
Prime Video on Chromecast and Android TV, YouTube on Fire TV - forgot-my-pw
https://blog.google/products/chromecast/prime-video-chromecast-android-tv-youtube-fire-tv/
======
barakm
"And Chromecast Ultra users get access to 4,000 titles included with Prime at
no additional cost."

I think they meant "Ultra users get access to 4K titles included with Prime at
no additional cost". ;)

~~~
foota
Actually, I'm not sure that's the case. An article about the move states "On
the Google side, both its own Chromecast devices, as well as partner TVs and
hardware that support Chromecast built-in, or that run Android TV, will gain
support broadly for Prime Video. Plus, any Chromecast Ultra owners will also
get access to Prime Video’s 4,000-title library normally reserved for Prime
members, at no additional cost, as part of the new tie-up between the two
companies."

It is possible that this is just propagating that though.

~~~
Thorrez
Under "Prime Video : Movies : Prime Eligible" there are 60,000 results[1].
This article says Amazon Prime has 12,000 movies[2].

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Movies-Prime-Eligible-
Video/s?rh=n%3A...](https://www.amazon.com/Movies-Prime-Eligible-
Video/s?rh=n%3A2858905011%2Cp_85%3A2470955011)

[2] [https://www.businessinsider.com/tv-shows-and-movies-that-
ove...](https://www.businessinsider.com/tv-shows-and-movies-that-overlap-on-
netflix-hulu-and-amazon-charts-2018-12)

~~~
syshum
Maybe they are both right, and it is 4,000 4K titles

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iamtheworstdev
Too late. I abandoned both of their devices for Roku and haven't looked back.

~~~
tsjq
sounds interesting.

newbie here. haven't used Roku.

does it support:

casting from android phones?

netflix, prime, youtube?

BT headphones / speakers?

recording ?

~~~
unwiredben
Miracast works, but not Google Cast protocol. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and
YouTube are all fully supported. There is no Bluetooth wireless on the Roku
devices except for the Roku TV Wireless Speakers which have a BT receiver for
playing audio from a phone. However, all devices support remote audio through
the Roku mobile app. There is no recording capability, but you can use DVR
solutions like Tableau with Roku devices.

~~~
PascLeRasc
What Roku do you have? My family has a somewhat-ancient Roku 3 and it supports
Google Casting, as does my Roku TV. It's a huge feature for me.

------
jdboyd
If you can't find the YouTube for Fire TV app on your device, here is the link
on Amazon's website:

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T771SPH/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T771SPH/)

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djakjxnanjak
Seems like a no-brainer for both companies when faced with Apple TV having
everything.

~~~
october_sky
AppleTV does not have everything, and the UI is horrible compared to many
other devices I've seen.

~~~
tssva
I sold my Apple TV and replaced it with a Roku because the UI experience was
so poor. It was frustrating for me to use as an experienced user and basically
unusable by any of my guests. The Roku is an amazing experience in comparison
and my guests can use it with no instruction necessary.

~~~
scarface74
Roku an amazing experience compared to an AppleTV?

I have three Roku TVs and two AppleTV 4Ks

Problems with the Roku.

\- the hardware is severely underpowered and the interface is slow.

\- you are the product. This fact comes from the CEO of Roku himself on an
interview on Recode Media. He wants to make money selling user data and
advertising. You can tell from half the home screen and rye screensaver being
cluttered with ads and the remote with hard coded buttons that go to the
highest bidder. I have one remote with a hard coded button with “CBS News”.
Who would want that as a short cut? I have another one with a useless button
to the defunct Rdio service.

\- the remote doesn’t even have a way to do a 30s back/forward.

\- you can stream from Windows devices but Google is moving away from
supporting Miracast and of course you can’t stream from iOS devices.

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pavanlimo
I had unsubscribed from Prime Video for precisely this reason. I think it's
about time I gave it another chance.

~~~
Causality1
I think you're the first person I've ever seen who subscribed to Prime for the
video instead of the free shipping.

~~~
pavanlimo
Prime Video + Prime Shipping + Prime Music is ~16 USD per year if you get the
subscription from India. I used to live in India but not anymore. So I was
keen to only use Prime Video + Prime Music (since Prime Shipping doesn't work
outside of India for that sub). Both Prime Video and Music were rather
unsatisfactory, and no Chromcast support was just the last straw for me to
unsub.

