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Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

bbc.co.uk

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

#661

Post by glenneroo »

davestephens wrote: post #597
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…

You have to sit at home and watch Netflix in SD, whilst there are people out there literally putting their lives at risk to save others? Poor you!

Did nobody read the article? There are so many comments here about going to SD, but FTA they aren't reducing resolution, rather just the bitrate:

> Several factors influence how much data is used when streaming a movie online.

> One of them is video resolution, including whether a video is high-definition (HD) or ultra-high definition 4K.

> Another is bitrate, which influences how clear and smooth videos look when streamed online

> Videos with a higher bitrate tend to look less "blocky" or pixelated, but use more data.

> Out of these two, Netflix says it will cut its streaming bitrates.

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

#662

Post by kristiandupont »

rjyoungling wrote: post #620

There seems to be a big divide between two groups: One is of the mind that we should be empathetic and since it's not a lot of money, people shouldn't complain. The other is of the mind that, Netflix can certainly take those actions but shouldn't pass those costs on to the consumer. I'm in the second camp. In Holland, all the big gym companies still charge their memberships even though the gyms are closed. Since they…

I guess I am in a third group that feels that the mob-mentality has taken over. If Netflix indeed decides to just go with this, I too will think they should be called out. But unless I've missed something, they haven't communicated anything about that yet, positive or negative. The outrage right now to me looks like people shouting at firefighters "who's going to pay for that waterdamage?!" while the fire is still active (ok, I should be careful with the analogies on HN, you don't need to pedantically tell me all the differences between netflix and firefighters!).

I feel that it's quite likely that they will announce that they will pay back the extra fees, or make it up in some other way. I can appreciate that it was not their first order of business when the request came from the EU (and, as far as I can tell, Australia as well and probably other places).

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

#663

Post by teddyh »

swebs wrote: post #657
anonymouswacker wrote: post #440

Paying isn't enough to get what you paid for, so... https://github.com/SickChill/SickChill - automatically download TV episodes (about Linux) https://github.com/CouchPotato/CouchPotatoServer - automatically download Movies (about Linux) https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent - torrent client for downloading your Linux tv/movies...

Also the current URL for The Pirate Bay is https://tpb.party

And, AFAICT: http://piratebayztemzmv.onion/

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

#664

Post by Symbiote »

newbie578 wrote: post #591
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…

There are a lot of people responding so I will answer it this way for visibility. I HAVE NO PROBLEM with Netflix reducing video quality. What I do have a problem with is Netflix KEEPING THE PRICE THE SAME. If my local gym chain (Gyms4You) can freeze memberships for EVERYONE and not price it in than Netflix can atleast do the same regarding the "premium" plan. I understand that this is an unprecented crisis, but that…

Before ranting on HN, repeating the same point that's made 50 times in this discussion, how about giving Netflix time to respond?

The operations department won't have had the authority to give a €4 refund to everyone overnight (in Europe). They're probably working from home. See what happens i a few days time.

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

#665

Post by john_alan »

ornornor wrote: post #627
mgoetzke wrote: post #595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if 'doing your part' only means 720p instead of 1080 or 4k at the same price for a little while, I think that is more than acceptable

I don’t understand that. It’s not like Netflix is saving lives or is a non profit. Why should it be our responsibility to subsidize their baseline? The nature of business is that you’re taking risks. Offloading that risk to your customers is bad taste. Netflix doesn’t share its profits with its customers so why should we be shouldering their losses/subsidizing them as paying customers?

Precisely.

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

#666

Post by swebs »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #656
anonymouswacker wrote: post #440

Paying isn't enough to get what you paid for, so... https://github.com/SickChill/SickChill - automatically download TV episodes (about Linux) https://github.com/CouchPotato/CouchPotatoServer - automatically download Movies (about Linux) https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent - torrent client for downloading your Linux tv/movies...

What makes you (not you specifically, you in the general sense) think you're entitled to viewing content without paying for it? I mean if you want to make a point just cancel your subscription.

It's such a non-issue that I don't think most people care enough to bother trying to justify it. Asking "what makes you think you're entitled" is a loaded question because it assumes that the people downloading have some sort of opinion on "entitlement" in the first place.

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

#667

Post by slac »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #647
abjKT26nO8 wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're describing an issue specific to US ISPs. It doesn't apply to Europe. From what I read even before the pandemic the US ISPs offered rather crappy services. In Europe, particularly in Poland, I don't have and haven't heard about anyone having any issues with connectivity right now, even though the country is in lockdown, schools and universities are closed, restaurants work only in delivery/take-out mode, compan…

In my country (NL), a lot of the backbone of both cable TV and internet on a street level has been replaced with fiber already; I can imagine that in the US, due to the scale, this process is lower. Doesn't have to be fiber-to-the-home, 20mbit should be enough for everyone for example. I haven't had any problems with my internet (I do have fiber straight into my house, wired network on my laptop, fast.com reports 600…

20mbit is not enough if you have kids with retina display ipads looking at youtube!

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

#668

Post by sgt »

lxgr wrote: post #337
Sosh101 wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe 10 years ago? I don't know anyone with a connection that badly asymmetrical.

My connection is 1000/50 – theoretically. On a good day, that works out to about 100/2, thanks to my provider vastly overselling their shitty overcongested network as "fiber to the home". (It's just cable.)

So you've got a "gigabit connection" (in marketing terms), yet worst case your upload speed is like that of ADSL. That's unacceptable.

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

#669

Post by bitlash »

mcv wrote: post #611
p410n3 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 67 year old grandpa has vague idea what ipv6 is.

He probably was around when the standard was defined. It's amazing this is taking 30 years to replace IPv4.

The transition is definitely taking a long time, are there additional reasons for delaying the switch to IPv6 other than the mitigation of the problem with NAT/private networks?

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

#670

Post by glenneroo »

henriks wrote: post #616
nabla9 wrote: post #555

Treating Europe as a one block seems like very low resolution decision. Netflix content delivery network is sufficiently large in Europe to take into account much smaller areas.

Yes, I doubt this was a very well-informed request by the EU as much as a PR move. I doubt the fiber between me and Netflix's edge cache at my ISP is significantly more saturated due to more people staying at home.

You might have missed it but yesterday it was all over the news that the EU had asked Netflix to do something. Here is one of many articles: https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/19/eu-netflix-sd-streaming-...

Today the Australian government is making the same request.

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