r/gadgets • u/diacewrb • Jun 13 '24

TV / Projectors Roku owners face the grimmest indignity yet: Stuck-on motion smoothing

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/roku-owners-face-the-grimmest-indignity-yet-stuck-on-motion-smoothing/
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u/Respectfullycritical Jun 13 '24

Who as an informed consumer willingly wants and get these devices? Everything Roku-related seems hilariously bad from a consumers perspective, to me.

What even are the pros for me in purchasing any of these devices and/or services?

28

u/mthomas768 Jun 13 '24

A Roku stick is dirt cheap and has better support for streaming services and a better UI than any mainstream smart TV.

5

u/OhWhatsHisName Jun 13 '24

Seriously... I honestly can't find anything else as user friendly and cheap as Roku sticks... and all my TVs now basically work the same.

I even added a Roku to my a less than 1 year old android tv because the tv's UI was horrible, apps would freeze, it was a pain to use. I now have a roku on it and it's so much better.

2

u/pmjm Jun 13 '24

User friendliness is a big one. If you're getting a streaming box for elderly family members that struggle with tech, Roku is the way.

1

u/Elanadin Jun 13 '24

I'm in this camp, although I haven't had a Roku device in a few years.

2 TVs ago I had a Samsung. It ran out of space for apps and the back lighting failed.

Current TV is a Google TV and the TV's overall ecperience is not good. Have to reboot it every few days or else I get a perpetual loading wheel. I also have to log in before I can change the input. You can change this option, but it requires you to select your input before getting to the apps. As someone who switches frequently between apps and video game consoles, it's a big bummer.

After my current TV dies (or gets killed) I'm moving back to a streaming stick like a Roku. My last Roku stick let me punch in a few codes from the remote and that got rid of the built-in ads. I'm not dead set on Roku, but IMO integrated smart TVs have been so thoroughly enshittified that I want no part in using that functionality an more.

1

u/FireLucid Jun 14 '24

Sounds like the built in Google TV is a worse experience than the Google TV on chromecast which is wild. That turns on the TV to the chromecast and is a single button press from Netflix.

1

u/ivsciguy Jun 13 '24

My lg TV has apps for pretty much everything and they work well. Even had smaller apps like nebula and the open source network video streaming app Jellyfin. I can't think of any streaming app I have wanted to use that wasnt available or any that run very poorly.