[HN Gopher] Roku files patent to inject ads via HDMI
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Roku files patent to inject ads via HDMI
Author : yololol
Score : 78 points
Date : 2024-04-04 21:31 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (patents.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (patents.google.com)
| RockRobotRock wrote:
| McDonald's!
| callalex wrote:
| For those unaware, this is a reference to the real, actual
| patent Sony was granted that requires the user to stand up,
| T-Pose, and shout "MacDonalds!" in order to skip an ad.
|
| https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sony-patent-mcdonalds/
| pawelduda wrote:
| This is so stupid it's funny
| kderbyma wrote:
| really pushing the envelope with this one....Wow....what a
| contribution to society....who would've think this was
| meaningful.....greed.....just greed....
| type0 wrote:
| HDMI is a farce
|
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/hdmi-forum-to-amd-no...
| codetrotter wrote:
| Thankfully we are not completely stuck with HDMI
|
| USB-C connectors using the DisplayPort protocol is the best of
| all worlds
|
| https://www.displayport.org/displayport-over-usb-c/
| SenpaiSilver wrote:
| I still hate that turning off one of my monitors moves the
| windows to the other still on monitor...
| rylittle wrote:
| anyone know if theres a way to fix this?
| samatman wrote:
| I'd start with the question: where do you want them to
| go? Windowing systems generally don't have a 'limbo'
| where windows can live without being displayable, and
| that probably isn't what you want, either.
|
| Do you want them all to auto-minimize? You can probably
| get that. But it starts with answering the question.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| I could imagine a tiling window manager like sway having
| a "temporarily gone" pseudo-workspace that holds windows
| that were on another monitor until you plug it back in or
| pull them to another workspace. Or to remember that
| workspaces 1, 3, and 5 were on another monitor recently,
| and to put them back there when you plug back in.
| Kim_Bruning wrote:
| If it's the same problem I have, I feel the pain!
|
| On a laptop, reconfiguring to use monitors as and when
| you connect/disconnect them can be great.
|
| However, I'm also often on a PC with a fixed multi-
| monitor setup. Any situation where one monitor is briefly
| out is going to be transient. But some windowing systems
| decide to throw out all your settings at the drop of a
| hat.
|
| The correct behavior in this case is to do nothing, the
| fact that a monitor seems to have gone a way should just
| be ignored. (Because it didn't, really. Maybe I'm just
| messing with it for a sec, or it's a different brand and
| turns on/off a few seconds after the others)
|
| [IIRC on KDE you can prevent reconfiguration by turning
| Kscreen OFF ]
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| Dual monitor KVM with EDID emulation. Cheap with HDMI.
| Still pricey for the few DP switches out there that
| support it.
| johnea wrote:
| I also really dislike this moving of windows when a
| display is powered off.
|
| That's why I run fluxbox window manager on a non-ubuntu
| linux distibution.
|
| Leave windoze, leave ubuntu, regain control of your
| computer...
| ForHackernews wrote:
| ...that seems like a really good and intuitive feature.
| What would expect it to do instead? Close the window? Keep
| it on some invisible virtual desktop? (how large is the
| mysterious off-screen area in which windows can be lost?)
| oarsinsync wrote:
| My laptop has a 15" 1080p panel. It's attached to 2x 32"
| 4K panels. When I'm done for the day, I turn the screens
| off.
|
| When I come back the next day, all my windows are on the
| laptop onboard display, and if I'm lucky, resized in a
| way that makes them movable. If I'm unlucky, I need to
| close the application, re-open it, and hope it's back in
| a helpful way.
|
| The 2x 4K panels show me my wallpaper every morning. They
| don't show me any windows that were on them.
|
| "intuitive" is in the eye of the beholder.
| jayd16 wrote:
| For what its worth Windows should handle this well enough
| now. Window locations are restored when the monitor setup
| returns to a previous layout.
