Netflix Releases 'Meridian' Test Footage To All Including Competitors, Open Sources Some Tools (variety.com)

Netflix has released 'Meridian' to not just all its 83 million subscribers, but to everyone. The company produced the title as test footage to evaluate anything from the performance of video codecs to the way Netflix streams look like on 4K TVs. But the company decided to make it to open to all -- be it hardware manufacturers, codec developers, or even competitors like Amazon and Hulu. From a report on Variety:Netflix is using a Creative Commons license for the release of "Meridian," which is new for an industry that isn't used to sharing a lot of resources. "They are in the business of exploiting content, not of giving it away," Chris Fetner, the company's director for content partner operations said. But for Netflix, it's just par of the course. Thanks to its Silicon Valley DNA, Netflix has long collaborated with other companies on cloud computing-focused open source projects. Now, it wants to nudge Hollywood to do the same -- and "Meridian" is only the beginning. This week, Netflix is also open-sourcing a set of tools tackling a common problem for studios and video services.

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Mmmeridian is a mmmovie

[BringsApples]

The 12 minute movie named "Meridian" was simply test footage that Netflix created in order to test different variables within Netflix's scope of development. That 12 minute movie is now being shared with all the world to use freely.

In a global media business, Hollywood is often producing dozens of versions for each movie. Not only do different markets require different subtitles, but there are also airline versions that come without riskier scenes, local content requirements like the need to pixelate all full-frontal nudity in Japan, dubbed versions and more. In order to cope with such differences:

Netflix wants to solve problems like these by using the Interoperable Master Format (IMF), an emerging standard for exchanging master files between studios and services like Netflix. In essence, IMF combines the raw video file with a set of instructions that tell Netflix which parts it needs to omit in which regions, and when it needs to use which audio files. “We used to get baked cakes,” said Fetner. “With IMF, we get all the ingredients.”

So good on Netflix for sharing.