this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 79 points 1 day ago (40 children)

Roku is bad, I have one older Roku ""smart"" tv that I just block from accessing the internet entirely, and use a shield with a custom launcher instead.

[–] dugmeup@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (14 children)
[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 53 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 children)

So, I use regex to block all Roku domains on my network via pihole:

(ads|logs|cloudservices|image|images|web|prod.mobile|wwwimg|captive|customer-feedbacks|amoeba|amoeba2|sr|giga.sb|cs).roku(.admeasurement)*.com$

Then, possibly overkill due to the above, I used OpnSense firewall rules to block all traffic from my Roku tv. I think I just got fed up with seeing Roku spam in my pihole, as the above regex seems to completely "break" Roku.

After that, I set up FLauncher (following the method #2 instructions on the gitlab page) on my shield. This makes it so I only see the Roku launcher for a few seconds while the shield starts up, and then I'm dropped straight into flauncher. I chose flauncher because it's very simple and barebones, so you might want to explore other options if you want more advanced features. I don't really need those features since I'm usually using an app anyway.

Note that I did all of that after the tv was configured and set up, YMMV if it's a brand new tv as it may need to call home to do the initial set up.

[–] shadshack@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Why is your Roku TV even on the Wi-Fi if you just block its internet?

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

They have models that blink the large white LED light until it’s connected to WiFi. Annoying as hell.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You can fix that in 3 seconds with a piece of electrical tape.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, I suppose. I don’t use the rock UI, it goes straight into the Apple TV when powered on so I don’t really care that much.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 5 hours ago

It does until it doesn't. Did you look at the OP?

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

You using an OTA tuner with some HD Homerun app or anything? Boooo needing Roku’s interface for antenna TV (on Roku smart TVs) cuz Apple didn’t solve for that (why would they I guess, $treamers as they are)

It didn’t look like there was any fantastic super easy OTA solution for Apple TV. Fine for us but maybe not the elderly. IDK

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that - mine does do this, and the LED is right in the bottom middle, and it's super bright.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 hours ago

Sounds like a job for some black tape.

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 1 points 22 hours ago

It probably doesn't need to be - but it was required to set up. Before I had my shield, I allowed local connections for local streaming, but you are correct, it's probably no longer necessary.

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