Roku TVs could one day show ads as soon as you pause playing a game on a connected Xbox, or stop a stream on an Apple TV.

Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.

This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.

  • aesthelete@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    8 months ago

    I agree, but you’d be surprised how a mini-PC can be made pretty good. One method is to buy something like this:

    expand for picture

    I ran a similar setup decades ago when it was more popular. Logitech used to make something like this that was pretty cool.

    As a bonus you can sail the seven seas for high-quality live cable feeds from around the country…and basically have free everything forever.

    EDIT: This is what I used to have: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Logitech_diNovo_Mini

    You might be able to use something like an LG magic remote with a full computer too, especially if you could figure out how to get it to display an on-screen keyboard.