Another week and another update to the ChromeOS stable channel – but if you’re a paid-up customer of a subscription video streaming services you may want to avoid it!
The latest build, version 25.0.1364.126, contains a number of important bug fixes, security improvement and updated packages, but it also breaks DRM-protected video playback on some sites, including Amazon Prime Video.
What’s New
Before we touch on the bad stuff, let’s look at what’s new – and appreciated – in this update:
- An updated GTalk plugin with improved audio quality in Google+ `Hangouts
- Memory tweaks to the Chrome OS Photo Editor
- Improved low battery notification
Also present is a fix for a bug in which some users were logged out of some Google services.
As with all Chrome OS updates you don’t need to do anything special to get it; Chrome will detect and download the update when you next connect to WiFi or ethernet.
Big Break
But the release is not without issue. For some this update breaks the ability to play DRM content using Flash.
Many subscription-based video streaming services make use of of DRM in Flash, including Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix.
So what’s the issue?
When attempting to playback video some an affected site you will be greeted with a warning message telling you that Adobe Flash is out of date.
Given Google Chrome ships with a custom version of Flash pre-installed it’s not as easy as going to Adobe.com and downloading an updated version.
No, if you’re affected you have two choices: wait for an update to fix this update, or do the following:
- Right clicking on some Flash content
- Select ‘Global Settings…‘ from the menu.
- Select ‘Protected Content Playback Settings panel‘ link
- Press ‘Reset License Files’ button
- Restart Chrome