Homebrew Discussion PSA: You can play movies/tv shows from GDrive with the Switch browser

[lordelan]

Just wanted to let you know that there's a nice way to consume some media on the Switch.
There's multiple ways to access the browser, like this or via Goldleaf (installed version only) or BrowseNX.
Then head to drive.google.com, enter your login and enjoy your media.
It really (and I mean really) sucks that you would have to login again everytime you close the browser but that's it.
As you know every Google account gets 15 GB free storage but to take that even further, you can either subscribe to a GSuite account for 10 bucks a month or just buy one of those unlimited "expansions" for your already existing Google account on ebay for 1 - 2 bucks to get unlimited storage!

Now this is really awesome. Upload all your stuff to the unlimited area from a PC, head over to your Switch and enjoy all your movies and tv shows. Anytime, anywhere, as long as you've got WiFi.

What's the catch?

1. If you buy one of those expansions for 1 - 2 bucks from ebay, it could happen anytime, that Google randomly nukes it.
   Didn't happen to me, didn't happen to my 4 buddies that are doing the same but it can happen. There are reports of ppl on reddit where that happened.
   I guess to stay safe (more or less) you should avoid sharing your uploaded stuff anywhere. Just upload it for yourself and enjoy it on your Switch.
2. If you go the safest way and pay 10 bucks a month for a GSuite acc it's very unlikely it will get nuked (never read such reports), at least if you don't share your stuff here and there obviously but ... 10 bucks a month are 10 bucks a month.
3. Uploading big (video) files to the cloud takes some time.
4. As mentioned above the biggest disadvantage is the fact that the shitty Switch browser won't keep you logged in on any website (including Google) once you quit it so you have to enter your login again everytime.

A few notes:

• If the video won't start, do the "YouTube trick" by hitting the Pause/Play button once to pause it and again to play it. Now the video should start streaming (and in full screen).
• I didn't come across any movie yet that did not run. Even 4K movies in my Google Drive play just fine on the Switch without any issues (obviously the Switch doesn't output 4K resolution though).
• I tried anything to get PLEX running in the browser (like I use it on my Fire TV while my PC is the PLEX server) but although it shows my library just fine it won't play any videos sadly.

If KODI ever comes out for the Switch, this becomes obsolete, as there's this freakin' awesome Google Drive plugin for KODI but until then I figured this might be a nice way for those who don't want to bother with pPlay's network play feature or just love the fact that everything is in a cloud so no private server has to run and waste energy to "serve" the files.

 

[fadx]

Just a note, if you purchase an account from eBay there's a chance your account will be removed without any notice by google. Same goes for being added to an unlimited team drive(admins of the team drives can also view your files). If you're seriously intending to upload a good amount to GDrive you're better off getting a GSuite account for $12 a month (they recently upped the price), I've got ~6TB uploaded and I've been using it for almost a year. It's a really great service, I use it for media and for automatic server backups using rclone.

 

[lordelan]

Just a note, if you purchase an account from eBay there's a chance your account will be removed without any notice by google. Same goes for being added to an unlimited team drive(admins of the team drives can also view your files). If you're seriously intending to upload a good amount to GDrive you're better off getting a GSuite account for $12 a month (they recently upped the price), I've got ~6TB uploaded and I've been using it for almost a year. It's a really great service, I use it for media and for automatic server backups using rclone.

That's what I wrote above in the "What's the catch?" section.

But as someone who has a GSuite account running, can you tell me how the interaction is with it?
Does your main account directly have unlimited storage? And can you move and share complete folders (containg separate files) around?
Because as an extension buyer I "only" have a new section "unlimited" on the left where I can pull single files but not folders to store them there while my main storage is still limited to 15 GB.
Also with the official Google Drive windows tool I can only backup local stuff to my 15 GB main drive, not to the unlimited area.

Doesn't bother me that much for my Nintendo Switch use case as I can navigate to the unlimited area and watch my movies there from within the Switch browser though.

 

[stitchxd]

That's what I wrote above in the "What's the catch?" section.

