This needs to become illegal. Ads are part of the price you pay for a device or service. If you didn’t agree to them at the time of purchase, they can’t be sprung on you after you’ve paid.
They agreed, they just didn’t read the terms and conditions
Fuck that. That isn’t an excuse. The ToS are abused by companies all the time.
They didn’t agree at the time of purchase.
I am sure if someone sues them then they will definately be off the hook because of some statement in their terms of service.
You need to be aware of major terms in a contract for it be valid. That or they need to be reasonable or standard.
Which is why it needs to become illegal
This is sort of what happened with Google Chromecast with Google TV. I bought that on a technicality for my parents over an Apple TV. My mom (who isn’t a native English speaker) was watching another foreign language show on Netflix and whenever she paused on the Apple TV the seek bar would come in and overlay itself on the subtitles. She was frequently pausing just to catch up on the long sentences to read them and then unpausing just as quickly. This wasn’t an issue on the Android-based Netflix, where the subtitles remained in view.
Well OF COURSE because it’s fucking Google they started shoving more and more ads onto the device, to the extent that my parents actually get pretty confused on how to properly navigate the thing. It makes me so mad.
I have a similar situation. Have you thought about submitting feedback to Apple regarding the issue so they can take the scroll bar into consideration and subtitle placement? https://www.apple.com/feedback/
No, because I think the problem belongs to Netflix. But maybe it does belong to Apple? I’m not sure who is responsible, really.
I solved this problem on my Xiaomi Mi Box S 4K by installing FLauncher, and setting it as the default launcher (on my own box as well as my parents’).
LeanbackOnFire is another great option, but FLauncher has better customizability options, and that’s what I prefer.
In this way, I haven’t seen a single system UI ad on my Android TV box for years. For ad-free YouTube, I’m using SmartTube. So far, it’s been amazing.
I’m visiting my parents this winter so it will be a good chance for me to look into trying something like this.
That sounds like a plan. I’d search online for advice from other users beforehand, regarding which solutions/apps are confirmed to work well with the exact device, OS version etc.
Amazon being greedy and bake ads into their devices? Who could see that coming?!
What a totally expected turn of events!
buying a ‘dumb’ tv is getting harder and harder to do…
how long until you are forced to hook a new ‘smart’ one up to the internet, just to “set it up”–even if you have no plans on ever using the ‘smart’ features or embedded apps?
If you buy a Sony Bravia you can put them into “pro mode” which keeps all the signal processing, but lets you turn off android.
That’s good to know!
Roku tvs already do that, you even need to put in a credit card number for it to work.
I can’t figure out why the cheap TCL I bought 5 years ago isn’t packed with ads. Maybe because it’s Roku-based?
Probably because it’s Chinese spyware. https://www.tomsguide.com/news/tcl-smart-tv-security-flaws
Disturbing; thanks for sharing that. Seems like the Roku flavor may be okay-ish, but I just walled it off from rest of home network anyway.
Yeah, TCL was the front-runner when I was looking for a non-smart TV until I saw that. :( I ended up just going with a samsung and hoping for the best. I’ve not noticed anything annoying, but we’re probably going to switch back to a PC hooked up to the TV with all the subscription problems / price jacking lately.
Remember that “deal” always has depth behind it. They are waiting to reach critical mass so they can “throw the switch”. Streaming services, “smart” devices, subscription services… You should only engage with these “deals” if you understand the bigger picture and have a plan to disengage quickly as soon as they pull their bullshit.
Your black Friday TV is NOT the same as the TV that brand typically sells. It’s a different sku, all the parts are deliberately sourced lesser quality versions and it’s literally designed to break/fail earlier than the “normal” version. You’re not getting a deal on the TV you wanted, you’re buying a lesser TV - Not necessarily a bad thing if you know what you’re buying, but you need to know what you’re buying.
There is a big lack of consumer education in the U.S. I don’t know how to solve it in our oligarchical society. The corporations don’t want consumers educated.
