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Last weekend my wife and I wanted to watch the movie Goat. It was pretty recently in theaters, so we didn't expect it to be on Netflix. We searched HBO Now, Hul

Last weekend my wife and I wanted to watch the movie Goat. It was pretty recently in theaters, so we didn't expect it to be on Netflix. We searched HBO Now, Hulu, Starz, and all of the other video streaming services that we have (and pay money for!). We found two options - rent it on Google Play Movies, or rent it through Amazon Prime. Now, we wanted to Chromecast it, and Amazon (to the best of my knowledge) does not allow you to do that, presumably because they want you to buy their Fire TV instead. So, we spent the $6 to rent the movie on Google Play. About 10 minutes into the movie, the quality plummeted and playback stopped with an error code. We called customer support and they talked us through possible solutions for ~35 minutes before we gave up and asked for a refund. It wasn't a problem with our Wifi, since Netflix/Youtube and other services worked just fine, it was a problem with Google Play streaming to the Chromecast. After searching and trying for over an hour to watch a movie legally using paid services, we went to putlocker, plugged an hdmi cable into my computer and streamed it just fine. We really, really tried to do it the legal way and pay money for the content we wanted to watch, but it was far too complicated to even find a place to watch it, let alone actually successfully watch it. I was reminded a lot of this comic http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones throughout the whole thing. All of this fragmentation is going to become a huge problem again, when piracy is just so easy and convenient.

