Netflix Finally Gets Download Option (netflix.com)

For years, people asked Netflix to give them the ability to download movies and TV episodes. Though this might not seem like that big of a deal in many regions where internet connectivity is cheap and omnipresent, same is not the case everywhere, especially in developing regions. Netflix is finally addressing this need: the on-demand media streaming service said Wednesday that people can now download shows on their Android and iOS devices . From the company's blog post: Just click the download button on the details page for a film or TV series and you can watch it later without an internet connection. Many of your favorite streaming series and movies are already available for download, with more on the way, so there is plenty of content available for those times when you are offline.It's worth pointing out that the offline playback -- or the ability to download videos isn't available on desktop platforms. Also, it appears that a heck lot of shows currently don't have this feature -- as of today.

Comments

Air travel

[daten]

This is a game changer for air travel, I've had to depend on rentals from Google or Amazon, now I can cache Netflix? Nice.

Re:Air travel

[known_coward_69]

NYC trains too. why pay more money to AT&T or Verizon when you can just buy more storage and play from your device with no issues

can we now get some throttling for netflix?

[anthony_greer]

Let the streamers stream and cache ahead in bursts! I would love to see some QoS on the ISP level to bump down Netflix caching downloads so that my cable internet doesnt degrade to useless crap durring the hours of 5 to 10 PM. If you are going to binge watch $Show, start it downloading, then go make your popcorn and come back and start EP1, then the rest of the neighborhood doesn't get its bandwidth nuked by high priority streaming traffic.

Re:can we now get some throttling for netflix?

[ZorinLynx]

Yes, THIS.

It's a shame because most streaming devices like the Apple TV and Roku and such have several gigabytes of local flash memory they could use for caching, but apps like Netflix and HBO Now don't make much use of it.

When you hit "play" it should start downloading video as fast as your connection can carry, and cache as much of it as there is available free space. If properly implemented, with a fast connection you should be able to unplug the network 15 minutes into your show and be able to watch the rest of the episode without issue.

Not only will performance improve, but keeping the episode cached will greatly improve the performance of seeking around in the video, and avoid redownloading video if you want to go back and watch a scene again because you missed what was said.

Re:can we now get some throttling for netflix?

[jbmartin6]

You just invented TiVO for Netflix

Re:can we now get some throttling for netflix?

[ZorinLynx]

Bwahahhaa, great analogy.

On a side note, my mother bought a TiVo recently to watch broadcast TV. She thinks it's the most amazing thing ever. I helped her set it up and it's funny how little TiVo has changed in over a decade.

And she watches Netflix and HBO Now too, so it's not like she doesn't do things the modern way as well. There's just too much stuff on broadcast TV she still watches and the TiVo is like God Mode for that.

Re:can we now get some throttling for netflix?

[EvilSS]

I don't know about 15, but I've gotten over 2 minutes from netflix after a network outage before. They do buffer quite a bit if the device allows for it. On slower internet they also throttle the bitrate at the beginning of the show to allow for buffering, then you will see the resolution climb to it's max after the buffer is established.

Better Idea

[nehumanuscrede]

Increase the streaming catalog to include everything they have in their mailing only DVD catalog.

Without a decent catalog of something to watch, offering folks the ability to watch it offline is rather pointless I think.

Re:Better Idea

[Jason Levine]

Honestly, this isn't a Netflix problem. If they could, I'm sure they'd just rip their DVD catalog and put it online. However, this would be massive copyright infringement and the entertainment industry would launch lawsuits immediately on a scale that would likely shut Netflix down. Instead, they need to go about this the hard way of making deals with the copyright owners and paying them for each show that they put on streaming. It's a slow process made harder by many in the entertainment industry acting as though Netflix is the enemy and streaming leads to piracy. (In reality, putting a show on Netflix makes it less likely that the title will be pirated.) Netflix only has so much money to spend on content so they need to pick and choose among what's available to them.

In short, if your favorite show/movie isn't on Netflix, the copyright owner is likely more to blame than Netflix.

Re:Better Idea

[EvilSS]

Increase the streaming catalog to include everything they have in their mailing only DVD catalog.

