Netflix to Soon Let Users Download Videos, Says Report (dslreports.com) 83
Karl Bode, writing for DSLReport:Netflix will soon let users download and store videos locally, according to Penthera (a Pittsburgh-based firm that focuses on delivery of HD media to mobile devices by storing content on the recipient device) COO Dan Taitz and a report over at Light Reading. Taitz told the outlet that it shouldn't be long before the feature arrives. Netflix has been working harder to help consumers manage broadband caps, and being able to download a video on Wi-Fi for later viewing would go a long way in helping users (especially on wireless networks) that consistently find themselves hamstrung by their monthly usage allotments. "We know from our sources within the industry that Netflix is going to launch this product," Taitz tells the outlet. "My expectation is that by the end of the year Netflix will be launching download-to-go as an option for their customers."Bold move, if it does happen.
Over the MPAA's dead body (Score:3, Funny)
The tantrums will be a wonder to behold.
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Re:Over the MPAA's dead body (Score:5, Interesting)
They're afraid of it, but Netflix and Amazon are becoming forces of their own in content creation. The MPAA will make the anti-piracy aspect of it horribly complex, but it will reach the point where it's something they either allow or streaming services won't buy their content and they become irrelevant.
The direction content seems to be heading isn't towards standalone 2 hour movies, but serial shows which when binge watched are kind of indistinguishable from 8-10 hour movies. A big budget movie is $100 million dollars and so is a Game of Thrones season, yet it delivers 10 hours versus 2 hours for a movie.
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Which is fine by me. I like the longer form of miniseries, it allows the pacing to be more languid. I hold up the Daredevil show in netflix as a good example of this (at least the first season of it). You can compare it directly to the first season of The Flash which is also on netflix, and you can see that the broader strokes allowed by the longer format and lack of forced advertisement breaks makes for a much more engrossing watch. Putting the timing of cliffhangers and story cuts in the hands of the crea
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What have you got in mind? We're game.
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Which is hilarious, because this is exactly the same business model as the Circuit City Divx service [wikipedia.org]! The disks were encrypted and you paid a small fee to unlock the files for 48 hours after your initial viewing.
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It wasn't the people that killed it, it was the studios. They were afraid Divx would cut into their DVD sales. From the article:
Many people in various technology and entertainment communities were afraid that there would be DIVX exclusive releases, and that the then-fledgling DVD format would suffer as a result. DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount Pictures, for instance, initially released their films exclusively on the DIVX format.[5] DIVX featured stronger encryption technology than DVD (Triple DES), which many studios stated was a contributing factor in the decision to support DIVX first.[6]
Today the studios are scrambling for cash and are much more likely to embrace streaming/encrypted media. They trust Netflix, and need a new way of selling us the same media. Remember that DVDs and blurays were 'secure' - ,a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System">supposedly blurays can revoke media keys. It's not a big stretch to go from having the en
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They can do with with their own produced videos. Somehow I have the feeling that Netflix is smart enough to understand that anyone can already download their shows FREE right now if they desire. Why not make it easy for paying customers to do the same thing?
Naturally, Hollywood will go right on fighting every innovation tooth and nail (videotapes, DVDs, streaming music and movies, the list goes on...), and making things as miserable as possible for the consumers. I'm already the least satisfied with the
Other distribution channels already have this. (Score:1)
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In terms of streaming it is very new. It's also in the reverse direction of current trends. It makes sense from an engineering perspective but right sholders are unlikely to go for it... which is probably why it hasn't happened yet.
Not doing them won't "hold Netflix back".
If anyone can do this than everyone will. Hardware will likely need updated.
hmmm (Score:2)
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I dont see how this would enable them to keep making a profit
why not? there is no real change to the revenue model. If anything they can charge a bit more for the added functionality. They can encrypt the files on your device so they are useless without netflix provided keys. Maybe you can break the encryption, but the added utility is minor and is it worth getting banned forever from netflix?
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You would have to keep paying them, unless they allowed you to purchase the download free and clear.
No pay, no play.
Re:hmmm (Score:4, Interesting)
The question from me is, what happens when Netflix loses the rights to the movie, which happens every few months when a lot of existing selections vanish and new ones show up? Are the downloaded movies no longer playable?
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Yes, of course. It's not like they're giving you an mp4, you get an encrypted binary and a key which needs to be renewed every so often. This is the model already used by Amazon for video, and Spotify et al for audio.
