20 ms·

Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

407 points by gpspake 5y ago

cbsks 5y ago
As soon as the ads appeared I voted with my wallet and ditched my Shield for an Apple TV. So far I don’t have any complaints.
- swiley 5y ago
  You didn't vote with your wallet, you already bought the shield. Then you bought another device with closed firmware from another company with their own ad service.
  - cbsks 5y ago
    Sure I did. I stopped using the device that was displaying ads for services that I don’t subscribe to. Google will no longer receive ad revenue from me. So far on my Apple TV I’ve only seen promos (“ads”) for movies/shows on services that I already subscribe to. That is within my personal comfort zone. I wish that I could replace it with a little computer running Linux, but it’s difficult to find compatible hardware and I don’t have the time or patience to fuss around with it right now.
  - moepstar 5y ago
    Are you talking about iAd? That's gone, discontinued in 2016... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd
gpspake 5y ago
I've had the Shield for years and set them up for a few family members. I still believe it's the best device of its kind on the market and I've recommended it every chance so I have a lot of friends with them as well. In the most recent update, the until-now ad-free homepage was defaced with an ad banner that takes up half the screen and can't be removed. This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Android TV Launcher. To add to this, some of the ads have been deemed inappropriate or offensive to certain users adding to the frustration of ads being introduced to this long-standing ad-free experience. I, like many Shield owners, am considering installing a third party launcher. This can be done pretty easily by watching an instruction video on Youtube and most users will go this route without consideration of security - potentially opening large numbers of the devices up to vulnerabilities.
- notyourwork 5y ago
  +1 I’m beyond furious about this and it’s a small drop in the bucket of Googles increased ability to shove ads down your throat everywhere. Something needs to change.
- Alacart 5y ago
  I'm absolutely pissed about it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it and I spent 20 minutes trying to find the setting that I thought must be there somewhere. It's such a seemingly small thing but in. lot of ways it's the equivalent of waking up in the morning and finding that someone came into your house in the night and stuck a flyer to your fridge.
- avel 5y ago
  It's not the Android TV Launcher per se. If you revert that app to the factory-installed one, the "recommendations" banner will still show up within an old version of the launcher. So this comes from Play Services. It appears the launcher has an exclusive hook for Play Services to show content in, and is being used for this purpose. I am still reverted to the original Android TV Launcher because it takes less clicks to reach some functionality and is simpler, but the recommendation banner ruins it somewhat.
- mhuffman 5y ago
  It was fucking absurd how big the ad was and that it was advertising for shit I have never and will never use! > This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Android TV Launcher. My understanding is that Google big-dicks companies that want to run android on their device and have Play Store. So in this case, my understanding is that if they remove the Android TV Launcher, they must remove all the Google-branded items, including Play Store, which basically cripples Android for normal users.
LoveLeadAcid 5y ago
Just imagine for one second that you bought a product with a Google OS thinking there won’t be ads and spyware on the thing. It’s frickin’ 2021, just imagine being completely ignorant of Google’s function in this, our current year. Everybody has the right to buy an ad and spyware laden black box and install it in their home. But is it smart?
- errantspark 5y ago
  They're a company which spends billions of dollars hiring the people who play the game of manipulating others at the highest level. They're doing their absolute best to make sure people are ignorant. The average person is completely outmatched.
PaulHoule 5y ago
Funny, after the update my teenage son and his friend have a lot of fun "watching TV" with the new interface, usually from Youtube. Myself I'm not a fan, but I just watch anime w/ Jellyfin, live TV with HDHomeRun (Quantum Leap on Comet!) and run a lot of sideloaded apps to control IOT functions.
fjtktkgnfnr 5y ago
If you don't pay for it, you are the product. If you pay for it, you are still the product. You are always the product, phone carriers you pay monthly contract to collect your location data and sell it, TVs spy on your TV watching, Netflix/Spotify/... record everything you do, you will be monetized even if you already paid.
- gpspake 5y ago
  A lot of ad conscious users have been glad to pay the premium price for the Shield because of the ad-free experience. I've had the device for years and this is the first time I've been subjected to ads that I can't remove.
  - wccrawford 5y ago
    I suspect this took nVidia by surprise as well. I'd be fine if Google just had an opt-out option for these "ads". I can't believe it isn't an option.
    - beerandt 5y ago
      Nvidia had been opting out of this launcher update for at least a year, so they knew it was there. They may have been less aware of the timing of Google over riding it, but they should have at least known enough to be working on an alternative (assuming they wanted to).
  - LoveLeadAcid 5y ago
    It's Android-based. Of course there was always spyware, and you just learned that the ads can be shoved into your face at a whim. Unless you're tech-incompetent this isn't a big surprise.
- npteljes 5y ago
  Not sure why downvoted - this is the truth. The only way to maybe stop this is via legislation, because that levels the playing field. Otherwise, the one with the abusive strategy will come out ahead.
sdflhasjd 5y ago
My shield updated to this the other day. I'm pretty furious about it, it's not a cheap device, and it's certainly not Google's. To be adding these "features" without asking, irrespective of whatever agreement between me, Nvidia or Google exists, is ridiculous. I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Fortunately, I know how to use ADB and just installed another launcher, but most other people just have to bend over and take it. No doubt ADB tricks won't be sufficient in future updates and I'll be playing more silly games with a device I own. Apple is seems almost as bad too. There's recommendations that I don't want. It's certainly worse in that I would have even less control and be unable to remove them. It's certainly a good thing that I don't live anywhere near a Google office, otherwise I'd be launching this POS through one of their windows if I did.
- DiabloD3 5y ago
  What launcher did you switch to?
  - sdflhasjd 5y ago
    Wolf Launcher, seems to do everything I need from a homescreen. Lets you hide apps and has some basic customisation. Not amazing, but it has no ads.
    - jahlove 5y ago
      Supposedly Wolf Launcher stole its code from some abandonware launcher, and is not open source. I'm wary of using it, personally.
      - sdflhasjd 5y ago
        Hmm, so it seems. Well, I've been looking around and there seems to be only one open-source launcher I could find. I'll give it a try. https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher
- 5y ago
eplanit 5y ago
I'm guessing the Android Launcher is next to have banner ads.
- johnasmith 5y ago
  I think this is unlikely, but should it become the case, you can easily install an alternative launcher, something presumably impossible on the sheild. Also, the default launcher happens to be something heavily customized by each OEM (likely extending the AOSP launcher which will never have ads or more typically extending a shared base launcher[0]), and I think routing ads through OEMs would be both a technical and logistical impossibility. The phone space is such a competitive market, and the cost of switching (launchers/to a different Android phone/to iOS) is so low, and the risk to future sales so high, I really doubt you'll see ads on the launcher. [0] https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/master:packages/apps/Launcher3/quickstep/src/com/android/launcher3/BaseQuickstepLauncher.java;drc=45c0918f47b5459435adfe33cce13e86af043fba;l=64 https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/maste...
  - Mindwipe 5y ago
    > I think this is unlikely, but should it become the case, you can easily install an alternative launcher, something presumably impossible on the sheild. Pretty simple to do on the Shield too.
wildrhythms 5y ago
It's really incredible how the average American home spends some $116/mo for television[1], and is still subjected to 16 minutes of advertisements per hour of entertainment. [1] https://www.doxo.com/insights/united-states-of-bill-pay-doxoinsights-cable--internet-report/ https://www.doxo.com/insights/united-states-of-bill-pay-doxo...