And you will be OK with paying $100 per month for the subscription then, right? It's not like that content is free. They can't just rip the DVDs they have and put it online for you to watch.

Re:Better Idea

[Yvan256]

You assume that the cost of streaming licenses are equal to the cost of their DVD rental licenses, which are probably very different.

Re:Better Idea

[dave3138]

Because of the First Sale Doctrine https://www.google.com/search?...

Re:Better Idea

[CrankyFool]

Actually, Netflix doesn't have to get permissions to distribute those discs. Doctrine of First Sale says that as soon as Netflix bought them, they could start renting them out. Netflix has made deals with studios for those DVDs, most of the time, because they could then get those DVDs for less than they would at, say, Best Buy, but that's because the studios know they can't actually stop this, so the terms were vastly better than in the streaming world.

Re:Better Idea

[nine-times]

It's not even an issue of cost. A lot of content owners don't want Netflix to have a complete catalog. NBC/Universal/Comcast, for example, controls a lot of content and *also* services for distributing content. If you can get all of the Comcast content without paying for Comcast services, then Comcast loses a bunch of money. Comcast will, therefore, go out of its way to hobble Netflix and prevent it from having access to all of it's content.

Good for bad internet connection

[XXongo]

Good. They finally figured out that not everybody has good internet connection, and even people that do have good connection don't have it everywhere-- sometimes they're travelling some place with poor connectivity.

I tried Netflix once: it was so annoying to wait when the video freezes at random intervals for 40 seconds as the loading wheel spins that I never looked at it again. Maybe I might give it a try--

--oh, wait, you can only download on mobile devices?!? Shit, what's the point?

Re:Good for bad internet connection

[jellomizer]

It isn't about not having internet connection but expensive internet connection. Cell Data is still wicked expensive, and access to free or cheap Wi-Fi is easy to find, but isn't always available.

The point on a mobile device is rather easy to see.
If you are at home you will have a network connection. While if you are traveling you may not have one. And if it on a PC it is way to easy to pirate the movie. If there is wide pirating of netflix movies then studios will drop netflix like a brick and they will not have any good content.

Re:Download of movies or encrypted blobs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? Are pirate torrents too hard for you?

Re:Download of movies or encrypted blobs?

[EvilSS]

If it only lets you download in a format that only plays on their proprietary player, then it's not an improvement at all. Give users the ability to download actual video.

How is it not an improvement? You already have to use their player. There isn't a chance in hell of any studio (including the ones that actually make the "Netflix Originals") allowing unencrypted downloads that play outside the player so that will never happen. At least this way you can take the content offline, which you could not before. That is, by definition, an improvement.

Re:Download of movies or encrypted blobs?

[Maritz]

Even someone like me can understand why they don't do that. For a start, the people they license the videos from won't let them do that.

Re:teeny little screens

[ncc74656]

The point on a mobile device is pretty dubious, actually. Who in the world would like to watch a move on the tiny little screen?

When it's hanging off the seat in front of you, the average cellphone or tablet screen is big enough. Pop it into an Airhook and it'll just about be at eyeball height. I caught up on a couple of shows that way flying home this past weekend.

Re:teeny little screens

[EvilSS]

The point on a mobile device is pretty dubious, actually. Who in the world would like to watch a move on the tiny little screen? I know that people these days think that's the way to watch, but really: it isn't.

I always bring my laptop on travel, so I'd watch movies on that, if they were available. But often the wifi you get at a hotel is pretty ratty.

People under 30. It's they way they want to watch stuff. I don't get it myself but I'm not going to tell someone they are watching TV wrong.

Also, what crappy hotels do you stay at that don't have TV in the rooms? Every hotel I've been in for the past few years has had a TV with HDMI in. I just either hook up my laptop or if it's a long trip I'll bring a Shield TV or Roku stick (both can navigate hotel WiFi logins). Laptop screens are too damn small.

Desktop

[phrackthat]

I'm not certain, but couldn't one download to desktop using an Android emulator on the desktop? I mean what's the point? If don't want people being able to download the content and put it on a bigger screen, are they also going to block screen casting?

Netflix shows only

[Nukenbar]

As of now, this only works for shows that Netflix themselves have produced.