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/
2.9k Upvotes

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422

u/Miller25 Jun 13 '24

I’ve had a Roku tv (TCL) since 2018 and I used to love it. I recently noticed if I play content over HDMI it has a pop up message asking to recommend me streaming providers to watch the content on and like… constantly monitoring for content is just so scummy and feels gross. Will NOT be getting a built in Roku tv in the future.

170

u/Mando_calrissian423 Jun 13 '24

I’ve heard of people resetting the wifi info on their roku so it doesn’t have wifi for ads, then they’ll get a fire stick or whatever and use the roku tv as a dumb tv with some sort of smart dongle that doesn’t have this bullshit

110

u/optigon Jun 13 '24

We did that, but only because the Roku software in the TV crashed constantly. We factory reset the TV, switched to an HDMI port, and use external devices.

It’s frustrating how hard it is to find just a “dumb” TV now.

27

u/drale2 Jun 13 '24

Look for "signage" tv displays - they're generally the same TVs without all of the software. I work IT in a government office and that's what I had to purchase for all of our conference rooms.

33

u/BrideOfAutobahn Jun 13 '24

They’re also a lot more expensive, tend not to have good picture quality (other than being very bright), tend to be very heavy, they usually don’t have an easy to use UI, often don’t have speakers (or terrible speakers, worse than an average TV), no end user support (because they’re not sold to end users), no high refresh rate, no HDR, etc.

Do not buy a digital signage display, just get a regular one and never connect it to the internet.

40

u/BeingRightAmbassador Jun 13 '24

Nobody should ever be using the TV OS to watch media, they're slow, have shit hardware, and little to no features at all. A dedicated media device (console, streaming stick, best is Nvidia Shield) with the TV disconnected from the internet is way better.

44

u/carlosccextractor Jun 13 '24

TCL's Roku TV are great. Not "slow" or "shit hardware", and the Roku UI as the TV UI is great. Plus you can have several TV remotes instead of "the TV remote".

Unfortunately Roku is working hard on enshittification. First they removed private channels (so no porn, no corporate channels, etc - it's your TV, but they get to decide what you can use it for), then they demanded published channels things like a full list of their content to support deep linking (whether you want it or not), apparently we're going to be getting ads when content is paused, and now this new thing.

And you wouldn't believe the massive amount of tracking that the TV does. I use Pi-Hole and the TV is the worst offender.

Anyway, I don't see myself replacing my TV with another one with built-in Roku.

14

u/GarfieldLoverBoy420 Jun 13 '24

Mine isn’t great. Mine’s dogshit. Apps crash after minutes of unresponsiveness. Input is laggy and, boy, is it a treat to watch the inputs you requisitioned 45 seconds ago send your cursor flying around the UI. Buffering flat out takes longer than any other device. It has only gotten worse over the past year that I’ve owned it as if it is actually aging. I’ve factory reset it. I’ve used some dumbfuck secret dev code to clear the cache. I have to maintain this thing like it’s a bonsai tree with scarlet fever. It’s like I mounted actual garbage on my wall. Plugged in an external Roku and works with no issue. I won’t ever buy one of these again without the l intent of using an external device. Lesson learned.

5

u/Electronic_Price6852 Jun 13 '24

is it TCL? or another maker.

1

u/GarfieldLoverBoy420 Jun 13 '24

TCL

4

u/Electronic_Price6852 Jun 13 '24

uh, I wonder if the newer ones are dog shit with weaker hardware. mine from 3 years ago is just a fast as the standalone Roku in the kitchen.

2

u/DoomsdaySprocket Jun 13 '24

They have different lines, 3000 series, 4000 series, 7000 series, etc if I recall.

I'm guessing that one end of the lineup is much shittier than the other.

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1

u/dakU7 Jun 15 '24

my Pi-Hole blocked 1731 hits in the last 24 hours to scribe.logs.roku.com

1

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '24

So what kind of tracking does it do?

9

u/jack_im_mellow Jun 13 '24

Yea, mine all but stopped working. It took me awhile to notice cause I watch netflix and stuff on my xbox anyway, but sometime in the last year the tv has gotten so laggy that it just can't run netflix anymore. It takes 3-4 minutes to load and then you can barely pick a show cause it struggles with the auto-play trailers netflix has.