- Covzire 5y ago
  I haven't had cable for about 15 years now, and commercials are a big reason. But it's not even just the commercials, I just wasn't interested in the six hundreth special on Nostradamus or aliens on the history channel, or shows purportedly about space exploration that are 50% CGI and 49% speculation masquerading as observations or any kind of "reality shows". Yes and nothing makes me feel like my brain cells are committing suicide faster than watching commercials for cars, pills or insurance made by some of the least funny and stupidest people in the business. Then there are the travel or cooking shows which basically take 5 minutes of interesting content and smash it with a proverbial hammer into a 30 or 60 minute show.
  - seanp2k2 5y ago
    Yep; either show me ads and give me the content for free, or (ideally give me the option) let me pay and don’t show ads. If product people / The MBAs at a company think that there should still be ads on the paid version, consider what those are worth. I haven’t seen anyone try it, but consider a model of three options: 1. Free with lots of ads, 2. Paid but cheap with less ads, 3. Most costly but no ads. Basically, I always want an option to pay whatever a company thinks it’s worth to remove all ads. If there’s really good content on offer, people will pay. Ads make any content look sleazy. Even the best YouTube channels shilling for random products gets lame and old real quick. Please let people who are willing to do so pay the true cost of the content to remove all ads.
    - seneca 5y ago
      > I haven’t seen anyone try it, but consider a model of three options: 1. Free with lots of ads, 2. Paid but cheap with less ads, 3. Most costly but no ads. This is essentially what Amazon does (did?) with their Fire tablets, excluding the completely free tier. There is an ad subsidized version and a more expensive ad free version of the same hardware.
honkycat 5y ago
I bought a PC from a local computer refurbishing shop, FreeGeek. It was $80 and has more than enough hardware to run Linux and a web browser. Works great!
- the_doctah 5y ago
  Is this an ad?
  - honkycat 5y ago
    It is not an ad, no. I was just giving a shout-out to my local charity that refurbishes computers and provides them to low-income individuals. Additionally, I was pointing out I have a full-featured desktop PC running an open source operating system, so I just sidestep the problem a lot of these dongles and gadgets introduce.
lucioperca 5y ago
Stallman told you so.
- echelon 5y ago
  Stallman saw everything that was going to happen to our industry 30 years ago and warned us about it daily. He has a ton of flaws, but we shouldn't ever forget his warnings nor his contributions to free software. The future he was telling us about is here, and it's going to get worse.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
  Stallman actually helped bring this about. The ad companies all run their massive data farms on open source software. Stallman and open source helped drive a lot of paid software out of the market because they could not compete with free versions. For the most part, the paid consumer software market is dead. Companies will always want to make money, so they “gave away” free software funded by ads and then used free open source software to run their servers serving and targeting ads.
  - xenihn 5y ago
    >Stallman and open source helped drive a lot of paid software out of the market because they could not compete with free versions. >they “gave away” free software funded by ads Proprietary software isn't free software. Free doesn't just mean free as in no cost to use.
    - eropple 5y ago
      I feel like this post elides the functionally single-source nature of plenty of free and open-source software. "But you can fork it" means nothing when you, singularly or collectively, don't have the will or, far more frequently, the resources (time, money, knowledge, etc.) to do so in a sustainable and secure manner. It's the "the law, in its majestic equality, forbids all men to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread--the rich as well as the poor" of tech. There is an argument, and I sometimes wonder if it doesn't have legs, that a software developer who I just hand money to is more likely to be aligned with my interests than an advertiser's. (And yeah you can say "well bankroll free software!"--then you have to find somebody and be capable of evaluating the results and you've just hit the resource scarcity problem from the other side. A commercially-released application is a lot more concrete.)
jsnell 5y ago
Discussed 3 weeks ago (500 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27643208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27643208
UI_at_80x24 5y ago
I have disabled the Google Play service to disable the ads on my Shield devices (I thinks this prevents YouTube from working, but I only use YouTube on a PC where UBO can block the advertisements. BUT, I rarely ever see the launcher/home screen anyway. While within whatever app you are using if you click on the 'options/hamburger' button on the remote, you can scroll down to 'Apps' select the next app you want to launch, and select 'Open'. 2-4 mouse clicks becomes 4-6 and you bypass the home screen.
Legion 5y ago
I strongly prefer the Apple TV UI approach over all the rest. The whole content recommendation view is contained withing the Apple TV application, instead of the home screen. The home screen gives me an unsullied grid of applications. If I want to have the content recommendation view be my default, the settings gives me the option of defaulting to it instead of the home screen.
- echelon 5y ago
  > I strongly prefer the Apple TV UI approach over all the rest. > unsullied grid The only thing "unsullied" was the brief period of time you could get everything on Netflix without everyone stuffing their grubby hands into the cookie jar. I'd swear Apple is paying for astroturfing everywhere on the Internet. I know you're not an ad, but I'd honestly never know it with the way the Internet works these days. A lot of folks have Nvidia Shield because they don't want to be beholden to the FAMNGA monopolist giants. And yet, here we are. I'm tired of being sold to by companies that want a bigger market cap and more user lock in. Apple probably wants their 40% cut of all ticket sales and streams, and Google wants to beam ads into your skull.
- post_break 5y ago
  Right now AppleTV is the only way to get a somewhat AD free way to consume streaming. SmartTVs have ads, now the last hold out does too. Roku, ads, firestick, ads. It's gross.
- kelchm 5y ago
  I'm really surprised at just how much I like my Apple TV. I (wrongly) assumed it was a bit of a joke of a product for many years. The latest 4k model is ridiculously fast (despite using an 'old' A12 SoC). Across the board it just works better than any Android TV, Fire TV or Roku I've ever used.
  - vinay427 5y ago
    The Apple TV is really good, but have you tried the Nvidia Shield (Pro)? The launcher leaves something to be desired, and just mever felt entirely optimized for the remote and device even before this ads issue, but at least in my experience applications run extremely quickly even compared to my Apple TV which is already fast. On my Shield, that's while running a webcam recorder (NVR) with two simultaneous network streams 24/7 in the background, which makes it even more impressive to me.
pier25 5y ago
Is this coming to all Shield models? My 2015 doesn't have any ads (yet). I also own an ATV 4K for streaming HDR in DV (Netflix, Disney, etc) but for Plex the Shield is still king. It can direct stream HDR10 and can do HDMI passthrough of any audio format (eg: TrueHD). The ATV decodes surround sound to PCM and while the quality is good, it causes audio sync issues and I think it loses Atmos information (I only have 5.1 setup).
seph-reed 5y ago
I don't understand people who use these launchers. But I suppose it's just a difference it how I consume content?
- npteljes 5y ago
  What is it that you don't understand?
mataug 5y ago
Ads were the main reason why I stopped using my FireTV and switched to an AppleTV. If I pay for the device, and then I also pay for Amazon Prime, I expect atleast the main UI to be Ad-free.
- brewdad 5y ago
  At least FireTV devices are subsidized. I sort of expect ads as part of the deal in getting a device for about half price compared to similar devices. I paid $150 for my Shield and now get the same crappy experience as my $25 FireTV stick. A completely separate issue: The HBOMax app actually works better on my $25 device.
- tomjen3 5y ago
  Does prime still have these inbetween episode ads for their other shows? I have been considering going back but I don't want to pay for a service that does that.
  - schipplock 5y ago
    Only at the beginning, sometimes inbetween.
0xbadcafebee 5y ago