~~~
vinay_ys
In India, I don't know of anyone who actually pays for prime. Everyone gets it
free bundled with their mobile or broadband plans.

All of these plans get Amazon Prime with free shipping, prime video and Amazon
Music ad-free unlimited downloads:

Airtel: \- INR 299 (USD 4.37) per month plan includes unlimited call/text and
2.5GB data per day and includes Amazon Prime.

BSNL: \- INR 399 (USD 4.37) per month plan includes unlimited call/text and
30GB data per month.

Vodafone/IDEA: \- INR 399 (USD 5.83) per month plan includes unlimited
call/text and 40GB data per month and includes Amazon Prime (full year) and
Netflix (3-months trial).

Reliance Jio: \- INR 149 (USD 2.19) for unlimited voice/text and 1.5GB per
day. Bundles HotStar (which streams cricket, tennis etc live) along with
premium content from HBO, Starz etc.

IMO, all of the telcos in India have strong TV apps that give access to
Movie/TV/News/Sports content (live+recorded) on mobile screens for free
(bundled with really cheap mobile plans). Then there is Hotstar which is
orders of magnitude better content than prime videos. So, unless someone is
getting prime video for free I doubt anyone would be paying for it.

Even music is very much like that. Prime Music is good. But there is Airtel's
Wynk, Jim has Saavn, then there is Youtube which has huge viewership for music
videos.

~~~
tsjq
with Airtel, doesn't Amazon Prime free subscription end after 12months ?

~~~
vinay_ys
It hasn't been one year yet. So let's see. I would expect it to renew for free
next year as long as I'm subscribed to their 499 or higher plan.

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drewg123
I've been using SmartYoutubeTV for quite a while on my FireTV and it works
quite well for me and is ad-free...
[https://smartyoutubetv.github.io/](https://smartyoutubetv.github.io/)

------
discordance
Is there an anti-trust case brewing that has motivated this move?

~~~
pkaye
Google and Amazon were fighting each other and eventually started to
negotiate. Amazon would not sell Chromecasts on their platform and Google
would not allow Amazon Fire devices to access YouTube.

~~~
mevile
I hope this means I can get YouTube and YouTube Music soon on my Echo Show.
It's ridiculous I can't get stuff I pay for on devices I own because of these
fights that are not in the interest of their paying users.

I'm never going to get a Google speaker because I can't easily buy things via
Amazon on it and because I already own 3 Amazon speakers that I have all set
up nicely. If I want to Google something I can use my phone, I don't need a
smart speaker for that.

~~~
atomi
Googling on the Google Assistant is pretty great. I shout random questions at
mine all the time and it dutifully responds correctly most of the time. It's
impressive.

~~~
fletchowns
Asking Alexa easily google-able questions is pretty hit and miss for me. If I
ask google the same question with my voice through my phone it seems to get me
the correct answer way more often.

~~~
illnewsthat
I recommend the google assistant skill [1] for your Alexa device.

I use it for asking questions I know Google will answer but Alexa probably
won't. "Alexa, ask Google 'difference between chow mein and lo mein'"

[1] [https://github.com/tartanguru/alexa-
assistant](https://github.com/tartanguru/alexa-assistant)

------
gregmac
> In addition to the select Android TV devices that currently have Prime
> Video, many more Android TV smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming devices
> will also soon have Prime Video, with rollout starting today.

Is there a list of which devices this is? Sounds like it's still not _all_ of
them for some reason?

As a data point, my Nvidia Shield has had Prime since at least a few years ago
(as well as Netflix, YouTube, Plex and is also a Chromecast - I _highly_
recommend this as a set top box, btw).

~~~
zwayhowder
I second the motion, but the $300AUD for a Shield vs $60AUD for a Chromecast
means I understand why some people don't.

But seriously, the Shield was worth every cent for ease of use, everything in
one place etc etc. The only reason I sometimes chromecast is to play video
back at faster than normal speed. (Or because the Netflix app on Shield thinks
that I really want it to start playing videos with sound as soon as I pause on
any title for a second).

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garysahota93
Can't wait for Youtube TV on Fire TV. That's the move

~~~
joshmn
Is it not possible to sideload?