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Almost certainly yes, it's a cache of the streaming service and they'll most likely set a timeout no longer than they got rights for. This will not make the service better in any way if you got plenty bandwidth, it'll just let you take movies and series on the road or to your cabin in the middle of nowhere. Like you could bring your disc, if you still used discs. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Re:hmmm (Score:4, Informative)
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Why not? The iTunes movie rental service is going strong after many years in service. It's not much different.
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It'll make them more money, because they will save bandwidth (assuming the number of downloads per view drops to something below 1.00). The model stays exactly the same, it's just a local cache.
Not Surprised (Score:2)
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Got to keep those bandwidth costs down!
Well, think about it. ISPs cite peak hour congestion because everyone is streaming during primetime. If I could set my iPad to kick off a download at 3AM that I could watch the next day, that helps stagger the network usage so it levels out better...and if you've ever attempted to use Wi-Fi at an airport, this would be an amazing thing on both ends - fewer people needing the Wi-Fi relieves congestion for those who do.
I've been a fan of Netflix making a "Magical Netflix Box" that allowed queuing and off-peak
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Netflix should make one as someone has already beat them to it. Its called nightshift https://www.gonightshift.com/ [gonightshift.com]
Its $7mo though almost as much as the netflix sub itself
its not cost effective for me.
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They do have Netflix boxes for ISPs, but they have to pay ISPs good money to host them.
But... (Score:1)
It will obviously be tied to their app and fully encrypted so that you cannot actually copy it. Not like they are going to let us download an mp4 copy of the videos.
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You are surely right of course. But i don't even think it would matter if they did let us download mp4. Nothing on netflix isn't readily available on torrents anyway.
People use netflix because its (relatively*) convenient; and for the satisfaction of doing the right thing to pay a reasonable fee for the delivery of ad free content.
If you could download mp4 videos I doubt many netflix subscribers would over it, and it would probably attract more subscribers than they already have.
* - relatively as in "I can'
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I think Windows is your problem, and maybe your ISP.
Netflix on Android or Roku is smooth. At worst when a video starts (nearly instantly) it will be in low resolution then eventually (never more than the introduction) switch to higher res once their fancy algorithms figure out the best quality for your available bandwidth.
Offline viewing like Google Play would be amazing for traveling - pre-download the content then watch while you are in the car/bus/train/plane or where there is none or costly internet acc
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I think Windows is your problem, and maybe your ISP.
Its definitely not the ISP.
Its not even windows itself; other software works fine. Steam/Kodi, when i use a browser to watch a show like Colbert, etc.
Even netflix in a browser doesn't have these issues.
And Netflix on other platforms I have is fine too. (android, wiiu, etc)
And my brother in laws netflix app shows exactly the same issues.
It is JUST the netflix windows 10 'modern' app that is a pile of crap. Its just a crappy buggy app; and it surprises me that its that crappy and buggy given how well it works
They already did (Score:5, Informative)
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/06/24/1551210/chrome-bug-makes-it-easy-to-download-movies-from-netflix-and-amazon-prime
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Local storage? (Score:2)
But, I thought local storage was dead and everything was going to the cloud. Ah, whats old is new again.
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But, I thought local storage was dead and everything was going to the cloud. Ah, whats old is new again.
the clouds are over your head, the point of cloud storage is to take advantage of big bandwidth when you have it and to mirror it when you don't
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But, I thought local storage was dead and everything was going to the cloud. Ah, whats old is new again.
I fly all the time. You can't rely on the cloud whilst in the clouds.
Probably the Amazon Video model (Score:5, Interesting)
The article doesn't say, but here's my thought:
I expect this will use a model similar to Amazon Video, where you can download Amazon Prime videos for offline viewing using the Amazon Video app (such as iPad) and they automatically expire in a few weeks. For movies and shows you've purchased via Amazon Video, you can also download for later viewing and those don't go away. But I think the "Amazon Prime" model applies to Netflix here.
So I wouldn't expect you to be able to download a movie to your home media server and watch it for free forever. You're likely going to be stuck watching it from whatever device you downloaded it on, using the Netflix app.
This seems to be a trend in the industry. I was part of a focus group from HBO where they asked a bunch of questions about "What if we allowed you to download 'n' movies and shows using the HBO Now app on your phone or iPad, and gave you 'x' amount of time to watch them? How long should 'x' be? How many should 'n' be?" I got the impression from the interviews that HBO is thinking about doing this too. HBO even cited the Amazon model, and asked if I used this feature {I do, on iPad} and how many shows and movies I usually download at a time {about 4 shows} and if I can watch them in two weeks {yes}.
It's not a bad compromise.
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Google Play has this also - but you must connect to the net every so often to validate the license of the offline content.