| oarsinsync wrote:
| My up-to-date patched install of Windows 10 does not,
| unfortunately
| rad_gruchalski wrote:
| My macos does :D
| quickslowdown wrote:
| For anyone else who gets stuck with a window where the
| draggable part is off-screen on Windows, if you click the
| icon in the taskbar to "focus" the window, hold Win+Shift
| and hit the up arrow, it'll maximize the window so you
| can see the controls. If it's on a different monitor, or
| on a "ghost" monitor your computer thinks is plugged in
| but isn't actually, use Win+Shift and left/right arrow
| keys until you can see the window :)
|
| Still a very stupid problem to have to solve.
| ok_dad wrote:
| Funny, on my gaming windows computer I turn off my OLED
| monitor BEFORE I turn off the computer to let it do its
| special processing reliably. I've had the opposite issue to
| yours, several windows will remain on the turned off
| monitor! I have that one on HDMI and the second monitor on
| a DP connection.
| MenhirMike wrote:
| How many 65" Displays with Display Port are there? Also,
| don't nVidia GPUs only support the nearly 10 year old Display
| Port 1.4, which doesn't support variable refresh rates for
| high resolution/high framerate displays? Sure, buying an AMD
| GPU is a solution, if you don't mind worse drivers and higher
| power usage for less performance.
|
| (To be clear: I want HDMI to die, DisplayPort to win, and AMD
| to get their crap together. But at the end of the day, we
| need support on both the GPU and the Monitor/TV side, and
| that's where it's lacking.)
| a_t48 wrote:
| It looks like the 50 series will support it
| MenhirMike wrote:
| Hallelujah!
| thomastjeffery wrote:
| The ludicrous part is how many TVs display 4K@120, but can
| only input 2K@120 or 4K@60, just because they have
| exclusively HDMI 2.0 ports instead of including a
| DisplayPort 1.4 port.
| chgs wrote:
| I'd rather just use SDI
| kstrauser wrote:
| And it'll probably be hard to opt out of it:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39643421
| optimalsolver wrote:
| "Say 'McDonalds' to end commercial":
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/bsx72f/say_...
| exe34 wrote:
| I'll cut it out of the cable with a pair of scissors.
| chris_wot wrote:
| If it means that nobody else can implement this without costing a
| huge amount of money in licensing, this is a net positive.
| omoikane wrote:
| I had a similar thought, I would assume the patent is meant to
| be used defensively to discourage something downstream of Roku
| from injecting ads.
|
| If Roku wants to display ads, they can already do so if the
| content originated from their system. If Roku is displaying
| content originated from an external system, that external
| system can display their own ads to defeat the detection of
| pause events. (DirecTV already does this).
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Roku data breach: Over 15k accounts affected_
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39674041
| fleshmonad wrote:
| You will rent "your" DRM protected PC, and we will inject Ads
| into your brain
| chgs wrote:
| Ads should only be on TV and radio, and in magazines, and
| movies, and at ball games, and on buses, and milk cartons, and
| T-shirts, and bananas, and written on the sky... But not in
| dreams.
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| > When the media device pauses the media content, the display
| device can determine that a pause event has occurred and insert
| an ad shown on the display device.
|
| Hilarious. I love how all the streaming companies are hijacking
| the pause control now. Why do you think I hit pause? Pick one or
| more of the following:
|
| 1. I need to go to the bathroom.
|
| 2. I want to inspect the current frame more carefully.
|
| 3. I want to see an ad for psoriasis medication.
|
| Hint: One of the above answers is wrong. Think about it and get
| back to me. I'll wait. (I did hit pause after all.)
| whyenot wrote:
| It depends. How accurate is Roku's guess that you may have
| psoriasis? Now repeat this exercise but replace Roku with Meta
| or Google.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| It does not, in any way, _depend_.
| Jochim wrote:
| How accurate they are directly correlates with how much pain
| I'd wish on whoever is responsible.
| neon5077 wrote:
| If your only options are "bad" and "even worse", that does
| not mean that one option is good. They are both, in fact,
| _bad_.
| dangoodmanUT wrote:
| HN comedy goes underappreciated
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| And furthermore, Purushottam NARAYANA and Andre Goddard Rosa,
| you have put your names on this thing publicly. If I were you I
| would think very carefully about my life choices. Are you
| making the world a better place? Are you earning a living doing
| something you would be proud to tell your grandchildren about?