But as someone who has a GSuite account running, can you tell me how the interaction is with it?
Does your main account directly have unlimited storage? And can you move and share complete folders (containg separate files) around?
Because as an extension buyer I "only" have a new section "unlimited" on the left where I can pull single files but not folders to store them there while my main storage is still limited to 15 GB.
Also with the official Google Drive windows tool I can only backup local stuff to my 15 GB main drive, not to the unlimited area.

Doesn't bother me that much for my Nintendo Switch use case as I can navigate to the unlimited area and watch my movies there from within the Switch browser though.

Honestly, you shouldn't buy those expansions from google as they are probably stolen.

 

[fadx]

That's what I wrote above in the "What's the catch?" section.

But as someone who has a GSuite account running, can you tell me how the interaction is with it?
Does your main account directly have unlimited storage? And can you move and share complete folders (containg separate files) around?
Because as an extension buyer I "only" have a new section "unlimited" on the left where I can pull single files but not folders to store them there while my main storage is still limited to 15 GB.
Also with the official Google Drive windows tool I can only backup local stuff to my 15 GB main drive, not to the unlimited area.

Doesn't bother me that much for my Nintendo Switch use case as I can navigate to the unlimited area and watch my movies there from within the Switch browser though.

Ah sorry, I skimmed too quckly!

For me, I have my main Google account I use for GMail etc. and then I also have the GSuite account so my main account has regular GDrive storage and the GSuite has unlimited. Google makes things very easy when using multiple accounts as you can login to multiple accounts at the same time and switch between them by either changing the link or by clicking your account at the top right and then selecting whatever one you want to use. As the administrator of the GSuite account (aka you created the GSuite account) you can move, share, delete, rename folders etc. You can interact with the storage as you would with a normal Google Drive account. The reason you can't interact with the folders is because you're added as a Team Member to the GSuite account and only the Admin can interact with folders is every way. For GSuite there's a seperate tool called Drive File Stream that works by creating a virtual drive e.g. G:\ that is you can then browse all your uploaded files and choose what ones you want to sync locally or you can also place files etc. there and it'll upload them. Another thing to note with GSuite is that you'll have to have a domain name registered (Google will offer you one during registration I believe, they're not that expensive).

Honestly, you shouldn't buy those expansions from google as they are probably stolen.

They're so cheap because GSuite is free for students with a .edu email address and since there's lots of non-educational .edu domains they just create as many accounts as they want with unlimited storage and then they can add someone to that GSuites Team Drive.

 

[osm70]

Umm... multiple Google accounts for "unlimited" storage?

 

[stitchxd]

Ah sorry, I skimmed too quckly!
They're so cheap because GSuite is free for students with a .edu email address and since there's lots of non-educational .edu domains they just create as many accounts as they want with unlimited storage and then they can add someone to that GSuites Team Drive.

That's still stealing bud... The accounts were made with the intention to bypass ToS. It's still illegal at the very least. I wouldn't trust the accounts anyway.

 

[hippy dave]

That's still stealing bud... The accounts were made with the intention to bypass ToS. It's still illegal at the very least. I wouldn't trust the accounts anyway.

Hi, welcome to the forum where we're here with the intention to bypass ToS.

 

[fadx]

That's still stealing bud... The accounts were made with the intention to bypass ToS. It's still illegal at the very least. I wouldn't trust the accounts anyway.

Not stealing but yes (I thought you were implying they were cracked accounts or using stolen credit cards), it's against their ToS and the accounts are likely to be suspended without notice.

 

[stitchxd]

Hi, welcome to the forum where we're here with the intention to bypass ToS.

That's against forum rules. I think it falls under the piracy rules or something.

 

[fadx]

That's against forum rules. I think it falls under the piracy rules or something.

I'm confused, what in this thread do you think is linking to piracy?

 

[stitchxd]

OP linked to eBay listings of these illegal accounts. (Personally idc, my original point was there is no need for them anyway.)

 

[Techjunky90]

That's still stealing bud... The accounts were made with the intention to bypass ToS. It's still illegal at the very least. I wouldn't trust the accounts anyway.