Which sucks for long road trips on tablets. You need to connect to wifi and start to play much of your content if you want to watch it for the next few days.
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It's not bad at all, it's great. My biggest peeve with my Netflix queue is not being able to watch some of the shows while commuting on the train or if I'm travelling somewhere. This will solve that nicely
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It's still a lot less convenient than torrents. With a torrent, I download it once and have a "video player neutral" file that will remain on my disks for as long as I'm willing to maintain those bits. I own those bits. And I paid a VPN for that privilege and not Netflix.
Netflix also still offers DVD/Bluray service and, for low bandwidth customers (so, most of the geographic United States), this is a much less frustrating way to use Netflix. You can pay for a multi-disc plan and rip hundreds/thousands o
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I see the roots of DRM extending deep into the systems core on any system trying to download content locally. Sony dropped in a rootkit for a few songs on a silly little audio CD, companies will demand far more for a library as extensive as Netflix.
Or, Netflix starts this with their own content, and due to popularity, everyone else winds up falling in line.
P2P here we come (Score:1)
Guarantee this will be used to enhance availability of programming via P2P
don't expect a usable format (Score:3)
Having dealt with the head netflix guy pushing the EME, I can tell you for a certainty that if it's downloadable then it will require need to phone home periodically for the duration of the video which means that you will not be able to view the video offline. The reason for this bullshit is simple, it's in the contracts they made to license the content.
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If SSL certs can have their expiration date baked into them, so can the video files.
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My browser lets me ignore the fact that an SSL cert is expired.
And their app won't let you. Of course, I haven't seen it. But it's a safe assumption.
Limited (Score:3)
>"Netflix will soon let users download and store videos locally"
Maybe by using some proprietary, DRM-laden, MS-Windows-Only binary. Or perhaps just for the clients on which they feel the client OS is under their full control. So don't hold your breath for Linux support.
Interestingly, this is not a new concept. TiVo has been doing this for a while now with anything it records (allowing you to upload it to an Android/iOS device for off-line viewing). And the even older concept was Amazon Video with TiVo- the TiVo would download the video in the background, you could watch it later or immediately. All the advantages of streaming but also with all the advantages of having it local (play over and over, super-fast cue/review and jumping, never any stuttering, controlled bandwidth, etc).
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I always felt that streaming was less efficient and convenient than the DVR model. A mix of the two would solve a lot of problems. But there are just so many streaming adopters who insist that bandwidth is plentiful and reliable that they don't understand the need for anything else. Streaming really only works today because a majority of video watchers are not using streaming. In the US we have a very large percentage of internet subscriber that can't download a two hour movie in two hours or less.
For i
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Streaming really only works today because a majority of video watchers are not using streaming.
Where do you get that figure from? My understanding is that a huge percentage of people watching videos online are doing so via Netflix, Prime, Hulu, YouTube, etc. And with the exception of SOME Prime users (who can download for offline use), that's ALL, 100% streaming. Heck, we already know [venturebeat.com] that Netflix has the single largest share of Internet bandwidth usage at 37%.
In the US we have a very large percentage of internet subscriber that can't download a two hour movie in two hours or less.
??? 4 megabits per second speed translates to roughly 1.8 gigabytes per hour, and it would seem that covers 80% of Americans [pcmag.com]. Seems like most
amazing new technology! (Score:1)
There's absolutely no way we could have done this 20 years ago with a direct link to an un-DRMed file. I'm so glad progress in technology has allowed downloading files.
Low bandwidth customers rejoice! (Score:2)
Download... but what? (Score:2)
Copying what Amazon has allowed with Prime Video (Score:2)
... for two years or so...
Bold move indeed...
Thinking Long-Term (Score:2)
This has some interesting potential long-term ramifications... imagine that your neighbor has already downloaded the the movie you would like to watch. So why not just get it from him/her directly and by pass the Internet entirely? With a cache in place, all it would take is some minor improvements to wi-fi and a secure protocol to handle the exchange.
Can do this already (Score:1)
With xfinity and I think prime.
I watched a couple movies while on a flight with no wifi.
Legally. I downloaded a 3rd to watch while waiting for a connecting flight.
It's spiffy!
Amazon already goes beyond this (Score:2)
The current tablet FireOS predicts what you might want to watch and, if you have plenty of space on your SD card, preloads video content when you're on wifi. You don't have to manage the downloads (they are purged if the space is needed). The external SD integration is actually better than that of Android Marshmallow.
Isn't that the entire point? (Score:2)
Already taken care of here with PlayOn (Score:1)