this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Technology

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[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 102 points 11 months ago (3 children)

That's why piracy is back on the menu.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 35 points 11 months ago (3 children)

That has nothing to do with piracy or not. Its just a device to play media. You can use a firetv to 100% stream pirated content via kodi or plex and still have to see this shit.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don’t see it. I have mine blocked from dialing home, receiving updates and autoplays have long been turned off.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Good for you. It does not change my point though that a device which can stream media having ads not really has anything to do with more piracy.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

Sure it does. As a pirate I’ve chosen to disable the device’s ability to connect to Amazon to annoy me with ads, and pirate the content they’d usually serve me instead of subscribing to anything. Not that hard to understand. If I could find a way to uninstall all the Amazon apps, I would.

[–] redlightdistrict@beehaw.org 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Did you pirate the TV? No, this actually has nothing to do with piracy. What's hard to understand.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Evidently it’s too complicated for you.

I didn’t pirate my computer either, but almost all the content on it is.

Also, the original comment I responded to said “and still have to see this shit.” I don’t, because of piracy strats.

[–] homicidalrobot@lemm.ee 12 points 11 months ago

Unbelievable that you could miss the point this much and still ask "what's hard to understand" lmfao

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[–] bandario@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I disagree. I will not under any circumstances be advertised to in my own home.

I'm happy to pay for your goods and services, but if you break that agreement our relationship is immediately concluded. The penalty for breaking the original terms of our agreement is that I will take what I originally paid for in perpetuity. You had your chance.

Same rules apply for attempting to renegotiate the rules whilst the ball is in play: see Amazon's new trend of attempting to charge an additional monthly fee of the same amount as the initial service to access documentaries etc. They're finished.

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[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 11 months ago

It can be, in some way. For example when content is exclusive to video streaming platforms which are only available through these devices.

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[–] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Or you know have the sense god gave goats and be able to see the neon sign as they have been blowing out Amazon home devices for years. Now they need to recoup that half decade of losses. Buckle up.

Honestly, this is why we are here. I get it if you use their delivery because getting stuff can be hard depending on the area. But this stuff, where there are half dozen competing options… come on.

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[–] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago

It's unbelievable. The dumb fuckers literally figured out a way to beat piracy. High quantity, easily accessible content at an appetizable price. Even one for TV, one for music, $10-15 a month, I had no issue. Everyone made out like a bandit, I was satisfied, and they all made billions.

Now you can't even use YouTube without being bombarded with ads, and streaming is quickly becoming worse than cable was. Piracy is definitely back on the table, and the fuckers don't have license to whine about it this time. They literally had it licked, but then got too greedy, so fuck them.

[–] schnick@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Why do people still use those?

[–] Thalestr@beehaw.org 32 points 11 months ago

They’re cheap. That’s as far as some people think about it.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I got a 4K Max one because it was only 35€. I want to upgrade to a shield pro successor which is overdue by now.

[–] Mkengine@feddit.de 9 points 11 months ago (5 children)

If you want to do this because of the full screen ads you may be too late.

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago

Lol yeah the timing of their comment couldn't have been more ironic

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[–] Contend6248@feddit.de 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

4k Max is so much faster than the Shield devices, i actually got upset that i invested so much money in two of them.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 4 points 11 months ago

Interesting. I am not really happy with mine. Pretty laggy and it sometimes crashes. But good to know and makes the wait easier instead of getting that old tech instead.

[–] quicksand@lemm.ee 12 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I use a fire stick because I'm familiar with them and they are much better than the shitty OS built into my TVs. Is there an alternative you recommend? I'm open to changing, especially with how theyve been pushing ads and paid rentals lately

[–] Cwilliams@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] snowe@programming.dev 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Apple TV. No ads at all, it’s faster than every alternative (unless you’re building your own server), and it is much easier to use than every alternative.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 5 points 11 months ago

Can you install adfree youtube on it with sponsorblock?

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[–] ozoned@beehaw.org 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

At this point just get a rasbperry pi, or some similar device, and run it as a regular computer. Firefox, ublock origin, don't worry about ads, and turn it into a machine that is capable of soooooooo much more. Hell, any PC will work. Steam Deck, NUC, that old laptop you have laying around? Been running little NUCs on my TVs for years and so happy I don't have to put up with that nonsense.

[–] kniescherz@feddit.de 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Which OS is good for this? Which remote can be used? I use my Stick to launch several apps like Plex, Smarttube Next, ARD Mediathek (German TV series). Not needing anything more. But a snappy remote and support for various audio and video codecs is key.

[–] ozoned@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm a linux nerd and I jut run stock Fedora. It's desktop is like a phone UI, so lots of folks are familiar with it.

I then use a wireless keyboard and trackball. T

here are tons of remotes out there,but I don't have any experience with then. Let me know if you find a good remote though. 😁

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[–] Muckelchen@feddit.de 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The Fire TV Sticks are getting more unusable with every update.

[–] Guildo@feddit.de 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Cwilliams@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Most updates are OTA. They don't give you a choice

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think they're recommending that you do something like firewall/piehole them

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[–] terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 months ago

Glad I don't really watch content anymore. Though, between the Roku TV my kid has, and the big Samsung TV in our living room...my pihole is constantly hammered by both of them.

[–] eleitl@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Which is why I just bought an nVidia Shield Pro. Custom launcher coming tomorrow. Time to start torrenting again.

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[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Isn't a firestick basically a chromecast? I mean, google is a shitty company in matters about privacy or ethics, but amazon isn't much better

[–] Blackout@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago

I can cast to my internet-disabled TV anything to it, including pirate streaming sites with no ads. 20 years ago I ran a hdmi from my desktop and used a wireless touchpad to load downloaded stuff. It truly is the golden age of piracy

[–] passepartout@feddit.de 5 points 11 months ago

They have been built onto android until now, but i read that they wanted to ditch that and make their own os from scratch

[–] yukichigai@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

They're more like AndroidTV boxes with a full menu and HDMI-CEC support, only they came out back in the day when Chromecasts were just for casting. They were also dirt cheap; unfortunately that's because they were made with bargain-basement parts which often failed or started to overheat easily a few months in.

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