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Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

techblog.netflix.com

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Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#471

Post by chii »

vntok wrote: post #460
chii wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they should have a minimum level of compatibility. that's the meaning of a standard. that's why DVD players can play any DVD, no matter who manufactured it. open standards means open competition. if in the future, only browsers who can implement the EME can survive, it will kill the small start up browser who other wise would have innovated and beat the incumbent.

> that's why DVD players can play any DVD, no matter who manufactured it This is not entirely true though: a US-bought DVD player won't accept to play DVDs bought in China, Europe, Australia, etc.

but a chinese made DVD player can play a US dvd. The fact that a browser sucks doesn't prevent good browsers from being made.

But with this EME, you now is forced to use the US made dvd player, for no good reason other than profit for the encumbent.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#472

Post by canibal »

derekp7 wrote: post #336
amelius wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been recording the things they watch since the invention of the VCR. DRM will not have any impact on that. Someone will come along, and make a video-grabbing utility that bypasses the DRM. Also, many of the content is already available via bittorrent. DRM is pointless. But perhaps you are right about "browser vendors refusing to cooperate" not being the best possible approach. However, do you know what is…

We somehow got away from DRM on audio. I was wondering how to do this for video too. What worked for audio, was that you had one vendor (Apple) that had a large enough market share. In order to sell DRMd media that worked on Ipods, the media companies had to sell through Apple. Or they could sell non-DRMd files that would still work on Ipods. They did the calculation, and figured they would make more money going non-…

>For video, people don't download it and take it with them

If this is so, why would Netflix have JUST added the download feature last quarter? Obviously there's some demand for storage-based playback.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#473

Post by smokedoutraider »

mintplant wrote: post #184
apostacy wrote: post #127

This is the strategy Microsoft tried over a decade ago with ActiveX. And Firefox saved us. It was starting to be normalized, to have to install ActiveX controls to view certain content. Companies like CinemaNow[1] offered Netflix-like streaming movie services using Microsoft's ActiveX based Janus DRM over a decade ago. Thankfully, the community had more of a backbone back then. Firefox and Linux were not broken becau…

> Now, the same thing is happening again, except that Mozilla is on board with it. Mozilla doesn't have as much leverage now that a large part of "the community" has abandoned Firefox for Chrome. If you care about these issues, stop and consider the effect of your choice in user agent. > It's only a matter of time until Firefox is just a wrapper for webkit It will be a very cold day in hell before this happens. Mozil…

I use Chrome because it doesn't look and feel like a dated browser with substandard performance. It is up to Mozilla to modernize and improve their browser in order for me to care about them and not the other way around.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#474

Post by criddell »

izacus wrote: post #153
criddell wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, the DRM is still not standard. Only the interface to it is. Is a programming language a good analogy? The C++ spec says what a switch-statement should do, but nothing about how it must be implemented, right? > New browsers face a new barrier to entry It's not really a new barrier to entry though, is it? If I wrote a browser last year, were my chances of getting Netflix to support it better then than they are…

> Is a programming language a good analogy? The C++ spec says what a switch-statement should do, but nothing about how it must be implemented, right? No it isn't. Example: Netflix will ask for Widevine DRM provider (and exactly that provider!). It's a proprietary closed licensed platform and your system needs to have their binary blob licensed and compiled for it. If you don't have it and didn't pay for it, you won't…

> It's impossible to make your own open implementation

I don't think that's true. It's still just a plugin so as long as implement something like the Gecko Media Plugin / CDM, you should be good, or at least no worse off than before where you had to support the Flash or Silverlight plugin.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#475

Post by pathsjs »

paulddraper wrote: post #370
AsyncAwait wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually agree with you and am against DRM, but I think I've read that Netflix doesn't actually own all the rights to their content, which doesn't mean that they don't have a great amount of influence if they wanted to do it - obviously, they don't.

Who else is competing with Netflix for Netflix-produced content?

Depends on the country. In Italy, Netflix cannot distribute house of cards because it sold the rights to do so to sky

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#476

Post by Touche »

tptacek wrote: post #215
Touche wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free ride stops when they add stuff to a spec that other people can't freely implement.

I understand why you don't like EME DRM. I don't understand the sense in which it is free-riding.

It's offloading the cost of implementing proprietary software onto others.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#477

Post by Touche »

tptacek wrote: post #233
Touche wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And that's different from a web page that won't allow you to access it without a password, how? It works the same regardless of what browser or OS you are using.

The point of EME is to minimize the amount of code that differs between platforms, by standardizing everything but (in essence) the authenticated key derivation step.

The point of EME is to make it impossible for a browser to show a web page without having financial deals with the websites (or a 3rd party representing the websites).

That is what people oppose. The fact that you do not directly address this point and try to equivocate it to makes me question your good faith here.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#478

Post by TallGuyShort »

ailideex wrote: post #462
TallGuyShort wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who are you saying deserves to go out of business? Netflix? Because I can assure you Linux users that insist on Firefox support instead of just Chrome will not be the difference between them being in business or not. They themselves tend to be pretty understanding of the whole anti-DRM thing and contribute to FOSS technology more than most companies, but they cooperate with DRM content because that actually is the di…

> They themselves tend to be pretty understanding of the whole anti-DRM thing and contribute to FOSS technology more than most companies, but they cooperate with DRM content because that actually is the difference between them being in business and not. Is it really though ? I mean ... their content still get pirated. Everybody's content gets pirated, yet most of them are still in business.

My main point is that they're in business because they can get licensed to distribute the content because they'll accept DRM. Try being a DRM-free alternative to Netflix that I think is worth $8 a month. Good luck. It's not that DRM changes a ton with consumers, it's all about getting the producers onboard. For better or worse, most of the best content producers (at least the management) are insisting on DRM.

Anecdotally, I do see a whole lot less piracy than I did 10 years ago. I think things like Spotify and Netflix / Hulu provide enough of what people want with the right business model and enough freedom that the peasants aren't willing to revolt. Which can be a good thing - fewer computers get AIDS from Kazaa. It's analagous to most governments. Some people want 100% anarchy. But almost no one's trying to overthrow the government because 60% freedom is good enough for most people and not worth war. But maybe I'm just less hip than I used to be.

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#479

Post by pdog »

dasil003 wrote: post #231
cyborgx7 wrote: post #2

Translation: Netflix successfully lobied DRM into what is supposed to be the OPEN web standard, to the point where even Firefox couldn't afford not to support it. Dark days for the free exchange of information enabled by the web.

Sorry, but as someone who spent nearly a decade founding and building a premium content VOD service, and 6 of those years fighting fiercely against DRM and making great content available without DRM, I have both the knowledge and moral authority to say that you're living in a fantasy world. You might as well say that anyone who is not living an RMS-sanctioned ascetic technology lifestyle is hurting the cause of free…

> You might as well say that anyone who is not living an RMS-sanctioned ascetic technology lifestyle is hurting the cause of free software everywhere.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

―George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"

Re: Update on HTML5 Video for Netflix

#480

Post by criley2 »

mentat wrote: post #217
criley2 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't know if I'm just looking too far into your comment, but I don't see why you're blaming Netflix (or it seems you are) or how you got to them being the bad guys for this? They're not the ones that make the content. If it was up to Netflix, they would just release their shows DRM-free on Netflix for any platform. Unfortunately, that's not how things work and they have to bow to the demands of the content distri…

The balance of the power is with the rightsholder. They own the content that Netflix wants to sell and that people want to watch.

And the balance of power when coding is with the client and management, we are but poor pawns, doomed to dirty code.
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