Lightbox app on Samsung smart tv

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#1177790 18-Nov-2014 10:06

reven: if you look at quickflix, they have
- samsung
- sony
- panasonic
- lg

so i wouldnt rule lightbox out from supporting more, just because tvnz and tv3 only support samsung.

Just want to add tivo, which doesn't have to stream but can download to the hard drive before hand, even better then streaming.

I know no more New Tivo's being sold in NZ so reason for no interest in providing for it, which is a big shame.

In the end I'm not interested until either,

A. A device I've got permantly connected to my TV can play it.

B. My TV can play it through an application on it. At present I have the wrong brand for LightBox, but it's the right brand for Mysky to play through, or for Freeview to work on it. It's LG.

I'd purchase appletv if it worked directly, but sounds like apple make it hard to get applics on that.

huckster

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#1177791 18-Nov-2014 10:09

giggles: Let me start by saying - I love Lightbox. Finally something at a reasonable price that competes with the Sky monopoly. We use it in our house fairly frequently and rarely watch live TV (HTPC and NAS setup). I applaud them for the app on Samsung TV's (luckily I was able to update my Firmware to get the App to run) and the announcement it is coming to Samsung Android tablets. But this good news begs the question - why only 5 devices allowed and you can only switch 1 device every 30 days! This is unreasonable especially during a startup period where people are trying it on different devices and Lightbox themselves are beta testing App releases. It doesn't take much to reach 5 devices these days. 1 x HTPC, 2 x Samsung TV's, iPad, Laptops - done. And you can only change it once a month - unreasonable. Come on guys, especially during this startup phase of the product. Sure I understand why you've done it, but it is overly restrictive on changes. Please sort this out. Having tested it on different devices in our family It'll now take me 3 months to change it to the devices I've settled on!!! Perhaps I should cancel the subscription and start again.....

Giggles, Giggles, Giggles..... Too much time to play.

Yabanize

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#1177888 18-Nov-2014 11:58

Lightbox. PLEASE don't to a 'TVNZ' or a '3Now' or a 'SkyGo' I really hope you can be different

I understand about the TV thing as you have to develop it for each different tv, However that's no excuse with Android.

Develop an ANDROID app, not an 'android as long as its samsung' app.

And I really hope you haven't signed an exclusivity agreement with them. Otherwise that's me and alot of other people out.

One of the reasons people pirate is because it works with any device.

YadaMe

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#1177906 18-Nov-2014 12:41

Yabanize: Lightbox. PLEASE don't to a 'TVNZ' or a '3Now' or a 'SkyGo' I really hope you can be different

I understand about the TV thing as you have to develop it for each different tv, However that's no excuse with Android. Develop an ANDROID app, not an 'android as long as its samsung' app.

And I really hope you haven't signed an exclusivity agreement with them. Otherwise that's me and alot of other people out.

One of the reasons people pirate is because it works with any device.

Too late, they just announced Samsung only android app on twitter...
I would think getting as many people as possible to use lightbox is more important. Hopefully it is not too long a exclusive deal. Not even going to look at lightbox until it works on my primary device.

KrazyKid

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#1177913 18-Nov-2014 13:02

The really silly thing about 'Samsung Only' is in reality its not. If you get the APK it will work on most modern devices (3NOW and TVNZ I'm looking at you). Fine for us on geekzone but I feel for those who rely on just installing an app from the play store.

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#1177914 18-Nov-2014 13:03

Yep.

Video streaming is heavy lifting and lots of Android devices have specs that are insufficient, do weird screen sizes, odd variations on Android or run older versions. A significant amount of testing is required to ensure that a given device works and works well with a video streaming service. This is a lot harder than a more casual app.

By picking a partner, especially someone who has a large share of the high end market and whose devices are generally well specced, you're limiting the scope of the build and getting to market quicker and with a product that's supportable from an operational perspective (since you're troubleshooting within a known universe of devices). This is just the technical reasons for doing it - Samsung is obviously also a great partner in terms of marketing and activities.

Some people will surely snag the APK from somewhere and use it on other devices, but that's not supported by us and they'll probably know what they're doing.

Lightbox - we are online TV.

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old3eyes

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#1177952 18-Nov-2014 14:03

Does this App for Samsung devices support Chromecast??

Regards,

Old3eyes

rugrat

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#1177955 18-Nov-2014 14:07

Hope this isn't long term solution to number of brands of tv, android devices out there.

At least when microsoft comes out with a version of windows it runs on more then one brand of computer, and most can play HD video as well, and they all run VLC.

Would have been better to have put a box in the market place, that it would have worked plugged into ANY TV then non samsung people could've watched it without need to plug computer into TV and been able to pick and play programs with remote control.

Not buying new TV, very happy with one got so goodbye Lightbox.

P.S. quickflix has an applic for LG so it can be done if there's a will.

https://quickflix.co.nz/Devices

Realise they've been in market place longer, just hoping samsung only devices not exclusive deal.
Not with quickflix because their content doesn't appeal to me, in this area Light shows more promise.