Every time I disconnect from technology, I get a little happier. I don't own a TV, so I can't get TV ads. I'm disconnecting from "streaming services", so I won't get ads in my music, audio books, or movies. I'm disconnecting from Google so I won't be subjected to annoying product "features" I didn't ask for. Eventually I will disable text messaging on my phone, though it also means I won't be able to login to half the services on the internet (including my bank). I hope one day to have a job where I don't need a smartphone or even the internet; technology retirement, I call it.
- npteljes 5y ago
  I think the key is to be strong enough, and brave enough, to voluntarily bring about change. Every time you disconnect, you get a little happier. And I bet coming back feels good too. To let go of a state of mind is scary, seems risky, and undesirable. But a mind, like the body, needs a varied diet of states to be healthy. It's make it more flexible, agreeable to change, tolerant to adversity, and therefore bring about contentedness and happiness. So I think that your plan to gradually disconnect is something good. I wish you best of luck with it.
true_religion 5y ago
I always find it funny when a newspaper has an article complaining about banner ads and the article itself insists on automatically playing a video ad per paragraph of text.
pizza 5y ago
What's the best alternative launcher?
- hitchhikerr 5y ago
  I switched to FLauncher. It's very basic but I think that's what most of us are looking for. It's built with Flutter and it's open source: https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher
moepstar 5y ago
I wonder if a Pi-hole with a good adlist could stop those ads from appearing - sadly/luckily i don't own a NVidia Shield. Maybe someone else can weigh in if that approach does work (maybe with additionally setting up your router to redirect everything DNS back to the Pi-hole)?
- agloeregrets 5y ago
  I can answer this, I have a piHole and Chromecast with Google TV The article is mixing up the types of banners seen here. The recommendation hero row is full of recommendations tailored to you based on watch history. Google however can fill the first slot with a targeted content ad (notably lately, Black Widow on Disney+). My piHole absolutely blocks the first slot and leaves it with an unsightly blank space, the rest of the content remains.
- yardie 5y ago
  I have a pihole and it stops them from appearing but leaves blank/black spaces. Not just on the launcher but in the app as well. For example, IMDBtv will have 15-30s of blank air where nothing happens. The first time this happened I thought the app crashed because FF/Pause/Play didn't do anything. And then the movie resumed and did it again 30 minutes later.
- npteljes 5y ago
  It could work, until they push a DNS over HTTPS update, or something similar.
sergiotapia 5y ago
What's a better device that plays literally everything with subtitles and doesn't require a transcode from Emby/Plex? I've had apple tv, roku ultra, and shield. Shield is the only one that plays everything direct streaming. It sucks that they are butchering this great product.
- Marsymars 5y ago
  Maybe Infuse on Apple TV?
Waterluvian 5y ago
Speaking of this, YouTube changed recently for me and now unskippable ads are 15 seconds and if you watch them on a chromecast you can’t skip them from your phone anymore. You have to go into “remote control mode” and navigate the on-screen UI. Nothing grinds my gears worse than stuff you buy and integrate into your life unnecessarily degrading in performance/behaviour. I might actually be about done with YouTube, which was. Shocking realization.
- sofixa 5y ago
  The correct thing to do for YouTube is to pay for the ad-free Premium version ( which also supports "content creators" more). A lot of people say they'd pay if they were given the option to remove ads, yet surprisingly few people opt to do it for YouTube ( which you can even share with friends and family up to 5 accounts, so it can be a decent deal). Why?
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    Because Youtube's kafka-esque content moderation policies frequently penalize the creators I care about, so I feel like paying them for ad free solidifies their monopoly. I hope a competitor starts taking marketshare from them soon. Ads serve as a reminder to watch less youtube.
    - sofixa 5y ago
      Yes and no. Paying for Premium and being subscribed for specific content creators gives them money, and isn't impacted by them being demonetised for whatever reason. Indeed you fuel the whole machine and enable their monopoly though. Content creators don't have much choice anyhow. That's why personally i pay for Premium ( split between multiple people), have Nebula and force myself to use it for creators on it, and support some on Patreon directly. YouTube is a monopoly and are deeply entrenched - i highly doubt any competitor could dislodge them, but i try to help them nonetheless.
    - IcyClAyMptHe 5y ago
      "Ads serve as a reminder to watch less youtube." This is actually what made me cancel my Youtube Premium. I hate ads and make every effort to eliminate them from my entertainment, but I found myself mindlessly watching hours of youtube without them. Back on the free tier I find I can't watch more than one or two short videos before I get so frustrated and move on to something more productive. Very useful.
ossusermivami 5y ago
I switched over kodi+torrents over an RPI because of this, I would have been an happy with android tv and whatever streaming service. Companies spend their times screwing their customers, so if you screw me I screw you! and I have my conscience for me.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  I did this with odroids instead of RPI and got sick of dealing with issues. Shield TV has been great as a kodi-and-netflix-and-nothing-else box up until now.
  - meowster 5y ago
    I recently set up a Plex server and use Kodi on a RPi with the PlexKodiConnect (PKC) add-on. Very easy to set up, and no issues so far.
    - tomc1985 5y ago
      The problems were never with kodi, it was always the platform or the hardware. I've been running the same Kodi setup (basically just setting up SMB access to a shared network drive) since XBMC on my modded Xbox. Odroid on both their Ubuntu distro and Odrobian (Debian fork) was the absolute worst experience. 2D would be super slow but 3D would be fine, or the opposite, or it just wouldn't start after sitting unused for a few months. `apt-get upgrade` breaking stuff. Such a PITA... I guess I should try again on a newer RPi, if the driver support is 100% and the hardware somewhat reliable then I might be interested. Last time I checked 4K and USB 3.0 weren't available on RPi so I was turned off from the platform. But up until now Shield has been the sweet spot.
- npteljes 5y ago
  This is the first comment in the thread that makes sense. The customers' and the content providers' relationship is simply abusive. The providers' constant struggle for control over viewership, and the creep of anti-features, dark patterns and questionable EULAs and other terms are simply disgusting.
pdimitar 5y ago
I might be the dumbest observer on these trends around here but does it seem to somebody else that this is a normal part of the end-of-life lifecycle of many devices and that it usually goes like this... - "Sir, sales are falling... we actually haven't had new sales in months". - "How much does it cost to support the infrastructure for these devices?" - "X million a month". - "Feck it. Cram ads into them, we're not supporting those things for free!" ...or is it just me?
- tyingq 5y ago
  I don't think NVidea is getting any of the revenue for these ads. If I understand it right, Google is getting the revenue...the launcher is Google's app.
  - pdimitar 5y ago
    Gods, that's even worse then! So NVIDIA will have to deal with Google just randomly deciding to monetize a launcher...?
    - tyingq 5y ago
      Yes, that's the essence of the problem. Android TV devices have to use Google's launcher as the default, or they have to go fully on their own, without Google services, like a FireTV device.
      - pdimitar 5y ago
        Well, it seems that Google (and various other corporations) are finally entering their endgame and are showing their true colors. I am eager to find out if the world can fight back meaningfully. Here's hoping. {raises glass}
        foepys 5y ago
        The only way to solve this is to break up Google (or rather Alphabet) but I don't see this happening. Anti-trust got way too soft.
Vaslo 5y ago
Is there even any type of smart TV without Google and or other companies? I don’t even know who makes an open source tv or something with Android as a part of it.
- hitchhikerr 5y ago
  You can get a NUC or some kind of mini PC and install Kodi on it
  - likeclockwork 5y ago
    And where does the content you will play with Kodi come from?
    - meowster 5y ago
      There's an unofficial Netflix add-on, but I just set up a Plex server and use PlexKodiConnect (PKC) Kodi add-on.
      - likeclockwork 5y ago
        I use the exact same solution. But I'll be honest and admit that plenty of the content is the same content that is being advertised to me. Even if I'm not going to buy it I still benefit from learning it exists.