ftrflyr 10y ago
> We really, really tried to do it the legal way and pay money for the content we wanted to watch, but it was far too complicated to even find a place to watch it, let alone actually successfully watch it. Hey @Google, @Amazon, @etc., you have UX designers (tons of them). If this problem isn't fixed soon, more will do the same.
- jerf 10y ago
  Robotguy12 did not describe a UI problem. First there was a licensing problem, then there was a technical playback problem. The movie was nominally legally available, but it might as well not have been, for how hard it was to find and then playback. The technical problem is relatively easily fixed and probably just an isolated local issue. The licensing problem is a bigger one. For rentals, you have the problem of having to create accounts for all the places it may be, assuming you've even got the searching chops to do it (presumably one gets tired of just trying all of them by hand), and for subscription services you have the even larger problem of accumulating a $10/month service here, $10/month service there until you're talking about real money. That reminds me, I need to turn off my Hulu service. (Seriously, not just for rhetorical point. Literally gonna go do that next thing. Edit: Yup, just did it.) We're not using it in the current season. (Edit: Incidentally, Hulu really cut itself off here. Because so many of the shows, even with the paid subscription, only have the last 5 episodes of the most recent season, and then aggressively disappear once the season is over, I have no reason to stick around if I'm not watching anything that's on right now. There's actually two shows that I did not watch as they came out, but might have left on my subscription for if they were still available, but now they're gone from the service like they never existed, so.... cancelled. See ya next season, maybe.)
  - Xorlev 10y ago
    Parent said "UX" not "UI" problem. UX broadly encompasses all aspects of the experience, not just the UI. Sucky licensing hiccups, buffering, etc. all lead to poor UX.
    - jerf 10y ago
      Fair enough.
    - peeters 10y ago
      Yeah but you really don't need "UX designers" to tell you any of that, nor can UX designers fix it.
      - ftrflyr 10y ago
        > Really don't need "UX designers" to tell you any of that 1.) Really? Would love for you to elaborate more. If you don't have a team trying to improve the user experience (i.e. user experience designers) then who will? Will you just wait for you users to tell you there is a problem? If so, then you aren't actively meeting the needs of your users insofar as you are not meeting their goals. 2.) If you are going to downvote me based on an opinion that you have about UX that defeats the primary purpose of downvoting. What I say is true, I work in HCI and UX. You very much need a team who is meeting / understanding the needs of the user. If not, the result is a disconnect between what the user actually needs and what you provide (you being Netflix). 3.) > nor can UX designers fix it. This is just not true. It is the job of UX designers to work closely with the engineering team to meet the needs of the users. I am not sure what experience you have with UX designers, but they should and often do work actively with engineers to "fix it." So my question for you is: If you don't need UX designers (forgot about the term UX designers as it seems you clearly have a problem with how we are defining a group of people who are actively attempting to design experiences around meeting the needs of the user), then who will you rely on to ensure that the user's needs are being met? The engineers?
        peeters 10y ago
- blakeyrat 10y ago
  There is no way Google has UX designers. I simply do not believe it. (Probably not Amazon, either.)
JoeAltmaier 10y ago
Yeah I'm not sympathetic. The alternative to finding (and failing to find) a service to watch the show could possibly be - not watching it? The conclusion 'naturally we then had to steal it' isn't entirely justified. Shoplifting is easy and convenient too. Next time you forget your wallet at the corner store. Just sayin.
- ekianjo 10y ago
  The analogy between shoplifting and copyright infrigement gets really, really old.
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    I know; I have to keep bringing it up because people keep pretending they're owed entertainment. This entitled generation is just disappointing.
    - givinguflac 10y ago
      You seem to be missing the point that you continually bringing it up does not make it accurate or even relevant. You wouldn't download a car! This is a dumb argument.
      - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
        I know this: the subject is complex and many varied and valid arguments are made on all sides. But amazingly, folks accept whatever argument gives them free entertainment. Objections are suddenly 'irrelevant' when watching their favorite TV show is at stake. Folks who wouldn't go in the back window of a bar to avoid the cover charge, will gladly go in the back way online to hear their favorite band. And they rely on the (pretty indirect) argument about how the source is generated to rationalize it. Pardon me for my cynicism.
        Fogest 10y ago
        Well if the front door was inconvenient and hard to find, and then I paid for it and the front door wouldn't work, then yeah maybe I would go in the back window. Your argument is so flawed, and it really seems like with your comment above that you just are looking for a reason to call the younger generation "entitled". Stop using physical examples, they don't correlate to a digital good that can be duplicated digitally, with no physical presence.
epistasis 10y ago
There are two issues here, the fragmentation of the services, and poorly implemented services. I have really really tried to use Google Play for video because it seems to work on the broadest array of devices, but the service itself is a second rate experience. Too many clicks, laggy unresponsive UI, silly JS driven pages that require reloading in order to start working again... I too really want to do things the way that supports content producers, but the middlemen are doing such a poor job that it's difficult to get my money to them.
- andybak 10y ago
  I usually stream from the mobile App rather than the web page. I'm assuming you're wanting to watch in a desktop browser?
- deleted 10y ago
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- icoder 10y ago
  I have HBO Go now for a while next to my Netflix account (that I have longer). Man I hate that app.
- thrownblown 10y ago
  I have bought a lot of content (yo gabba gabba!) from Google play. I often watch it on YouTube under "purchases"
- jaibot 10y ago
  I don't know why Google doesn't make any effort to tell users this, but: you can access all of your Google Play video through YouTube. Just search YouTube for the thing you bought, and you should find the full-length legal video marked as "purchased" that you can watch with YouTube's interface, casting and all.
  - zodPod 10y ago
    We rented a movie on Google Play and this was literally the only way we could watch it. It didn't even show up in our library on Google play. I have no idea but I was just lucky to have thought to check YouTube as well.
