Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV • Hacker News Board

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#121

Post by vmception » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

sdflhasjd wrote: post #6

My shield updated to this the other day. I'm pretty furious about it, it's not a cheap device, and it's certainly not Google's. To be adding these "features" without asking, irrespective of whatever agreement between me, Nvidia or Google exists, is ridiculous. I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Fortunately, I know how to use ADB and just installed ano…

> I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age.

Courts and legislative bodies can totally overrule and invalidate any clause in a private contract, if you feel this is a social problem then keep speaking up about it and ignore the people playing devil's advocate.

People are in the habit of giving counterpoint's for conversation's sake and have no strong opinions on their counterpoint.

The path is the following: ethical problem becomes a social problem becomes a legal problem. Specifically, obscure ethical problems become recurring and common social problems which become legal problems that can more easily get patched.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#122

Post by Marsymars » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #67

What's a better device that plays literally everything with subtitles and doesn't require a transcode from Emby/Plex? I've had apple tv, roku ultra, and shield. Shield is the only one that plays everything direct streaming. It sucks that they are butchering this great product.

Maybe Infuse on Apple TV?

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#123

Post by Marsymars » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

I'd be pissed too.

However, I looked into streaming devices a year or so ago, and passed on getting a Shield TV because there was no assurance that it would remain ad-free, and absent that assurance, it seemed like an inevitability given Google's position.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#124

Post by yardie » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:21 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #77

I might be the dumbest observer on these trends around here but does it seem to somebody else that this is a normal part of the end-of-life lifecycle of many devices and that it usually goes like this... - "Sir, sales are falling... we actually haven't had new sales in months". - "How much does it cost to support the infrastructure for these devices?" - "X million a month". - "Feck it. Cram ads into them, we're not s…

It feels that way with the Smart TVs. Once you've purchased it the manufacturer no longer has a way to make additional money from it. Yet these things are connected to the internet and wildly insecure. So the only way to justify future updates is to shoehorn in some adtech along with the security patches.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#125

Post by Scaevolus » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:23 PM UTC

TingPing wrote: post #80

Scaevolus wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supposedly part of the Android TV certification requirements include only using their launcher.

Is that required for the play store, or just branding as "Android TV"?

The entire GMS suite, including Play Store and YouTube.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#126

Post by gjsman-1000 » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

Nicksil wrote: post #102

swiley wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do.

>Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do. I don't think I understand fully the point you're trying to make. How does free and open source software prevent a software developer from inserting the code necessary for behavior…

Take a look at what just happened with Audacity. Open Source is no protection, unless you were aware of the situation and downloaded a fork.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#127

Post by 015a » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

Nicksil wrote: post #102

swiley wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do.

>Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do. I don't think I understand fully the point you're trying to make. How does free and open source software prevent a software developer from inserting the code necessary for behavior…

You saw the recent Audacity situation, right? That's the point; developers may still make hostile decisions. Those decisions may still be merged to the "main" branch. But the community is still left with recourse, whether that takes the form of a fork, or more simply, one user heading into the code and removing the hostile additions just for themselves.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#128

Post by swiley » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #126

Nicksil wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do. I don't think I understand fully the point you're trying to make. How does free and open source software prevent a software developer from inserting the code necessary for behavior…

Take a look at what just happened with Audacity. Open Source is no protection, unless you were aware of the situation and downloaded a fork.

My copy of Audacity hasn't auto-updated to include any of that crap and it looks like future updates will come from a fork where it's stripped (if muse group even bothers to continue) so I'd say that's an example of it working.

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#129

Post by hitchhikerr » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

Vaslo wrote: post #83

Is there even any type of smart TV without Google and or other companies? I don’t even know who makes an open source tv or something with Android as a part of it.

You can get a NUC or some kind of mini PC and install Kodi on it

Re: Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

#130

Post by avel » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

gpspake wrote: post #2

I've had the Shield for years and set them up for a few family members. I still believe it's the best device of its kind on the market and I've recommended it every chance so I have a lot of friends with them as well. In the most recent update, the until-now ad-free homepage was defaced with an ad banner that takes up half the screen and can't be removed. This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Andro…

It's not the Android TV Launcher per se. If you revert that app to the factory-installed one, the "recommendations" banner will still show up within an old version of the launcher.

So this comes from Play Services. It appears the launcher has an exclusive hook for Play Services to show content in, and is being used for this purpose.

I am still reverted to the original Android TV Launcher because it takes less clicks to reach some functionality and is simpler, but the recommendation banner ruins it somewhat.