Roku is getting increasingly aggressive with ads, now injecting pause ads. The latest update also breaks HDR streaming.
Update: Despite reports, Roku's pause ads are not injected over HDMI sources at this time, but limited to in-app streaming. The article has been updated to reflect that. We regret the error.
After ramping up its ad load and recently experimenting with ads before the home screen appears, Roku is now officially rolling out pause ads.
These pause ads appear as pop-ups when you pause a movie or a video game, covering up to one-third of the screen, according to a report by Tech-Issues Today. Some users claim to see the ads even with ad-free streaming plans such as Discovery+.
Roku's pause ads are showing up for users in the US. Photo: frobnitz, Reddit
Roku update breaks HDR
According to a separate report from Ars Technica, Roku’s recent OS 14.5 update, also automatically pushed to users last month, has broken HDR picture quality on Roku TVs in apps like Disney+ and Netflix.
After the update, HDR content appears washed out, as seen in the example below.
Users have attempted restarts and factory resets, but the issue appears tied to Roku’s software, most likely requiring a software update to fix. Streaming sticks and boxes are reportedly unaffected.
