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

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

#261

Post by minhazm »

rocqua wrote: post #249
minhazm wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like Microsoft sponsoring the NFL and so they have to use Surface tablets. That means they don't have Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and other competitors tablets. Is that anti-competitive? If so, then every business out there must be anti-competitive. Buying ads to get yourself on a higher position in search results, buying ads on TV during primetime slots, and any behavior that makes you look better than your competi…

Demanding a button on the remote is different from paying for advertising.

How so? It is the same thing as advertising. Roku is benefiting greatly from Netflix being on their platform as well. Netflix could ditch Roku and say they only support X other devices. But they both need each other and so they agree to something that makes sense for both parties.

Anyway it is pointless, because Roku actually charges companies to put a button on their remote[1]. They supposedly charge $1 for the button per customer.

https://mashable.com/article/roku-button-home-screen-adverti...

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

#262

Post by jrochkind1 »

> such as being asked to favor Google products in Roku search results.

Anyone else find it alarming that google has no problem with strong-arming partners into prefering their search results?

Kinda makes you wonder about what determines Google's own search results, right?

Does Google really want us wondering that?

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

#263

Post by kbenson »

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…

On the one hand, like you I don't really care for voice commands in a remote. In the other, I really liked (and miss now that I have an Amazon firestick device) the built in CEC control of TV volume, and also the headphone jack. I also liked that it had a bit more weight to it. It was easier to find in the covers/sheets of my bed when I would occasionally lose track of it.

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

#264

Post by inetknght »

minhazm wrote: post #234
bogwog wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're willfully ignorant of the situation, then sure. Otherwise, using leverage to favor your own product over competitors despite user preference is textbook anti-competitive behavior, almost comically so: Not only does it unfairly disadvantage competitors, but it also robs consumers of choice (by ignoring their preferences). I would love to see one of the meetings that lead to absurdly unethical and borderline/…

It's like Microsoft sponsoring the NFL and so they have to use Surface tablets. That means they don't have Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and other competitors tablets. Is that anti-competitive? If so, then every business out there must be anti-competitive. Buying ads to get yourself on a higher position in search results, buying ads on TV during primetime slots, and any behavior that makes you look better than your competi…

> It's like Microsoft sponsoring the NFL and so they have to use Surface tablets. That means they don't have Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and other competitors tablets. Is that anti-competitive?

Yes.

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

#265

Post by cptskippy »

kbenson wrote: post #263
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…

On the one hand, like you I don't really care for voice commands in a remote. In the other, I really liked (and miss now that I have an Amazon firestick device) the built in CEC control of TV volume, and also the headphone jack. I also liked that it had a bit more weight to it. It was easier to find in the covers/sheets of my bed when I would occasionally lose track of it.

The latest Roku remotes have CEC control for power and volume. When my last Roku remote started flaking out, that was what prompted me to upgrade it despite the built in microphone.

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

#266

Post by jartelt »

8ytecoder wrote: post #107
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…

The behaviour I expect is that the voice search is global except when I specifically go to the search screen of the app. That’s how it works on Apple TV and that’s what is intuitive to me.

I hate the voice search on AppleTV for this very reason. I so wish that voice would just search within the app I am using instead of sending me to the itunes store or somewhere else. Why make me click and swipe extra times to get to the specific app search box...? If I want to search globally, I could just hit the home button and then search!

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

#267

Post by videoborat »

Also featured here: https://www.protocol.com/youtube-tv-roku-issues

The article raises an interesting point. Ultimately, Googles pushing of 'royalty-free' AV1 for the greater good is just shifting costs to device makers and implementors that have to pay increased engineering and build cost instead of royalties. if it turns out to really be royalty-free that is...

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

#268

Post by cptskippy »

Cd00d wrote: post #223
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…

I am genuinely surprised by this. I love voice search on Roku. Typing things in with a d-pad and on-screen keyboard is horrendous. I think it's very fast, and I like that it shows me all the ways what I'm searching for is available.

It's less about voice search and more about having an always on microphone.

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

#269

Post by randallsquared »

novok wrote: post #200
dangus wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

> 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.

I can understand "overpriced", but on the other hand, the apparently-not-out-of-date chromecast stutters? WTF.

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

#270

Post by Wintereise »

morganvachon wrote: post #185
stephengoodwin wrote: post #47

Welp, I specifically bought a Roku device a few months ago just to use YouTube. I ran into major issues using Fire TV's YouTube app. The app would fail to get past the initial loading screen and hang forever. It would typically require 2-3 device restarts to work again, and even then it would only work temporarily. I tried completely resetting my Fire TV, relogging in, etc but never managed to get it to work properly…

> Welp, I specifically bought a Roku device a few months ago just to use YouTube. We have Rokus (a 4K Ultra in the living room and a TCL Roku TV in the bedroom), as well as a 4K Chromecast, and until we got the Roku Ultra we had a Nvidia Shield TV. We keep more than one type of device specifically because it is inevitable that a provider (Roku, Amazon, Google) will drop a service we enjoy. This actually happened with…

I have a (newer) Shield TV, and it works fine with Emby. That is, assuming you're talking about the self hosted Emby.
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