stalfosknight 5y ago
This is why I stopped using TiVo. I had been a loyal customer who was very happy to pay a subscription and bought several generations of TiVo boxes until they started inserting ad banners whenever you paused whatever you were watching and then into the UI's menus as if that wasn't enough. I wish I could ban advertising and marketing.
- jdofaz 5y ago
  The current version of the software plays a video ad when you start playback of a recording. They try to be sneaky about it, it doesn't play them on channels like PBS, nothing indicating it is a streaming ad and you can FF through it
stuaxo 5y ago
Arg, I have a different Android TV and like the older design, I guess this one will be coming and it looks like a strict downgrade.
duxup 5y ago
> a recent update to Android TV, Shield TV So did Nvidia just decide to do this? Switch it to Android TV? How did this play out exactly?
- vetinari 5y ago
  Nvidia Shield TV (the hardware) runs Android TV (the OS). As a part of the Android TV OS, there's the Android TV Home (the launcher). Which Google (the OS and launch app vendor) updated, and screwed Nvidia (hw vendor) in the process.
ww520 5y ago
This is why people find pirated media to be a much better experience.
kodt 5y ago
I have one, the banner ad is somewhat annoying, but doesn't really impact my use of the device.
drakenot 5y ago
I followed some instructions online to install a Launcher Manager and then installed the Wolf Launcher. I now just have rows of icons which I can customize. I would have tolerated some minimal amount of ads in a few tile locations but the new Android TV launcher's ads were taking up a huge amount of screen space.
Marsymars 5y ago
I'd be pissed too. However, I looked into streaming devices a year or so ago, and passed on getting a Shield TV because there was no assurance that it would remain ad-free, and absent that assurance, it seemed like an inevitability given Google's position.
minikites 5y ago
Google is fundamentally an advertising company. I don't understand why people are surprised that an operating system made by an advertising company shows ads. It's the same reason Chrome's address bar makes you search instead of bringing up your history. It's the same reason Gmail even exists. Everything Google does has the ultimate purpose of showing advertising to you.
skizm 5y ago
Does pi-hole resolve this?
- cyberge99 5y ago
  Sadly, not yet.
lrvick 5y ago
I had a couple of these and dropped them months ago for Kodi boxes as I sought to remove user-hostile proprietary products from my life. Extra happy with this choice now.
tristor 5y ago
I have the highest-end version of the nVidia Shield on my bedroom TV and I bought one for my parent's RV and their apartment, because it was a simple and straightforward device to use streaming services which was more privacy respecting than a smart TV. With this change, I've had my parents return the one I just recently got for their apartment and I've bought them an Apple TV instead. There is no excuse for this, and the fact nVidia allowed this Google-originating change to be pushed without any concept of Product ownership or focus on the experience tells me that nVidia doesn't care about the Shield brand and it's not even worth trying to keep these around. They'll be slowly phased out in every use case I've recommended them to numerous people by Apple TVs or other devices which respect their users. Good UX is not a choice, it is mandatory when you design and curate a product, and users will walk away if you screw it up. Showing ads to me on something I paid for with a silent update is atrocious and unethical.
compsciphd 5y ago
the ads don't seem to be global. I get ads when I VPN into the US on my shield and sony tv, but ads disappear soon after I stop using the vpn.
EugeneOZ 5y ago
I found this: go to Settings > Apps > See All Apps > Show System Apps > Google Play Services and disable the app. I share your hate to this “feature.
jancsika 5y ago
Apropos of avoiding such shenanigans: Can I use a spare rpi3/4 to watch netflix on a spectre non-smart tv I have?
- meowster 5y ago
  There's an unofficial Netflix add-on for Kodi. LibreELEC makes it simple to run Kodi on a RPi. I just set up a Plex server and use Kodi on a RPi with the PlexKodiConnect (PKC) add-on.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Animats 5y ago
You're not the customer. You're the product. You can still turn the screen off. For now.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
myohmy 5y ago
We're heading back to the 2000s. I fully expect YouTube to put ads into premium eventually. You are too valuable a commodity to them to do otherwise. (If you think you are a customer then lol, the advertisers are the customers)
- physicles 5y ago
  I did a mental double-take when I once listened to a friend in ad tech describe his business. To refer to people who used ad-rich apps, he used the word “inventory”. This inventory is what they were selling to their customers, the advertisers. I’m sure this is old news to a lot of people, but the use of that specific word neatly and fully betrays the shift in perspective that is natural and necessary in ad tech. I feel fortunate that I can comfortably choose to never work at an ad-supported business.
makecheck 5y ago
Not just ads but distractions in general. Who are these people who constantly want their TVs blasting random things while looking at a menu? And who decided that these things need to be playing more loudly than the TV show itself!? When I am trying to select a show or an episode I DO NOT want it auto-playing even a clip of a show (much less an ad). Just be quiet!
- thewebcount 5y ago
  This drives me so crazy. Glad to see I'm not the only one. When Netflix finally gave the option to turn it off, I did it within minutes of learning of the feature. I understand droves of others did the same.
phreack 5y ago
This was actually the reason I didn't buy a Shield last month. Saw the news and noped right out. I've been having some sort of success with Emby and web browsers instead, it's not the prettiest UX but it works and I see no ads, which is great for my mental health.
treve 5y ago
My Sony Bravia tv has started the same, and I've found no way to disable it. I don't really want a large Disney Plus ad, and I thought that I was buying a premium product.
thiht 5y ago
> However, a number of Shield TV users consider these images to be advertisements (especially when they recommend shows on services users aren’t even subscribed to) Sums it up. These ARE ads, they suck, and for the paid price should not be here. I'm still salty I have fucking ads on my 2000€ Bravia. It's the first and last time I buy an Android TV. In fact it was the push for me to migrate from an Android phone to an iPhone.
mrtweetyhack 5y ago
Shut up. You got what you paid for.
beezischillin 5y ago
There’s a very disturbing trend wherein nowadays you own less and less of the things you pay for. Hardware and paid software shouldn’t be stuffed full of ads. I don’t have anything against an ad supported cheaper version like Amazon did with the Kindle but trying to sneak in extra revenue on top of something you’ve already paid for is not only annoying but full on shady as heck. Facebook/Oculus started doing similar experiments with paid apps and games on their VR platform and people aren’t happy there either. Personally, I’m extremely worried about this becoming normal, the same way micro transactions did in games.
charwalker 5y ago
Unwanted content discovery is unwanted advertising therefore content discovery is advertising if only for chosen services. I don't care if Black Widow is now available even if I have the app downloaded. I'll open the app to find that content or use a web site to compare indexes and identify which service, if I have it, has that content. Or I'll continue to flex Plex/etc to remove ads and keep the content I want on hand. If I pay for it I shouldn't see ads, ever, that's the deal. Show me an ad after my check has cleared then I'll move on.
wesleywt 5y ago
Don't antagonise the customer seems like basic rule these guys are forgetting.
loughnane 5y ago
I’m a bit late but you _can_ uninstall the update. I’m away from my tv but it’s something like settings>apps>show system apps> Android home launcher > uninstall updates
matty22 5y ago
I don't get the outrage? Users bought an ad machine and they are being served ads. That should have been understood. Solution: Buy non-smart TVs
- stiltzkin 5y ago
  Users bought more than $200 streaming device without ads, Google pushed a new update to Android TV OS which include ads 2/3 of your homescreen. Shield users expected NVIDIA to disable these ads or add a new launcher. NVIDIA does not deliver, users are now testing third party launchers.
  - matty22 5y ago
    Shouldn't the assumption at this point be the opposite? Nearly every smart device ever released has either shown ads or tracked your activity and sold that to the highest bidder. Buying a streaming device and expecting the opposite at this point is crazy.

