Why does Lightbox have a suicide wish?

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#1249519 2-Mar-2015 14:51

MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

trig42

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#1249544 2-Mar-2015 15:19

Glassboy:
MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

They didn't used to Ship to NZ, you had to get them shipped to a reshipper (like Youshop). I looked last year (when I bought a FireTV instead) and the Roku certainly wasn't shipping direct to NZ.

MileHighKiwi

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#1249555 2-Mar-2015 15:32

trig42:
Glassboy:
MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

They didn't used to Ship to NZ, you had to get them shipped to a reshipper (like Youshop). I looked last year (when I bought a FireTV instead) and the Roku certainly wasn't shipping direct to NZ.

That's correct. I had to use YouShop around 7 months ago because Amazon said 'this item does not ship to NZ'.

I wonder if Netflix have done a deal with Roku (The latest Roku's do have a Netflix button) for their NZ launch and will hit the market with an all in one solution? Browser only at launch would be silly; offering a streaming device like the Roku would separate them from the competition. Getting the Roku totally changed my viewing experience.

Lostja

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#1249559 2-Mar-2015 15:35

dclegg:
dafman:

(And I've even learnt that I'm a total dork for buying a Panasonic TV).

No you're not :-)

You can pry my Panasonic Plasma from my cold dead hands. Smart TV capability is very easy to add via external devices (and usually with a far superior UX).

Same, love my old Panasonic plasma. Until Lightbox supports a device that I own other than an iPad or phone, I will not go near it. I hate watching stuff on my laptop or iPad

Glassboy

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#1249563 2-Mar-2015 15:37

trig42:
Glassboy:
MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

They didn't used to Ship to NZ, you had to get them shipped to a reshipper (like Youshop). I looked last year (when I bought a FireTV instead) and the Roku certainly wasn't shipping direct to NZ.

They shipped mine to me in NZ in March of last year.

tdgeek

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#1249571 2-Mar-2015 15:43

Lostja:
dclegg:
dafman:

(And I've even learnt that I'm a total dork for buying a Panasonic TV).

No you're not :-)

You can pry my Panasonic Plasma from my cold dead hands. Smart TV capability is very easy to add via external devices (and usually with a far superior UX).

Same, love my old Panasonic plasma. Until Lightbox supports a device that I own other than an iPad or phone, I will not go near it. I hate watching stuff on my laptop or iPad

Airplay it, thats probably the quickest and easiest means to view.

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trig42

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#1249575 2-Mar-2015 15:47

MileHighKiwi:
trig42:
Glassboy:
MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

They didn't used to Ship to NZ, you had to get them shipped to a reshipper (like Youshop). I looked last year (when I bought a FireTV instead) and the Roku certainly wasn't shipping direct to NZ.

That's correct. I had to use YouShop around 7 months ago because Amazon said 'this item does not ship to NZ'.

I wonder if Netflix have done a deal with Roku (The latest Roku's do have a Netflix button) for their NZ launch and will hit the market with an all in one solution? Browser only at launch would be silly; offering a streaming device like the Roku would separate them from the competition. Getting the Roku totally changed my viewing experience.

Netflix won't be browser only at launch (I wouldn't think anyway).
All SmartTVs have a Netflix App for them already (mainstream brands anyway). The local distributors and/or Netflix just need to get it enabled.
It will work on Chromecast and AppleTV (and Roku and WDTV too I assume).

dclegg

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#1249578 2-Mar-2015 15:50

Lostja:
Same, love my old Panasonic plasma. Until Lightbox supports a device that I own other than an iPad or phone, I will not go near it. I hate watching stuff on my laptop or iPad

We're lucky that we've got 3 devices we can currently watch Lightbox on (although I'm not a big fan of using the iPad->AirPlay option). We've been with it since the beta and love the service. We have been impressed with the continuing improvements, both in terms of features and supported devices.

NonprayingMantis

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#1249584 2-Mar-2015 15:55

MileHighKiwi:
trig42:
Glassboy:
MileHighKiwi:

Amazon are now shipping Roku's to NZ http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425255017&sr=1-1&keywords=roku+3

What do you mean now? When haven't they? The thing that seems to be a problem to ship is the 3rd party brackets.

They didn't used to Ship to NZ, you had to get them shipped to a reshipper (like Youshop). I looked last year (when I bought a FireTV instead) and the Roku certainly wasn't shipping direct to NZ.

That's correct. I had to use YouShop around 7 months ago because Amazon said 'this item does not ship to NZ'.