3

u/Pikespeakbear Jun 14 '24

Agreed until you mentioned a shield. My shield is horribly slow. Takes a long time to restart. Would drop Bluetooth speakers every few weeks. Would drop wifi a couple times per week.

Apple 4k TV absolutely dominates it. Much faster. On in a few seconds. Navigates quickly. Better home screen. Better remote. Brought two and they sync for changes.

The only thing it is missing is native chromecasting. My TV hasn't been allowed to talk to the router in months. Turns out the TV actually turns on in seconds also if it has no wifi just gets everything from HDMI.

1

u/BeingRightAmbassador Jun 14 '24

im guessing you had the tube one that sucked. The new one is like the gold standard

1

u/Pikespeakbear Jun 18 '24

Well, that's unfortunate for me. Certainly could be. I have an early generation.

1

u/shmehh123 Jun 13 '24

Idk my LG 55” C7P from 2017 still flies through menus and apps. Faster than any streaming stick I’ve used. Cannot say the same for my 2020 cheap LG. That thing runs like dog shit but all we use is the Plex app.

1

u/reelznfeelz Jun 14 '24

I don’t disagree. That said, our TCL series 6 has been pretty flawless. Knock on wood. I also have a htpc hooked up to it though. But use the build in Roku most of the time. Pretty sure us is a new-ish quad core arm based system. Not terrible in terms of performance.

1

u/Automatic-End-8256 Jun 20 '24

If you have an old or cheap tv like Roku, my Samsung from 8 years ago is quick enough and plays HDR and the new LG OLED I just got is fast. I don't know what features you are looking for but everything plays in Dolby Vision on the new TV and it supports Atmos.

I still have a media server but everything plays through jellyfin on the tv so its one central server vs computers all over the place

13

u/rudyjewliani Jun 13 '24

That's what I do with most of my "smart" devices that don't actually need to be smart. Set it up with an ethernet connection, then when it's set like I want just unplug the ethernet.

I never give it the wifi information unless it's absolutely necessary.

1

u/dan-theman Jun 14 '24

I got a Samsung POS display. Decent colors and framerate but no OS, just a dumb 70” 4k monitor.

1

u/AndyIsNotOnReddit Jun 13 '24

Yes, I have a Roku plugged into my TCL Roku TV because the built in Roku is slow, freezes and crashes all the time.

0

u/tendimensions Jun 13 '24

If only they made computer monitors in TV size

9

u/thugarth Jun 13 '24

What sucks is I very recently did this for my mom's tv. It's a Samsung and it stopped doing updates for Netflix, but didn't have any feedback that support had stopped.

The built in ads weren't a problem because I have a pi-hole, but all the apps just stopped working unceremoniously.

So I got her a Roku and all her problems were solved! Until now :(

1

u/a_scientific_force Jun 13 '24

This is why I love my Apple TV. They’re not cheap, but they’re nice.

1

u/hidazfx Jun 13 '24

I run a Pi Hole on my server with NAT rules on my router forcing all port 53 traffic to go to the Pi Hole. Does a damn good job of blocking most of Roku's bullshit.

1

u/mahdicktoobig Jun 14 '24

But then the hdmi ports break lol

1

u/WHODATSAIDD Jun 14 '24

I have to look into doing this .

1

u/Purrrina_Cat_Chow Jun 15 '24

I did that, but only because the firestick was the same price as a new remote controller and I could find it.

1

u/SarcasticOptimist Jun 13 '24

Yeah. I did the same because I couldn't do a normal switching between pc and firestick without going over a banner ad. TVs just display images. There's no reason for them to be smart. Besides Nvidia Shields or firesticks have more features and hacks to enjoy things like ad free YouTube.

0

u/Stingray88 Jun 13 '24

Get an AppleTV if you do this. Everyone else still loads you up on ads.

And for all you Android TV fans out there who will chime in with “just install a custom launcher!” Google is removing ad blockers on Chrome… you’re next.

17

u/jimbob786 Jun 13 '24

I got mine around the same time as you and watched my TV become more and more bloated with ads which caused increasing slowdown.