407 points by gpspake 5y ago

As soon as the ads appeared I voted with my wallet and ditched my Shield for an Apple TV. So far I don’t have any complaints.

swiley 5y ago
You didn't vote with your wallet, you already bought the shield. Then you bought another device with closed firmware from another company with their own ad service.
- cbsks 5y ago
  Sure I did. I stopped using the device that was displaying ads for services that I don’t subscribe to. Google will no longer receive ad revenue from me. So far on my Apple TV I’ve only seen promos (“ads”) for movies/shows on services that I already subscribe to. That is within my personal comfort zone. I wish that I could replace it with a little computer running Linux, but it’s difficult to find compatible hardware and I don’t have the time or patience to fuss around with it right now.
- moepstar 5y ago
  Are you talking about iAd? That's gone, discontinued in 2016... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd

gpspake 5y ago

I've had the Shield for years and set them up for a few family members. I still believe it's the best device of its kind on the market and I've recommended it every chance so I have a lot of friends with them as well. In the most recent update, the until-now ad-free homepage was defaced with an ad banner that takes up half the screen and can't be removed. This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Android TV Launcher. To add to this, some of the ads have been deemed inappropriate or offensive to certain users adding to the frustration of ads being introduced to this long-standing ad-free experience. I, like many Shield owners, am considering installing a third party launcher. This can be done pretty easily by watching an instruction video on Youtube and most users will go this route without consideration of security - potentially opening large numbers of the devices up to vulnerabilities.

notyourwork 5y ago
+1 I’m beyond furious about this and it’s a small drop in the bucket of Googles increased ability to shove ads down your throat everywhere. Something needs to change.
Alacart 5y ago
I'm absolutely pissed about it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it and I spent 20 minutes trying to find the setting that I thought must be there somewhere. It's such a seemingly small thing but in. lot of ways it's the equivalent of waking up in the morning and finding that someone came into your house in the night and stuck a flyer to your fridge.
avel 5y ago
It's not the Android TV Launcher per se. If you revert that app to the factory-installed one, the "recommendations" banner will still show up within an old version of the launcher. So this comes from Play Services. It appears the launcher has an exclusive hook for Play Services to show content in, and is being used for this purpose. I am still reverted to the original Android TV Launcher because it takes less clicks to reach some functionality and is simpler, but the recommendation banner ruins it somewhat.
mhuffman 5y ago
It was fucking absurd how big the ad was and that it was advertising for shit I have never and will never use! > This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Android TV Launcher. My understanding is that Google big-dicks companies that want to run android on their device and have Play Store. So in this case, my understanding is that if they remove the Android TV Launcher, they must remove all the Google-branded items, including Play Store, which basically cripples Android for normal users.

LoveLeadAcid 5y ago

Just imagine for one second that you bought a product with a Google OS thinking there won’t be ads and spyware on the thing. It’s frickin’ 2021, just imagine being completely ignorant of Google’s function in this, our current year. Everybody has the right to buy an ad and spyware laden black box and install it in their home. But is it smart?

errantspark 5y ago
They're a company which spends billions of dollars hiring the people who play the game of manipulating others at the highest level. They're doing their absolute best to make sure people are ignorant. The average person is completely outmatched.

PaulHoule 5y ago

Funny, after the update my teenage son and his friend have a lot of fun "watching TV" with the new interface, usually from Youtube. Myself I'm not a fan, but I just watch anime w/ Jellyfin, live TV with HDHomeRun (Quantum Leap on Comet!) and run a lot of sideloaded apps to control IOT functions.

fjtktkgnfnr 5y ago

If you don't pay for it, you are the product. If you pay for it, you are still the product. You are always the product, phone carriers you pay monthly contract to collect your location data and sell it, TVs spy on your TV watching, Netflix/Spotify/... record everything you do, you will be monetized even if you already paid.

gpspake 5y ago
A lot of ad conscious users have been glad to pay the premium price for the Shield because of the ad-free experience. I've had the device for years and this is the first time I've been subjected to ads that I can't remove.
- wccrawford 5y ago
  I suspect this took nVidia by surprise as well. I'd be fine if Google just had an opt-out option for these "ads". I can't believe it isn't an option.
  - beerandt 5y ago
    Nvidia had been opting out of this launcher update for at least a year, so they knew it was there. They may have been less aware of the timing of Google over riding it, but they should have at least known enough to be working on an alternative (assuming they wanted to).
- LoveLeadAcid 5y ago
  It's Android-based. Of course there was always spyware, and you just learned that the ads can be shoved into your face at a whim. Unless you're tech-incompetent this isn't a big surprise.
npteljes 5y ago
Not sure why downvoted - this is the truth. The only way to maybe stop this is via legislation, because that levels the playing field. Otherwise, the one with the abusive strategy will come out ahead.

sdflhasjd 5y ago

My shield updated to this the other day. I'm pretty furious about it, it's not a cheap device, and it's certainly not Google's. To be adding these "features" without asking, irrespective of whatever agreement between me, Nvidia or Google exists, is ridiculous. I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Fortunately, I know how to use ADB and just installed another launcher, but most other people just have to bend over and take it. No doubt ADB tricks won't be sufficient in future updates and I'll be playing more silly games with a device I own. Apple is seems almost as bad too. There's recommendations that I don't want. It's certainly worse in that I would have even less control and be unable to remove them. It's certainly a good thing that I don't live anywhere near a Google office, otherwise I'd be launching this POS through one of their windows if I did.

DiabloD3 5y ago
What launcher did you switch to?
- sdflhasjd 5y ago
  Wolf Launcher, seems to do everything I need from a homescreen. Lets you hide apps and has some basic customisation. Not amazing, but it has no ads.
  - jahlove 5y ago
    Supposedly Wolf Launcher stole its code from some abandonware launcher, and is not open source. I'm wary of using it, personally.
    - sdflhasjd 5y ago
      Hmm, so it seems. Well, I've been looking around and there seems to be only one open-source launcher I could find. I'll give it a try. https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher
5y ago

eplanit 5y ago

I'm guessing the Android Launcher is next to have banner ads.

johnasmith 5y ago
I think this is unlikely, but should it become the case, you can easily install an alternative launcher, something presumably impossible on the sheild. Also, the default launcher happens to be something heavily customized by each OEM (likely extending the AOSP launcher which will never have ads or more typically extending a shared base launcher[0]), and I think routing ads through OEMs would be both a technical and logistical impossibility. The phone space is such a competitive market, and the cost of switching (launchers/to a different Android phone/to iOS) is so low, and the risk to future sales so high, I really doubt you'll see ads on the launcher. [0] https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/master:packages/apps/Launcher3/quickstep/src/com/android/launcher3/BaseQuickstepLauncher.java;drc=45c0918f47b5459435adfe33cce13e86af043fba;l=64 https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/maste...
- Mindwipe 5y ago
  > I think this is unlikely, but should it become the case, you can easily install an alternative launcher, something presumably impossible on the sheild. Pretty simple to do on the Shield too.

wildrhythms 5y ago

It's really incredible how the average American home spends some $116/mo for television[1], and is still subjected to 16 minutes of advertisements per hour of entertainment. [1] https://www.doxo.com/insights/united-states-of-bill-pay-doxoinsights-cable--internet-report/ https://www.doxo.com/insights/united-states-of-bill-pay-doxo...