I wonder if Netflix have done a deal with Roku (The latest Roku's do have a Netflix button) for their NZ launch and will hit the market with an all in one solution? Browser only at launch would be silly; offering a streaming device like the Roku would separate them from the competition. Getting the Roku totally changed my viewing experience.

they already have apps for pretty much every device - the benefits of having launched in multiple countries several years ago.

Of course, this only matters to a customer if they have the specific device in question.
In other words, for the very few kiwis that have rokus, they will be able to get Netflix but not Lightbox (on that device).

For the hundreds of thousands of kiwis that have playstation or Samsung smart Tv, they can choose either or both based on content, UI etc rather than device.

NonprayingMantis

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#1249595 2-Mar-2015 15:56

Lostja:
dclegg:
dafman:

(And I've even learnt that I'm a total dork for buying a Panasonic TV).

No you're not :-)

You can pry my Panasonic Plasma from my cold dead hands. Smart TV capability is very easy to add via external devices (and usually with a far superior UX).

Same, love my old Panasonic plasma. Until Lightbox supports a device that I own other than an iPad or phone, I will not go near it. I hate watching stuff on my laptop or iPad

I love watching stuff on my ipad.

It's perfect for watching in bed whilst my wife sleeps, watching on the toilet, or in the bath. :)

NonprayingMantis

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#1249603 2-Mar-2015 16:01

davidrg:
NonprayingMantis:
davidrg: I have:

A Sony Smart TV & bluray player (smart features are too slow to bother with)
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Samsung Nexus 10 (Not Samsung enough for Lightbox, TV3 or anyone else it seems)
All fairly common devices. The nexus is completely stock android managed by Google. Lightbox is available for none of these.

I canceled my Lightbox subscription on the day the android app was announced to be exclusive to Samsung devices. The only conclusion I could draw was that money had changed hands for exclusivity and so my hardware wouldn't be supported any time soon. I've considered buying a ChromeCast at times but of course this won't help me if I can't run the android app. I've no interest in replacing any of the Sony stuff with Samsung gear.

I really liked Lightbox and the content selection looks great. But its no use to me if I can't get it on to my TV. I'll be going with Netflix if nothing changes before they launch.

I'd be very surprised if the xbox(s) and/or sony smart devices weren't next cab off the rank after chromecast.

(presumably with Chromecast, you don't need an android device. You could just use the chrome browser on your laptop and cast that, right?)

Neon seems to be going with Xbox 360 first - I had assumed because of its market share compared to the other consoles. What drove Lightbox to pick Sony? Given the way 'exclusive' appeared in all the articles around the PlayStation launch and the way Android was handled I do wonder if Lightbox has some exclusivity deal signed for game consoles.

If chromecast worked from the browser too that might be an option though - a little inconvenient without a laptop but not nearly as bad as the long HDMI cable and all the default audio device switching and monitor unplugging on my PC in another room.

exclusive just means 'only on this device' it doesn't have to mean they have prevented other devices or paid for that exclusivity. i.e. if you are exclusively on Sony, it could just be because you happened to pick sony first to develop for.

In any case, if there is money changing hands, its more likely the other way around. Playstation would the very obvious first pick for anybody wanting to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible. so to go for Xbox first suggests funding from Microsoft.

I believe there are more xboxes in NZ, BUT a very large proportion of them are not internet connected (likely because to play online you need to pay for a gold subscription) whereas for PS3 you didn't. Also I believe the demographic for Xbox owners has a lot more very young people in there - under 16s. Very unlikely to subscribe to video streaming vs the adult owners of Playstations.

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#1249606 2-Mar-2015 16:03

NonprayingMantis:
Lostja:
dclegg:
dafman:

(And I've even learnt that I'm a total dork for buying a Panasonic TV).

No you're not :-)

You can pry my Panasonic Plasma from my cold dead hands. Smart TV capability is very easy to add via external devices (and usually with a far superior UX).

Same, love my old Panasonic plasma. Until Lightbox supports a device that I own other than an iPad or phone, I will not go near it. I hate watching stuff on my laptop or iPad
I love watching stuff on my ipad.

It's perfect for watching in bed whilst my wife sleeps, watching on the toilet, or in the bath. :)

My eyes are bleeding!

NonprayingMantis

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#1249609 2-Mar-2015 16:04

davidrg:
rugrat: It's a shame all TV's are not running the same OS for applications, so when written for one, will work for all.

Android devices work that way. And yet the Android app is locked down to select Samsung tablets only.

