A friend was using a computer with Windows 8.1 (I know lol), and her streaming services stopped working on it. Because she was using an old computer, she couldn’t upgrade to Windows 11. So I suggested installing Linux and even doing it for her, but the problem is that most streaming services don’t work on Linux. After making that disclaimer and suggesting she use a streaming stick, she decided that her computer is junk and will just get a new one. A win for Microsoft.
But the crux is that if streaming services don’t treat Linux as a first class platform, Linux will never be truly mainstream. People say that it’s Microsoft Office or Adobe blocking Linux from the mainstream, but Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Peacock, etc are the real missing “apps” on Linux.
Anyone ever notice how these “linux isn’t ready for mainstream” posts so often have straight up factual errors, like this one?
Is this reaally from a Microsoft misinformation farm somewhere? /s
Wait, seriously? One can’t watch Netflix or HBO or Disney+ on the browser on Linux?
For most of them you can get 720p on Linux with basic stereo audio.
It was possible to play Netflix 1080p on Chrome, but I think those days are gone.
Unfortunately, I don’t see a user-controlled Linux system ever being properly supported in the current DRM / copyright paradigm. There isn’t really a solution that satisfies the “rights holders”, and even if there were, there is little to no incentive to implement it.
“rights holders” is a weird term
That doesn’t make sense. I watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney on my Ubuntu laptop on Firefox all the time. I have a laptop setup in front of my treadmill just to watch shows while I walk.
I have one large screen dumb TV and I just use a Roku device to watch shows through that. Everything else in the house runs in Linux because I got rid of windows years ago and never had a problem with streaming services.
I watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney on my Ubuntu laptop on Firefox all the time. I have a laptop setup in front of my treadmill just to watch shows while I walk.
Are you watching in regular 1080p or above, or the gimped 720p most DRM services impose on the Linux platform?
If it’s 1080p+, how? If it’s 720p, that’s not really acceptable to most people.
I think the point of OP is that Streaming services don’t care about Linux and downright gimps them, so the apps will “look better”. Casual users won’t know or care about the technical reasons.
Is your dumb TV new or old? I’ve been trying to find something to replace my old plasma (it started to make cracking noises, that doesn’t seem like a good sign) for a while now, but it looks like every new TV is ‘smart’.
Do your homework, you can still find dumb TVs out there.
Or PC monitors… they have HDMI anyway these days.you can have a “smart” one and never connect it to the internet, that’s how i use mine (samsung)
Having an “smart” TV doesn’t mean you have to use the “smart” part.
I love the term “dumb TV” and “dumb phone”. :o)
huh? they don’t work? I’ve yet to come across ANY streaming platforms that don’t work and hell I use QuteBrowser.
what specific platforms don’t work? I’ve used youtube, twitch, netflix, hulu, etc in the past and they all just worked right out of the box.
Or…just go here and not pay a dime: https://fmhy.net/
Never had this issue. I just use Firefox.
Streaming services suck in general if you ask me. Even on windows the apps are ass imo. As an ultrawide user i always hated that i can’t zoom in on movies or shows to get rid of the black bars on the top and bottom and fullscreen it properly. I understand that that’s a weird edge case but it’s just one of the problems i had. With disney+ in particular, even on the windows app i couldn’t stream in 4k. I figured i’d try watching on ps4, but the audio would have this weird clipping like once every minute, which wasn’t an issue with the hardware, because it also happened on ps5 and with different headphones. I even went as far as buying an android tv box because i wanted to be a good boy and watch it legit, but that didn’t work out either, cause the box started getting slow and it would randomly exit the app in the middle of watching a show. So in the end i gave up and started pirating. Their service was so awfull that i saw no other option, which is kind of insane when you think about it. And now i can watch it in my player of choice, and properly fullscreen it on my ultrawide display.
Install DRM into Firefox, it usually prompts you when it needs it to stream. Or install MS-Edge if you find Chrome doesn’t work.
that was probably the issue. drm support in browsers is usually disabled by default on linux, but enabled on windows.
the odd cases where one still didn’t work on linux, a simple useragent addon in firefox to flip it to windows has usually worked.
but then, even when it is working, linux clients often still get a lesser product as the streaming sites like to reserve higher quality video to clients with os-level drm, restricting linux to 720p or even 480p.
Just torrent that shit while the streaming platforms get their house in order. It’s not acceptable to be racist to Linux.
Why so much downvotes. Streaming services restrict higher quality streams on linux distros, it’s common knowledge. Widevine L3 is supported by browser and that’s what running when someone streams netflix, disney+ or anything on a browser, firefox or chrome, in linux. Almost all streaming services provide 720p with Widevine L3. On the other hand, 1080p and higher are only available in widevine L1, which has to built into the kernal and certified by Google. And linux kernal WILL NOT BE DOING THAT. The OP doesn’t even blame linux for this, they explicitly say to blame streaming services.
doesn’t widevine work on chrome/edge?
Widevine L3, which does not provide high quality streams.
ah… that sucks. i wonder if it’s possible to run windows versions of browsers through wine. that was the trick i used for silverlight in the ie8 days lol
The sources I read said only the lower versions of widevine, which many platforms don’t support at all
i don’t use it myself so can’t be sure but i find it hard to believe it wouldn’t work on the latest ubuntu with google chrome… it did work as of a few years ago.
Are your “sources” some ill-informed LLM?
Stop listening to slopbots.
You just needed to install Chrome, not leave the installation with Firefox. Chrome works with streaming services, except one (can’t remember which one). All the other ones work.
Even in Firefox all streaming platforms I’ve used in the last couple of years worked just fine.
I install chrome on my Linux and watch them that way
Which ones?
I’ve watched max, Hulu, peacock, Amazon , apple and Disney
That’s good to hear. I don’t use streaming services so I don’t have firsthand experience
I think Firefox also supports many if one installs the proprietary codecs .
But I just go to the web address, log in she watch. Maybe I only watched peacock through prime though
it does work in firefox without any issues
Then how do you know that “most streaming services don’t work on Linux?”
How did you get Peacock to work? I’ve never had it work on Linux in the browser and read online that it’s because of Linux specifically.
Just install her favourite browser, chromium, Firefox, whatever. Set it as default and then create desktop links to her favourite streaming services. How to do that can be found here. You can also change the Icon to the specific logo by downloading it and change the line with ‘icon’ to a file path.
Should look and feel just like a desktop app
Switching from paid streaming services to piracy is at least as important as switching from Windows to Linux, probably even more so.
