Roku TV bricked until agreeing to new terms of service

DaleGribble88@programming.dev to Technology@lemmy.world – 610 points –

See title - very frustrating. There is no way to continue to use the TV without agreeing to the terms. I couldn't use different inputs, or even go to settings from the home screen and disconnect from the internet to disable their services. If I don't agree to their terms, then I don't get access to their new products. That sucks, but fine - I don't use their services except for the TV itself, and honestly, I'd rather by a dumb TV with a streaming box anyway, but I can't find those anymore.

Anyway, the new terms are about waiving your right to a class action lawsuit. It's weird to me because I'd never considered filing a class action lawsuit against Roku until this. They shouldn't be able to hold my physical device hostage until I agree to new terms that I didn't agree at the time of purchase or initial setup.

I wish Roku TVs weren't cheap walmart brand sh*t. Someone with some actual money might sue them and sort this out...

EDIT: Shout out to @testfactor@lemmy.world for recommending the brand "Sceptre" when buying my next (dumb) TV.

EDIT2: Shout out to @0110010001100010@lemmy.world for recommending LG smart TVs as a dumb-TV stand in. They apparently do require an agreement at startup, which is certainly NOT ideal, but the setup can be completed without an internet connection and it remembers input selection on powerup. So, once you have it setup, you're good to rock and roll.

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Anyone else getting radicalized because of this?

Yup. My LG TV has 85% of its features "disabled" until I accept new terms which is an acceptable middleground.

I wanted a high quality OLED display over 50inch, good luck finding one without voice control or adverts lol

Is this what Tucker Carlson meant by I'm radicalized? Us damn rich Americans and our smart TVs.

Molotovs are easy to make and solve a lot of problems, just sayin

That's probably really cute and fun to think about. Unfortunately we don't live in a comic book universe.

Exactly, no asshole in spandex is gonna stop you!