Roku users aren't using a box these days. Sure I guess. But those devices objectively suck. the CPU and storage in "smart TVs" are so underpowered that using streaming apps on them is painfully sluggish. For comparison, I've used the "Chromecast with Google TV" (a $50ish at its release 4k streaming stick that uses the 'Google TV', fka 'Android TV' platform) and a Sony TV on the same platform, rel…

Agreed. I currently have a “Roku TV” that is hooked up to another Roku device, because the one built into it is so slow and outdated as to be almost unusable. The $29 (on sale) Roku stick I hooked up to it works fine. Getting a built-in Roku IMHO is a false economy, the built-in thing will almost certainly go to crap before the TV itself does.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#343

Post by 05 »

matwood wrote: post #255
05 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the box where I can’t set up a third party player to do the ‘replay last 5 seconds with subtitles on’ because it’s all locked down is the best then I don’t want to know what the worst is, I’ll just keep using LibreElec. At least if LibreElec does something I don’t like Claude can fix it.

The Apple TV (hardware) can do what you're asking using a voice command "What did he/she say". It's possible it no longer works in every app because services insist on writing their own players that don't work as well as the player provided by Apple TV.

I know about the feature, I'm just saying it only works in the first party app and you can't make in work in e.g. Infuse. [0]

[0] https://community.firecore.com/t/use-siri-to-enable-disable-...

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#344

Post by munk-a »

tredre3 wrote: post #322
munk-a wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unironically, the best streaming box out there is a PC where you can hook up ad block and stream content from independent content providers like Dropout and Nebula using their web-based UI. We seem to have an economic cycle of enshittification => piracy => people realizing they've over enshittified => goto 10. We were in phase 3 a few years ago, now we're in phase 1 and it's an insane race to the bottom.

The desktop is the best streaming box only if: - You run Windows because nothing else will let you stream in 4k - You ignore the absolutely sub-par UI/UX couch experience And I say this as someone who's been running a media center pc in various forms for decades.

I use a projector as an output device (though there are plenty of TVs (just maybe not the newest ones) that still will take an input cable and blindly pass through the contents) as well as having a little wireless mini-keyboard the size of a remote with a touchpad on it and a wireless any-surface mouse that I use to control it from the couch. I genuinely don't think most people would find that interaction disagreeable and it provides a very familiar UX that you can even trivially replace or get multiple of since it's literally just a mini wireless keyboard and mouse which cost you all of maybe 30 USD.

I will conceded that windows is a real advantage though since enshittification has driven other environment applications to become rare or unmaintained. Though I haven't invested real time into seeing what options might be available as unified platform solutions in other envs - like maybe the work Valve put into proton allows you to sneak your way into good media support?

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#345

Post by cebert »

ilinx wrote: post #226
pseudosavant wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially because you can get TVs with Roku built-in. I would guess most Roku users aren't using a box these days.

With Roku built in as well as whatever ad pipeline(s) the TV manufacturer wants. These days my AppleTV is allowed to talk to the internet. My television is not.

I have a Samsung TV that I intentionally didn’t connect to the Internet for that reason. I occasionally get an annoying pop-up randomly, encouraging me to connect it to Wi-Fi.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#346

Post by TylerE »

reaperducer wrote: post #338
hbn wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only issue with Apple TV is they still can't figure out a good remote. I feel like I need to hold my breath and be very intentional with my swipes so when I'm e.g. swiping up/down to get to a menu where I can turn on subtitles I don't accidentally swipe left or right, sending me scrubbing 17 minutes forward. Either touch is a bad input mechanism for controlling your TV, or Apple hasn't figured it out.

The only issue with Apple TV is they still can't figure out a good remote. I feel like I need to hold my breath and be very intentional with my swipes so when I'm e.g. swiping up/down to get to a menu where I can turn on subtitles I don't accidentally swipe left or right, sending me scrubbing 17 minutes forward. Didn't Apple replace that remote with a proper clicky remote like five years ago?

Sort of. It's an improvement but it still have major issues. The biggest being the goddamn search button on the side that you hit 50% of the time you pick up or set down the remote, that can't be disabled, and that yanks you straight out of whatever you're viewing.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#347

Post by thunky »

Used to have Roku. Switched to Google TV / Chromecast. So much better. Now when I see Roku it's like going back in time, like seeing an iPod.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#348

Post by cdrnsf »

klausa wrote: post #215
socalgal2 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You should check out Infuse. Infuse is a better Plex app than Plex is; and it supports Jellyfin and a bunch of other data sources. It is, IMHO, a platonic ideal of what a “tv-shaped” video player app should be.

I run Infuse connected to Jellyfin on all of our Apple TVs and it's a wonderful experience.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#349

Post by smackeyacky »

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.

Why is it better than the Google TV (new Chromecast). We’ve bought every iteration of these and had no issues whatsoever with them. I don’t notice advertising unless it’s within Prime streams.

The latest Google TV even has an Ethernet port on it which was a welcome addition. Their approach to the universal remote is also great for simple TV setups even with a soundbar involved s long as you use the ARC hdmi port.

I can’t see any advantages the Apple product has.

Re: Fox to buy Roku

#350

Post by enoint »

carlosjobim wrote: post #239
dylan604 wrote: post #34

Ugh, Fox. I recently made the decision to not spend $10.99/month for their FoxOne app to stream World Cup matches. I decided to watch the Telemundo broadcasts instead, even though I don’t speak Spanish, just to not give Fox my money. If I were Roku user, this would definitely cause me to quit being a Roku user. I doubt I’d be the only one, but I also do not believe it will be enough total to be noticeable.

Do you think people will throw away their perfectly functioning devices because of politics?

Waking up one day to see the Fox logo instead of Roku will remind people about the non consensual TV options in a hospital.
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