Covzire 5y ago
I haven't had cable for about 15 years now, and commercials are a big reason. But it's not even just the commercials, I just wasn't interested in the six hundreth special on Nostradamus or aliens on the history channel, or shows purportedly about space exploration that are 50% CGI and 49% speculation masquerading as observations or any kind of "reality shows". Yes and nothing makes me feel like my brain cells are committing suicide faster than watching commercials for cars, pills or insurance made by some of the least funny and stupidest people in the business. Then there are the travel or cooking shows which basically take 5 minutes of interesting content and smash it with a proverbial hammer into a 30 or 60 minute show.
- seanp2k2 5y ago
  Yep; either show me ads and give me the content for free, or (ideally give me the option) let me pay and don’t show ads. If product people / The MBAs at a company think that there should still be ads on the paid version, consider what those are worth. I haven’t seen anyone try it, but consider a model of three options: 1. Free with lots of ads, 2. Paid but cheap with less ads, 3. Most costly but no ads. Basically, I always want an option to pay whatever a company thinks it’s worth to remove all ads. If there’s really good content on offer, people will pay. Ads make any content look sleazy. Even the best YouTube channels shilling for random products gets lame and old real quick. Please let people who are willing to do so pay the true cost of the content to remove all ads.
  - seneca 5y ago
    > I haven’t seen anyone try it, but consider a model of three options: 1. Free with lots of ads, 2. Paid but cheap with less ads, 3. Most costly but no ads. This is essentially what Amazon does (did?) with their Fire tablets, excluding the completely free tier. There is an ad subsidized version and a more expensive ad free version of the same hardware.

honkycat 5y ago

I bought a PC from a local computer refurbishing shop, FreeGeek. It was $80 and has more than enough hardware to run Linux and a web browser. Works great!

the_doctah 5y ago
Is this an ad?
- honkycat 5y ago
  It is not an ad, no. I was just giving a shout-out to my local charity that refurbishes computers and provides them to low-income individuals. Additionally, I was pointing out I have a full-featured desktop PC running an open source operating system, so I just sidestep the problem a lot of these dongles and gadgets introduce.

lucioperca 5y ago

Stallman told you so.

echelon 5y ago
Stallman saw everything that was going to happen to our industry 30 years ago and warned us about it daily. He has a ton of flaws, but we shouldn't ever forget his warnings nor his contributions to free software. The future he was telling us about is here, and it's going to get worse.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
Stallman actually helped bring this about. The ad companies all run their massive data farms on open source software. Stallman and open source helped drive a lot of paid software out of the market because they could not compete with free versions. For the most part, the paid consumer software market is dead. Companies will always want to make money, so they “gave away” free software funded by ads and then used free open source software to run their servers serving and targeting ads.
- xenihn 5y ago
  >Stallman and open source helped drive a lot of paid software out of the market because they could not compete with free versions. >they “gave away” free software funded by ads Proprietary software isn't free software. Free doesn't just mean free as in no cost to use.
  - eropple 5y ago
    I feel like this post elides the functionally single-source nature of plenty of free and open-source software. "But you can fork it" means nothing when you, singularly or collectively, don't have the will or, far more frequently, the resources (time, money, knowledge, etc.) to do so in a sustainable and secure manner. It's the "the law, in its majestic equality, forbids all men to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread--the rich as well as the poor" of tech. There is an argument, and I sometimes wonder if it doesn't have legs, that a software developer who I just hand money to is more likely to be aligned with my interests than an advertiser's. (And yeah you can say "well bankroll free software!"--then you have to find somebody and be capable of evaluating the results and you've just hit the resource scarcity problem from the other side. A commercially-released application is a lot more concrete.)

jsnell 5y ago

Discussed 3 weeks ago (500 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27643208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27643208

UI_at_80x24 5y ago

I have disabled the Google Play service to disable the ads on my Shield devices (I thinks this prevents YouTube from working, but I only use YouTube on a PC where UBO can block the advertisements. BUT, I rarely ever see the launcher/home screen anyway. While within whatever app you are using if you click on the 'options/hamburger' button on the remote, you can scroll down to 'Apps' select the next app you want to launch, and select 'Open'. 2-4 mouse clicks becomes 4-6 and you bypass the home screen.

Legion 5y ago

I strongly prefer the Apple TV UI approach over all the rest. The whole content recommendation view is contained withing the Apple TV application, instead of the home screen. The home screen gives me an unsullied grid of applications. If I want to have the content recommendation view be my default, the settings gives me the option of defaulting to it instead of the home screen.

echelon 5y ago
> I strongly prefer the Apple TV UI approach over all the rest. > unsullied grid The only thing "unsullied" was the brief period of time you could get everything on Netflix without everyone stuffing their grubby hands into the cookie jar. I'd swear Apple is paying for astroturfing everywhere on the Internet. I know you're not an ad, but I'd honestly never know it with the way the Internet works these days. A lot of folks have Nvidia Shield because they don't want to be beholden to the FAMNGA monopolist giants. And yet, here we are. I'm tired of being sold to by companies that want a bigger market cap and more user lock in. Apple probably wants their 40% cut of all ticket sales and streams, and Google wants to beam ads into your skull.
post_break 5y ago
Right now AppleTV is the only way to get a somewhat AD free way to consume streaming. SmartTVs have ads, now the last hold out does too. Roku, ads, firestick, ads. It's gross.
kelchm 5y ago
I'm really surprised at just how much I like my Apple TV. I (wrongly) assumed it was a bit of a joke of a product for many years. The latest 4k model is ridiculously fast (despite using an 'old' A12 SoC). Across the board it just works better than any Android TV, Fire TV or Roku I've ever used.
- vinay427 5y ago
  The Apple TV is really good, but have you tried the Nvidia Shield (Pro)? The launcher leaves something to be desired, and just mever felt entirely optimized for the remote and device even before this ads issue, but at least in my experience applications run extremely quickly even compared to my Apple TV which is already fast. On my Shield, that's while running a webcam recorder (NVR) with two simultaneous network streams 24/7 in the background, which makes it even more impressive to me.

pier25 5y ago

Is this coming to all Shield models? My 2015 doesn't have any ads (yet). I also own an ATV 4K for streaming HDR in DV (Netflix, Disney, etc) but for Plex the Shield is still king. It can direct stream HDR10 and can do HDMI passthrough of any audio format (eg: TrueHD). The ATV decodes surround sound to PCM and while the quality is good, it causes audio sync issues and I think it loses Atmos information (I only have 5.1 setup).

seph-reed 5y ago

I don't understand people who use these launchers. But I suppose it's just a difference it how I consume content?

npteljes 5y ago
What is it that you don't understand?

mataug 5y ago

Ads were the main reason why I stopped using my FireTV and switched to an AppleTV. If I pay for the device, and then I also pay for Amazon Prime, I expect atleast the main UI to be Ad-free.

brewdad 5y ago
At least FireTV devices are subsidized. I sort of expect ads as part of the deal in getting a device for about half price compared to similar devices. I paid $150 for my Shield and now get the same crappy experience as my $25 FireTV stick. A completely separate issue: The HBOMax app actually works better on my $25 device.
tomjen3 5y ago
Does prime still have these inbetween episode ads for their other shows? I have been considering going back but I don't want to pay for a service that does that.
- schipplock 5y ago
  Only at the beginning, sometimes inbetween.