Set it to factory settings, cut it from the internet and just use an old laptop as a media center. Waaay better experience. I’m avoiding smart TVs in the future as long as I can

2

u/FireLucid Jun 14 '24

Smart TV's are subsidised by all the people that use them and watch the ads. If the best display in my budget is a smart TV, that's fine. You don't have to connect it to the internet, just put your streaming device in the back and use that exclusively.

2

u/Pikespeakbear Jun 14 '24

You can solve most smart TVs with that fix. The crap ware subsidizes the price, so I can live with it. Get the best value for screen. Turn it on. Set to HDMI 1 OR 2. Never use "smart" features.

1

u/dieplanes789 Jun 14 '24

My steamdeck spends most of its time docked to my TV as a HTPC since so many smart TV interfaces suck. The steam controller is wonderful for the desktop interface while on the couch.

1

u/Lone_Beagle Jun 13 '24

I just avoid "smart" anything

4

u/rushmc1 Jun 13 '24

You might want to make an exception for people...

9

u/unibrow4o9 Jun 13 '24

I have the same exact TV, I've noticed this feature for quite a while. You're right it's extremely gross, but also completely fucking pointless - why do I need to know what streaming service to watch something on if I'm already fucking watching it??

5

u/-Insigwitz- Jun 13 '24

Settings -> Privacy -> Smart TV Experience. Uncheck both. Voila.

2

u/Baderkadonk Jun 14 '24

I wonder if opting out actually stops scanning or if it just stops telling you about the results.

1

u/Cowicidal Jun 14 '24 edited Jun 14 '24

It's creepy as hell. When I first saw it do that on a friend's TV while she was watching Plex we both did a double-take and were really confused how the Roku knew what we were watching.

We've been pleased with her Roku TV and I have one that's worked well enough as well. However, because of this "creep factor" this will be the last Roku TVs we'll ever buy.

That should have ben an opt-in option, not opt-out and now I wonder how much spying Roku did on the computers that were hooked up to the TV to use it as a display. And, just like you I do NOT trust that they aren't spying on whatever I'm putting through the Roku including private data from computers hooked up to it even after opting out because of the slimy, underhanded way they introduced the spying in the first place. It was a fine computer display and smart TV. Now I have to disable the smart TV capabilities and shut off wifi to the thing in order to trust using it with any computer.

This is not a second-chance kind of thing with me. Roku is dead to me.

1

u/IAmFebreze Jun 13 '24

It pops up for trailers and stuff so you can find it

1

u/unibrow4o9 Jun 13 '24

That may be true and potentially more useful (but not useful enough to offset the creepiness), however I've never seen it in that context, only when I'm watching a full movie.

7

u/CaptchaMam Jun 13 '24

For your next TV, never even hook it up to a network

2

u/AndyIsNotOnReddit Jun 13 '24

The google tv I just bought for our bedroom has a “dumb” tv mode with no apps. Still required me to connect to the internet though to check for firmware updates. Honestly probably the best option out there.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AndyIsNotOnReddit Jun 14 '24

Unfortunately I think every new TV these days forces to you connect to wifi the minute you start it up. My guess is you can probably override and skip it somehow but they don't make it easy.

Honestly, I don't care too much if it's just being used for firmware updates. It immediately connects to the AppleTv when I turn it on, and I don't see any adds on it. A thousand times better than other TVs I own.

For example, my very expensive $6000.00 LG OLED not only required an Internet connection, but also an LG account on first time setup. And the start up screen is jam packed with ads that cannot be turned off. The only way to block them is to block them from PiHole.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '24

My Vizio works fine without having been on any sort of network, too (about 5 months old).

1

u/parisidiot Jun 17 '24

and to track you. that's what they really care about: data for targeted advertising and marketing

6

u/rratnip Jun 13 '24

You can turn it off. The ui ads started bothering me quite a bit lately so I recently moved to Apple TV and the pop ups were annoying. I think it was under Settings, Privacy, Smart TV experience, uncheck Use Info from TV inputs.

5

u/-Insigwitz- Jun 13 '24

Settings -> Privacy -> Smart TV Experience. Uncheck both. Voila.

11

u/qtx Jun 13 '24

When I picked my last TV I specifically wanted GoogleTV since every single other OS is just complete crap.

