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YouTube Going Dark On Older Devices

Posted by Soulskill on from the making-your-smart-TV-a-bit-dumber dept.

PC Mag reports on changes to the YouTube API, which have rendered YouTube apps inoperable on older consoles, smart TVs, and other video streaming devices. They're doing this because the old version of the API doesn't support some of YouTube's newer features. Newer devices might be able to upgrade — Apple handhelds that can run iOS 7 or later will have no problem, nor will 3rd-gen Apple TVs and devices running Google TV 3 or 4. But earlier Apple TVs and Google TVs running version 2 or earlier will be out of luck.

5 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Stripped down version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So offer people with older devices a version without those features.

    Amazing that Google apparently thinks they have so much power in the video market that they can get away with this.

    1. Re:Stripped down version by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So offer people with older devices a version without those features.

      Do you recall the last time you saw a "dumb" DVD or Blu-Ray player for sale that did not have "those" features?

      Yeah, me neither. Seems they outlawed them.

      TVs aren't far behind either, and soon neither will cars. What was a $20,000 base model that had these things called "options" has now become the $30,000 "base" model with all this in-dash/online crap standard.

      After all, shouldn't everyone need to upgrade their new car/TV/appliance as often as your smartphone due to obsolescence?

      Vendors think so.

  2. It's not surprising by msobkow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's what happens when you rely on a vendor instead of a ratified standard. Can you imagine the uproar if older HDTV tuners suddenly stopped working with new broadcasts? People were upset enough that the old analogue signals were obsolesced!

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:It's not surprising by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When YouTube started there was no standard for streaming video. The only working options were things like Flash and RealPlayer, so they went with Flash. Now they are moving to HTML5 and that's the problem - older devices don't support it.

      No, the problem is not Flash or HTML5.

      The problem is that the old YouTube players were much better than the current one, because well, they didn't support ads.

      The new YouTube apps support the Google APIs and they return ads, both the pop up and interstitials, while the old APIs didn't support it.

      Back when YouTube was in the old days of getting marketshare, and API use is low, it made sense. These days, with Google monetizing stuff, well, they need all youtube players to support ads.

  3. Atari by Wild_dog! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Still mad I could never get Youtube working on my Atari 800.
    Now this!!!!