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#1177960 18-Nov-2014 14:18

old3eyes: Does this App for Samsung devices support Chromecast??

No support for Chromecast (yet).

Lightbox - we are online TV.

Flickky

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#1177961 18-Nov-2014 14:18

rugrat: Hope this isn't long term solution to number of brands of tv, android devices out there.

At least when microsoft comes out with a version of windows it runs on more then one brand of computer, and most can play HD video as well, and they all run VLC.

Would have been better to have put a box in the market place, that it would have worked plugged into ANY TV then non samsung people could've watched it without need to plug computer into TV and been able to pick and play programs with remote control.

Not buying new TV, very happy with one got so goodbye Lightbox.

P.S. quickflix has an applic for LG so it can be done if there's a will.

https://quickflix.co.nz/Devices

Realise they've been in market place longer, just hoping samsung only devices not exclusive deal.
Not with quickflix because their content doesn't appeal to me, in this area Light shows more promise.

Are you really comparing Lightbox to Microsoft?

Yabanize

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#1177974 18-Nov-2014 14:35

Lightbox: Yep.

Video streaming is heavy lifting and lots of Android devices have specs that are insufficient, do weird screen sizes, odd variations on Android or run older versions. A significant amount of testing is required to ensure that a given device works and works well with a video streaming service. This is a lot harder than a more casual app.

By picking a partner, especially someone who has a large share of the high end market and whose devices are generally well specced, you're limiting the scope of the build and getting to market quicker and with a product that's supportable from an operational perspective (since you're troubleshooting within a known universe of devices). This is just the technical reasons for doing it - Samsung is obviously also a great partner in terms of marketing and activities.

Some people will surely snag the APK from somewhere and use it on other devices, but that's not supported by us and they'll probably know what they're doing.

Okay, Im not too happy about that, I just hope the app is being written just as if it was a normal android app and not written specifically for samsung. Preferably apps should be written and tested with nexus devices. And I hope you start testing it on other devices, like HTC, Sony, Nexus, And I think since the app is for android 4.1 and above, It will probably work well on those devices.

Yes video streaming could be heavy lifting but youtube manages pretty well and it works on just about every android device.

TVNZ said they may add more devices in the future but over a year later they never have, And I doubt they will. So I hope you can be different.

If there is an exclusivity deal I hope it isn't long.

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#1177991 18-Nov-2014 15:26

Yabanize:

Okay, Im not too happy about that, I just hope the app is being written just as if it was a normal android app and not written specifically for samsung. Preferably apps should be written and tested with nexus devices. And I hope you start testing it on other devices, like HTC, Sony, Nexus, And I think since the app is for android 4.1 and above, It will probably work well on those devices.

Yes video streaming could be heavy lifting but youtube manages pretty well and it works on just about every android device.

TVNZ said they may add more devices in the future but over a year later they never have, And I doubt they will. So I hope you can be different.

If there is an exclusivity deal I hope it isn't long.

It's a standard Android app.

Youtube doesn't have to worry about DRM and content protection, which makes everything a lot simpler.

Lightbox - we are online TV.

davidrg

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#1178014 18-Nov-2014 15:40

Lightbox: Yep.

Video streaming is heavy lifting and lots of Android devices have specs that are insufficient, do weird screen sizes, odd variations on Android or run older versions. A significant amount of testing is required to ensure that a given device works and works well with a video streaming service. This is a lot harder than a more casual app.

By picking a partner, especially someone who has a large share of the high end market and whose devices are generally well specced, you're limiting the scope of the build and getting to market quicker and with a product that's supportable from an operational perspective (since you're troubleshooting within a known universe of devices). This is just the technical reasons for doing it - Samsung is obviously also a great partner in terms of marketing and activities.

Some people will surely snag the APK from somewhere and use it on other devices, but that's not supported by us and they'll probably know what they're doing.

I've been using lightbox so far by unplugging the 3rd display from my desktop PC and running a long HDMI cable to my TV in another room. Its rather inconvenient but I've put up with it as I had no doubt my Nexus 10 would happily run the app once it was inevitably released.

Except of course these ridiculous Samsung-exclusive apps continue to appear and the big Samsung logo on the back of the Nexus 10 is never Samsung enough. I won't bother trying to side-load the apk - if Lightbox doesn't want me as a customer I will sadly have to cancel my subscription. It was nice (though inconvenient) while it lasted.

peejayw

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#1178049 18-Nov-2014 17:24

So a Samsung-made tablet (Nexus 10) running stock Android cant run the app but a Samsung tablet running Touchwiz on top can? Oh well, bye Lightbox.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

Yabanize

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#1178051 18-Nov-2014 17:33

peejayw: So a Samsung-made tablet (Nexus 10) running stock Android cant run the app but a Samsung tablet running Touchwiz on top can? Oh well, bye Lightbox.

Yup, I actually have a Samsung s4 but because I use custom roms like cyanogen I can't get it

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