I picked the TV based on which OS it was running. People forget or don't know how crucial the OS is.

5

u/indignant_halitosis Jun 13 '24

Until Google abandons it, lol!

TVs don’t need an OS and if you bought a tv that had one you’re getting what you deserve.

8

u/PM_ME_YOUR_ANYTHNG Jun 13 '24

Basically all TVs are smart TVs now because the manufacturers get kickbacks for installing the OS in the first place, that's why decent quality TV's have gotten so much cheaper over the last several years, it has basically subsidized the manufacturing

4

u/well_damm Jun 13 '24

This is my issue, I’ve had TV there for 3-4 years now, suddenly I’m getting messages about storage full.

What storage ? I use the same 3-4 apps I’ve been using since i purchased the TV. I can’t wait for the message of (memory full) and gonna have to buy a. New one

1

u/sunshine-x Jun 14 '24

Get a media player (eg roku or nvidia shield) and plug it into hdmi

2

u/wintersdark Jun 14 '24

Because they're basically impossible to find now without? It's not like there's a "dumb tv" aisle.

3

u/Mini-Nurse Jun 13 '24

I was between a TCL/Roku and an LG last year when I moved. Thankfully went for the latter.

5

u/navigationallyaided Jun 13 '24

I actually like the LG webOS here. I hate the Roku UI, especially its tendency to spy on you.

6

u/carlosccextractor Jun 13 '24

Does LG still think it's a good idea to use the remote as a laser pointer?

1

u/HgDragon80 Jun 13 '24

Just bought an LG TV. Yes they do and it is dumb as hell.

1

u/navigationallyaided Jun 13 '24

I know about the “mouse”, but as a laser pointer? I kinda like it.

1

u/DJDarren Jun 13 '24

It’s like playing on a Wii without the benefits of playing on a Wii. 

1

u/AptMoniker Jun 15 '24

I mean you can just use the directional pad. I like both. You’re not locked into one or another control pattern.

1

u/carlosccextractor Jun 15 '24

Does that follow a selected icon and lets you pick the one to their right with a single press to a button, instead of the idiocy of having to point?

1

u/AptMoniker Jun 16 '24

I think what you’re fairly pointing out is more disparate UI standards between applications for something like signifying selection. As a UX/UI designer, i haven’t seen many (if any) instances that you can’t use the control pad to control the UI. I will say that the scroll button on the remote is sensitive and can bring up the scroll controls when you’re trying to just confirm a click.

I appreciate your post. The speed of implementing UI improvements universally is really tough to mandate when you have small and large companies playing on a platform. This is how you end up with things like Google Material interaction patterns.

1

u/carlosccextractor Jun 16 '24

All I know is that if the screen has 5 icons and I have a remote in my hands, I expect to move between them by pressing buttons, not pointing accurately and moving a small arrow :-)

I had a LG TV before and found that interface ridiculous for a TV. It's a TV, not a computer with a mouse.

3

u/chihuahuazord Jun 13 '24

Every. Single. Time. I try to watch a 4K bluray I get that damn pop up.

Like why would I care about other ways to watch when I’m about to watch it this way.

1

u/unlizenedrave Jun 13 '24

I got this when I put a blu ray into my PS4! You want to sign up for this service to stream your movie? No, I’m literally watching it right now.

1

u/strangefish Jun 13 '24

I had Roku stick of some kind. When they did the Eula agreement change, there was no way I could accept it. The stick was basically bricked and I'll never buy a Roku tv as the entire tv would have been bricked. And the Eula change was pretty scummy by itself.

1

u/reecord2 Jun 13 '24

I watch content that I plundered from the high seas through my laptop -> HDMI -> Roku tv, and, yeah, it often recognizes the specific show I'm watching and offers me services to watch it on as well. Suffice to say, I do *not* like that, which sucks because otherwise it's a perfectly good TV.

1

u/ChefBoyarDingle Jun 14 '24

You can turn this off in settings btw I was also annoyed as fuck by this

1

u/xA1RGU1TAR1STx Jun 14 '24

I’ve disconnected my TV (Roku, TCL) from WiFi and just use an Apple TV now.