deleted 10y ago
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JoshTriplett 10y ago
> Now, we wanted to Chromecast it, and Amazon (to the best of my knowledge) does not allow you to do that, presumably because they want you to buy their Fire TV instead. It works on a phone or tablet if you cast the whole screen. Might work on a laptop the same way.
- andybak 10y ago
  Does it play OK like that? I vaguely remember it dropped frames or the sync was out or something that made me go 'ugh'.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    It "works", but it can be really flaky. I've used it to watch at least 2 movies, but at that point it feels really shitty to be jumping through so many hoops, most likely breaking some law somewhere in the process anyway, just to give someone money for something all the while they actively fight me.
  - TheBeardKing 10y ago
    Mine sucks bad enough that since I've transferred all my TVs from HTPCs to chromecasts, I'm google play all the way for on-demand movies. I refuse to have both a chromecast and a firestick on a TV, when the firestick would only be used for amazon. The kids are ok using ipads for amazon content for now, and I still left one HTPC connected. Also, fuck amazon for changing from digital credit to pantry credit for selecting slow shipping instead of 2-day. Google rewards money makes up for it.
Shivetya 10y ago
Even with 1g internet I have had issues streaming from some sites which always astounds me. However what really is annoying is that it is so much cheaper and with better quality to just redbox a movie than stream it. I cannot recall a recent movie I have streamed simply because most of the time it can be a third to more than half the price of buying a blu-ray.
hamax 10y ago
> We really, really tried to do it the legal way and pay money for the content we wanted to watch, but it was far too complicated to even find a place to watch it, let alone actually successfully watch it. Why didn't you just stream Amazon or Play Movies from the computer since you plugged it in anyways? How was stealing it more convenient?
- lostcolony 10y ago
  Because after having such a terrible experience they went with one that, should things go wrong, doesn't entail spending 35 minutes on the phone with support for them to get a refund?
  - hamax 10y ago
    He didn't spend 35 minutes getting a refund. He spent 35 minutes trying to resolve the problem.
    - exergy 10y ago
      ...and it didn't work. I get frustrated after having to spend ten minutes talking to a customer rep. Half an hour of an evening wasted trying to resolve something that shouldn't be an issue in the first place would leave me seething and agitated. Now, there are certainly some out there who would soldier on despite all these inconveniences and still go through the trouble of finding another legal avenue (OP did say he spent another hour searching for it), but if your business plan relies on people taking the legal route just because it's the "right" thing to do, experience be damned, well, you'll have piracy at levels that you do now.
    - Thrillington 10y ago
      Spent 35 minutes trying to find a resolution and didn't get one. So they should expect to pay money AND time to watch content legally?
      - hamax 10y ago
warfangle 10y ago
With the chromecast extension on chrome, you can cast amazon prime just fine from your computer.
Diederich 10y ago
Right. Being the 'chaotic good' person that I am, my family stopped trying to view entertainment content the normal legal way many years ago. I've been using a torrent friendly VPS in eastern Europe for quite a few years now to avoid any complications. That, plus a little web service that presents youtube videos without commercials, gives us pretty reliable access to most anything we ever want to watch. The downside is that it's not setup to be 'live'. It can take a few hours to torrent it and then securely transfer home. But honestly that's kind of a feature. To be clear, if there was an always works and reasonably priced way to legally view content, we would jump right on it. But such a thing has yet to exist.
- dilap 10y ago
  Lately youtube has been hitting me with multiple-minute-long prerolls to watch 30 second clips. What's the webservice? (Or is it a homegrown thing?)
  - Diederich 10y ago
    Homegrown.
- executesorder66 10y ago
  > plus a little web service that presents youtube videos without commercials Why not just use an adblocker like uBlock Origin? If you don't want to see ads, I assume you use an adblocker anyway, so you might as well use one that doesn't suck.
  - Diederich 10y ago
    I actually am not aware of uBlock Origin. I'll take a look at it, thanks! Believe it or not, I don't use an ad. blocker, I never have.
cptskippy 10y ago
In my experience, Google Play has just been awful for video. Their App offerings on platforms other than their own are also quite horrid, trying to use Play or Youtube on a Roku is just a nightmare. If their goal is to get you to switch to Android TV, for a better experience, they need to rethink their strategy because it's really just driving me away from their services. The whole no Amazon Services on Google Hardware and no Google Services on Amazon Hardware does neither of them any benefit and only solidifies Roku's position as the dominant platform because it's the only one that's open.
UnfalseDesign 10y ago
> It wasn't a problem with our Wifi, since Netflix/Youtube and other services worked just fine, it was a problem with Google Play streaming to the Chromecast. Movies you buy/rent in Google Play Movies are actually available in YouTube as well. There's a section in YouTube called "Purchases." I've used this to stream Google Play Movies purchases on my Fire TV. I would imagine the same would work for an Apple TV since it has the YouTube app. I know it is a cumbersome workaround, and that a company as big as Google really should have a product that just works, but since you mentioned that YouTube works fine, it is a possible workaround that might save you 35 minutes next time.
- gordon_freeman 10y ago
  That is the best and straightforward workaround. Thanks for letting us know that we can rent on Play and watch it on YouTube. I just didn't know that's possible. If you want to rent the movie or show on Amazon Video but are avoiding using that option just because it doesn't work on chromecast then here is what you can do : 1. Install Amazon video app on phone. Here's link for Android : https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/splash/sd/t/appstore https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/splash/sd/t/appstore 2. Cast your Android screen (mirror) to chromecast via OS's cast option. 3. Go to Amazon Video app and play show. Do a full screen view.
  - AlexB138 10y ago
    Don't you have to leave your phone's screen on the entire time to use screen casting?
    - gordon_freeman 10y ago
      Yes. It's essentially mirroring the phone screen so you've got to focus on watching movie or a show and not worry about playing with the phone notifications. That's a trade-off.
      - AlexB138 10y ago
        My concerns were more along the lines of power drain.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
