Just change your input to HDMI or whatever from the computer and ignore the Roku part.
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
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That's what I'm doing now, but I have to go through the Roku part to get to it. Also roku scans everything coming through the HDMI ports to try and recognize media so it knows what ads to give you
That is going straight to a pawn shop, holy shit.
Yes Roku tvs are the worst piece of tech ever..
Man I would graciously thank the gifter but decline. I wouldn't put that shit in my house.
You can turn off the scan, which by the way is that it takes a screenshot every so often and checks if it matches known content so as to make you watch through their platform. Really recommend changing that setting.
Secondly, block *.logs.roku.com with a pihole was my solution. That TV is the single most banned traffic on my network still.
Secondly, block *.logs.roku.com with a pihole was my solution. That TV is the single most banned traffic on my network still.
Fucking seriously. The two Rokus in my house are the two most-blocked devices.
Because it's blocked it keeps retrying. Not saying to allow it but it is trying more then it would if it made connection.
We have an older curved 55" Samsung "smart" TV that I put in the basement for the kids. Mounted high up on the wall, out of reach of little destructive fingers.
Turns out it can be configured with a default input. When I moved it to kid duty, I cleared out all the wifi credentials (I think I just factory reset it), disabled all the "smart" garbage I could find, then stuck a Roku stick in it and set that input as default. The Roku remote handles TV power and volume, and the Samsung remote is put away with the rest of my tech ~~hoard~~ stuff. Pi-hole on my network removes the Roku's ability to show ads at all. I always forget that there's a big ad spot on the home page.
always forget that there's a big ad spot on the home page.
i helped someone set up theirs a little while back... i'm like, "oh, so that's what's supposed to be there.."; followed by a "i can help you get rid of those if you want..."
Have you tried doing a factory reset and not connecting it to the internet?
Normally thats a good option but my wife really likes watching Disney+, Dropout, and football on the NFL app, so if I did that I think I would be sleeping on the couch. Besides, I don't mind the ads, they're all in Spanish anyway
Two thoughts:
- You can turn off HDMI input scanning on roku TVs.
- Can your wife not watch these things via the computer attached to the TV?
- Thanks, I will look into it
- She can but it would make her sad. I don't get it, but since this is the only thing we fight over I count myself lucky
I can definitely relate to #2 😁
You can turn off HDMI input scanning on roku TVs.
Knowing Roku, they probably automatically re-enable that setting after an update.
I'm definitely expecting this at some point, but it hasn't happened to me yet. I've had the TV for a couple years now.
You can also just not attach the TV to the internet, but "obviously" doing things like reordering home screen apps requires an Internet connection.
Of course, because why wouldn't a checkes notes entirely local operation require an internet connection?
You can also just not attach the TV to the internet
That's what I did with the curved Samsung TV that I put in the basement for the kids. Factory reset with no internet, default input set to a specific HDMI, and a Roku (with Pi-hole handling adblocking). Roku remote also handles TV power/volume. Haven't had any issues with it.
Maybe there's an app that can inject junk into the signal to spam it and fuck up the data collection.
I mean, their algo might be shit already. All its ads for me have been in Spanish for a while now. I do not speak Spanish nor do I have any interest in telenovellas lol
I…feel like my Roku tv does not do this? But I haven’t move it to my new place yet, and I don’t remember. It’s also a couple years old, but it was a decent model.
Just disconnect it from the internet?
"Sideoloading" is framing it the wrong way. You want to install software on a computer you own and some corporation won't let you. You paid for the TV, you choose what to install.
Brb gonna sideload steam on to my pc
You jest, but Windows already tries to limit installations outside of the microsoft store on a default OS install.
Thanks Louis
Louis is right.
True
My understanding is that roku sideloading is limited, at best, but adding a raspberry pi or cheap Google/Android TV box and telling the TV to just boot to that screen (and keep the TV itself off the web) is a good bypass for this.
https://developer.roku.com/docs/developer-program/getting-started/developer-setup.md
tl;dr you can if you register yourself as a roku app developer otherwise you need to jail break it which is difficult for TVs.
Roku used to have something called "private" channels that you could add through the web, but it seems that they removed that functionality a few years ago: https://community.roku.com/discussions/apps-and-viewing/unable-to-add-a-private-channel/1049374
There used to be several porn apps/channels you could install this way, basically simple front-ends to pornhub, etc. I don't recall what else used to be available.