Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix Downloads

media.netflix.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 122 posts

Re: Netflix Downloads

#11

Post by m3ta »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8
erelde wrote: post #4

What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies? EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play anywhere. Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch o…

That is not "all the DRM they need". Files split up into "randomly named 100mb chunks" does not make them safe from would-be pirates with a penchant for reverse engineering.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#12

Post by arm »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8
erelde wrote: post #4

What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies? EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play anywhere. Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch o…

For anyone who missed it, it seems like you can only download and view offline copies of videos in the Netflix app for Android and iOS¹. (Whatever the form of the DRM is that they’re using, it’s a definite that the Netflix app decodes it when you do playback).

――――――

¹ — https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816

Re: Netflix Downloads

#13

Post by logicallee »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8
erelde wrote: post #4

What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies? EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play anywhere. Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch o…

>That's all the DRM they need, you have no ability to consume these files without the Netflix app.

This is like saying that .doc files are as good as DRM'd, since who's going to open one in anything but Word?

I get what you're saying but it's a security through obscurity argument - if this takes off, of course someone can figure out the encoding and transcode straight from those files.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#14

Post by givinguflac »

taleoftwohumans wrote: post #9

Huh? Just updated the app, doesnt work - no downloads ready. Not even the Netflix shows they promote in the blogpost. Im on android 5.1.1. Hopefully theyll get it together, nice feature.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a limitation of your "old" Android version. Not saying that's definitely the case, but wouldn't be surprised.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#15

Post by bsharitt »

givinguflac wrote: post #14
taleoftwohumans wrote: post #9

Huh? Just updated the app, doesnt work - no downloads ready. Not even the Netflix shows they promote in the blogpost. Im on android 5.1.1. Hopefully theyll get it together, nice feature.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a limitation of your "old" Android version. Not saying that's definitely the case, but wouldn't be surprised.

Looks like they support 4.4.2 and higher https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816

Re: Netflix Downloads

#16

Post by treve »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8
erelde wrote: post #4

What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies? EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play anywhere. Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch o…

A file on a disk is still just a stream of video. Even if they use a proprietary container format, without DRM it's still very possible to reassemble the file into a more common container.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#18

Post by erelde »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8
erelde wrote: post #4

What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies? EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play anywhere. Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch o…

I know that's what some music streaming services used to do.

But I still see some risk for Netflix there... Split files are made to be whole again.

If you had only one movie stored locally, you would very quickly be able to solve the puzzle.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#19

Post by paglia_s »

Looks like it's only available for smartphones and tablets, not for computers. Probably because on smartphones and tables they have their own app and don't have to rely on a browser.
Post reply on HN