That's funny as my wife and I have probably streamed hundreds of items with our Chromecast from various sources including the Play Store and have never had the slightest issue. We do have quality issues with Netflix sometimes, but its pretty rare and seems to be related to choppy wifi connections due to interference (since moving to 5ghz wifi we haven't had issues - which may be coincidental). Online services have issues sometimes. I think we need to accept life will have the occasional inconvenience. I bought a $35,000+ car that had engine trouble one year in and had to arrange with the warranty people at the dealer about replacing the engine. A $3 movie not playing isn't remotely comparable with that, but we accept that cars need work sometimes, so why the double-standard for IT systems? You just gotta accept that life is not perfect and not to over-react or toss out the baby with the bathwater. I think you're playing up an edge case and frankly that seems disingenuous to me. It seems like every pro-pirate person has some shaggy dog story that "validates" their pirating. I also take issue with how 'easy' it is to pirate. Sure, if its for a current hot item and everyone is seeding it, but once the fanboys go away the seeders are mostly gone and now you're waiting hours (or even days!) to pirate something. Worse, you may expect a lawsuit from the copyright holders as torrents expose your real IP address unless you're using an offshore VPN or VPS which also adds a another layer of inconvenience and monthly billing. Currently, we have two FireTV boxes and two Chromecasts for our two TV's and they're borderline magical. We have so much content on tap that "just works" that the argument of "its better to pirate" is pretty unconvincing to people without a political agenda. I also want to be part of a system that pays investors and producers of said content for moral and practical reasons. We don't need a Sega Dreamcast-like situation where the pirates kill platforms, hurt competition, and create disincentives to innovate, distribute, and create.
- emerod 10y ago
  I agree, it's an anecdotal rationalization, as is yours. Yet, it's also true that creators actively frustrate efficient use of distribution platforms in support of their bad business models.
- ftrflyr 10y ago
  Listen mate. I am not playing up an edge case here and even if I were, you are very much doing the same thing. When I pay for a service, travel frequently, and cannot use that service because of licensing restrictions due to ads, that is a problem. That tells me these streaming services put more stock into my viewing ads than accessing content I am already paying for. I am not pro-pirate. Nor is your car analogy relevant. You are comparing apples and oranges (the business models aren't remotely the same and the value propositions are completely different, to me, that is disingenuous.
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
Well, if you want to keep using a Google service, you could open Google.com and search for the mkv you want. Use intitle:index.of to get directory listings. Tons of stuff on Google.
e28eta 10y ago
I highly recommend using something like fan.tv (I don't know of any competitors, but I assume they exist) for finding where content is available. It looks like it doesn't include Google Play, but shows that Goat is available on Amazon and Vudu, and makes it easy to compare prices. There're probably other services it doesn't support (which limits its usefulness), but I've been using it for years.
jimbokun 10y ago
Does make me wonder if that evil bastard genius Steve Jobs was still alive, if he would be able to fix this situation. I actually think Apple is still doing OK on the technology front, and the Apple TV UI seems to have the right ideas. But actually negotiating the content licenses is something calling for the full power of the Reality Distortion Field. Like how Jobs was able to convince the music industry to provide all their content because it would be available "just on Macs", or to get AT&T to give full control of the iPhone to Apple, in exchange for an exclusive over Verizon. What would be the negotiating play to trick (I mean, convince its in their best interest) video content owners to make all their intellectual property available from a single excellent UI?
Fogest 10y ago
The only service I pay for is a VPN. It allows me to access any tv show or movie I could dream of without any problems ;). No but seriously, it is sad that with my setup I can search something and stream it instantly, or have it download and automatically be renamed and organized ready to watch on Plex. TV shows can be grabbed automatically and alert me when they are ready. I can use Plex and stream them anywhere in the world right from my own server, and now they even have beta for streaming from amazon cloud so you don't even need your own server. I hate that my most convenient option is the illegal one. I'd gladly pay. I have no problem paying the $10 a month for Spotify. I never illegally download music anymore because of it. I used to do so before, but now it is so easy and accessible with Spotify that I see no need to. The Canadian version of a service like Netflix has even less content than the American versions. We barely would find anything we wanted on it, and ultimately got rid of it pretty fast. Just wasn't worth the cost. We had to resort to no longer searching for things we wanted as they rarely had them, and instead just viewing what they DID have. Edit: I should also add that I am a student on a fairly tight budget, and despite this I am willing to pay for a service monthly to get access to these things. That is why I pay for Spotify. However, I am definitely not going to spend money at multiple video streaming services, and then have to go on some wild hunt to find the content I'm interested in.
- deleted 10y ago
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z0r 10y ago
I agree with your post. Had a bad experience with the chromecast recently, but I managed to figure out that it required an update (through the android cast app) even though it did not indicate it anywhere else. I guess they assumed that it would automatically update frequently enough that my problem would be a rare edge case, but I'd had it unplugged for about a year and wanted to use it for a new TV. Haven't had a TV for ages, I learned a few days later it had the cast protocol built into it out of the box...
Lawtonfogle 10y ago
Given how selective enforcement works, I would say you did it the legal way in as much as so.eone doing 70 on a 65 interstate while everyone else is doing about 70 is legally driving. As long as the infringement isn't massive it is largely tolerated and if the law as written was fully enforced, it would result in the law quickly being changed. Much like if they started handing out tickets to everyone who went even a 1 mph over the limit the law would change. Now, I don't like selective enforcement and think it has many problems, but it does seem to be how our legal system functions these days.
maverick_iceman 10y ago
Why can't you rent it on Amazon Prime and cast[1] the tab in Chrome? [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadge...

