When I bought my first Chromebook in 2020, I imagined a bright future. I specifically wanted a convertible so that I could replace my old third generation iPad (yes, the 2012 one). And due to the support of the Android app, I thought I would be able to use it as my new media consumption machine. Unfortunately, things got more complicated, especially when it comes to streaming and downloading video, and I would like to know what I was getting into beforehand. To save you the same disappointment, here’s what’s going on.
After setting up my Chromebook and installing the Netflix and Amazon Prime Video apps, I quickly filled my local storage with a few moves and programs to watch – after all, Google even announces Netflix downloads as a privilege of Chromebook. While away from home (it was relatively safe to travel to where I live during the summer), I realized that both streaming services offered only below average video quality. At first I thought it was my fault and I suspected that I forgot to increase the download quality in the settings, but even when I did, the resolution remained sub-HD.
I quickly discovered that while Netflix Internet network location supports up to 1080p on Chromebooks, the Android app is limited to 480p, whether you’re streaming or downloading. This is something that Google doesn’t recognize in its brilliant promotional video above. Things are worse with Amazon Prime Video. A support website mentions that the streaming service restricts quality to standard definition on operating systems other than Windows and macOS. Interestingly, Disney + does not have these problems. It supports HD both in your app and on your website (although it seems to me that it has a 720p limit, which is still much better than what Netflix and Amazon offer).
Arbitrary Netflix limitations.
What gives? You may have already guessed – copyright protection.
Streaming services rely on Google’s digital rights management (DRM) technology, Widevine, which decodes encrypted video streams. Widevine consists of three levels that offer varying degrees of protection, the highest being L1, followed by L2 and L3. Devices that wish to have any chance of supporting HD playback on popular streaming platforms generally need to support L1 today.
It would be simple if you could just say that any L1 compatible device can transmit whatever you want in up to 4K, but it doesn’t work that way. Streaming services often whitelist specific devices and hardware components for high-quality video streams, and Chrome OS is apparently not the platform they pay much attention to.
While we know for sure that Chrome OS supports L1, Netflix seems to think that the Android container is limited to L3, as specified in the Netflix app settings. That would explain why Netflix restricts HD streaming to the site (where it can guarantee that high-quality streams are more difficult to hack), but it’s still strange that the Disney + app allows 720p streaming and Amazon doesn’t stream on HD. Netflix may only display the lowest level of Widevine because it manually certifies Android devices for HD playback, which we cover regularly.
According to Netflix statistics, the streaming service only has access to the weakest level, Widevine L3.
But all of that shouldn’t even matter to me as a consumer – Google should do everything humanly possible to create a platform that supports high-quality video playback out of the box if it doesn’t want to disappoint customers, and streaming services should do your part to offer subscribers the HD image quality (not to mention 4K) that they pay for, regardless of the device they use. It makes sense that streaming services are interested in copyright protection, but given that Chrome OS is capable of encrypting Widevine L3, implementing appropriate measures shouldn’t be a problem.
My Chromebook does its job well for blogging, but I’m bummed that it hasn’t become the most comprehensive machine for productivity and media, as promised by Google. It seems that the iPad remains the best choice for most people when they want a lightweight device combining basic productivity with hours of media consumption, and I’m starting to think it would have been better with Apple’s product.