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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 fa

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.

efdee 5y ago
Either YouTube requires VP9 and then everybody has to implement it, or it allows other codecs and leaves Roku alone. What's the point of singling them out?
- SR2Z 5y ago
  Because VP9 is much, much cheaper for: - Google, who doesn't have to pay royalties - Google and consumers, who can enjoy better compression and lower bandwidth - Consumers, who can enjoy a much more mainstream video encoding format in not just YT but pretty much every app. Google doesn't want to write off 45% of the set-top market right away, but at the same time it's 100% in the right to demand Roku support modern royalty-free codecs going forward. Roku fights pretty much everybody nowadays and as someone who's been dealing with full-screen ads and missing apps on my $1000 TV, I have no sympathy for Roku whining about needing to support a modern codec.
  - efdee 5y ago
    That doesn't answer my question though. If they offer non-VP9 YouTube to some, they must offer it to all.
    - SR2Z 5y ago
      A goat farmer in rural Afghanistan browsing YouTube on his 2003 XP box has a legitimate excuse - Roku does not, especially going forward. There is a balance between keeping the burden of backwards compatibility forever and making efforts to keep things accessible to those without new hardware. Google has invested a decent amount of money in developing its Roku app. Roku is now trying to hold users hostage so that Google continues to pour resources into supporting inferior technologies. We will see how this ends - I think if Google blocked YT/YT TV on Roku, it would annihilate Roku and barely scratch Google.
  - rOOb85 5y ago
    None of that is Roku's problem. It's googles problem. Google is trying to make it rokus problem.
- larntz 5y ago
  Also if the answer is try using another Google product(chromecast) to get a good experience that kind of validates Roku's complaint.
aklemm 5y ago
Moving from device to device IS the problem.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
No thanks. I'll stick with a computer running a web browser connected to the TV and a wireless keyboard because I'm sick of having to give a shit which devices are supported by which services.
young_unixer 5y ago
Do they sell chromecasts with dedicated remote controllers?
- azurezyq 5y ago
  https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=en-US https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=...

efdee 5y ago

Either YouTube requires VP9 and then everybody has to implement it, or it allows other codecs and leaves Roku alone. What's the point of singling them out?

SR2Z 5y ago
Because VP9 is much, much cheaper for: - Google, who doesn't have to pay royalties - Google and consumers, who can enjoy better compression and lower bandwidth - Consumers, who can enjoy a much more mainstream video encoding format in not just YT but pretty much every app. Google doesn't want to write off 45% of the set-top market right away, but at the same time it's 100% in the right to demand Roku support modern royalty-free codecs going forward. Roku fights pretty much everybody nowadays and as someone who's been dealing with full-screen ads and missing apps on my $1000 TV, I have no sympathy for Roku whining about needing to support a modern codec.
- efdee 5y ago
  That doesn't answer my question though. If they offer non-VP9 YouTube to some, they must offer it to all.
  - SR2Z 5y ago
    A goat farmer in rural Afghanistan browsing YouTube on his 2003 XP box has a legitimate excuse - Roku does not, especially going forward. There is a balance between keeping the burden of backwards compatibility forever and making efforts to keep things accessible to those without new hardware. Google has invested a decent amount of money in developing its Roku app. Roku is now trying to hold users hostage so that Google continues to pour resources into supporting inferior technologies. We will see how this ends - I think if Google blocked YT/YT TV on Roku, it would annihilate Roku and barely scratch Google.
- rOOb85 5y ago
  None of that is Roku's problem. It's googles problem. Google is trying to make it rokus problem.
larntz 5y ago
Also if the answer is try using another Google product(chromecast) to get a good experience that kind of validates Roku's complaint.

aklemm 5y ago

Moving from device to device IS the problem.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

No thanks. I'll stick with a computer running a web browser connected to the TV and a wireless keyboard because I'm sick of having to give a shit which devices are supported by which services.

young_unixer 5y ago

Do they sell chromecasts with dedicated remote controllers?

azurezyq 5y ago
https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=en-US https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=...