ftrflyr 10y ago

> We really, really tried to do it the legal way and pay money for the content we wanted to watch, but it was far too complicated to even find a place to watch it, let alone actually successfully watch it. Hey @Google, @Amazon, @etc., you have UX designers (tons of them). If this problem isn't fixed soon, more will do the same.

jerf 10y ago
Robotguy12 did not describe a UI problem. First there was a licensing problem, then there was a technical playback problem. The movie was nominally legally available, but it might as well not have been, for how hard it was to find and then playback. The technical problem is relatively easily fixed and probably just an isolated local issue. The licensing problem is a bigger one. For rentals, you have the problem of having to create accounts for all the places it may be, assuming you've even got the searching chops to do it (presumably one gets tired of just trying all of them by hand), and for subscription services you have the even larger problem of accumulating a $10/month service here, $10/month service there until you're talking about real money. That reminds me, I need to turn off my Hulu service. (Seriously, not just for rhetorical point. Literally gonna go do that next thing. Edit: Yup, just did it.) We're not using it in the current season. (Edit: Incidentally, Hulu really cut itself off here. Because so many of the shows, even with the paid subscription, only have the last 5 episodes of the most recent season, and then aggressively disappear once the season is over, I have no reason to stick around if I'm not watching anything that's on right now. There's actually two shows that I did not watch as they came out, but might have left on my subscription for if they were still available, but now they're gone from the service like they never existed, so.... cancelled. See ya next season, maybe.)
- Xorlev 10y ago
  Parent said "UX" not "UI" problem. UX broadly encompasses all aspects of the experience, not just the UI. Sucky licensing hiccups, buffering, etc. all lead to poor UX.
  - jerf 10y ago
    Fair enough.
  - peeters 10y ago
    Yeah but you really don't need "UX designers" to tell you any of that, nor can UX designers fix it.
    - ftrflyr 10y ago
      > Really don't need "UX designers" to tell you any of that 1.) Really? Would love for you to elaborate more. If you don't have a team trying to improve the user experience (i.e. user experience designers) then who will? Will you just wait for you users to tell you there is a problem? If so, then you aren't actively meeting the needs of your users insofar as you are not meeting their goals. 2.) If you are going to downvote me based on an opinion that you have about UX that defeats the primary purpose of downvoting. What I say is true, I work in HCI and UX. You very much need a team who is meeting / understanding the needs of the user. If not, the result is a disconnect between what the user actually needs and what you provide (you being Netflix). 3.) > nor can UX designers fix it. This is just not true. It is the job of UX designers to work closely with the engineering team to meet the needs of the users. I am not sure what experience you have with UX designers, but they should and often do work actively with engineers to "fix it." So my question for you is: If you don't need UX designers (forgot about the term UX designers as it seems you clearly have a problem with how we are defining a group of people who are actively attempting to design experiences around meeting the needs of the user), then who will you rely on to ensure that the user's needs are being met? The engineers?
      - peeters 10y ago
blakeyrat 10y ago
There is no way Google has UX designers. I simply do not believe it. (Probably not Amazon, either.)

JoeAltmaier 10y ago

Yeah I'm not sympathetic. The alternative to finding (and failing to find) a service to watch the show could possibly be - not watching it? The conclusion 'naturally we then had to steal it' isn't entirely justified. Shoplifting is easy and convenient too. Next time you forget your wallet at the corner store. Just sayin.

