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Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

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Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#121

Post by vidarh »

wmf wrote: post #81
weavejester wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you equate DRM with subscriptions? It's perfectly possible to have subscriptions to content without DRM.

A DRM-free subscription service would immediately lead to a ripper tool that would download everything in one month, which would immediately lead to Hollywood studio execs pitching hissy fits.

I can walk down any number of streets nearby and get approached by people with bags full of professionally pressed DVD's of movies pirated by filming a cinema screen. Or I can install a bittorrent client and get HD content everywhere anyway. Access isn't stopping those who are willing to put in a minimal amount of effort to get the content.

It does, however, stop people like me from subscribing to their service, as I refuse to pay for a service that is hampered by DRM this way, as from long experience as a Linux user, relying on formats that are not open and unencumbered is pretty much guaranteed to cause annoying hassles for me in some way or another with uses that I consider completely reasonable, and that does not include storing copies or distributing the content to others in any way.

It's a nice try from Netflix. Dropping Silverlight is great. But it's not enough.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#122

Post by vidarh »

thezilch wrote: post #117
surrealize wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Content publishers tried to get DRM into broadcast television (the "broadcast flag"). They failed, and now they broadcast everything in the clear. In that case, there was a bunch of push-back against DRM. But Netflix and Microsoft aren't pushing back against web DRM; they're just rolling over and implementing it. So digital broadcast television started with publishers demanding DRM, and then giving up on it (and real…

You may not know what advocate means, but it can take steps to eradicate DRM, as if it is really always a bad thing. Do I think web video and broadcast TV are different? Absolutely; definitely; unequivocally, yes. Obviously. Maybe not for technical folks; maybe not when usenet or FTP trading was your only option for content not music; but nowadays, torrent software and search is really damn easy and free. Broadcast a…

> it _never_ gets in the way of the service

... if you use a supported platform. In other words: It never gets in the way of the service for you

Until recently, running it on Linux at all was not feasible. Even today, it requires running it in Wine or a VM. The only reason this is the case is because the DRM prevents us from using a standard player.

That is the downside of DRM. And for me it's the reason why I won't touch Netflix even if it becomes easier to use it under Linux as long as they keep at the DRM nonsense.

I learned this the hard way with iTunes, and I am not touching DRM'd content again unless I can effortlessly break the DRM (so e.g. I do buy DRM'd books of Amazon, and promptly uses Calibre to secure a DRM free copy; but I've still not made the move to Bluray because it's too much hassle)

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#123

Post by lukifer »

X-Istence wrote: post #111
lukifer wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But doesn't client-side encryption already function at the OS level? For instance, the keys for FairPlay and the App Store have not been cracked, as far as I know.

FairPlay has been cracked a lot of times, there have been many tools to remove the DRM from FairPlay encrypted songs/videos/books. App store apps have also been cracked in that their keys have been stripped, on a jail broken phone you can run all those apps without needing a valid key.

FairPlay for video still hasn't been cracked (I wish it were). But I take your point.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#124

Post by goggles99 »

fatjokes wrote: post #8

Thank god. I hate Silverlight. It's so resource intensive. EDIT: I just felt like ranting against Silverlight some more. The only reason I use Silverlight is because of Netflix. I run it in Chrome on my Mac Air. Besides being buggy and resource hungry, it also doesn't stop my Mac from dimming even when watching a video in fullscreen, unlike YouTube videos, etc. (Could this be because it doesn't use the graphics card?…

Your perception is not based at all on factual evidence. I see people all the time complaining about flash/SilverLight performance problems. The reality is that no browser has so far outperformed either of these plug-ins in terms of CPU or memory utilization.

You might want to use this as a reality check. What other "truths" in your life are actually true and not merely biases created by the agenda's of others around you.

Let truth alone influence you, question all hearsay. Be a leader, not a follower.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#126

Post by ajasmin »

lukifer wrote: post #123
X-Istence wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FairPlay has been cracked a lot of times, there have been many tools to remove the DRM from FairPlay encrypted songs/videos/books. App store apps have also been cracked in that their keys have been stripped, on a jail broken phone you can run all those apps without needing a valid key.

FairPlay for video still hasn't been cracked (I wish it were). But I take your point.

FairPlay video was (kind of) cracked a few years ago I was in the habit of decrypting TV episodes using Requiem so I could watch them on my Linux netbook. You had to decrypt the files on a computer with iTunes installed though.

I don't know if Requiem has been keeping up with the latest iTunes releases.

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#127

Post by frankcaron »

I'm curious. With all the railing around Flash and its obsolescence, is Silverlight destined to go the same route?

I don't hear much about it anymore, particularly in the enterprise and the video provider space in which I currently work, where things like Verimatrix and Azuki are mentioned far more often than Flash/Silverlight.

Anyone have any intel on any major projects that use Silverlight aside from Netflix?

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#129

Post by weavejester »

cdcarter wrote: post #104
weavejester wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever gives you that idea? HD rips usually show up a few hours after an episode first airs.

Movies are a much different story.

Why is a video stream featuring a movie different from a video stream featuring a TV show?

Re: Netflix ditches Silverlight with support for HTML5 video in IE11

#130

Post by smackfu »

kenbellows wrote: post #51
rubberband wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that Flash is any less resource intensive or buggy?

Where did he mention Flash? HTML5 video is the alternative being discussed here, and it's far less resource intensive and buggy (depending on the video format), from my experience at least.

AFAIK, HTML5 video on a Mac pretty much requires it to be H264, which Apple has optimized their whole stack for.
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