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I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

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Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#31

Post by stevemk14ebr »

picklepixel wrote: post #2

I pay for Netflix Premium but was stuck at 1080p. Turns out Netflix layers multiple capability checks before serving 4K: user agent, screen resolution, Media Capabilities API, codec support, DRM robustness negotiation, and their Cadmium player's internal bitrate caps. Built an extension that spoofs all of these. The interesting discovery: you have to intercept every layer. Miss one and you're back to 1080p. Here's th…

So your extension does a bunch of hooks to spoof edge, but then only works on edge? And edge using Netflix normally already supports 4k. So this does nothing and does not solve the stated problem of chrome and Firefox 4k Netflix streaming.

Am I missing something?

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#32

Post by hug »

ctippett wrote: post #24
hug wrote: post #4

I may be an idiot, but: What does this actually, y'know, achieve? It seems the answer to me is probably nothing? It doesn't work on Firefox. It appears not to work on Chrome. The suggestion is to use Edge, which on Windows already gets 4K support in Netflix anyway.

You misread the README. Although it suggests using Edge at the very bottom, the extension doesn't require it and actually spoofs Netflix into thinking it is Edge via changing the user-agent.

Did I, though?

I understand it spoofs all of the checks it can, but the only Chromium browser that supports Widevine L1 (a requirement for 4K) is Edge, so even if all of the check spoofing works, it still won't do 4K.

There's even a table in the README that describes this exact scenario.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#33

Post by [deleted] »

ctippett wrote: post #24
hug wrote: post #4

I may be an idiot, but: What does this actually, y'know, achieve? It seems the answer to me is probably nothing? It doesn't work on Firefox. It appears not to work on Chrome. The suggestion is to use Edge, which on Windows already gets 4K support in Netflix anyway.

You misread the README. Although it suggests using Edge at the very bottom, the extension doesn't require it and actually spoofs Netflix into thinking it is Edge via changing the user-agent.

[deleted]

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#34

Post by Retr0id »

stavros wrote: post #27
Retr0id wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent a long time wondering the same thing. The standard answer is that it's fallout from the anti-anti-piracy cat and mouse game. The more conspiratorial answer is that bandwidth is expensive and streaming sites will take any excuse to serve you a lower resolution than what you actually paid for, while still being able to say that they technically support 4K. There are sensible-ish technical reasons why they ca…

Bandwidth is only expensive if you're getting it from Amazon or Google. Cloudflare gives it away for free.

Netflix is responsible for 15% of global internet traffic. That's expensive no matter how you slice it, and dropping that by a mere 1% is a huge saving.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#35

Post by stavros »

Retr0id wrote: post #34
stavros wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bandwidth is only expensive if you're getting it from Amazon or Google. Cloudflare gives it away for free.

Netflix is responsible for 15% of global internet traffic. That's expensive no matter how you slice it, and dropping that by a mere 1% is a huge saving.

Hm, true. Then again, I don't know if that's worth the reputational hit. These subscribers are paying for 4K.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#36

Post by bigwheels »

Cyph0n wrote: post #25
hermanzegerman wrote: post #11

I never get why those idiots make it harder for paying customers to watch content, than for those just torrenting it. It's the same with Amazon Prime Video which will get me a black screen on Linux or force me to SD Quality, while the torrented Movie runs just fine in 4K

For Netflix specifically; it’s because the groups that rip 4K content from Netflix burn a device (i.e. a Widevine L1 key). This is why they typically release 4K Netflix shows in batches. Here is a good thread on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/17ez7mi/how_come_it...

Thank you for sharing the breadcrumb~

How does Netflix detect "suspicious" activity? Does $NFLX allow 4k streaming over GrapheneOS? If so, could you pin a different certificate and do some HTTP proxy traffic manipulation to obfuscate the device (presumably an Android phone) identity or otherwise work around the DRM?

I want to understand more about this but unfortunately the reddit thread is bits and pieces scattered amongst clueless commentary, making it challenging to wade through.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#37

Post by ctippett »

hug wrote: post #32
ctippett wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misread the README. Although it suggests using Edge at the very bottom, the extension doesn't require it and actually spoofs Netflix into thinking it is Edge via changing the user-agent.

Did I, though? I understand it spoofs all of the checks it can, but the only Chromium browser that supports Widevine L1 (a requirement for 4K) is Edge, so even if all of the check spoofing works, it still won't do 4K. There's even a table in the README that describes this exact scenario.

I'm putting a lot of weight on this part from the README:

  > If you're paying for 4K but using Chrome, Firefox, or a setup Netflix doesn't "approve," you're stuck at 1080p or lower. This extension fixes that.
But I get the confusion though. I'm now second-guessing if I misread the README.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#38

Post by JoshTriplett »

TacoCommander wrote: post #15

Let's go back to tangible media https://www.rasputinmusic.com https://www.amoeba.com/

I would pay a non-trivial amount for a service that 1) bought a blu-ray on my behalf, 2) ripped it to a file, 3) gave me that file to download, once, and 4) after confirming I had it, shredded the blu-ray.

I don't want to copy things and distribute them to others. I want to have one copy that keeps working indefinitely and doesn't go away or fail to follow me across systems.

Re: I reverse-engineered Netflix's 4K restrictions

#39

Post by arjie »

stevemk14ebr wrote: post #31
picklepixel wrote: post #2

I pay for Netflix Premium but was stuck at 1080p. Turns out Netflix layers multiple capability checks before serving 4K: user agent, screen resolution, Media Capabilities API, codec support, DRM robustness negotiation, and their Cadmium player's internal bitrate caps. Built an extension that spoofs all of these. The interesting discovery: you have to intercept every layer. Miss one and you're back to 1080p. Here's th…

So your extension does a bunch of hooks to spoof edge, but then only works on edge? And edge using Netflix normally already supports 4k. So this does nothing and does not solve the stated problem of chrome and Firefox 4k Netflix streaming. Am I missing something?

I would imagine it's less a product to use and more documentation of the various techniques that are involved. It seems pretty reasonable to share that with others.
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