YouTube Content

This has probably been asked a million times before but I can’t find any reference to it.  Why is it that I can see all content on my PC when I go to YouTube, but when I use the WD LIVE TV it says the content is not available for display on a TV.

This is rubbish, my PC when I connect it via HDMI to my TV displays YouTube as it does on the PC.

How does YouTube know that I am trying to access it via WD LIVE TV?  If WD is telling them, it shouldn’t.  It’s no difference whether I view it on my PC or TV.

Someone wants a good shaking with all this nonsense about can’t watch it on TV but can watch it on PC.

Yes the WDTV is telling them because its a youtube condition of access. I’m afraid that if you use an API to connect to some online services when you have to also accept some rules.

When a content provider / user uploads a video to YouTube, they have the option to specify “No Syndication”.

This prevents their content from be viewed on mobile and TV-enabled devices like the WD TV Live (and iPad).

Unfortunately, WD doesn’t filter out such videos, which is frustrating.  Apple’s YouTube interface does filter.

WD’s license with YouTube will oblige them to identify the WD TV Live as a TV device.  There’s no way around this and it’s not (or shouldn’t be) specific to WD; other media player makers are affected by this too.  

Instead of demanding that WD break the terms of their license, I would be demanding that they start filtering search results like Apple does.

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This is just another one of those things in life that make no sense whatsoever.  I’ll continue to use YouTube on my PC displayed in glorious HD on my TV screen!!!

StanTheManII wrote:

Someone wants a good shaking with all this nonsense about can’t watch it on TV but can watch it on PC.

Then complain to whoever uploaded the files that you can’t watch.  They’re the ones that went out of their way to ask YouTube to _ not _ stream to any set-top boxes.  WD and YouTube are merely doing what the uploader wishes.

Just a quick side question to this is WHY would anyone care who posts to YouTube care if someone views it on a set top box.

Yes I am simple because I can’t imagine why not?

Best Regards

Why they would care?  Who knows.

It could be because a set-top box can be easily connected to a VCR or DVD recorder, which almost everyone has, whereas much fewer people have decent video-capture on their PC, and YouTube keeps going out of their way to try and prevent their content from being downloaded.

The “premium” providers tend to be the ones to mark all their content as not playable on a set-top box (eg. the videos from the “official” Iron Maiden channel).

Copyright reasons and distributability seems to be a likely candidate.