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Netflix Downloads

media.netflix.com

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Re: Netflix Downloads

#71

Post by Dylan16807 »

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #69
Dylan16807 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A streaming service is perfectly viable without DRM, especially if downloading is speed limited after a while. If you want to make copies at playback speed, well, you could do that with DRM too and it hasn't made the system collapse.

Without DRM, it's super viable because P2P is a piece of cake, and Netflix would only have to seed and host less-frequently-used content.

I don't think DRM stops them from doing P2P. Limited upload speeds are a much bigger issue. Plus people finding it icky to be an uploader on something they already paid for.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#72

Post by dawnerd »

fooey wrote: post #56
Tehnix wrote: post #50

I reeeeeeally wish I could watch my shows in a more legitimate way than currently. I recently went through everything that I'm watching and tried to find out what I could actually watch on streaming services. .....which was unfortunately only a limited subset, especially since I'm not US based (Scandinavia here). Besides the problem of everything being spread out over Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and what have you not,…

I think the TV networks were very short sighted and ended up with shitty contracts that never accounted for distributing or streaming their content internationally. They would if they could, but they'd have to go back and renegotiate all those old settled contracts.

Still happens today. Example being Amazons Grand Tour not being available in Canada from launch. Of all companies they should have had that figured out.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#73

Post by [deleted] »

izacus wrote: post #70
logicallee wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment has nothing to do with DRM. I'm saying, "if there is no DRM" (or it is broken or can be broken), then the difference between downloading and streaming might be the difference between taking 2.2 days to "stream to disk" Game of Thrones (60 episodes @ 55 minutes) -- or, say, downloading it in 4 hours. (If downloads are allowed to be faster than realtime, which would only make sense.) GoT is obviously a hypot…

You imply that there's speed throttling when streaming. There's not and it makes no difference if you're connecting to a streaming endpoint or just getting a downloaded file. (Which you can confirm by fast availability of streamed content on torrent sites or if you actually test the streams.)

[deleted]

Re: Netflix Downloads

#74

Post by maxerickson »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #61
maxerickson wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A no-brainer except for the $10/month streaming part.

A streaming service is perfectly viable without DRM, especially if downloading is speed limited after a while. If you want to make copies at playback speed, well, you could do that with DRM too and it hasn't made the system collapse.

Which DRM free streaming service has the most customers?

(let's say they have to be at least sort of like Netflix, with minimal advertising and comedy/drama shows)

Re: Netflix Downloads

#75

Post by logicallee »

izacus wrote: post #70
logicallee wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment has nothing to do with DRM. I'm saying, "if there is no DRM" (or it is broken or can be broken), then the difference between downloading and streaming might be the difference between taking 2.2 days to "stream to disk" Game of Thrones (60 episodes @ 55 minutes) -- or, say, downloading it in 4 hours. (If downloads are allowed to be faster than realtime, which would only make sense.) GoT is obviously a hypot…

You imply that there's speed throttling when streaming. There's not and it makes no difference if you're connecting to a streaming endpoint or just getting a downloaded file. (Which you can confirm by fast availability of streamed content on torrent sites or if you actually test the streams.)

Thanks. Are you saying you could "stream" a 50 minute episode in 3 minutes even before this announcement?

Your second statement (about torrent sites) implies that everyone was already "downloading" content and NetFlix's servers were happy to serve the streams as a single very fast download without regard to how long it should takes clients to consume that (i.e. no throttling) - is this correct?

Re: Netflix Downloads

#76

Post by izacus »

maxerickson wrote: post #74
Dylan16807 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A streaming service is perfectly viable without DRM, especially if downloading is speed limited after a while. If you want to make copies at playback speed, well, you could do that with DRM too and it hasn't made the system collapse.

Which DRM free streaming service has the most customers? (let's say they have to be at least sort of like Netflix, with minimal advertising and comedy/drama shows)

None, because currently it's not possible to get non-DRMed content from provider for various reasons - legal and dumb ones.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#77

Post by problems »

maxerickson wrote: post #74
Dylan16807 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A streaming service is perfectly viable without DRM, especially if downloading is speed limited after a while. If you want to make copies at playback speed, well, you could do that with DRM too and it hasn't made the system collapse.

Which DRM free streaming service has the most customers? (let's say they have to be at least sort of like Netflix, with minimal advertising and comedy/drama shows)

Does it need to be legal? $10/mo for usenet and it just gives you what you want, DRM free, often in better quality than other services offer too.

I used to be able to use Netflix alone fairly well, but the fracturing of online services is making me lean more and more on automated piracy tools like Sonarr. If I were going to pay $10/mo to a dozen services I'd go back to cable.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#78

Post by talmand »

betandr wrote: post #42

I saw Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt say a while ago Netflix would "never" offer downloads, but I have to say I'm really pleased with this. Getting the train through spotty service areas effectively rendered Netflix unusable, but now! :)

Anybody in such a position that says "never" to anything is either naive or they're protecting their current short-term interests. I'm willing to bet most of them say that for short-term reasons while internally they'll still consider it in the future; there was once a time that HBO would "never" offer a monthly streaming service and here we are today.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#79

Post by rikkus »

brixon wrote: post #49
Someone1234 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only works in their apps, not in mobile browsers. So that wouldn't help you.

http://www.bluestacks.com/

Would be interesting to know if this works, but if the use case is watching films on laptop on plane, rather than tablet on plane, I hope you have a power source.

Re: Netflix Downloads

#80

Post by ziszis »

betandr wrote: post #42

I saw Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt say a while ago Netflix would "never" offer downloads, but I have to say I'm really pleased with this. Getting the train through spotty service areas effectively rendered Netflix unusable, but now! :)

Neil Hunt a year ago [http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/09/the-real-reason-netflix-won...]

“I think it's something that lots of people ask for. We'll see if it's something lots of people will use. Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It's not going to be instant, you have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I'm just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it's worth providing that level of complexity.”

Part of me wonders how much this was marketing spin to cover a gap they had relative to Amazon Prime and they were in actuality evaluating how to catch up.

This happens far to often. Notorious example is Ballmer saying iPhone will be a flop when teams internally know that Windows Mobile just blew up.

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