Leaked Screenshots Show Netflix Downloads

Mike1024 writes "US DVDs-by-post company Netflix appears to be planning a service that will let users download movies over the internet. Hackingnetflix.com has some accidentally-revealed screenshots, and the Netflix jobs page includes a product manager position, saying "The Electronic Delivery Service (EDS) will augment Netflix's current DVD delivery model with high quality movies delivered to consumers' home TVs through the Internet, on a subscription basis". Apple's iTunes demonstrated many people are willing to live with some DRM and hardware/vendor lock-in."

Comments

Goodluck...

[Afecks]

As long as it's better than http://www.cinemanow.com/ Nothing worse than watching bad movies AND having to buffer every 5 minutes.

Re:Goodluck...

[aussie_a]

I was under the impression Netflix is quite a bit cheaper then your local rental store. I know it's popular to make out anyone using online products must be avoiding human interaction, but when it's cheaper it's completely unwarranted. Then again this is slashdot so enjoy your +5 Funny mod. I'm content to receive a -1 Troll.

Re:Goodluck...

[BackInIraq]

True, because nobody lives in small towns that feature video stores with horrible selections of videos.

There do still exist people in North America for whom the drive to a decent, well-stocked video store is much, much more than 5 minutes...and many of them do have access to broadband. Entire towns full of such people exist, all across the midwest and mountain west.

Not everybody lives in metro areas...even small metro areas.

Re:Goodluck...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're forgetting about kids. Round them up, strap them into the car seats...it can make doing almost anything seem like too big of a pain at the end of the day. With Netflix, not only do I not have to take a trip, but I've always got something that (in theory) I want to watch in the house, since 3 disks in less than 2 days is never gonna happen with my life.

Re:Goodluck...

[Aggrazel]

Its not about the convenience, its about the selection and the availability.

Even Blockbuster with its "Guaranteed In-store" policy is occasionally out of a movie I'd like to see. A downloaded version won't have the problem of being "out". Plus your selection on downloaded movies will be much greater.

At the end of the day, this is about the same thing as pay-per-view on demand, only with a much wider selection, and possibly a more consumer friendly pricing model.

Re:Goodluck...

[timster]

I sort of thought we were talking about going to Blockbuster -- getting a beer with the buddies is something rather different, at least in my opinion. But when you started insulting me for completely irrelevant reasons I realized that we are actually talking about how unhappy you are, which is not a very interesting topic.

DRM thoughts

[Dakrin1]

As the poster suggested, with the huge sales of iTunes it seems that DRM isn't something that a lot of consumers care about too much. Interesting as a lot of slashdotters seem to feel the opposite.

Re:DRM thoughts

['nother poster]

I have no problem with DRM at the conceptual level. The government gives people and companies limited(supposedly) monopolies to promote the creation of artistic works. It's when they feel that that gives them the right to dictate where and when I enjoy, or not, their products that I get my hackles up. When I can purchase media and enjoy it whenever I want wherever i want, you'll get my money. If you tell me that I paid you for the privilage of being frustrated "no money fo' you."

Re:DRM thoughts

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

DRM isn't something that a lot of consumers care about too much. Interesting as a lot of slashdotters seem to feel the opposite.

DRM also isn't something most people understand at all, unlike most slashdotters. When someone tries to put a song they bought from the itunes music store onto their Sony brand mp3 player and can't get it to work, 9 times out of 10 they will blame the sony player. When a song bought from Napster 2 can't be transferred to an ipod, customers often blame the ipod. They don't understand that the behavior is intentional and if you explain to them that it is most people think it should illegal. Once someone understands DRM they dislike it, but very few people ever get to that point because it is a hard concept to grasp and as most americans know... thinking is hard.

Well, yeah.

['nother poster]

Apple's iTunes demonstrated many people are willing to live with some DRM and hardware/vendor lock-in.

People don't mind this as long as the DRM allows the consumer to do what they want with the media. As long as I can listen to my music when and where I want it's no problem. When the DRM is used to limit where and when I use what I purchased, that's when people get upset.

It will be interesting if netflix learned this. If I pay a fee and can only watch the movies when, where, and on what netflix decides, they won't get my money. We'll see.

Re:Well, yeah.

[aussie_a]

Apple's iTunes demonstrated many people are willing to live with some DRM and hardware/vendor lock-in.

What vendor lock-in? People are willing to put up with Itune's DRM because it's simple to "break" (merely convert it to another format, it's something even I would be able to do, and I know very little about computers), therefore there is no vendor lock-in.

Unless Netflix's DRM is as simple, I doubt very much it will take off as Itunes has (even if it is as simple to break, I still doubt it will take off anywhere near as much as Itunes).

Re:Well, yeah.

[93 Escort Wagon]

"What vendor lock-in? People are willing to put up with Itune's DRM because it's simple to "break" (merely convert it to another format, it's something even I would be able to do, and I know very little about computers), therefore there is no vendor lock-in."

I see these sorts of comments on /. on a daily basis, and yet they still surprise me. Don't you have any non-geek friends? Almost no one cares about Apple's DRM - outside of /. types. Heck, most people don't even seem to realize there is DRM present at all!

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[pcidevel]

I currently wait two days for my Netflix movies instead of going to the Blockbuster around the corner (1 day to ship to Netflix, 1 day for the movie to come back), so I don't see why waiting a couple of hours would be a big deal.

And no, I don't use Netflix because I'm lazy (it's really more of a hassle than going to Blockbuster). I use Netflix because they have a HUGE selection of movies. Their buisness model provides for a much larger selection of movies than a brick and morter store. And going to a "movies on demand" format can only help to increase their selection, it sounds great to me (since I don't tend to watch the normal summer blockbuster style movies and instead watch more obscure stuff)..

CSS and Macrovision DRM

[Zombie Ryushu]

And you can garuntee that the population will accept it because the consumer population will have no choice but to accept CSS and Macrovision and other forms of DRM.

They won't allow the viewing public to use the 1080i resolution unless they can lock in down as much as they can. However ethically repugnant and offensive it may be to someone informed.

Because its convienent, becausee its easy.

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[GPLDAN]

I agree. What is a DVD movie in Gb? If it takes anywhere on the order of 24 hours to select and have a movie downloaded to your machine over broadband at DVD quality, it seems a wash to me. I can go 48 hours and have a DVD sent to me in the post and use the bandwidth on my cable modem for my Vonage and PC web traffic.

If, however, there was an option to stream movies using WMP9's last codecs or some Divx technology, something really high, like a 1Mb/s stream that looked good in a box, and that would start on demand, immediately - THAT could be interesting. There are a whole host of movies from the Netflix collection that I really don't want to take the trouble to add to my 3-disc queue, but would happily start watching on my PC in a window, and if I got bored with it, just stop. Quicktime movie trailers on Apple's site are high enough quality for that, maybe slightly larger than that.

That would take some fat pipes on Netflix side to do, but it's just one order of magnitude greater than what iFilm is doing, and the time is right for something like that.

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[Radak]

I wonder if consumers will be happy waiting for hours while their movie is delivered? ... Something about the business model just doesn't add up to me.

Funny, Netflix seems to doing just fine with the "be happy waiting a few days" business model. Why do you think a few hours is a worse one?

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[Rude Turnip]

Since this will likely work with TiVo, as it's been rumoured for a while, all I would have to do is log into my TiVo account from work and pick out a movie or two. By the time I got home, it would be there. TiVo already gives me the ability to log into their site and program my unit from there, so it's not too much of a stretch.

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[VikingDBA]

"I wonder if consumers will be happy waiting for hours while their movie is delivered? ... Something about the business model just doesn't add up to me."

What I don't understand is why people put up with going to the store to rent a movie that turns out to be unusable so much of the time. I simply cannot stand regularly loosing at least one scene to a scratch and having to rerent at least 1/4 of my movies because of multiple scratches or they won't run at all. I don't even bother renting DVDs anymore, we either buy the DVD or rent a tape or do with out. I am very much looking forward to downloading my movies. Picking a movie the night before doesn't sound any worse than picking a program to record on Tivo several days ahead of time. Now, talking my wife into letting me buy more "electronic stuff" will be more of a challenge.

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[LurkerXXX]

I don't think there's a problem with bandwidth. What does your computer do all day with the bandwidth? Nothing. Most everyone has plenty of bandwidth to spare.

I think your ISP may disagree when half their customers start saturating their pipes 24 hours a day so that they can watch a new movie each night.

Could be good for Netflix customers...

[TheRealStyro]

This could be good for Netflix customers, if they work out the techical and structure issues.

Personally, I want to be able to download certain shows and get the rest in standard DVD format. For example, if I rent an MST3K show then I don't care where I watch it - computer or TV - chances are good that I will only watch it once. A movie like Million Dollar Baby I want to watch on the large screen TV with the whole audio setup.

If they let me specify what shows to download vs. mailed DVDs then I will be very happy with the service. Otherwise I'll just stick to mailed DVDs that I can watch wherever I want.

Re:That's a Lot Of Bits

[eigerface]

My feeling is that a viable model for movie downloads is similar to the Tivo model.

When I search the Tivo schedule for interesting movies coming up on cable, I generally look for recording time slots buried deep into the wee hours of the morning.

If download times for movies can be reduced to 2 to 4 hours, and if a respectable library can be built up, I think an audience exists right now. People will still be able to go to the video store for an impulse movie, but niche movies, or people planning their weekend movie night with the kids can download at 3 AM Tuesday, and watch it on Saturday night.

Re:Net downloads have their place

[xXBondsXx]

Does anybody else see bittorrent playing a role in this movie download business model? Think of when a hit movie comes out in Blockbuster-they have walls of a single movie because they know that everyone will want it. Bittorrent would be perfect for a big release like this - thousands of people nationwide downloading the same file. Sounds good to me!

very realistic

[SethJohnson]

If Netflix and TiVO work this out correctly, this is going to jam a sharp stick in the eye of pay-per-view AND Blockbuster. It may not seem convenient to you at a quick glance, but I'm guessing you haven't re-organized your TV usage through a Tivo or Netflix subscription. I'm not criticizing you, but pointing out that this makes sense to people who have.

Sure, downloading a movie is annoying to satisfy an immediate whim craving for a film. That's where the local video store cannot be beat. The TiVO-Netflix partnership trounces the local video store in new releases, however. Blockbuster may carry 100 copies of Batman when it's eventually released on DVD and make a big promise about availability. But Blockbuster doesn't do this for the smaller movies that you and every other film nerd in your neighborhood want to see. It'll stock two copies that'll be perpetually checked out.

Online Netflix means that you'll be able to create wish lists prior to the release of movies on DVD so that you'll be assured of getting them the day of their release. When you turn on your TiVO, you'll be greeted with a list of movies that have already downloaded, so it's not some deal where you have to actively select an online movie and wait for it to be transmitted. Besides, with Fiber-to-the-home looming in the future as well as IP-over-electric lines, our bandwidth future will speed up the download process for that scenario.

Seth