Streaming sites hate Linux

Jason5

Why do streaming sites hate Linux, I use Amazon Prime and i see that they don't support HD videos and all videos play in SD. Even Netflix doesn't support HD in Linux. Luckily YouTube plays HD videos.

Why is it so, as they don't get money from Linux community unlike Microsoft?

Syn

Jason5 the funniest part is that if you change your user agent to Windows with Chrome, many websites change with it.

HolySoap

I assume it's the same problem as playing Blu-ray's, loyal buying customers getting ####ed with DRM with the bull#### argument "piracy".
Check if the "play DRM protected media" option is enabled in your browser and if it doesn't work look for the ######.

Justin

HolySoap I've removed some language from your post as well as the name of a website that is purely for piracy of copyright protected content. Please keep it family friendly. 😃

Louhy

It's trashy "copyright" protection stuff, "DRM", proprietary codecs, etc.

Syn change your user agent to Windows with Chrome

See I hate doing stuff like that, how are these punks supposed to know that their platform is a failure and people are leaving, if we're padding the stats? 🤣

brent

Syn I will vouch for this workaround.

fishyman65712

The title caught my attention - I was oooo juicy tid bits, I got to see what this streaming is about ?
Because oddly mine work ................ but I won't divulge any here for all to see.
I run it on Firefox most work great.
Have not had an issue getting Chrome to run them.
Even the Brave browser does surprisingly well also.

Jason5

Useragent trick worked for a while for Prime Video but not anymore. I still able to play videos in SD in Prime and Netflix but not HD. As they have clearly mentioned in Linux all videos will play in SD 🙁 Due to this i was hopping between Windows and Solus. Now i gave up Windows and i going to live with SD quality ..

Louhy

Jason5 I guess the question nobody asked (which we should have) is "which browser?", but I see that you've found evidence that it's specifically a Linux thing.

Yeah, I think it's likely DRM/codec/license/etc. related, maybe something proprietary hasn't been ported to Linux (and they don't care) or there's some kind of legal reason (and they still don't care).

Jason5

I am using Firefox latest version, plus i have Chrome too. Both doesn't give me HD.

This is what Amazon says:

You can use Chrome to watch Prime Video on Linux/UNIX operating systems (including Chrome OS)); however playback will be restricted to Standard Definition (SD).