Does the PS4 browser have any limitations? Could you watch TV show websites through?

[pennylane]

The PS4 doesn't have apps for a lot of TV channels, but can you use the PS4 browser to go onto a TV channel website (ie, ABC, NBC, FOX, etc) and watch TV shows there (ie, something you could do on your computer)?

Has anybody tried it? Does it work with or without hiccups? Can you watch full screen or are you stuck with a window in a browser?

Thanks

 

[poofyhairguy]

something you could do on your computer

No, not at the level of regular computers because it lacks Flash.

 

[dguy6789]

Xbox One also lacks flash. It boggles my mind that the latest and greatest consoles don't have a flash capable browser. The Dreamcast and Wii both had flash capable browsers.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Many companies are trying to kill off Flash by lacking support for it. They want HTML standards.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I would assume the PS4 also lacks Silverlight.

 

[xantub]

I would assume the PS4 also lacks Silverlight.

I think the idea is to kill that too, and work with HTML5 video capabilities.

 

[mmntech]

I think the idea is to kill that too, and work with HTML5 video capabilities.

Netflix has been slowly rolling out HTML5. It got full Linux support through Chrome a few months ago. DRM is baked into the browser instead of at the OS level I guess. That was a big sticking point for the GNU community.

Sony used to use the NetFront browser on their consoles, which was nothing short of awful. Compounded by the fact that it rarely got updated. They're using some custom webkit browser now for the PS4, which supposedly ranks quite well in HTML5 tests. So it should support video playback from sites that use it, provided they don't use some kind of DRM.

XB1 used Internet Explorer. I would assume it has decent video support. Probably has the DRM baked in. You'd have to test it.

 

[Anteaus]

Netflix has been slowly rolling out HTML5. It got full Linux support through Chrome a few months ago. DRM is baked into the browser instead of at the OS level I guess. That was a big sticking point for the GNU community.

That's the irony of Linux today. Few distros are actually 100% GNU compliant. Most rely on non-free drivers and apps to actually get Linux anywhere near mainstream. DRM is definitely a point of contention, but as long as Linux users actively choose non-GNU software to add capability to Linux, they really shouldn't complain about DRM, at least not in the context of GNU.

That said, if there are any pure GNU users on these boards....I salute you. It takes some serious effort to resist all forms of non-free software.

 

[mmntech]

That's the irony of Linux today. Few distros are actually 100% GNU compliant. Most rely on non-free drivers and apps to actually get Linux anywhere near mainstream. DRM is definitely a point of contention, but as long as Linux users actively choose non-GNU software to add capability to Linux, they really shouldn't complain about DRM, at least not in the context of GNU.

That said, if there are any pure GNU users on these boards....I salute you. It takes some serious effort to resist all forms of non-free software.

Just the reality you have to deal with these days, unfortunately. That is if you're a consumer user of Linux. It's still one of the few truly customization operating systems. At least the DRM is optional.