I noticed this too and will probably switch to something different. I have noch idea where to switch to though. Nvidia is apparently also adding ads. Chinese android boxes are not trustworthy at all. Chromecast also feels a bit icky with all the stuff Google pulled off on YouTube. I really just want to switch to a Linux bases htpc, but then Netflix will only be 720p and that’s not acceptable. IMHO there currently is no good streaming box
I will absolutely employ a 0 tolerance policy on forced ads.
If I have paid for a service to be ad free and you throw me an ad, I won’t pay for your service.
Hell, I’ll back-charge through my creditor and say I paid for a service that was not delivered.
I’d look through the fine print if it says that they won’t serve ads. Cause I doubt that.
I think this will be the last year I’m an Amazon Prime customer. Their music streaming is beyond shitty, all the stuff that interests me on Instant Video isn’t free anyway, and I don’t buy enough Prime-eligible products to make the 100-ish euros worth it.
I find it interesting how they can get away with increasing the costs while reducing the service.
You can update the TVs settings to block these new large video ads. However, Amazon is getting more and more intrusive with its ads. I imagine that, similar to the Alexa Shows that I also use, every few weeks they’ll tweak the ads, making your previous “disable this” settings no longer applicable. It’s technically a new ad type, so they can auto enable it again. Super frustrating.
Largely in response to these new autoplay ads, I replaced my Fire TV with an LG TV. I’ve got another LG TV from only a few years ago that doesn’t really have ads. This one… does. Damn it. Don’t get me wrong, they’re much less in-your-face when compared to Amazon’s ads. But, damn, does everything just have to be ads now?
For all of Apple’s faults, their Apple TV is pretty decent. A home screen with apps on them; no ads. It’s great
God, if I could just install SmartTube and Kodi/Stremio on an Apple TV, I’d convert in a heartbeat. Until then, I’ll keep my Shield TV Pro.
Install libreelec onto a raspberry pi 4. Its a Linux OS that automatically boots into Kodi.
Kodi has an ad free youtube addon, which you can augment with a sponsorblock addon to skip in video ads.
If you have plex or jellyfin they intergrate really well with kodi. For plex, use plexkodiconnect, for jellyfin, use the jellyfin kodi app.
Flirc has a great remote if you go with the above called the skip.