There should be regulation of the private sector. There has to be some accountability for these corporations. The onus can’t be on the consumer one hundred percent of the time. It really shouldn’t be at all. Buyers should only be responsible for deciding which products would be best for them and their budget, not for having to predict which corporation will utterly fuck them over the least out of the only three corporations they have to choose from when they’re all trying to scam them out of their money.
I’m so sick of being scammed every single time I buy something. The government needs to step in and do their job instead of just handing out a few fines here and there.
How is this surprising?
PSA: It is incredibly easy to get an alternative launcher for android TVs. Zero ads. Literally none.
Which do you use?
FLauncher. It’s even on the Google play store.
Then you have to side load an app that changes the default launcher. But that is also very easy.
Thanks
What android TV would you recommend? Even with an alt launcher, can you still control OS/apps well with just a remote controller as input?
Sony is the easiest to change all the settings. Samsung is the worst.
I have no idea what a reddit controller is.
I think he meant to type “remote” instead of “reddit”.
Ahhh. Then yes. Remote works the same. Change the default launcher to FLauncher and it automatically maps it to the home button.
100%, Reddit must have infiltrated my autocorrect after I fucked off here to Lemmy :)
I’ve had a good experience with my Sony. Very easy to change things and sideload stuff.
I like my Philips, it’s got the cool ambilight and runs android TV. I think they lag slightly behind LG in performance but these don’t have either of those things.
In my humble opinion until the producers of such appliances learn honesty through pain, it’s much better to have a pirate streambox (with something like
torrentflixor Popcorn Time or whatever, I just download torrents and watch on my laptop, so don’t use these things).what is a streambox?
A pc or android running Plex and or Kodi on the front end.
That’s just a normal Media PC.
I think they are referring specifically to a PC that streams from those crappy streaming sites and not downloading the movies locally.
You can do that with Kodi but not Plex.
I meant something with
peerflixinside, to stream torrented stuff.
Actually kinda surprised that chromecast doesn’t have ads, at least the model we have.
We have a dumb projector with features such as “select source”.
The original cast-only chromecasts didn’t have ads as far as I know, but they’ve all been discontinued and replaced by the google tv chromecasts which have ads integrated throughout the interface, mostly just for streaming services, movies, etc.
Fuck seriously? I have a Chromecast from like 7 years ago and I was considering getting a newer model just because, you know, improvements and stuff. But definitely not if there are ads. Holy shit no.
Just use a different launcher. No ads then. OEM launcher is a mess anyway.
Google TV has ads, though they are for the moment easy to miss or ignore.
For the moment.
Who didn’t see this coming?
Have you seen the TV that has a second screen that just plays ads
And apparently has cameras and sensors that detect if you cover up the 2nd screen. Truly dystopian, but also they weren’t exactly hiding these features if people bought the TVs…
I do wonder what makes some people despise ads.
I myself do, but I’ve never been told to or even been echo chambered (well maybe now, but not always). Going back over tens years and detested them.
But at work some people think ad-blockers shouldn’t be a thing as it’s stealing as the internet runs on ads and I just can’t see that point of view. However valid it could be.
I don’t want to see them all my digital life as they are on the real world. Christ I’ve seen them on the pissing motorway ffs.
In theory, I’m fine with some ads. Useful ads in places where it makes sense (like shopping). Small, unobtrusive ads that fill up otherwise empty space. But ads are like capitalism and cancer. They just continue to grow and grow and get worse and worse until they’ve utterly destroyed the thing they were meant to support. If you let them in, it’s only a matter of time until they completely take over. No one has managed to do ‘reasonable ads’ for any great length of time.
It’s just one of those things where in theory it sounds workable, but in practice it’s highly destructive and corrosive towards everything.
Well, I’m okay with old concept of ads. But it was them that decided that ads must double dip with customer information and it was them that decided that ads viewed by people who are engaged to the ads doesn’t count as ads that was ‘seen’.
Continuous race to the bottom since then.
This is literally the oldest trick in the book, haha.