ekianjo 10y ago
The analogy between shoplifting and copyright infrigement gets really, really old.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  I know; I have to keep bringing it up because people keep pretending they're owed entertainment. This entitled generation is just disappointing.
  - givinguflac 10y ago
    You seem to be missing the point that you continually bringing it up does not make it accurate or even relevant. You wouldn't download a car! This is a dumb argument.
    - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
      I know this: the subject is complex and many varied and valid arguments are made on all sides. But amazingly, folks accept whatever argument gives them free entertainment. Objections are suddenly 'irrelevant' when watching their favorite TV show is at stake. Folks who wouldn't go in the back window of a bar to avoid the cover charge, will gladly go in the back way online to hear their favorite band. And they rely on the (pretty indirect) argument about how the source is generated to rationalize it. Pardon me for my cynicism.
      - Fogest 10y ago
        Well if the front door was inconvenient and hard to find, and then I paid for it and the front door wouldn't work, then yeah maybe I would go in the back window. Your argument is so flawed, and it really seems like with your comment above that you just are looking for a reason to call the younger generation "entitled". Stop using physical examples, they don't correlate to a digital good that can be duplicated digitally, with no physical presence.

epistasis 10y ago

There are two issues here, the fragmentation of the services, and poorly implemented services. I have really really tried to use Google Play for video because it seems to work on the broadest array of devices, but the service itself is a second rate experience. Too many clicks, laggy unresponsive UI, silly JS driven pages that require reloading in order to start working again... I too really want to do things the way that supports content producers, but the middlemen are doing such a poor job that it's difficult to get my money to them.

andybak 10y ago
I usually stream from the mobile App rather than the web page. I'm assuming you're wanting to watch in a desktop browser?
deleted 10y ago
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icoder 10y ago
I have HBO Go now for a while next to my Netflix account (that I have longer). Man I hate that app.
thrownblown 10y ago
I have bought a lot of content (yo gabba gabba!) from Google play. I often watch it on YouTube under "purchases"
jaibot 10y ago
I don't know why Google doesn't make any effort to tell users this, but: you can access all of your Google Play video through YouTube. Just search YouTube for the thing you bought, and you should find the full-length legal video marked as "purchased" that you can watch with YouTube's interface, casting and all.
- zodPod 10y ago
  We rented a movie on Google Play and this was literally the only way we could watch it. It didn't even show up in our library on Google play. I have no idea but I was just lucky to have thought to check YouTube as well.

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JoshTriplett 10y ago

> Now, we wanted to Chromecast it, and Amazon (to the best of my knowledge) does not allow you to do that, presumably because they want you to buy their Fire TV instead. It works on a phone or tablet if you cast the whole screen. Might work on a laptop the same way.

andybak 10y ago
Does it play OK like that? I vaguely remember it dropped frames or the sync was out or something that made me go 'ugh'.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  It "works", but it can be really flaky. I've used it to watch at least 2 movies, but at that point it feels really shitty to be jumping through so many hoops, most likely breaking some law somewhere in the process anyway, just to give someone money for something all the while they actively fight me.
- TheBeardKing 10y ago
  Mine sucks bad enough that since I've transferred all my TVs from HTPCs to chromecasts, I'm google play all the way for on-demand movies. I refuse to have both a chromecast and a firestick on a TV, when the firestick would only be used for amazon. The kids are ok using ipads for amazon content for now, and I still left one HTPC connected. Also, fuck amazon for changing from digital credit to pantry credit for selecting slow shipping instead of 2-day. Google rewards money makes up for it.

Shivetya 10y ago

Even with 1g internet I have had issues streaming from some sites which always astounds me. However what really is annoying is that it is so much cheaper and with better quality to just redbox a movie than stream it. I cannot recall a recent movie I have streamed simply because most of the time it can be a third to more than half the price of buying a blu-ray.

hamax 10y ago

> We really, really tried to do it the legal way and pay money for the content we wanted to watch, but it was far too complicated to even find a place to watch it, let alone actually successfully watch it. Why didn't you just stream Amazon or Play Movies from the computer since you plugged it in anyways? How was stealing it more convenient?

lostcolony 10y ago
Because after having such a terrible experience they went with one that, should things go wrong, doesn't entail spending 35 minutes on the phone with support for them to get a refund?
- hamax 10y ago
  He didn't spend 35 minutes getting a refund. He spent 35 minutes trying to resolve the problem.
  - exergy 10y ago
    ...and it didn't work. I get frustrated after having to spend ten minutes talking to a customer rep. Half an hour of an evening wasted trying to resolve something that shouldn't be an issue in the first place would leave me seething and agitated. Now, there are certainly some out there who would soldier on despite all these inconveniences and still go through the trouble of finding another legal avenue (OP did say he spent another hour searching for it), but if your business plan relies on people taking the legal route just because it's the "right" thing to do, experience be damned, well, you'll have piracy at levels that you do now.
  - Thrillington 10y ago
    Spent 35 minutes trying to find a resolution and didn't get one. So they should expect to pay money AND time to watch content legally?
    - hamax 10y ago

warfangle 10y ago

With the chromecast extension on chrome, you can cast amazon prime just fine from your computer.

