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

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ah, I think I misunderstood. My mistake. I would make the point that I think many consumers would actually prefer the cheap ad riddled version of many services. Like, many streaming services people complain about having ads, have an ad free tier they're unwilling to pay for. But I assume you'd make the argument that's from the poverty created by the other problems within capitalism. Which is a valid criticism.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fuck man, lemmy is such a refreshing change of pace compared to reddit for these kinds of conversations. And yeah, its partially from poverty style decision making, and some of it is theres usually a larger percentage of a customer base that doesnt care about the finer details of what goes into what they are buying as long as its cheaper than there is for those that want higher ethics/quality. Either way though, without regulation (with it too, but regulation lets there be an acceptable floor intalled), the cheapest to buy product will eventually win out over the competition, and the cheapest way to get the cheapest product will win on that front. At that point, since the goal is to get as much money as possible, the product will start rising in price now that the competition is gone, and steps will be taken to prevent new competition from forming

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Oh I know right? I have shared this sentiment with other... lemmings? It feels like people think more about actually fostering meaningful conversations. Anyway, thanks for your thought provoking comments!