Hacker News Reader

Comment by sandwell | Hacker News Reader

> Maybe the space is just more fragmented?

Android is pretty darn fragmented though.

I expect that aftermarket firmware would be an issue for content providers. For example, is Netflix going to allow third party firmware developers to create an app to access their content? They will already have contracts with content distributors like Lionsgate that mandate DRM in their own apps to prevent piracy.

If your aftermarket firmware doesn't support Netflix, Prime, HBO, etc then it might have limited appeal. Browser based apps might get around that in a limited way.

As for printers, I think of them as loss leaders to generate ink sales.

Don't know either space particularly well so might be wrong.

View on HN

Yeah, I wondered about the Android situation; Android itself is semi-standard, in that once you get the hardware support and a way to run your image it's not too hard to build AOSP for nearly any phone. On the other hand, that bit about getting a way to run your own ROM is, on average, awful and device-specific. Still, I suspect that it's better than TVs that run completely different OSs to start with. Edit: Oh, and AFAIK a lot of those OSs aren't FOSS in the first place, which makes things harder; at least with Android the vendor is legally obligated to give you the kernel source and then you can stick that in AOSP and probably get a working image. Other than WebOS, I don't think TVs have an equivalent.

Agreed that content support and DRM are a difficulty.

I know that the ink price gouging is part of why printers are weird, but that results in the default firmware being user-hostile in a way that I would have expected to make people want aftermarket firmware all the more. I suspect that the difficulty there is also something about fragmentation and perhaps a lack of devices that even try to be open (Google publishes all the documentation and source to build AOSP for a Pixel phone; I'm aware of zero printer vendors doing so).

If the aftermarket firmware doesn't support Netflix, then users will have to choose between not having Netflix and having the features the aftermarket firmware enables.

If that aftermarket firmware enables better playback of pirated content, and the Netflix catalog deteriorates more and more with time, it's more and more likely that of the people who'd consider alternative firmware in the first place, more and more will decide against Netflix in that scenario.

Not that that may be enough people for Netflix to care, but it could easily be enough that "no netflix" is no longer a blocker for acceptance of the alternative firmware.

Kodi and Plex provide a way to play pirated content, but Netflix and their competitors still dominate.

They have an incentive to provide easy access to their media, so pirating is always going to be more complex, which will be a barrier to the majority.

I'd imagine target audience for that would just stream stuff out of their NAS.

But it is interesting, I wonder how much efficiency do you lose with hardware accelerated browser vs dedicated app?

Yes, Kodi and Plex have got that covered, and no risk of bricking your TV.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com