System would detect paused content on external devices and show ads on top.

A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November 2023, though it hasn’t yet been granted.

The technology described would detect whether content was paused in multiple ways—if the video being displayed is static, if there’s no audio being played, if a pause symbol is shown anywhere on screen, or if (on a TV with HDMI-CEC enabled) a pause signal has been received from some passthrough remote control. The system would analyze the paused image and use metadata “to identify one or more objects” in the video frame, transmit that identification information to a network, and receive and display a “relevant ad” over top of whatever the paused content is.

        • @[email protected]English
          9•7 months ago

          Just imagine they work out a deal with every consumer TV manufacturer to put this on everything.

            • @[email protected]English
              2•7 months ago

              If only they made 60"+ monitors, I’d do the same. But since those don’t really exist, the options are:

              • prevent TV from accessing the Internet
              • get a commercial grade monitor - more expensive
              • projector - most seem to not have smart nonsense
              • pihole - may or may not work

              I’m going to try out the first, but allow certain accesses (Netflix and Disney+). If that works, I may not need to worry about the rest of the list.

    • @[email protected]English
      26•7 months ago

      Yeah… I’ve been evaluating moving to Plex or Jellyfin.

      Kinda getting done with a lot of this smart stuff. The Monopolies are flexing and I don’t enjoy it.

      • @[email protected]English
        10•7 months ago

        Just do it. I ripped our DVDs and put them on my NAS with minidlna configured, and I can now stream my stuff directly to my TV through the “Photos and Videos” app. My other TV has a Raspberry Pi running Kodi, so if my next TV doesn’t support dlna, I’ll just do that.

        Screw all of these companies and their predatory practices.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•7 months ago

        Do it, it’s great. The NVidia Shield is a great client for it but is getting more and more adds on the homescreen. The are alternative loaders without the add you can put on it.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•7 months ago

      You’ve got it the other way around. Roku sell their TVs at a loss. Buy one, use it as a dumb screen and help them go bankrupt faster.