| digging wrote:
| > Are you earning a living doing something you would be proud
| to tell your grandchildren about?
|
| No, they're probably earning a fortune they'll be proud to
| pass down to their grandchildren.
| ChainOfFools wrote:
| > No, they're probably earning a fortune they'll be proud
| to pass down to their grandchildren.
|
| Still a drop in the bucket compared to the billionaires
| being minted semimonthly through combination lottery games,
| though at least in both cases not a cent of the fortunes
| being passed to grandchildren came from me.
|
| actually you could argue that the people who did absolutely
| nothing for society in return for the assurance that none
| of their family will ever have to work at all, for the next
| three or four generations if not longer, have nonetheless
| contributed a net positive to society when compared with
| the apex parasites who actively work to degrade the quality
| of life of everyone else for their own gain.
| rad_gruchalski wrote:
| > Still a drop in the bucket compared to the billionaires
| being minted semimonthly through combination lottery
| games,
|
| You only get so many shots in your life worth running
| with.
| chgs wrote:
| Nobody want to see adverts, yet it's one of the largest
| industries on the planet.
|
| Anyone who doesn't do everything in their power to avoid
| adverts is part of the problem.
| nineteen999 wrote:
| > Anyone who doesn't do everything in their power to avoid
| adverts is part of the problem.
|
| Says everybody until they are wanting to advertise their own
| product.
| tuhriel wrote:
| I'm still not sure the excessive 15x same advert method
| increases your chances.
| websap wrote:
| Do anything to pump that stock price. Don't innovate, don't
| create meaningful user experiences that actually improve lives of
| consumer.
| fr4nkr wrote:
| This is very innovative, though. It takes a lot of research and
| creativity to fuck with people as thoroughly as the modern
| corporate world does.
| Spivak wrote:
| You're not thinking innovative enough. Don't just show ads,
| replace the ads the running app is displaying and then charge
| the app maker to run ads through your platform.
| nzeid wrote:
| If I'm getting this right, any ads you'd see on a Roku would be
| hosted by the apps themselves e.g. Youtube and such. So Roku
| wants a piece of the ad action and this is the only way to do it
| without the burden of providing any actual content.
| lenerdenator wrote:
| "Transfer more value! Transfer more value! Transfer more value!",
| the shareholders chanted, as the virgin shrieked on her descent
| into the throat of an active volcano.
|
| "It is done!", responded the CEO, eyes hidden behind the
| ceremonial quarterly meeting headdress, shielding them from the
| immense heat of the lava.
| SlightlyLeftPad wrote:
| I, for one, would read the rest of this story.
| lenerdenator wrote:
| For the rest of the tale, I recommend you follow the stock
| symbol "ORCL" on the NYSE.
|
| Rather curious that Mr. Ellison owns an island in a volcanic
| archipelago, isn't it?
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Speaking of which, the one question I've always wanted to
| ask bcantrill is if he meant to say "Don't make the mistake
| of anthropomorphizing Oracle" when he said "Don't make the
| mistake of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison."
|
| On purpose or not it was a great sentence, but if it were
| premeditated, that only makes it better.
| stein1946 wrote:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendency_of_the_rate_of_prof...
| oddevan wrote:
| Reads like this is for Roku TVs. They've gotten wise to the fact
| that I'm using my Apple TV more (because I can't update the Roku
| software any higher), but they still want to sell me ads.
|
| I try to stay above stuff... but fuck this.
| deathanatos wrote:
| Roku also recently disabled devices unless you "consented" to
| forced arb. (E.g., article from about then:
| https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/05/roku-disables-tvs-and-stre... )
|
| (IANAL.) I'd like to remind Big Co's that contracts aren't valid
| if there isn't consideration. And continued use of my own TV
| isn't consideration. (And this is backed by legal precedent,
| too.)
| thih9 wrote:
| Why are forced ads still a thing?
|
| When given choice, people escape them - via netflix or adblock.
| The same people spend their free time watching youtube reviews,
| chatting on gear forums, or recommending each other deals on
| social media; it looks like people genuinely want to learn about
| good and fairly priced products.
|
| I sincerely hope we'll find a better way of reaching an audience
| than forced ads.
