7 ms·

I have kind of enjoyed Roku, but I've wished to install adblock on it, and perhaps an alternative Netflix interface that doesn't have any kind of autoplay. Is

I have kind of enjoyed Roku, but I've wished to install adblock on it, and perhaps an alternative Netflix interface that doesn't have any kind of autoplay. Is this currently possible? Someone must have already figured out how to truly own their own device, haven't they?

e1ven 8y ago
I'm not sure about an alternative UI, but for ad-blocking could you use Pi-hole?
vaishaksuresh 8y ago
Look into PiHole. That is what I have, some ads still get through, but for the most part, ads are blocked across the network.
- jlgaddis 8y ago
  Just for the Roku itself or are ads in "channels" blocked as well? I only rarely watch anything on TV but the girlfriend complains quite a bit about all of the (often repetitive) ads on Hulu -- and I'm pretty sure we even pay for it. Deploying Pi-Hole has been on my to-do list for a while but if it can block ads on Hulu I'd move it up to the top of the list!
  - vaishaksuresh 8y ago
    Everything, including apps. Although, recently YouTube has been bad for me. Earlier i would almost never see ads on YouTube. I just pay Hulu more, so I've not tested that.
    - tracker1 8y ago
      I just broke down to pay the $x/month for ad-free youtube. I watch a lot of streams with regular updates (Tim Pool, Keto Connect, etc). I get far more value from YouTube than I do from Hulu... that's just me though.
  - tracker1 8y ago
    Hulu is a mixed bag, that's not going to stop with Pi-Hole. If you're using the "live tv" on versions of the app that support it, you will see ads, you may see replacement ads on "recorded" tv as well, which are often replaced in blocks by hulu's injected ads. Some can be skipped, others can not. If you have "live tv" you may lose access to those shows you would have access to for the regular streaming, still available on platforms not supported by the current apps with live tv (android tv in particular). If you have streaming only, there are two tiers for that as well. The lower tier has ads. The higher "ad free" tier still has some (fewer) ads on some networks. Hulu also has third party network options and "value add" options, which is annoying as well. I mention all of this, because my GF is a reality tv junkie and the only reason I even have Hulu + TV at all... I've gone back to my seedbox, nas and kodi.
    - drewmol 8y ago
      >I've gone back to my seedbox, nas and kodi. I use a good digital tuner (HDHomeRun) hooked up to my rusty old 1950's rooftop antenna usually using KODI as front end, it's awesome and satisfies my live TV need which is very minimal. I couple that with real-debrid which offers plentiful and reliable supply of cached 4K (actually high bit rate) torrents and it's a much better experience than any of the alternative, crappy, ad-laiden streaming services I've paid for. Once KODI has seamlessly integrated voice control it will be in a league of it's own. I'm not sure how services like real-debrid can work out such great licensing terms to allow their offer of such affordable, ad-free and limitless content catalogs but I assume it's a very technical, economy-of- built-for-scale redundant kubermnetes based on-demand cloud container architecture benifit that wouldn't interest me anyways so I'm not even gonna try and understand it ;-)
      - tracker1 8y ago
        I've looked into real debrid but got more complicated than I had time for the couple times I looked. I should probably check again.
        drewmol 8y ago
  - kbenson 8y ago
    > the girlfriend complains quite a bit about all of the (often repetitive) ads on Hulu -- and I'm pretty sure we even pay for it. Hulu Plus has two offerings, an ad supported one for $5.99/mo, and an ad-free one for $11.99/mo. I subscribe to the ad-free one, and if you watch more than a couple hours of Hulu a month I think it's worth it (but I can't stand watching commercials, so maybe other people find then less onerous).
    - ridiculous_fish 8y ago
      I pay for the ad-free, live-streaming Hulu and there's still ads. My movie was interrupted with an ad for an erectile dysfunction pill, drove me crazy.
      - kbenson 8y ago
        Maybe there's a bug in the live streaming setup that Hulu offers then? I just pay for ad-free Hulu, and I haven't seen an ad from them since a week after they announced that plan (I didn't head about it immediately, but I upgraded as soon as I did). I've watched in a browser, the on the Roku, and on an Amazon Fire TV.
        extra88 8y ago
        The more expensive Hulu subscription is not 100% ad-free, some of their content contracts don't permit them to show the content ad-free.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    I gave up on most internet radio stations - not because they run ads, but they often only have one ad, which they run over and over and over and over ... It drives one mad.
groovybits 8y ago
<< adblock >> PiHole works well for this: https://pi-hole.net https://pi-hole.net
- jftuga 8y ago
  This is on my PiHole blacklist: austin.logs.roku.com captive.roku.com scribe.logs.roku.com (^|\.)logs\.roku\.com$ (^|\.)sw\.roku\.com$
  - richjdsmith 8y ago
    Thanks for this!
ukyrgf 8y ago
The only way to stop Netflix's insane autoplay feature is to stop subscribing to Netflix.
- keepmesmall 8y ago
  It's configurable in the web version. More of a TV-with-closed-software problem.
  - PretzelFisch 8y ago
    Autoplay clips/preview not the autoplay of next episodes that can be controlled by the website settings.
    - keepmesmall 8y ago
      No. Previews can not be disabled and I have disabled "next episode"-autoplay for my user profile. It'd be too weird if this was the other way around for a non-Dutch public, so I will assume you made an error formulating that sentence.
- DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
  Not sure if it's me, but it seems like just about every UI- and service-change that Netflix has made in recent years seems intended to make me unsubscribe.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
    It's designed to improve 'interaction'... ie, glue you to the screen.
  - mdekkers 8y ago
    It isn't (only) you. I unsubbed from Netflix due to intolerable UI, Autoplay, and rapidly shrinking catalog.
- onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago

e1ven 8y ago

I'm not sure about an alternative UI, but for ad-blocking could you use Pi-hole?

