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Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

techblog.netflix.com

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Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just playing word games. Netflix lobbied for EME so they could serve DRM'd video, end of story.

Netflix wouldn't be a viable business if not for DRM. Why is everyone so upset? Having the option to use DRM in native web APIs is not a bad thing.

>Netflix wouldn't be a viable business if not for DRM.

Uh, why not? All Netflix series are already getting pirated even with DRM.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#33
post #18
post #8

Remarkably, I get a 'Secure Connection Failed' from Firefox on Linux when attempting to view the blog entry.

Are you using HTTPS Finder or a similar add-on? The blog isn't hosted with TLS and the link is to a plain HTTP URL, so I'm not sure why your browser tried to load a nonexistent HTTPS version of the page.

same problem here. I get an auto-redirect to a failing https, even with extensions disabled.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#34

Does anyone else find it extremely off putting that companies that are supposed tech leaders are pushing "web" features to a subset of browsers? I really have trouble accepting the fragmentation in the web world. This includes less extreme cases like mobile/desktop versions of browsers without user ability to toggle between the two. Stuff on the web should just work on all browsers. How did we get to this point, seri…

We cannot have both the uniformity that comes of a single universal browser and the benefits that come from a free marketplace. So long as anyone can make a browser, there will be differences. And the day we try to eliminate that will be a dark day indeed.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#35
Netflix video quality sucks on browsers anyway – at least for movies. Half of them seem to be limited to something which could only be described as "less than DVD quality", some noticeably so.

That's the reality for the paying customer – for a “pirate”, most of the movies in HD quality are a quick web search away, without needing to install any programs.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#36
They really needed DRM to survive. It's great that they can run a sandbox in my computer so I can watch videos, something which wasn't possible with the open web standards.

By the way, here's the list of titles which weren't pirated thanks to DRM: .

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#37

Does anyone else find it extremely off putting that companies that are supposed tech leaders are pushing "web" features to a subset of browsers? I really have trouble accepting the fragmentation in the web world. This includes less extreme cases like mobile/desktop versions of browsers without user ability to toggle between the two. Stuff on the web should just work on all browsers. How did we get to this point, seri…

We'll start with the fact that not all browsers have the features needed for a Web application to implement the features it wants to.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Netflix is doing that hurts the web is opposing net neutrality now that they're big enough they can bargain for special treatment. This—on the other hand—provides a replacement for use cases which used poorly-supported, insecure, and battery-hungry proprietary plugins. I run Safari with no extensions and having this for Netflix and Amazon is fantastic. I trust Apple to patch security vulnerabilities and the brow…

You're not getting EME extensions from Apple, you're getting them from the third-party that developed the extensions. You can count on terrible security vulnerabilities being found in these. Movies aren't important. Netflix isn't important. The open web, the ideology (or as you put it pejoratively, "purity") behind it, is important.

So when an EME is installed open videos don't play anymore or something?

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#40
post #2

Translation: Netflix successfully lobied DRM into what is supposed to be the OPEN web standard, to the point where even Firefox couldn't afford not to support it. Dark days for the free exchange of information enabled by the web.

>to the point where even Firefox couldn't afford not to support it

Mozilla did not seem to care that much actually. And as long as torrents exist I do not think that there is any reason to support it.

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