Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 408 posts

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#191

Post by bisby »

cptskippy wrote: post #162
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. If you're using a fullscreen app on macOS and activate spotlight, do you expect it to only search that app, or do you expect it to behave like Spotlight always behaves and search the entire system? Put another way, this depends entirely on how the OS and UI is set up.

On Roku if you search in an App it is localized. If you search on the home screen it is not. I expect voice search to behave similarly.

On Roku, voice search (using the voice search button on the remote) is always global. Google wants an exception for youtube. No one else gets this exception.

Regardless of what you think is a better user experience, Roku has made a design decision and are sticking to it and aren't giving Google special treatment, so Google is threatening to take their ball and leave if they don't get what they want.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#192

Post by discardable_dan »

etempleton wrote: post #142

HBO Max was delayed in appearing on Roku because of negotiation breakdowns. In the case HBO it was Roku that seemed to have the demands. They are looking at revenue anywhere they can, but if their position weakens look for Google, ATT, and others to simply forgo working with them. I think Roku is in a perilous position in general. They generated a lot of buzz on Wallstreet with their high user counts. They also purch…

Why is it that my only ad-free TV option is a Raspberry Pi?

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#193

Post by p_j_w »

pkulak wrote: post #78
cirenehc wrote: post #54

> Roku alleges Google has asked it to favor YouTube music results from voice commands made on the Roku remote while the YouTube app is open, even if the user's music preference is set to default to another music app, like Pandora. How else do you use voice search for a music video on Youtube? If I open youtube and do a voice search. I'm expecting the search to be constrained to the app.

It sounds to me like they want the YouTube Music app to open when you search for a song on the YouTube app. Those are two entirely different apps, with different content, experiences, etc. It just so happens that Google named them the same, probably so they could more easily force integrations like this.

At least on my Nvidia shield, this is not the case. YouTube Music is part of the YouTube app.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#194

Post by ryandrake »

cptskippy wrote: post #88
smt88 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is both what many users would expect (if I have an app open, voice search works within that app) No, it's not. Most YouTube users have a different primary music app. Google is trying to artificially force a marriage of YouTube and YouTube Music because they have utterly failed to do it in the product experience and user base themselves. If I'm watching a random YouTube video and then want to switch to music, I…

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

> That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to me.

This is kind of thread drift, but I really agree with this. I wish products would stop trying to get me to use some particular feature. First, they cram it onto every screen in the application. Then, they make it easy to accidentally invoke when you didn't want to. Then, they spam you with notifications saying "PLEASE DON'T YOU WANT THIS FEATURE?" Then, they silently enable it and make it opt-out. Product Managers, please just stop this madness. I don't want your feature. I don't care that your bonus is tied to its use. I already bought your product, so you already have my money. But if you keep trying to cram your feature down my throat, I'm not going to buy your company's next product. Give it a rest!

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#195

Post by tobr »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #143
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

> If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. If you're using a fullscreen app on macOS and activate spotlight, do you expect it to only search that app, or do you expect it to behave like Spotlight always behaves and search the entire system? Put another way, this depends entirely on how the OS and UI is set up.

> If you're using a fullscreen app on macOS and activate spotlight, do you expect it to only search that app, or do you expect it to behave like Spotlight always behaves and search the entire system?

To make another analogy: Maybe Roku should ask Google to make the Chrome address/search bar only show Roku.com results if you’re already on their site.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#196

Post by ryandrake »

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #140
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

Yeah companies are all pushing their voice control. I'm never going to talk to a computer until it has full sentience.

I just don't get it. All these big companies pouring oceans of money and research into voice control. What makes this the holy grail of computing? What customer has a burning desire to sit there talking to a computer?

And after all this research, voice control is still primitive and limited, and its capabilities are impossible for a user to discover. If I want to search my E-mail for a message from a colleague about Project Abc, can I do this through voice control, or do I need to type into a search box? I could try voice control, and when it fails because it doesn't know what I want it to do (or it punts me to a generic web search), now I just wasted my time and feel silly for talking to a computer that doesn't understand me.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#197

Post by minsc__and__boo »

p49k wrote: post #46
908B64B197 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is. If their app is open and full screen, search within the app first.

No it isn’t. If you have Google maps open and suddenly decide you want to go to McDonald’s, then sure, that voice command should go to Google Maps. But if you make a voice command to send an email to someone, it shouldn’t open Gmail instead of your default mail app just because Google maps is open. Similarly, if you’re watching a video on YouTube and want to search for a cat video, sure, the voice command should sear…

Google isn't asking Roku to open a separate app, they're asking the search to be performed in the open app first.

What the person above you originally said.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#199

Post by young_unixer »

sniperjzp wrote: post #48
aklemm wrote: post #4

I'm just about sick of YouTube and YouTube TV not playing well with whatever device I've decided on. First it was YouTube and the Firestick, now it's YouTube TV and Roku. Frankly, how did Google end up with a good TV service? I'd rather not be relying on Google for TV streaming.

First, you can play YouTube without any problem on Firestick, they made the change 2 years ago. Second, you should give the new Chromecast device a try, it's far much better than Roku. Third, Google is asking Roku to support VP9, which is a much superior video coding format, I don't see any issue with this ask.

Do they sell chromecasts with dedicated remote controllers?

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#200

Post by novok »

dangus wrote: post #157
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

Hot take: the Apple TV is easily the best device of its kind on the market and I’m continually confused at why it doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to the most popular option. Every other steaming device I’ve ever tried is riddled with ads, dark patterns, and slow slow SLOW performance. I can understand the aversion to a $200 device just to watch some Internet TV but then I watch people making six figures pretend lik…

The new chromecast is pretty good and $50, and until very recently the ATV was pretty out of date and overpriced. The chromecast stutters sometimes in the main screen, but actually playing videos is just fine.

You can also side load unofficial youtube apps, which are much better than the actual youtube app on the chromecast.

The LG OLED tv os was missing some services, like HBO, but it stutters less.

The only thing missing from all of these devices is a backlit remote. I don't know why they're against the concept.

Post reply on HN