Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#541

Post by izacus » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:42 AM UTC

hotgeart wrote: post #539

newbie578 wrote: post #524

This is pure bullshit. If Netflix won't commit to it's part of the deal (FULL HD and 4K) then why should I commit to my part (13.99 monthly)? You cannot decide by yourself to lower the quality of your services and keep the price same. Sometimes I wish I had enough money and time to seek "legal retribution" from these type of situations. I would love for this case to make it to the European Court in Strasbourg. "The v…

Again it's not Netflix, It's the ISP that are crying because ppl use to much bandwidth.

And it's Netflix charging extra for extra quality which they now won't deliver.

If they charge everyone the SD package price, noone will really complain. But they will continue charging for a service they're not providing anymore.

It's like food delivery man continuing to charge you for cancelled deliveries because they were found to have salmonella.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#542

Post by izacus » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:43 AM UTC

keriati1 wrote: post #537

It won't be just for 30 days. How can people complain about Netflix quality now? I will be grateful if we have anything still working in a few months...

Noone is complaining about quality, people are complaining about having to pay for quality they're not getting. Netflix can easily charge everyone the SD package price during this time.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#543

Post by TeMPOraL » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:44 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #530

wwweston wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, for a while I thought “the doors aren’t automatic at the REI” might be the ultimate first world problem, but now I think “I have to suffer through my pandemic passtime shows in standard definition ? where are my LAWYERS?” might be in first place.

Remember what the opposite side of the coin is. This isn't a consequence of the virus. This is offsetting the other first world problem of slightly slow internet. There's no greater cause being served here.

This is not "other first world problem", it's an unprecedented situation in which a good chunk of the world's population needs to be kept at home for extended periods of time. Preserving morale is important for preserving social distancing, which is important for dealing with the pandemic.

Not to mention, everyone who isn't on Netflix now is probably videoconferencing. Which also elevates this problem to "important for preserving the economy" level.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#544

Post by hrktb » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:47 AM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #527

newbie578 wrote: post #524

This is pure bullshit. If Netflix won't commit to it's part of the deal (FULL HD and 4K) then why should I commit to my part (13.99 monthly)? You cannot decide by yourself to lower the quality of your services and keep the price same. Sometimes I wish I had enough money and time to seek "legal retribution" from these type of situations. I would love for this case to make it to the European Court in Strasbourg. "The v…

Don't you think it's okay for us to be slightly understanding and forgiving that there are some individuals and companies that aren't simply capable of flawlessly and immediately adjusting to major changes in their realities at the drop of a hat? I'm sure their usage is through the roof, and they probably didn't predict a pandemic with quarantines into their infrastructure improvements modeled around predictable usag…

The ISPs have been under that pressure for decades and dragged their feet because they had monopolies to protect them.

Getting pity for them when the proverbial fecal matter hits the fan is a big ask IMO.

On Netflix’s side, they sure are in a hard place, I’d wish govs. would foot part of the bill, as it’s directly helping people stay at home.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#545

Post by acd10j » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:48 AM UTC

newbie578 wrote: post #524

This is pure bullshit. If Netflix won't commit to it's part of the deal (FULL HD and 4K) then why should I commit to my part (13.99 monthly)? You cannot decide by yourself to lower the quality of your services and keep the price same. Sometimes I wish I had enough money and time to seek "legal retribution" from these type of situations. I would love for this case to make it to the European Court in Strasbourg. "The v…

This will free up critical bandwidth that will enable more work from home and remote teleconferencing. We can’t increase available bandwidth overnight. It is better to suffer slightly decreased internet speed compared to lots of dropped packets if Internet pipes are clogged.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#546

Post by read_if_gay_ » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:48 AM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #165

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but not this kind of bullshit. How is COVID stopping Netflix from lowering their rates accordingly?

Taking actions like changing billing code requires time and effort. COVID-19 requires spending time and effort on lots of things. Everything has an opportunity cost. Spend time and attention on things that matter.

There has to be code in place for people switching to cheaper plans. It can’t be that much effort to switch everyone to a cheaper plan. Especially for a huge company like Netflix.