Diederich 10y ago

Right. Being the 'chaotic good' person that I am, my family stopped trying to view entertainment content the normal legal way many years ago. I've been using a torrent friendly VPS in eastern Europe for quite a few years now to avoid any complications. That, plus a little web service that presents youtube videos without commercials, gives us pretty reliable access to most anything we ever want to watch. The downside is that it's not setup to be 'live'. It can take a few hours to torrent it and then securely transfer home. But honestly that's kind of a feature. To be clear, if there was an always works and reasonably priced way to legally view content, we would jump right on it. But such a thing has yet to exist.

dilap 10y ago
Lately youtube has been hitting me with multiple-minute-long prerolls to watch 30 second clips. What's the webservice? (Or is it a homegrown thing?)
- Diederich 10y ago
  Homegrown.
executesorder66 10y ago
> plus a little web service that presents youtube videos without commercials Why not just use an adblocker like uBlock Origin? If you don't want to see ads, I assume you use an adblocker anyway, so you might as well use one that doesn't suck.
- Diederich 10y ago
  I actually am not aware of uBlock Origin. I'll take a look at it, thanks! Believe it or not, I don't use an ad. blocker, I never have.

cptskippy 10y ago

In my experience, Google Play has just been awful for video. Their App offerings on platforms other than their own are also quite horrid, trying to use Play or Youtube on a Roku is just a nightmare. If their goal is to get you to switch to Android TV, for a better experience, they need to rethink their strategy because it's really just driving me away from their services. The whole no Amazon Services on Google Hardware and no Google Services on Amazon Hardware does neither of them any benefit and only solidifies Roku's position as the dominant platform because it's the only one that's open.

UnfalseDesign 10y ago

> It wasn't a problem with our Wifi, since Netflix/Youtube and other services worked just fine, it was a problem with Google Play streaming to the Chromecast. Movies you buy/rent in Google Play Movies are actually available in YouTube as well. There's a section in YouTube called "Purchases." I've used this to stream Google Play Movies purchases on my Fire TV. I would imagine the same would work for an Apple TV since it has the YouTube app. I know it is a cumbersome workaround, and that a company as big as Google really should have a product that just works, but since you mentioned that YouTube works fine, it is a possible workaround that might save you 35 minutes next time.

gordon_freeman 10y ago
That is the best and straightforward workaround. Thanks for letting us know that we can rent on Play and watch it on YouTube. I just didn't know that's possible. If you want to rent the movie or show on Amazon Video but are avoiding using that option just because it doesn't work on chromecast then here is what you can do : 1. Install Amazon video app on phone. Here's link for Android : https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/splash/sd/t/appstore https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/splash/sd/t/appstore 2. Cast your Android screen (mirror) to chromecast via OS's cast option. 3. Go to Amazon Video app and play show. Do a full screen view.
- AlexB138 10y ago
  Don't you have to leave your phone's screen on the entire time to use screen casting?
  - gordon_freeman 10y ago
    Yes. It's essentially mirroring the phone screen so you've got to focus on watching movie or a show and not worry about playing with the phone notifications. That's a trade-off.
    - AlexB138 10y ago
      My concerns were more along the lines of power drain.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

That's funny as my wife and I have probably streamed hundreds of items with our Chromecast from various sources including the Play Store and have never had the slightest issue. We do have quality issues with Netflix sometimes, but its pretty rare and seems to be related to choppy wifi connections due to interference (since moving to 5ghz wifi we haven't had issues - which may be coincidental). Online services have issues sometimes. I think we need to accept life will have the occasional inconvenience. I bought a $35,000+ car that had engine trouble one year in and had to arrange with the warranty people at the dealer about replacing the engine. A $3 movie not playing isn't remotely comparable with that, but we accept that cars need work sometimes, so why the double-standard for IT systems? You just gotta accept that life is not perfect and not to over-react or toss out the baby with the bathwater. I think you're playing up an edge case and frankly that seems disingenuous to me. It seems like every pro-pirate person has some shaggy dog story that "validates" their pirating. I also take issue with how 'easy' it is to pirate. Sure, if its for a current hot item and everyone is seeding it, but once the fanboys go away the seeders are mostly gone and now you're waiting hours (or even days!) to pirate something. Worse, you may expect a lawsuit from the copyright holders as torrents expose your real IP address unless you're using an offshore VPN or VPS which also adds a another layer of inconvenience and monthly billing. Currently, we have two FireTV boxes and two Chromecasts for our two TV's and they're borderline magical. We have so much content on tap that "just works" that the argument of "its better to pirate" is pretty unconvincing to people without a political agenda. I also want to be part of a system that pays investors and producers of said content for moral and practical reasons. We don't need a Sega Dreamcast-like situation where the pirates kill platforms, hurt competition, and create disincentives to innovate, distribute, and create.

