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Netflix to Soon Let Users Download Videos, Says Report (dslreports.com)
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.
The tantrums will be a wonder to behold.
This isn't anything new, it's something Netflix needs to do if they want to compete.
I dont see how this would enable them to keep making a profit
Got to keep those bandwidth costs down!
Share: http://i.imgur.com/t2nDLXf.jpg
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.
Amazon has offered this feature for their Prime Subscription Videos for over a year now on Android. It's great for people who travel a lot, but Amazon never really advertised it, so I think most people don't realize they can do it...
They already did:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/06/24/1551210/chrome-bug-makes-it-easy-to-download-movies-from-netflix-and-amazon-prime
But, I thought local storage was dead and everything was going to the cloud. Ah, whats old is new again.
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.
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.
Guarantee this will be used to enhance availability of programming via P2P
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.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
>"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).
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.
It will be nice to be able to time-shift the videos from when the downloading actually works to when I actually want to watch them.
MUNI in San Francisco doesn't not provide subway cell service, but recently, I've been able to start streaming before going undergoing and continue watching smoothly trough stations with spotty coverage. This assumes there are no delays, of course, and MUNI is nothing if not inefficient.
This could be aimed at customers like me. I fall asleep to Futurama. That's some 15 episodes out of 120 per week.I also play reruns of shows like Star Trek or Farscape in the background, easily 3 or 4 episodes per day and I cycle through a show multiple times over a few months. Netflix can reduce how many TB they uplad to me easily to a fourth of what I would normally stream.
They can greatly reduce bandwidth costs this way.
Recently netflix content (since they cut VPN accesses) is limited, and not so interesting. Basically, anytime I want to watch something specific, that's not in Netflix. So I'm always back to browse the site to try and find something watchable, and not what I searched in the first place anyway. I'd prefer no-download and having access to a more interesting set of movies / series... Netflix subscription days are numbered...
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
... for two years or so...
Bold move indeed...
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.
:T:R:A:N:S:
This is awesome news - I'm looking forward to watching my first offline Netflix movie on the plane. Currently my best option is to rent a movie on Google Play, and download and watch it which is great, too, but Netflix is cheaper.
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!
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
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.
This is precisely the kind of DRM that Microsoft's so-called "Trusted Computing" was designed to supporet. The entire software and hardware stack is set up to require robust keys. The system supports "phone home" by allowing the keys to be short-lived and forcing renewal with a validated set of hardware and software, for the key to remain valid, It supports hardware lock-in via hardware keys stored in the CPU or in a modest motherboard supported encryption chip, it enforces software key requirements to decrypt the authorized content, and is overall designed for thorough DRM.
Its big potential for abuse is that Microsoft holds all the private keys in escrow, "in case of customer loass" but really to allow any legal agency in the world, and Microsoft themselves, complete access to your protected content without any paper trail whatsoever. It's other potential for abuse is the revocation technology: Keys can be revoked, by Microsoft or by governments that talk to Microsoft, at whim, for entire categories of hardware and for software.
Its big vulnerability has proven to be virtualization. By getting a valid key for a virtual machine with validated software, the data stream in the virtual host can be intercepted and recorded for re-use later. This includes video, audio, and documents.
This is already out there and it is called "NightShift". It has been up and working for over a year now, put out there by a small Canadian group called Aterlo. For now, it is Netflix only. It works quite well and protects the properties quite nicely. See www.gonightshift.com. It is real and it works. They started out concentrating on satellite customers who have suffered draconian caps from the outset.
Subject says it all.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
I use PlayOn, and lifetime-subscribed to their complete service long ago. My PlayOn is scheduled to record real-time as I sleep. While browsing their supported channels, which include bundled channels like Hulu as well as my paid subscriptions, vids can be marked for recording. Recorded videos from Netflix and other providers are mp4. They are flagged with 2 seconds of per-your-EULA-do-not-distribute-warning at the beginning and end, but are ordinary files and can be copied to any of my devices, although I mostly just serve them up from the PlayOn file location to a Roku PlayOn client. PlayOn includes a decent media server and has other features as well. It's been a good deal for me. I just keep one good PC running and don't have a DVR or cable subscription.