0xbadcafebee 5y ago

Every time I disconnect from technology, I get a little happier. I don't own a TV, so I can't get TV ads. I'm disconnecting from "streaming services", so I won't get ads in my music, audio books, or movies. I'm disconnecting from Google so I won't be subjected to annoying product "features" I didn't ask for. Eventually I will disable text messaging on my phone, though it also means I won't be able to login to half the services on the internet (including my bank). I hope one day to have a job where I don't need a smartphone or even the internet; technology retirement, I call it.

npteljes 5y ago
I think the key is to be strong enough, and brave enough, to voluntarily bring about change. Every time you disconnect, you get a little happier. And I bet coming back feels good too. To let go of a state of mind is scary, seems risky, and undesirable. But a mind, like the body, needs a varied diet of states to be healthy. It's make it more flexible, agreeable to change, tolerant to adversity, and therefore bring about contentedness and happiness. So I think that your plan to gradually disconnect is something good. I wish you best of luck with it.

true_religion 5y ago

I always find it funny when a newspaper has an article complaining about banner ads and the article itself insists on automatically playing a video ad per paragraph of text.

pizza 5y ago

What's the best alternative launcher?

hitchhikerr 5y ago
I switched to FLauncher. It's very basic but I think that's what most of us are looking for. It's built with Flutter and it's open source: https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher https://gitlab.com/etienn01/flauncher

moepstar 5y ago

I wonder if a Pi-hole with a good adlist could stop those ads from appearing - sadly/luckily i don't own a NVidia Shield. Maybe someone else can weigh in if that approach does work (maybe with additionally setting up your router to redirect everything DNS back to the Pi-hole)?

agloeregrets 5y ago
I can answer this, I have a piHole and Chromecast with Google TV The article is mixing up the types of banners seen here. The recommendation hero row is full of recommendations tailored to you based on watch history. Google however can fill the first slot with a targeted content ad (notably lately, Black Widow on Disney+). My piHole absolutely blocks the first slot and leaves it with an unsightly blank space, the rest of the content remains.
yardie 5y ago
I have a pihole and it stops them from appearing but leaves blank/black spaces. Not just on the launcher but in the app as well. For example, IMDBtv will have 15-30s of blank air where nothing happens. The first time this happened I thought the app crashed because FF/Pause/Play didn't do anything. And then the movie resumed and did it again 30 minutes later.
npteljes 5y ago
It could work, until they push a DNS over HTTPS update, or something similar.

sergiotapia 5y ago

What's a better device that plays literally everything with subtitles and doesn't require a transcode from Emby/Plex? I've had apple tv, roku ultra, and shield. Shield is the only one that plays everything direct streaming. It sucks that they are butchering this great product.

Marsymars 5y ago
Maybe Infuse on Apple TV?

Waterluvian 5y ago

Speaking of this, YouTube changed recently for me and now unskippable ads are 15 seconds and if you watch them on a chromecast you can’t skip them from your phone anymore. You have to go into “remote control mode” and navigate the on-screen UI. Nothing grinds my gears worse than stuff you buy and integrate into your life unnecessarily degrading in performance/behaviour. I might actually be about done with YouTube, which was. Shocking realization.

sofixa 5y ago
The correct thing to do for YouTube is to pay for the ad-free Premium version ( which also supports "content creators" more). A lot of people say they'd pay if they were given the option to remove ads, yet surprisingly few people opt to do it for YouTube ( which you can even share with friends and family up to 5 accounts, so it can be a decent deal). Why?
- cwkoss 5y ago
  Because Youtube's kafka-esque content moderation policies frequently penalize the creators I care about, so I feel like paying them for ad free solidifies their monopoly. I hope a competitor starts taking marketshare from them soon. Ads serve as a reminder to watch less youtube.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    Yes and no. Paying for Premium and being subscribed for specific content creators gives them money, and isn't impacted by them being demonetised for whatever reason. Indeed you fuel the whole machine and enable their monopoly though. Content creators don't have much choice anyhow. That's why personally i pay for Premium ( split between multiple people), have Nebula and force myself to use it for creators on it, and support some on Patreon directly. YouTube is a monopoly and are deeply entrenched - i highly doubt any competitor could dislodge them, but i try to help them nonetheless.
  - IcyClAyMptHe 5y ago
    "Ads serve as a reminder to watch less youtube." This is actually what made me cancel my Youtube Premium. I hate ads and make every effort to eliminate them from my entertainment, but I found myself mindlessly watching hours of youtube without them. Back on the free tier I find I can't watch more than one or two short videos before I get so frustrated and move on to something more productive. Very useful.

ossusermivami 5y ago

I switched over kodi+torrents over an RPI because of this, I would have been an happy with android tv and whatever streaming service. Companies spend their times screwing their customers, so if you screw me I screw you! and I have my conscience for me.

tomc1985 5y ago
I did this with odroids instead of RPI and got sick of dealing with issues. Shield TV has been great as a kodi-and-netflix-and-nothing-else box up until now.
- meowster 5y ago
  I recently set up a Plex server and use Kodi on a RPi with the PlexKodiConnect (PKC) add-on. Very easy to set up, and no issues so far.
  - tomc1985 5y ago
    The problems were never with kodi, it was always the platform or the hardware. I've been running the same Kodi setup (basically just setting up SMB access to a shared network drive) since XBMC on my modded Xbox. Odroid on both their Ubuntu distro and Odrobian (Debian fork) was the absolute worst experience. 2D would be super slow but 3D would be fine, or the opposite, or it just wouldn't start after sitting unused for a few months. `apt-get upgrade` breaking stuff. Such a PITA... I guess I should try again on a newer RPi, if the driver support is 100% and the hardware somewhat reliable then I might be interested. Last time I checked 4K and USB 3.0 weren't available on RPi so I was turned off from the platform. But up until now Shield has been the sweet spot.
npteljes 5y ago
This is the first comment in the thread that makes sense. The customers' and the content providers' relationship is simply abusive. The providers' constant struggle for control over viewership, and the creep of anti-features, dark patterns and questionable EULAs and other terms are simply disgusting.

pdimitar 5y ago

I might be the dumbest observer on these trends around here but does it seem to somebody else that this is a normal part of the end-of-life lifecycle of many devices and that it usually goes like this... - "Sir, sales are falling... we actually haven't had new sales in months". - "How much does it cost to support the infrastructure for these devices?" - "X million a month". - "Feck it. Cram ads into them, we're not supporting those things for free!" ...or is it just me?

tyingq 5y ago
I don't think NVidea is getting any of the revenue for these ads. If I understand it right, Google is getting the revenue...the launcher is Google's app.
- pdimitar 5y ago
  Gods, that's even worse then! So NVIDIA will have to deal with Google just randomly deciding to monetize a launcher...?
  - tyingq 5y ago
    Yes, that's the essence of the problem. Android TV devices have to use Google's launcher as the default, or they have to go fully on their own, without Google services, like a FireTV device.
    - pdimitar 5y ago
      Well, it seems that Google (and various other corporations) are finally entering their endgame and are showing their true colors. I am eager to find out if the world can fight back meaningfully. Here's hoping. {raises glass}
      - foepys 5y ago
        The only way to solve this is to break up Google (or rather Alphabet) but I don't see this happening. Anti-trust got way too soft.