~~~
garysahota93
I don't think so? Or at least, I haven't tried yet.

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zer0zzz
I want audible on my google home and Chromecast. When will that come?!

~~~
Yhippa
Thank you! This is stopping me from getting an Audible sub. People think I'm
crazy when I mention this use case.

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psim1
I'd like to see Prime Video on the Google Home Hub.

~~~
CobrastanJorji
You can Chromecast to those things, so I assume that works now.

~~~
tantalor
Not necessarily; you can't cast Netflix to home hub.

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AndrewUnmuted
Even after the YouTube app left the Fire TV ecosystem, YouTube with almost the
exact same functionality was still accessible by going to
[https://youtube.com](https://youtube.com) from the Firefox app.

YouTube never truly left Fire TV. It just required one extra step to access
it.

~~~
londons_explore
Prime video never really left Chromecast. You could just "mirror screen" and
have it work in a slightly janky way and waste lots of battery while at it...

EDIT: Android only - iOS users were SOL.

~~~
Mindwipe
Screen mirroring had been blocked for a while on modern devices that supported
Widevine level 1.

------
darkpuma
Seems like this could be bad news for Roku, since I believe the big draw for
them was having both platforms.

~~~
notatoad
my next tv will be a roku tv. i love my roku box because all roku cares about
is putting video on my tv. I'm not going to get a google or amazon box because
who knows when they'll start fighting again and i'll lose half the stuff i
want to watch.

~~~
scarface74
All Roku cares about is collecting user data and serving ads that take up half
your home screen, your screensaver and hard coded buttons going to the highest
bidder on your remote....

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davidjhall
Great news! I had to move between 2 rooms with a streaming PC. Now I can
finish those Babylon 5s.....

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xanth
I still can't see cast button in the Prime Video app, maybe this will come in
time?

~~~
maccam94
They're probably rolling out an update to the app now. If you're already fully
up to date, check back in a day or two.

~~~
xanth
I'm fully up to date but at work in Australia, so there could be a number of
blockers to me getting this feature.

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dillonmckay
How were the able to achieve this technologically?

What an amazing feat of engineering.

~~~
forgot-my-pw
This technology is called "Settlement". Probably involves a lot of tech
advocates known as "Lawyers".

[https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190418005212/en/](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190418005212/en/)

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asenna
One thing to note is that YouTube App is not yet back on Echo Show devices.
I've been waiting for this for so long. Hopefully this gets added in soon.

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wwwhizz
I have been waiting for this, but I just tried to cast to my Mibox 3, and just
got a loading spinner and nothing more.

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purplex
When Google had withdrawn YouTube app from FireTV, I started watching YouTube
on the Silk app (browser). The interface on browser or YT app, both are same.

I feel its better that YT has same look and feel on the browser - I don't need
a separate app for that. And I can browse other websites in the same browser.

So now I don't care if they are back with YouTube app on Fire TV.

Not a member of Amazon Prime since long, I manage my entertainment with
YouTube, JioCinema and HotStar.

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eclipseo76
Frack I've just bought a FireTV stick because I couldn't watch Amazon on my
Chromecast.

~~~
october_sky
I use my FireTV way more than my Chromecast. I think you'll be happy with it.

~~~
misterprime
Agreed. The desicated remote is surprisingly convenient. The only advantage of
the phone screen for these types of devices is the virtual keyboard for
logging in and searching.

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homero
I can't wait for YouTube on fire tablets

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test001only
I have had bad experience with Chromecast. I used to be able to cast by mobile
phone to the TV to watch videos. But after some software update the casting
would no longer work because I was using mobile data and mobile hotspot.
Something which used to work when I bought the product stopped working after a
software update. Also there used to be a dedicated chrome cast app - but they
replaced it with Google home app which has countless things I do not need.
Also the home app is more flaky than the older dedicated app. My confidence in
google related have gone down rapidly and I am no longer willing to adapt new
google products and ma planning to move away from what I am currently using.

~~~
ricardobeat
Thats odd since Chromecast streams directly from WiFi - you don’t send the
video to it from your phone, it simply picks up where you left by sending a
resource URL.

~~~
test001only
Not when you are casting your screen.