If there was a common application platform for TVs I wonder if we'd see the same behavior - one manufacturer pays to lock out all the others.

this fragmentation of devices is a commonly cited reason why people dislike developing for Android, and why it's all too common for major apps to appear first on ipad, then later (often MUCH later) on Android (e.g. Hearthstone)
I imagine it is a lot easier to develop JUST for the samsung suite of products, where quality is pretty much guaranteed, and there is a relatively smaller range of screen sizes buttons etc, compared to developing a generic android app that will need to work on everything, including those dodgy chinese super-low end devices.

JimmyH

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#1249727 2-Mar-2015 19:27

NonprayingMantis:
davidrg:
rugrat: It's a shame all TV's are not running the same OS for applications, so when written for one, will work for all.

Android devices work that way. And yet the Android app is locked down to select Samsung tablets only.

If there was a common application platform for TVs I wonder if we'd see the same behavior - one manufacturer pays to lock out all the others.

this fragmentation of devices is a commonly cited reason why people dislike developing for Android, and why it's all too common for major apps to appear first on ipad, then later (often MUCH later) on Android (e.g. Hearthstone)
I imagine it is a lot easier to develop JUST for the samsung suite of products, where quality is pretty much guaranteed, and there is a relatively smaller range of screen sizes buttons etc, compared to developing a generic android app that will need to work on everything, including those dodgy chinese super-low end devices.

My Chinese android device isn't low end (Minix Xh-H). It has a quad core processor and an octo-core GPU that can easily handle 4K content, let alone 1080p etc. My Nexus tablet is probably capable HD playback as well, although I haven't tested this.

It would be easier just to release a generic android build, with a minimum spec for it to run. Kodi (formerly XBMC) seems to do this quite well for their android implementation.

The main hurdle seems to be HDCP/DRM certification which is, quite frankly, silly. Blocking people from using a media box to stream content from paid-for services because of a niggle that they might be able to copy the content is a bit pointless when: (i) they already have a simple and easy alternative channel (bittorrent etc) where the content creators don't get paid at all; and (ii) it's trivially cheap and easy to defeat HDCP and copy over HMDI from any authorised player (in full HD) anyway.

All they do is make access to paid services more difficult, driving some people who might otherwise pay to piracy, without actually achieving meaningful content protection.

Note: for the easily confused - I'm not advocating piracy, to the contrary I don't like piracy and don't understand why the content services want to put roadblocks in the way of people who want to pay, thereby encouraging piracy.

NonprayingMantis

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#1249734 2-Mar-2015 19:52

JimmyH:
NonprayingMantis:
davidrg:
rugrat: It's a shame all TV's are not running the same OS for applications, so when written for one, will work for all.

Android devices work that way. And yet the Android app is locked down to select Samsung tablets only.

If there was a common application platform for TVs I wonder if we'd see the same behavior - one manufacturer pays to lock out all the others.

this fragmentation of devices is a commonly cited reason why people dislike developing for Android, and why it's all too common for major apps to appear first on ipad, then later (often MUCH later) on Android (e.g. Hearthstone)
I imagine it is a lot easier to develop JUST for the samsung suite of products, where quality is pretty much guaranteed, and there is a relatively smaller range of screen sizes buttons etc, compared to developing a generic android app that will need to work on everything, including those dodgy chinese super-low end devices.

My Chinese android device isn't low end (Minix Xh-H). It has a quad core processor and an octo-core GPU that can easily handle 4K content, let alone 1080p etc. My Nexus tablet is probably capable HD playback as well, although I haven't tested this.

It would be easier just to release a generic android build, with a minimum spec for it to run. Kodi (formerly XBMC) seems to do this quite well for their android implementation.

The main hurdle seems to be HDCP/DRM certification which is, quite frankly, silly. Blocking people from using a media box to stream content from paid-for services because of a niggle that they might be able to copy the content is a bit pointless when: (i) they already have a simple and easy alternative channel (bittorrent etc) where the content creators don't get paid at all; and (ii) it's trivially cheap and easy to defeat HDCP and copy over HMDI from any authorised player (in full HD) anyway.

All they do is make access to paid services more difficult, driving some people who might otherwise pay to piracy, without actually achieving meaningful content protection.

Note: for the easily confused - I'm not advocating piracy, to the contrary I don't like piracy and don't understand why the content services want to put roadblocks in the way of people who want to pay, thereby encouraging piracy.

You can probably blame studios rather than the streaming services. They set the drm requirements, and yes they are stupid.

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