You should get educated. Going against someone's terms of service is not illegal. Violating a websites terms of service is not a crime. Terms of service is not law. Policy is not law.

 

[stitchxd]

Violating a websites terms of service is not a crime. Terms of service is not law. Policy is not law.

The word "illegal" here is probably the wrong phrasing, however:

A Terms of Service, at least in the United States, as long as the ToS itself was legal (as in it's verbiage did not infringe any currently standing laws), is legally binding. You may not get any jail time (And I've never read of anyone that does.) but you can get sued for breaking it.

So, buying an account like this off ebay, using it to watch pirated movies is NOT a good idea. Period. If you want to call that illegal or not doesn't matter. Google can sue you for violating their ToS and they can (and will most likely) report you for pirating illegal movie downloads.

So, while breaking ToS might not be a crime, if Google wants to, they will make an example out of you. It's been done in the past by other big names, and Google is no different. It's not worth the trouble or the time.

 

[Techjunky90]

The word "illegal" here is probably the wrong phrasing, however:

A Terms of Service, at least in the United States, as long as the ToS itself was legal (as in it's verbiage did not infringe any currently standing laws), is legally binding. You may not get any jail time (And I've never read of anyone that does.) but you can get sued for breaking it.

So, buying an account like this off ebay, using it to watch pirated movies is NOT a good idea. Period. If you want to call that illegal or not doesn't matter. Google can sue you for violating their ToS and they can (and will most likely) report you for pirating illegal movie downloads.

So, while breaking ToS might not be a crime, if Google wants to, they will make an example out of you. It's been done in the past by other big names, and Google is no different. It's not worth the trouble or the time.

False, you're spreading misinformation. Google can not do anything against someone for using said account. They can report your pirated content, sure, but they can not take any legal action just because you have an unlimited drive.

 

[stitchxd]

False, you're spreading misinformation.

Unless you're a lawyer, I suggest you do your own research at this point. Saying someone is "spreading misinformation" without any explanation or evidence makes you look bad.

Here is my evidence (as well as my explanation above) which proves me correct. But again, don't take my word for it bud, look it up yourself!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_service

https://www.termsfeed.com/blog/legally-binding-agreement/

https://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/computer_law/website_terms_conditions_usage.htm

https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/13549/are-terms-of-service-legal-contracts

 

[notimp]

How about codecs? .mp4 h264 only?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Ah sorry, I skimmed too quckly!

For me, I have my main Google account I use for GMail etc. and then I also have the GSuite account so my main account has regular GDrive storage and the GSuite has unlimited. Google makes things very easy when using multiple accounts as you can login to multiple accounts at the same time and switch between them by either changing the link or by clicking your account at the top right and then selecting whatever one you want to use. As the administrator of the GSuite account (aka you created the GSuite account) you can move, share, delete, rename folders etc. You can interact with the storage as you would with a normal Google Drive account. The reason you can't interact with the folders is because you're added as a Team Member to the GSuite account and only the Admin can interact with folders is every way. For GSuite there's a seperate tool called Drive File Stream that works by creating a virtual drive e.g. G:\ that is you can then browse all your uploaded files and choose what ones you want to sync locally or you can also place files etc. there and it'll upload them. Another thing to note with GSuite is that you'll have to have a domain name registered (Google will offer you one during registration I believe, they're not that expensive).


They're so cheap because GSuite is free for students with a .edu email address and since there's lots of non-educational .edu domains they just create as many accounts as they want with unlimited storage and then they can add someone to that GSuites Team Drive.

How does one acquire such a domain name? That sounds like it would be incredibly useful

 

[stitchxd]

How does one acquire such a domain name? That sounds like it would be incredibly useful

Technically, if you can get recognized as a school, you could buy one. However in order to get an edu domain you must verify you are a school. https://net.educause.edu/ is the site you need to attempt to register. Good luck!

 

[notimp]

How about codecs? .mp4 h264 only?

Can answer that question myself. Google throws youtube processing against every video you upload. Wow.

So codec doesnt matter.

edit: watching CONAN on the Switch right now. GOT next..