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

Post by graphe » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 11:33 PM UTC

stalfosknight wrote: post #241

graphe wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple works unless you need something specific that every other devices supports but apple doesn't. I've never had a great experience with any laptop but at least I can't say I didn't get screwed on the price most of the time (non apple times). Who remembers how apple didn't admit or fix the Nvidia GPU on their laptop for years but it was easy to just get a new ipod?

That nVidia GPU issue was a design flaw on nVidia's part that nVidia refused to take responsibility for. The problem is that normal use and wear and tear over time would lead to the GPU physically failing, leading to a non-bootable system and necessitating a whole new logic board. Apple had a long standing special service program of covering (very expensive) logic board replacements for all of those MacBook Pros that…

Post by joezydeco » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 11:45 PM UTC

swatcoder wrote: post #247

joezydeco wrote: post #88

If you own a FireTV stick or display you'll notice that the FreeVee streaming app has started to become more and more prominent. It's deceptively simple - they are taking old shows like Murder She Wrote and streaming them non-stop on a "channel" much like the old terrestrial broadcast networks did. They're solving the streaming problem for older customers that don't grok Netflix or Hulu. These shows take pseudo-comme…

Linear streaming is central to PlutoTV, which has been around for a while and is available on many platforms. It’s not really for people “that don’t grok Netflix or Hulu”. That’s one reason, I suppose, but the stronger reasons are: 1. Licensing and cost nonsense that none of us care about. 2. Channel surfing is an entirely different way to engage with low-attention content and has its own place. You may not “grok it”…

Post by hightrix » Thu, Nov 09, 2023, 12:03 AM UTC

teeray wrote: post #156

andrewla wrote: post #131

Roku has done the same thing with their appliance. If anyone from Roku is listening, I would pay a significant premium to never again see an ad.

And advertisers will pay more than whatever that premium is to target you who have the disposable income to pay for ad-free experiences.

Post by LeonenTheDK » Thu, Nov 09, 2023, 12:24 AM UTC

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.

Post by devbent » Thu, Nov 09, 2023, 12:53 AM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #248

devbent wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony sells TVs that cost just a bit more than the competition but you can easily not opt-in to ads during initial setup (they are not selected by default!). Sadly Google seems to insist on showing YT recommendations to matter what on Google tvs, but you can just opt into "app only mode" and then you get none of that.

I would put Sony in my second category above. High quality TVs, and a price to match. The fact they use Google gives me pause. My last TV was a Sony with Google and it was slow as dirt (Sony’s fault, since fixed on newer models). And it was a great TV otherwise. But I don’t trust Google not to find a way to shove ads in later.