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Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV (arstechnica.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

231 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[+] [email protected] -8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don't understand why anyone uses one of these,when you can stream anything you want for free on your computer in your web browser.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Is this sarcasm, or do you genuinely not understand watching TV?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Anything you would watch on tv is available free on the internet. No subscriptions, even Netflix. I"m not being sarcastic. Hang your f'ing monitor on the wall, then. That's all that makes this "tv" different. Well, and its advertisements.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don't know why anyone wants to connect their TV to the Internet...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

To watch things? To stream music? Game streaming? To avoid the additional expense, cable clutter, and additional remotes of android TV boxes (which also contain ads out of the box anyway)?

Honestly what kind of question is this lol. It's pretty obvious why people connect their TVs to the internet.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Use a media extender.... they're like $20.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Try finding a dumb tv for sale of relevant size and quality. I know you don't have to connect it to wifi... Usually. But I just want a TV that doesn't have all this shit in it to begin with.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

O I'm not saying it's easy. Just don't connect it. I've got tvs with all that crap but they're connected to my media extenders that I can control, vs a TV that for w/e fucking reason needs updates.