vaishaksuresh 8y ago

Look into PiHole. That is what I have, some ads still get through, but for the most part, ads are blocked across the network.

jlgaddis 8y ago
Just for the Roku itself or are ads in "channels" blocked as well? I only rarely watch anything on TV but the girlfriend complains quite a bit about all of the (often repetitive) ads on Hulu -- and I'm pretty sure we even pay for it. Deploying Pi-Hole has been on my to-do list for a while but if it can block ads on Hulu I'd move it up to the top of the list!
- vaishaksuresh 8y ago
  Everything, including apps. Although, recently YouTube has been bad for me. Earlier i would almost never see ads on YouTube. I just pay Hulu more, so I've not tested that.
  - tracker1 8y ago
    I just broke down to pay the $x/month for ad-free youtube. I watch a lot of streams with regular updates (Tim Pool, Keto Connect, etc). I get far more value from YouTube than I do from Hulu... that's just me though.
- tracker1 8y ago
  Hulu is a mixed bag, that's not going to stop with Pi-Hole. If you're using the "live tv" on versions of the app that support it, you will see ads, you may see replacement ads on "recorded" tv as well, which are often replaced in blocks by hulu's injected ads. Some can be skipped, others can not. If you have "live tv" you may lose access to those shows you would have access to for the regular streaming, still available on platforms not supported by the current apps with live tv (android tv in particular). If you have streaming only, there are two tiers for that as well. The lower tier has ads. The higher "ad free" tier still has some (fewer) ads on some networks. Hulu also has third party network options and "value add" options, which is annoying as well. I mention all of this, because my GF is a reality tv junkie and the only reason I even have Hulu + TV at all... I've gone back to my seedbox, nas and kodi.
  - drewmol 8y ago
    >I've gone back to my seedbox, nas and kodi. I use a good digital tuner (HDHomeRun) hooked up to my rusty old 1950's rooftop antenna usually using KODI as front end, it's awesome and satisfies my live TV need which is very minimal. I couple that with real-debrid which offers plentiful and reliable supply of cached 4K (actually high bit rate) torrents and it's a much better experience than any of the alternative, crappy, ad-laiden streaming services I've paid for. Once KODI has seamlessly integrated voice control it will be in a league of it's own. I'm not sure how services like real-debrid can work out such great licensing terms to allow their offer of such affordable, ad-free and limitless content catalogs but I assume it's a very technical, economy-of- built-for-scale redundant kubermnetes based on-demand cloud container architecture benifit that wouldn't interest me anyways so I'm not even gonna try and understand it ;-)
    - tracker1 8y ago
      I've looked into real debrid but got more complicated than I had time for the couple times I looked. I should probably check again.
      - drewmol 8y ago
- kbenson 8y ago
  > the girlfriend complains quite a bit about all of the (often repetitive) ads on Hulu -- and I'm pretty sure we even pay for it. Hulu Plus has two offerings, an ad supported one for $5.99/mo, and an ad-free one for $11.99/mo. I subscribe to the ad-free one, and if you watch more than a couple hours of Hulu a month I think it's worth it (but I can't stand watching commercials, so maybe other people find then less onerous).
  - ridiculous_fish 8y ago
    I pay for the ad-free, live-streaming Hulu and there's still ads. My movie was interrupted with an ad for an erectile dysfunction pill, drove me crazy.
    - kbenson 8y ago
      Maybe there's a bug in the live streaming setup that Hulu offers then? I just pay for ad-free Hulu, and I haven't seen an ad from them since a week after they announced that plan (I didn't head about it immediately, but I upgraded as soon as I did). I've watched in a browser, the on the Roku, and on an Amazon Fire TV.
      - extra88 8y ago
        The more expensive Hulu subscription is not 100% ad-free, some of their content contracts don't permit them to show the content ad-free.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  I gave up on most internet radio stations - not because they run ads, but they often only have one ad, which they run over and over and over and over ... It drives one mad.

groovybits 8y ago

<< adblock >> PiHole works well for this: https://pi-hole.net https://pi-hole.net

jftuga 8y ago
This is on my PiHole blacklist: austin.logs.roku.com captive.roku.com scribe.logs.roku.com (^|\.)logs\.roku\.com$ (^|\.)sw\.roku\.com$
- richjdsmith 8y ago
  Thanks for this!

ukyrgf 8y ago

The only way to stop Netflix's insane autoplay feature is to stop subscribing to Netflix.

keepmesmall 8y ago
It's configurable in the web version. More of a TV-with-closed-software problem.
- PretzelFisch 8y ago
  Autoplay clips/preview not the autoplay of next episodes that can be controlled by the website settings.
  - keepmesmall 8y ago
    No. Previews can not be disabled and I have disabled "next episode"-autoplay for my user profile. It'd be too weird if this was the other way around for a non-Dutch public, so I will assume you made an error formulating that sentence.
DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
Not sure if it's me, but it seems like just about every UI- and service-change that Netflix has made in recent years seems intended to make me unsubscribe.
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
  It's designed to improve 'interaction'... ie, glue you to the screen.
- mdekkers 8y ago
  It isn't (only) you. I unsubbed from Netflix due to intolerable UI, Autoplay, and rapidly shrinking catalog.
onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago