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Presumably there will be DRM associated with these files. Presumably this will promptly be cracked if it isn't already. Unlimited data plans, get ready for evildoers to build up their media collections!

Not a hardcore techie, but I think I read somewhere they switched from Silverlight to some sort of HTML5 authentication, but that's only for in-browser video. Whatever they deploy, it won't hold up!
Nothing new here.
There already are ways to capture Netflix streams without downloading to a device.
 
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Presumably there will be DRM associated with these files. Presumably this will promptly be cracked if it isn't already. Unlimited data plans, get ready for evildoers to build up their media collections!

Not a hardcore techie, but I think I read somewhere they switched from Silverlight to some sort of HTML5 authentication, but that's only for in-browser video. Whatever they deploy, it won't hold up!

This is nothing new; pirates rip video from Netflix all the time. They don't need this feature to do it, and ripped copies of original Netflix shows (proving it's indeed ripped from them) show up within hours, sometimes within an hour of them becoming available.

I don't think Netflix should concern itself that much with piracy. The effort required to go download shows from the various pirate sources is actually greater than the cost of the service, in my mind. And sure, people who can't afford Netflix might pirate some of its shows, but if they can't afford it they're not really a "lost customer" are they?

There's a lot of kids and college students who pirate media because they are broke and can't afford it. I know I did. But once I became an adult with a real job I no longer had time for that stuff and buy all my stuff now.
 
This will be very handy on my trip coming up. I can watch a couple of episodes on the plane.
 
It's about time. Now if HBO NOW will allow subscribers to download movies and shows locally to their devices, I'll be set for an upcoming 10 hour flight to Hawaii.
 
Yes, but Netflix said that they're working to get more content downloadable for offline use. Of course, that doesn't mean that everything will be available for offline use, but that doesn't mean that what you see won't be the only things you can download forever.

I'm guessing due to copyright, when they decide to stop allowing downloads for that content (whether the content is removed from the site itself, or just the download for that content), it'll also delete it from your device too automatically, or give you an error message that the content can't be played offline.
 
Finally. Half of my available time to view is where internet is "expensive or limited". Or nonexistent (I like how that isn't even considered as a possibility in their explanation).
 
This is nothing new; pirates rip video from Netflix all the time. They don't need this feature to do it, and ripped copies of original Netflix shows (proving it's indeed ripped from them) show up within hours, sometimes within an hour of them becoming available.

I don't think Netflix should concern itself that much with piracy. The effort required to go download shows from the various pirate sources is actually greater than the cost of the service, in my mind. And sure, people who can't afford Netflix might pirate some of its shows, but if they can't afford it they're not really a "lost customer" are they?

There's a lot of kids and college students who pirate media because they are broke and can't afford it. I know I did. But once I became an adult with a real job I no longer had time for that stuff and buy all my stuff now.

All of this is correct. And yes, the college student thing is so true. I paid for Netflix during college, but I and many people I know would download movies, music, and apps for free because we couldn't afford it. Luckily Redbox came out while I was in college so I could afford $1 to rent a movie, and I could stream Pandora for free with the adds. I mainly did it with professional apps that were far too expensive. I was able to learn the apps and then get a job using the apps. I now have multiple paid licenses for many of these apps—one paid at work and one paid personally for use at home and for freelance. I also buy movies all the time and pay for music streaming.
[doublepost=1480524351][/doublepost]I wish they had this feature a few years ago when I would go to stay with older family members around the holidays—especially the ones on my wife's side that didn't have WiFi or had very slow unusable internet out in the middle of nowhere. It would have been great to queue up the iPad with a pile of movies and shows.

I was going to say that this will be handy for my next flight, but I haven't flown in a couple years. Most planes probably have WiFi now, so again this feature is probably too late, right? Hah. When I was last in NYC the subway still had terrible internet, so it might be useful for you guys!
 
I was going to say that this will be handy for my next flight, but I haven't flown in a couple years. Most planes probably have WiFi now, so again this feature is probably too late, right?
Some airlines now allow people to stream movies via Wifi, but only from a limited selection of content that's stored locally on a server on the plane. In-flight Internet access is far too slow and expensive to stream video from remote sites like Netflix. They probably block such services anyway. So yes, the new download capability is great news for people that fly a lot. :)
 
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Nothing new here.
There are already ways to capture Netflix streams without downloading to a device.

This is nothing new; pirates rip video from Netflix all the time. They don't need this feature to do it, and ripped copies of original Netflix shows (proving it's indeed ripped from them) show up within hours, sometimes within an hour of them becoming available.
Lol! Clearly I'm not an evildoer.
 
Lol! Clearly I'm not an evildoer.
No, that is really not clear at all.
What is clear is that you have limited knowledge on a certain subject but yet decided to comment on it and make assumptions about people who do.
Just because a person knows about a particular fact doesn't automatically make them a participant, or as you say "evildoer".
 
[doublepost=1480516884][/doublepost]
Canada is not part of world wide?
"Netflix members worldwide can now download in addition to stream great series and films at no extra cost."

Why assume?
From Netflix website: "For example, Orange is The New Black, Narcos and The Crown are available for download today."

Update from The Verge:
Right now, that selection includes stuff made by Netflix (Stranger Things, The Crown, Narcos, Orange is the New Black, etc) but also a lot of other random choices. You’ve got Breaking Bad. You’ve got Mad Men. You’ve got... Paddington and Minions and Kung Fu Panda 3. This is going to be a huge deal for parents. Movies include Boyhood, Pulp Fiction, Nightcrawler, Good Will Hunting, Hot Fuzz, and more.

Sorry, your kneejerk reaction appears to be inaccurate.
The randomness does seem interesting though. For example some Netflix original series are downloadable, including very recent ones like The Crown, while other ones, some recent others older, don't seem to be.
 
finally! I've been waiting for this for so long. I just downloaded the full season of Narcos and now I can actually watch it on my commute in the subway. I'm glad now that i got the 256gb iPhone going to load it up with offline content.
 
No, that is really not clear at all.
What is clear is that you have limited knowledge on a certain subject but yet decided to comment on it and make assumptions about people who do.
Just because a person knows about a particular fact doesn't automatically make them a participant, or as you say "evildoer".
"Evildoers" is wry reference to people who pirate copyrighted content. (And I couldn't care less if they're poor college students who can't afford to buy it, I wouldn't condone them stealing anything else either. Would you?)

And regardless of whatever limited knowledge I may have, I was right that people have been stealing content from Netflix.
 
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This is pretty awesome. I'm not sure why this feature is so hard to offer. As it is Netflix already downloads the video as you watch it so that it can cache it and provide more reliable playback; this simply lets you watch it later.
It's not technically hard, it's just hard to get the licenses.
 
With only two shows listed as already available in the article, i'm going to assume that the total list has like 6 shows :/

Wow. You must really hate the world. There are dozens and dozens of movies to download. But Netflix has informed me that your account will not be able to download bupkis.
[doublepost=1480541576][/doublepost]
Let me guess...not all content of course.

Content delivery has become a total joke.
What has become a real joke are the people who make decision and declarations out of complete ignorance, such as this. Just download a 60 minute episode of Narcos. Took about a minute. Looks very good. But you can't enjoy it because of bitterness at the world.
 
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Huh, brings to light something I never considered- people actually use the app on their phones for watching stuff! In my friends and family circle all I've ever seen it used for is marking shows to watch later on their TVs. Would love to see some stats on this now.
[doublepost=1480544424][/doublepost]
It's about time. Now if HBO NOW will allow subscribers to download movies and shows locally to their devices, I'll be set for an upcoming 10 hour flight to Hawaii.
You could grab torrents of them if they're on services you subscribe to. No point in suffering just because they don't add a useful feature the competition has.
 
Huh, brings to light something I never considered- people actually use the app on their phones for watching stuff! In my friends and family circle all I've ever seen it used for is marking shows to watch later on their TVs. Would love to see some stats on this now.
[doublepost=1480544424][/doublepost]
You could grab torrents of them if they're on services you subscribe to. No point in suffering just because they don't add a useful feature the competition has.
Well, it's phones, as well as tablets.
 
Let me guess...not all content of course.

Content delivery has become a total joke.

Unfortunately Netflix would be bound by many restrictions set by the original content provider if it's not their own content, and they would need to negotiate contracts to allow the content to be available for offline use. I'm glad they've made a start at least.

In regards to content delivery, I recommend having a read through the Netflix tech blog, they're doing a heck of a lot of impressive stuff to deliver the content!
 
Well, that didn't take long. As recently as two years ago, Netflix was quite assertively denying that they would ever offer an offline viewing capability:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/12/netflix-offline-video-watching-is-never-going-to-happen/

...a Netflix PR director spoke definitively on the subject of offline video watching, declaring that the option was "never going to happen" for users of the Netflix streaming app.

In an interview with TechRadar, Netflix Director of Corporate Communications and Technology Cliff Edwards responded to the question, which was posed comparing Netflix to British services such as BBC's iPlayer and Channel 4's 4oD that offer such offline viewing. TechRadar also quoted Edwards as saying the option was a "short term fix for a bigger problem," which they characterized as "WiFi access and quality."

...Instead, TechRadar paraphrased his comments about how this topic won't be on users' minds "in five years' time" due to an expansion in Internet access across the board—though there's no telling how many "fast lanes" Netflix will enjoy at that point in time.

LOL. It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. :)
 
Unfortunately Netflix would be bound by many restrictions set by the original content provider if it's not their own content, and they would need to negotiate contracts to allow the content to be available for offline use. I'm glad they've made a start at least.

In regards to content delivery, I recommend having a read through the Netflix tech blog, they're doing a heck of a lot of impressive stuff to deliver the content!
Even their own content is fairly inconsistent with some of it being available for download and some of it not--at least it would seem like they should be able to offer their own content.
 
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