> Spend time and attention on things that matter

Like what? Just because there’s a pandemic doesn’t mean every single person in this world suddenly has tons of important stuff to do.

Some people do. Most don’t. For most people, “things that matter” in the context of this pandemic doesn’t go beyond washing your hands and avoiding social contact.

What do you imagine the opportunity cost of a couple Netflix devs moving people to a cheaper plan to be? Millions of deaths? Ridiculous.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#547

Post by martin_a » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:50 AM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #527

newbie578 wrote: post #524

This is pure bullshit. If Netflix won't commit to it's part of the deal (FULL HD and 4K) then why should I commit to my part (13.99 monthly)? You cannot decide by yourself to lower the quality of your services and keep the price same. Sometimes I wish I had enough money and time to seek "legal retribution" from these type of situations. I would love for this case to make it to the European Court in Strasbourg. "The v…

Don't you think it's okay for us to be slightly understanding and forgiving that there are some individuals and companies that aren't simply capable of flawlessly and immediately adjusting to major changes in their realities at the drop of a hat? I'm sure their usage is through the roof, and they probably didn't predict a pandemic with quarantines into their infrastructure improvements modeled around predictable usag…

That is because ISPs in Europe are a piece of shit, maximizing profits of their users while minimizing investments in the infrastructure.

This is not about Corona, this is not about "extraordinary situations", this is about European online infrastructure being garbage and now that it's getting really used for once, everything starts to crumble.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#548

Post by TeMPOraL » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:51 AM UTC

wor3q wrote: post #535

ralusek wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you think it's okay for us to be slightly understanding and forgiving that there are some individuals and companies that aren't simply capable of flawlessly and immediately adjusting to major changes in their realities at the drop of a hat? I'm sure their usage is through the roof, and they probably didn't predict a pandemic with quarantines into their infrastructure improvements modeled around predictable usag…

Just cut the price to match SD plan and everything is OK. Will Netflix be understanding and forgiving if pandemic would cut our income, so we wouldn't be capable of paying for subscription and started pirating their originals?

> Will Netflix be understanding and forgiving if pandemic would cut our income, so we wouldn't be capable of paying for subscription and started pirating their originals?

Perhaps. Amazon Videos and Pornhub Premium are both free in Italy, for example. I don't see anything about Netflix being free there, though.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#549

Post by martin_a » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:51 AM UTC

acd10j wrote: post #545

newbie578 wrote: post #524

This is pure bullshit. If Netflix won't commit to it's part of the deal (FULL HD and 4K) then why should I commit to my part (13.99 monthly)? You cannot decide by yourself to lower the quality of your services and keep the price same. Sometimes I wish I had enough money and time to seek "legal retribution" from these type of situations. I would love for this case to make it to the European Court in Strasbourg. "The v…

This will free up critical bandwidth that will enable more work from home and remote teleconferencing. We can’t increase available bandwidth overnight. It is better to suffer slightly decreased internet speed compared to lots of dropped packets if Internet pipes are clogged.

It's not like ISPs could have build and extended their bandwidth over the last years, for example with the 40 €/month my father pays for < 16 MBit internet connection.

Re: Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

#550

Post by iruoy » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:54 AM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #428

koheripbal wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the advantage over good ol' fashion torrenting? I guess I'm just an old timer....

Torrenting is on the way out, from what I (as a casual torrenter) can tell. There is just a lot less material available. Maybe it's better on private trackers, but I haven't been a member of one in 15 years, nor would I know how to access/be invited to one even if I wanted to.

I've stopped using torrents 4 years ago maybe, because I discovered usenet will use up my entire connection for not just the new stuff, but also 10 year old movies/series. I've tested it on a server in a local datacenter to try remote plex streaming. It uses the entire gigabit connection from start to finish.

It isn't completely free like torrents though. You'll need to subscribe to a usenet provider for like $6/month and a newsgroup indexer for $10/year. The $80/year is worth it though. I've got it setup so my series automatically download (Sonarr) and whenever I want to download a movie I usually just look it up myself. I've had it automated in the past (Radarr), but it wasn't really necessary. My download client already renames movies and places them in the right directory anyway.