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“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Is there any point in getting anything above the bottom tier Shield? Just trying to use it to replace my chromecast/stream tv and youtube
I have been using an onn 4k streaming box, which runs Google TV. They're $20. It's pretty easy to disable the default launcher and have it boot to Flauncher. Then you can side load smart tube for an ad free YouTube experience asking with Plex, stremio, or whatever else you want to stream.
I've got a couple of those that I bought shortly after the LTT video, but I'm still using my Roku because I still haven't gotten around to jailbreaking and configuring them.
Do it. It's very easy, and then you can ditch the Roku. There's even an ADB app you can load to remove unwanted apps on-device.
Get an AppleTV.
Lemmy especially sleeps on the Apple TV more than most communities. It’s a solid box that has no ads and no privacy issues. Plex, Jellyfin, etc… all installable. With apples track record on previous versions of the Apple TV, software updates and support for about a decade
I assume being Apple that it's not possible to sideload apps not supported on the app store? In particular I'd like to use some kind of a SmartTube or other youtube app that is ad free
That is correct.
But which do you want? Privacy or convenience? No one makes a streaming device that does both.
You can use sideloadly but IIRC you need a Mac for it to work. My YouTube workflow is a YouTube-dl wrapper that pipes into jellyfin for the small handful of things I still watch from YT, so I’m less familiar with live YouTube interfaces to know which ones are out there.
Nvidia has destroyed the stock Shield TV experience with ads, but it's easy to install custom launchers like Projectivy. The underlying system is still a privacy nightmare, but I don't care that Nvidia knows what TV shows I watch.
I mean, I do care, just not enough to use something like Kodi as my primary TV interface. Maybe if I used any ad supported services I'd feel differently, but I don't, so meh.
That's not Nvidia, that's Google.
You should not buy a Shield. They haven't been updated since...2019? And there's really no reason to. Get the $20 WalMart one.