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| Ironically the fully skippable commercials on cable TV with a
| DVR are the best deal we can get anymore, anything in the
| streaming world can take control of the video stream away from
| you.
| chgs wrote:
| Piratebay still works right?
|
| I just subscribe to paramount plus again to watch discovery.
| Seems perfectly reasonable, they give me a program I want
| (with no product placement from what I can gather - unlike
| the JJ Abram's films with their "Budweiser classic". I don't
| think a self sealing stem boot counts), and I give them PS8 a
| month. Everyone is happy.
|
| However you try to double dip and I don't give you a penny.
| thih9 wrote:
| Piratebay may not work as smoothly.
|
| Content doesn't appear effortlessly on all your devices.
| Some subtitle languages may be missing. Less mainstream
| content may be of low quality, slow to download or missing
| too. Plus, you have to plan ahead or wait for the download
| to finish. At this point I would double check the streaming
| plan price (as long as there is an ad free tier).
| someotherperson wrote:
| Don't worry, there will be a small monthly subscription of
| $9.99 to disable them! Or if you buy the new Roku Plus Extreme
| you can opt-out of personalized ads! What more could you want?
| thayne wrote:
| And then they will decide that no-ads should actually be
| slightly less ads instead. And if you are still using that
| Rolu Plus Extreme after two years, you don't deserve to be
| able to opt out anymore.
| thih9 wrote:
| In my grandparent comment I mentioned "fairly priced
| products" - if the price (including ad removal) is fair and
| the product is good, I have no problems with paying.
| ARandomerDude wrote:
| Reason #27,621,938 to stop watching TV. The media creators hate
| you, the device manufacturers hate you, the streaming companies
| hate you. It's amazing what hoops people are willing to jump
| through in order to poison their own minds.
| stackskipton wrote:
| This seems like patent troll. HDMI-CEC would let you see the
| pause request if they are using remote not tied to the device.
| However, to display the ad, it would require you to hijack the
| input and would be extremely disruptive to the user. Unless they
| were already using Roku and Roku needs to know Pause command to
| be helpful to the user. So besides "Show ads" how is this any
| different from "We handle pause properly!" which is basic
| function.
| brevitea wrote:
| And just like that, I recall I have a DVD collection and access
| to alternative means of streaming.
| xnx wrote:
| Has someone patented a Pi-hole-like HDMI passthrough that blocks
| out and mutes all ads using SponsorBlock or "AI" mechanisms?
| dv_dt wrote:
| Has someone created an enshittification standard scale (ESS)
| where we can just rate what stage a company is at? It could
| actually be useful as I would guess that there is probably a good
| correlation to poor long term financial performance at high ESS.
| Devasta wrote:
| That reminds me, I need to buy more verification cans...
| robswc wrote:
| Ah, this is what Tesla meant when he said "You May Live to See
| Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension."
| crtasm wrote:
| (2022)
| forrestthewoods wrote:
| I refuse to connect my TV to WiFi. I used to use a Roku for all
| my streaming needs. But I switched to an AppleTV because the Roku
| apps started to suck and they got into selling data.
|
| It's a dang shame that AppleTV is the only streaming box that
| doesn't track what I watch to sell. But that seems to be the
| world we live in. Aside from being expensive it's a great product
| and I definitely recommend it.
| kobalsky wrote:
| > I refuse to connect my TV to WiFi
|
| we are one deal away from having TVs that autoconnect to
| xfinity hotspots / amazon sidewalk, to upload telemetry and
| download ads.
|
| I can see people having to open their TVs to cut the wifi
| chipset's power/antenna in the future to avoid ads.
|
| If this crap isn't stopped by law it will just keep escalating.
| zug_zug wrote:
| As somebody who was a roku fan for a while (because I thought
| their UI/os was so much less clunky/noisy) I really can't
| recommend this brand.
|
| I wonder if there's a way to flash your TV with some OS that
| doesn't invade your privacy.
| grounder wrote:
| Hopefully I can still find a "dumb tv" when the time comes to
| replace mine.
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