emerod 10y ago
I agree, it's an anecdotal rationalization, as is yours. Yet, it's also true that creators actively frustrate efficient use of distribution platforms in support of their bad business models.
ftrflyr 10y ago
Listen mate. I am not playing up an edge case here and even if I were, you are very much doing the same thing. When I pay for a service, travel frequently, and cannot use that service because of licensing restrictions due to ads, that is a problem. That tells me these streaming services put more stock into my viewing ads than accessing content I am already paying for. I am not pro-pirate. Nor is your car analogy relevant. You are comparing apples and oranges (the business models aren't remotely the same and the value propositions are completely different, to me, that is disingenuous.

JustSomeNobody 10y ago

Well, if you want to keep using a Google service, you could open Google.com and search for the mkv you want. Use intitle:index.of to get directory listings. Tons of stuff on Google.

e28eta 10y ago

I highly recommend using something like fan.tv (I don't know of any competitors, but I assume they exist) for finding where content is available. It looks like it doesn't include Google Play, but shows that Goat is available on Amazon and Vudu, and makes it easy to compare prices. There're probably other services it doesn't support (which limits its usefulness), but I've been using it for years.

jimbokun 10y ago

Does make me wonder if that evil bastard genius Steve Jobs was still alive, if he would be able to fix this situation. I actually think Apple is still doing OK on the technology front, and the Apple TV UI seems to have the right ideas. But actually negotiating the content licenses is something calling for the full power of the Reality Distortion Field. Like how Jobs was able to convince the music industry to provide all their content because it would be available "just on Macs", or to get AT&T to give full control of the iPhone to Apple, in exchange for an exclusive over Verizon. What would be the negotiating play to trick (I mean, convince its in their best interest) video content owners to make all their intellectual property available from a single excellent UI?

Fogest 10y ago

The only service I pay for is a VPN. It allows me to access any tv show or movie I could dream of without any problems ;). No but seriously, it is sad that with my setup I can search something and stream it instantly, or have it download and automatically be renamed and organized ready to watch on Plex. TV shows can be grabbed automatically and alert me when they are ready. I can use Plex and stream them anywhere in the world right from my own server, and now they even have beta for streaming from amazon cloud so you don't even need your own server. I hate that my most convenient option is the illegal one. I'd gladly pay. I have no problem paying the $10 a month for Spotify. I never illegally download music anymore because of it. I used to do so before, but now it is so easy and accessible with Spotify that I see no need to. The Canadian version of a service like Netflix has even less content than the American versions. We barely would find anything we wanted on it, and ultimately got rid of it pretty fast. Just wasn't worth the cost. We had to resort to no longer searching for things we wanted as they rarely had them, and instead just viewing what they DID have. Edit: I should also add that I am a student on a fairly tight budget, and despite this I am willing to pay for a service monthly to get access to these things. That is why I pay for Spotify. However, I am definitely not going to spend money at multiple video streaming services, and then have to go on some wild hunt to find the content I'm interested in.

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z0r 10y ago

I agree with your post. Had a bad experience with the chromecast recently, but I managed to figure out that it required an update (through the android cast app) even though it did not indicate it anywhere else. I guess they assumed that it would automatically update frequently enough that my problem would be a rare edge case, but I'd had it unplugged for about a year and wanted to use it for a new TV. Haven't had a TV for ages, I learned a few days later it had the cast protocol built into it out of the box...

Lawtonfogle 10y ago

Given how selective enforcement works, I would say you did it the legal way in as much as so.eone doing 70 on a 65 interstate while everyone else is doing about 70 is legally driving. As long as the infringement isn't massive it is largely tolerated and if the law as written was fully enforced, it would result in the law quickly being changed. Much like if they started handing out tickets to everyone who went even a 1 mph over the limit the law would change. Now, I don't like selective enforcement and think it has many problems, but it does seem to be how our legal system functions these days.

maverick_iceman 10y ago

Why can't you rent it on Amazon Prime and cast[1] the tab in Chrome? [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadge...