Netflix Executive: Offline Viewing 'Never Going to Happen'

[wizard]

To be fair, wifi equipped airplanes are becoming increasingly common.

So you run through the same tiny pipe as everyone else. Yah that is good.

I honestly don't understand the obsession with streaming, it can jibe useful but it doesn't solve all of your viewing problems and more importantly it wastes bandwidth like there is not tomorrow. It certainly isn't a green solution for those that view a flick more than once.

Finding a balance between streaming services and other forms of packaging of media should be on everyone's list. Sometimes a buck fifty for a used CD at a thrift store makes lots of sense vs the resources used for streaming to millions of households.

 

[Gasu E.]

I definitely understand his short term point, and people hate managing their content, as we learned with the original Apple TV, but I don't understand why they couldn't just encrypt the file and make it only able to be read by the Netflix app on iOS...

The file would have to have an expiration date after which it could not be read, to keep in line with the terms under which NetApp licenses the content. And they would have to ensure no other app could read the file, to make the content holders feel confident. So, basically, the terms under which NetApp licenses the content would have to change; and NetApp would have to go back to each content owner and make sure they are comfortable with the new terms and technology.

 

[The Phazer]

Who said they aren't willing to pay? Just because they aren't willing to pay for a service that doesn't allow offline viewing doesn't mean they aren't willing to pay for a service that does allow offline viewing. Currently, the only service that "allows" offline viewing happens to be illegal - that isn't a torrenters fault.

There are dozens of services that allow offline viewing legally. Heck, Amazon Prime does, so even the US has subscription ones.

 

[octothorpe8]

I never said I condoned it or even did it. For me, Netflix has a very poor choice of shows for the money and since I live in an area of rubbish internet, the ability to fully download and then view offline will always be preferred.

Unless I'm mistaken, you can do this with iTunes purchases and rentals -- download it to your device and watch later. If you have flaky internet, that's infinitely less frustrating than halting, crappy quality playback you get with pure streaming. You can kind of think of it as streaming with a HUGE buffer

 

[coolfactor]

I never said I condoned it or even did it. For me, Netflix has a very poor choice of shows for the money and since I live in an area of rubbish internet, the ability to fully download and then view offline will always be preferred.

It is up to Netflix to improve their service so users aren't as tempted by torrents or free streaming sites. Which at the moment, are infinitely better. And free.

Let me get this straight - Very poor selection FOR THE MONEY?

It's $8.00 a MONTH!!!

Netflix has a great selection for that money... and they have many new, exclusive shows in the pipeline. Since it's not exactly breaking the bank, you can afford to get shows elsewhere, as well, I assume. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

 

[gotluck]

If that's your attitude, isn't stealing always going to be "better" than paying for something?

No point in even bothering to try and compete with torrents, the people who aren't willing to pay aren't going to accept any paid option.

The quality of service of the torrented product is often better though, payment aside. Can be viewed offline, used on multiple devices / easily transferrable, no drm, best catalog of product, etc..

I pay for Netflix and at times torrent things that are available on Netflix for offline playback, pretty silly.

 

[wizard]

When purchasing GoGo WiFi on an airplane, it specifically states you cannot use Netflix with their service. I give it 5 years or a little more before we're able to stream Netflix and other services on planes.

You still have the reality of an RF based data link with 250 people competing for that link. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Frankly an airline has more to worry about than WiFi anyways.

However this only highlights the importance of local data storage. Imagine an airplane with a large data store for its WiFi customers that contains a few hundred movies to choose from. That would solve most of the bandwidth issues and these days it could be very reliable with the access to solid state drive technology. Such a system could be updated during normal serving and maintain a supply of recent releases along with old favorites.

 

[Carlanga]

So this guy must have never flown on an airplane then ...

So this guy that posted must have not realized many commercial airplanes have wifi and in five years I bet all of them have it.

Anyways, you are paying for a streaming service. His real reason is prob studios don't let them due to piracy concerns. Once you are jb it should be easy to just copy the file so they would have to spend even more money for some type of security and create a new format that will probably hog resources like Java.

 

[MarkCollette]

Source please.

I've read articles showing this for at least 10+ years. It's true.

 

[bmustaf]

To be fair, wifi equipped airplanes are becoming increasingly common.

Have you ever flown on one? The bandwidth (or lack thereof) on those pipes isn't barely enough to handle one streaming connection for a user, let alone even a small minority of people on a flight, and this problem is not going to be solved any time soon.

Let's not even consider that the vast majority of carriers (because of the aforementioned) block streaming services either by firewall or by ToS (or both).

----------

You still have the reality of an RF based data link with 250 people competing for that link. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Frankly an airline has more to worry about than WiFi anyways.

However this only highlights the importance of local data storage. Imagine an airplane with a large data store for its WiFi customers that contains a few hundred movies to choose from. That would solve most of the bandwidth issues and these days it could be very reliable with the access to solid state drive technology. Such a system could be updated during normal serving and maintain a supply of recent releases along with old favorites.

UAL's new IFE does this, you can choose from a media library hosted on-aircraft and play over the wifi on your own device (laptop web browser or the UAL mobile app)

 

[ginkobiloba]

The quality of service of the torrented product is often better though, payment aside. Can be viewed offline, used on multiple devices / easily transferrable, no drm, best catalog of product, etc..

I pay for Netflix and at times torrent things that are available on Netflix for offline playback, pretty silly.

there's no such things as "the quality of service "of the torrented product. That's like talking about "the quality of service" of stolen computers : "hey, I got served much quicker from the "dealers" than at Wallmart, and they didn't even need my credit card or my address ! Now THAT'S quality service !"

 

[BMcCoy]

Does Netflix allow 'paused buffering'?

My bb is a pathetic 1.5 Meg, so have avoided Netflix on the assumption i can't stream with such a poor speed. Downloading overnight for offline viewing would have been a solution..
But can you start a stream, and pause it... allowing it to download slowly for a few hours, and then un-pause to watch?

 

[Eeko]

Who said they aren't willing to pay? Just because they aren't willing to pay for a service that doesn't allow offline viewing doesn't mean they aren't willing to pay for a service that does allow offline viewing. Currently, the only service that "allows" offline viewing happens to be illegal - that isn't a torrenters fault.

This is a silly argument. Anytime I want to watch a movie or a show offline, I buy it from iTunes! I never resort to stealing.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Unless I'm mistaken, you can do this with iTunes purchases and rentals -- download it to your device and watch later. If you have flaky internet, that's infinitely less frustrating than halting, crappy quality playback you get with pure streaming. You can kind of think of it as streaming with a HUGE buffer

You are correct - that is a great option for offline viewing. However, as a product, I wouldn't compare that with a subscription service like Netflix.

 

[bmustaf]

Next headline:

"Potential Netflix Customer to Netflix Executive: Me Subscribing To Netflix? Never Going To Happen"

 

[Nunyabinez]

His point was that it is a waste of money, time, negotiating with rights holders etc. to do something that will be obsolete in 5 years.

It's the same point that Steve made about why you don't need a Blu-ray drive in you Mac. People complained then, but how many of you went out and bought an external Blu-ray drive for your Mac and if you did, how often do you use it.

Yes, right now, with bandwidth what it is, off-line viewing would be nice, but think about what bandwidth was available and how fast it was 5 years ago. I can't blame someone for not wanting to invest in something that will be useless in just a few years.

 

[cmwade77]

So this guy must have never flown on an airplane then ...

Streaming Netflix was quite easy on Jetblue, even on their free WiFi when we just flew with them in November. In fact it behaved better than on my home connection.

 

[nilk]

If that's your attitude, isn't stealing always going to be "better" than paying for something?

No point in even bothering to try and compete with torrents, the people who aren't willing to pay aren't going to accept any paid option.

Even for people who would rather pay and do things the legit way, torrents and other illegitimate means still provide a better user experience for video. The reliability of streaming services like Netflix is just abysmal (maybe I can blame Verizon for that). If you want to reliably watch one of Netflix's original TV series, torrent it so that you have a fallback in case you try to watch it on a night that Netflix decides to flake out.

I'm not sure the movie/TV industry has a choice here (in providing a better user experience), because of the way licensing has happened. What is often the case, is every entity involved has to agree to license the content to a specific region. And there are restrictions in place, possibly ones that prevent offline viewing. If Netflix was smart, they would do things differently with their own content, but maybe they don't want to have an inconsistent experience where some content can be viewed offline, and others can't, etc.

 

[cmwade77]

So you run through the same tiny pipe as everyone else. Yah that is good.

I honestly don't understand the obsession with streaming, it can jibe useful but it doesn't solve all of your viewing problems and more importantly it wastes bandwidth like there is not tomorrow. It certainly isn't a green solution for those that view a flick more than once.

Finding a balance between streaming services and other forms of packaging of media should be on everyone's list. Sometimes a buck fifty for a used CD at a thrift store makes lots of sense vs the resources used for streaming to millions of households.

Streaming is much easier than looking through hundreds of DVDs, CDs, Blurays, etc., deciding what to watch and putting it in the player. Instead, look online and click play.

Really, bandwidth is cheap and if you have a decent provider that is using renewable energy, it is clean as well.

 

[nilk]

This is a silly argument. Anytime I want to watch a movie or a show offline, I buy it from iTunes! I never resort to stealing.

So can you get Netflix's original programming on iTunes?

 

[Engie]

Netflix is a junkfood example of digital distribution.

http://gizmodo.com/you-wont-believe-how-much-netflix-crops-your-movies-816686310

http://whatnetflixdoes.tumblr.com/

 

[Nunyabinez]

Have you ever flown on one? The bandwidth (or lack thereof) on those pipes isn't barely enough to handle one streaming connection for a user, let alone even a small minority of people on a flight, and this problem is not going to be solved any time soon.

What do you think... 10 years? 15 years? His point was from a financial perspective it doesn't make sense to spend money on something that is soon going to be fixed by someone else. I'll bet within 2 years there will be high-speed wifi on most airlines capable of streaming movies if it takes that long.

 

[gotluck]

there's no such things as "the quality of service "of the torrented product. That's like talking about "the quality of service" of stolen computers : "hey, I got served much quicker from the "dealers" than at Wallmart, and they didn't even need my credit card or my address ! Now THAT'S quality service !"

I hear you, but physical products are really not the same.. But I don't want to argue about that.. There is far more risk buying stolen computers etc..

You know what I'm trying to say..

 

[africanhorses]

In Amercian cities perhaps

"In the next five years, Edwards believes the expansion of public Wi-Fi and cellular coverage will make the idea of offline viewing obsolete."

That's in cities, in the US. When are these people going to realise that most people don't live in cities with Western Internet speeds?

 

[Nunyabinez]

"In the next five years, Edwards believes the expansion of public Wi-Fi and cellular coverage will make the idea of offline viewing obsolete."

That's in cities, in the US. When are these people going to realise that most people don't live in cities with Western Internet speeds?

Move to the WiFi!

JK