Features, settings & updates

[MassiveBrainage]

Ok, I think that's exactly what I will do, prolly get three of them.  🙂

[MikeOPFL]

That’s exactly what I did. At least it also supports iTunes Match. Roku only supports Apple Music, and not iTunes Match.

[MassiveBrainage]

06-02-2024 Edit: Still not happy about the ads, but from a technical aspect, I must admit that the Roku Ultra devices I have now perform flawlessly without exception, every time. So I will tolerate the ads for now and refocus my attention onto the performance of the devices, ads and all. I guess nothing is perfect.

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Original post: This is a suggestion, not a rant.

I am a very long time paying subscriber with 13 ongoing monthly premium content subscriptions: YouTube Premium, SiriusXM, Spotify, Hulu, Max, Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, AMC+, Netflix, Disney+, and ESPN.

Roku should utilize this subscriber information and enable this type of user to disable any/all ad panels from their Roku service interface.

I feel that being a paying subscriber to this many services entitles me to a completely ad-free viewing experience.

Comments, suggestions?

[joespinach]

I have a Roku TCL TV. The device is good.  But I don't want any ads on my home screen. I agree with all these customers who are angry that nothing they do will stop the ads. Some of it is so agressive that it changes the entire theme and wallpaper. I might even be willing to pay some reasonable fee NOT to have ads.  Yes, I just said I'd PAY not to have ads!  That's how much I don't like them!

[renojim]

@joespinach, for the wallpapers changing, make sure you have "Seasonal Wallpapers" and "Sponsored Wallpapers" set to off under Settings->Wallpapers & Screensavers.

[MassiveBrainage]

Yup ... I spent last evening setting up my new Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus Android TV Box, $149 from Amazon. Added a custom launcher called "Projectivy", $7 for lifetime use. No ads, ANYWHERE. It has 4gb ram and 32gb rom. My old Roku Ultra 4660 had just 1gb ram and 512mb rom. The comparison is like a VW Beetle to a Dodge  Viper. WOW!  🙂

[smk2]

My thoughts exactly, and for the same reasons. I've been using Nebula all along and it does not remove the lower-left ads. They do not really appear intermittently: mostly they're on, then sometimes off. Changing the wallpaper almost worked, then the device auto-rebooted to show the ads again. Utterly ridiculous, since the right-side ads should be enough.

Want to lose customers, Roku? I'm of exactly the same mind as user Vme - been a Roku user for at least a decade, and am seriously thinking of using another device.

[atc98092]

@smk2 the only streamer that doesn't have ads out of the box is the Apple TV. Any Android based streamer has either Android TV or Google TV, and both have massive ads on the home screen. As someone else mentioned, you can install an alternate launcher, but depending on the streaming it's not a simple thing to do. Ads are an unfortunate side effect of a low cost streaming device. And even my $200 Shield Pro is plastered with ads of some sort on the home screen.

[brunobob44]

Someone's post stated something about "ROKU's competitors" but failed to name them so, as I'm DEFINITELY BAILING OUT OF ROKU's **bleep**TY CUSTOMER SERVICE, can someone PLEASE give me the list of names of ROKU's BIGGEST competitors & thanks much for that?  Bob

[Strega2]

You can see one competitor listed a few posts up.  It costs $150 on Amazon and has an average review rating of 4.0 stars. Of course, I can’t help but compare that to Roku Express that gets 4.7 stars and costs $20.  If ads are your hot button, the $150 box with your own launcher added might make you happy, but for now, I think I’ll stick with the cheap thing I already have and just ignore them.  (I hate ads within programming because they waste my time and interrupt the flow of the show, but so far, I have found ads on the home screen to be easily ignored.)

As for big competitors, I believe the only other ones with any noticeable market share in the US are Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Apple TV and TiVo.

Of course, these days you can get a Windows/Linux PC that fits in the palm of your hand, so if you want control, and power and don’t mind paying more, that’s an option.