Vaslo 5y ago

Is there even any type of smart TV without Google and or other companies? I don’t even know who makes an open source tv or something with Android as a part of it.

hitchhikerr 5y ago
You can get a NUC or some kind of mini PC and install Kodi on it
- likeclockwork 5y ago
  And where does the content you will play with Kodi come from?
  - meowster 5y ago
    There's an unofficial Netflix add-on, but I just set up a Plex server and use PlexKodiConnect (PKC) Kodi add-on.
    - likeclockwork 5y ago
      I use the exact same solution. But I'll be honest and admit that plenty of the content is the same content that is being advertised to me. Even if I'm not going to buy it I still benefit from learning it exists.

stalfosknight 5y ago

This is why I stopped using TiVo. I had been a loyal customer who was very happy to pay a subscription and bought several generations of TiVo boxes until they started inserting ad banners whenever you paused whatever you were watching and then into the UI's menus as if that wasn't enough. I wish I could ban advertising and marketing.

jdofaz 5y ago
The current version of the software plays a video ad when you start playback of a recording. They try to be sneaky about it, it doesn't play them on channels like PBS, nothing indicating it is a streaming ad and you can FF through it

stuaxo 5y ago

Arg, I have a different Android TV and like the older design, I guess this one will be coming and it looks like a strict downgrade.

duxup 5y ago

> a recent update to Android TV, Shield TV So did Nvidia just decide to do this? Switch it to Android TV? How did this play out exactly?

vetinari 5y ago
Nvidia Shield TV (the hardware) runs Android TV (the OS). As a part of the Android TV OS, there's the Android TV Home (the launcher). Which Google (the OS and launch app vendor) updated, and screwed Nvidia (hw vendor) in the process.

ww520 5y ago

This is why people find pirated media to be a much better experience.

kodt 5y ago

I have one, the banner ad is somewhat annoying, but doesn't really impact my use of the device.

drakenot 5y ago

I followed some instructions online to install a Launcher Manager and then installed the Wolf Launcher. I now just have rows of icons which I can customize. I would have tolerated some minimal amount of ads in a few tile locations but the new Android TV launcher's ads were taking up a huge amount of screen space.

Marsymars 5y ago

I'd be pissed too. However, I looked into streaming devices a year or so ago, and passed on getting a Shield TV because there was no assurance that it would remain ad-free, and absent that assurance, it seemed like an inevitability given Google's position.

minikites 5y ago

Google is fundamentally an advertising company. I don't understand why people are surprised that an operating system made by an advertising company shows ads. It's the same reason Chrome's address bar makes you search instead of bringing up your history. It's the same reason Gmail even exists. Everything Google does has the ultimate purpose of showing advertising to you.

skizm 5y ago

Does pi-hole resolve this?

cyberge99 5y ago
Sadly, not yet.

lrvick 5y ago

I had a couple of these and dropped them months ago for Kodi boxes as I sought to remove user-hostile proprietary products from my life. Extra happy with this choice now.

tristor 5y ago

I have the highest-end version of the nVidia Shield on my bedroom TV and I bought one for my parent's RV and their apartment, because it was a simple and straightforward device to use streaming services which was more privacy respecting than a smart TV. With this change, I've had my parents return the one I just recently got for their apartment and I've bought them an Apple TV instead. There is no excuse for this, and the fact nVidia allowed this Google-originating change to be pushed without any concept of Product ownership or focus on the experience tells me that nVidia doesn't care about the Shield brand and it's not even worth trying to keep these around. They'll be slowly phased out in every use case I've recommended them to numerous people by Apple TVs or other devices which respect their users. Good UX is not a choice, it is mandatory when you design and curate a product, and users will walk away if you screw it up. Showing ads to me on something I paid for with a silent update is atrocious and unethical.

compsciphd 5y ago

the ads don't seem to be global. I get ads when I VPN into the US on my shield and sony tv, but ads disappear soon after I stop using the vpn.

EugeneOZ 5y ago

I found this: go to Settings > Apps > See All Apps > Show System Apps > Google Play Services and disable the app. I share your hate to this “feature.

jancsika 5y ago

Apropos of avoiding such shenanigans: Can I use a spare rpi3/4 to watch netflix on a spectre non-smart tv I have?

meowster 5y ago
There's an unofficial Netflix add-on for Kodi. LibreELEC makes it simple to run Kodi on a RPi. I just set up a Plex server and use Kodi on a RPi with the PlexKodiConnect (PKC) add-on.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Animats 5y ago

You're not the customer. You're the product. You can still turn the screen off. For now.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

myohmy 5y ago

We're heading back to the 2000s. I fully expect YouTube to put ads into premium eventually. You are too valuable a commodity to them to do otherwise. (If you think you are a customer then lol, the advertisers are the customers)

physicles 5y ago
I did a mental double-take when I once listened to a friend in ad tech describe his business. To refer to people who used ad-rich apps, he used the word “inventory”. This inventory is what they were selling to their customers, the advertisers. I’m sure this is old news to a lot of people, but the use of that specific word neatly and fully betrays the shift in perspective that is natural and necessary in ad tech. I feel fortunate that I can comfortably choose to never work at an ad-supported business.

makecheck 5y ago

Not just ads but distractions in general. Who are these people who constantly want their TVs blasting random things while looking at a menu? And who decided that these things need to be playing more loudly than the TV show itself!? When I am trying to select a show or an episode I DO NOT want it auto-playing even a clip of a show (much less an ad). Just be quiet!

thewebcount 5y ago
This drives me so crazy. Glad to see I'm not the only one. When Netflix finally gave the option to turn it off, I did it within minutes of learning of the feature. I understand droves of others did the same.

phreack 5y ago

This was actually the reason I didn't buy a Shield last month. Saw the news and noped right out. I've been having some sort of success with Emby and web browsers instead, it's not the prettiest UX but it works and I see no ads, which is great for my mental health.

treve 5y ago

My Sony Bravia tv has started the same, and I've found no way to disable it. I don't really want a large Disney Plus ad, and I thought that I was buying a premium product.

thiht 5y ago

> However, a number of Shield TV users consider these images to be advertisements (especially when they recommend shows on services users aren’t even subscribed to) Sums it up. These ARE ads, they suck, and for the paid price should not be here. I'm still salty I have fucking ads on my 2000€ Bravia. It's the first and last time I buy an Android TV. In fact it was the push for me to migrate from an Android phone to an iPhone.

mrtweetyhack 5y ago

Shut up. You got what you paid for.

beezischillin 5y ago

There’s a very disturbing trend wherein nowadays you own less and less of the things you pay for. Hardware and paid software shouldn’t be stuffed full of ads. I don’t have anything against an ad supported cheaper version like Amazon did with the Kindle but trying to sneak in extra revenue on top of something you’ve already paid for is not only annoying but full on shady as heck. Facebook/Oculus started doing similar experiments with paid apps and games on their VR platform and people aren’t happy there either. Personally, I’m extremely worried about this becoming normal, the same way micro transactions did in games.

charwalker 5y ago

Unwanted content discovery is unwanted advertising therefore content discovery is advertising if only for chosen services. I don't care if Black Widow is now available even if I have the app downloaded. I'll open the app to find that content or use a web site to compare indexes and identify which service, if I have it, has that content. Or I'll continue to flex Plex/etc to remove ads and keep the content I want on hand. If I pay for it I shouldn't see ads, ever, that's the deal. Show me an ad after my check has cleared then I'll move on.

wesleywt 5y ago

Don't antagonise the customer seems like basic rule these guys are forgetting.

loughnane 5y ago

I’m a bit late but you _can_ uninstall the update. I’m away from my tv but it’s something like settings>apps>show system apps> Android home launcher > uninstall updates

matty22 5y ago

I don't get the outrage? Users bought an ad machine and they are being served ads. That should have been understood. Solution: Buy non-smart TVs

stiltzkin 5y ago
Users bought more than $200 streaming device without ads, Google pushed a new update to Android TV OS which include ads 2/3 of your homescreen. Shield users expected NVIDIA to disable these ads or add a new launcher. NVIDIA does not deliver, users are now testing third party launchers.
- matty22 5y ago
  Shouldn't the assumption at this point be the opposite? Nearly every smart device ever released has either shown ads or tracked your activity and sold that to the highest bidder. Buying a streaming device and expecting the opposite at this point is crazy.