I recently watched Arcane using the Netflix Win10 app.
The A/V sync was off by enough to noticeably break lipsync, the episode listing was broken (only the first few were shown, but I could still watch the rest by allowing it to autoplay the next one), and the splash images shown while each steam started often served as spoilers for the episode that was about to play.
I would've had a much better experience if I'd just went to thepiratebay and sought out nine MKV files instead.
I've given up on offline Netflix access after the third time the content I downloaded before a plane/train/... trip refused to play once I left wifi. It always said it expired due to changed region or something silly.
Now I just torrent things and play them in VLC. Same or better quality, no buffering, custom subtitle size if I want. And 100% reliable.
For me it's how you quickly reach the download "limit". Especially annoying when my kids can't put all the shows he might want to listen to during a road trip..
It reminiscent of when I bought a blu-ray and I couldn't watch them because of DRM; as I had already downloaded that show I didn't really care, but those disks are pure waste.
Now that I think about it, the physical disks feel like real-world NFTs.
People have been treating vinyl records as collectibles ever since music became pirate-able in the cassette era.
I know many people who stream music 95% of the time, but have a big collection of their favorite albums on vinyl, some of them unopened, as a way to support the artist / a piece of art / keepsake / speculative long term investment, etc.
I still try to acquire blu-rays not because I actually want to collect them but because it provides an opportunity to get the best quality with minimal loss of my freedoms(no tracking, no BS with DRM restrictions, I can toss their online player where it belongs: in the trash).
Once acquired, I then take the disc data and strip its own DRM off of it. Now I have the content with the absolute best quality and can just sit back and play it in my preferred player. Obviously this is a hassle compared to just clicking play on Netflix/buying online but I am still enjoying the ability while it lasts. After all, with declining sales of Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-Ray seeming like its a bust, there are probably only a few years left until we lose this avenue of control of our media.
So there are some drives that allow you to install custom firmware called LibreDrive on them that bypasses the security checks. You can then use a tool called MakeMKV to rip the video streams into an MKV container. What is beautiful about this approach is that you can take the whole movie, all the subtitles, audio streams, different angles and dump it into a single file untouched(no re-encoding) and then operate it like a DVD player but using your native software's controls which is so much better than relying on the DVD menus.
The MakeMKV Forums will get you started on the best drives/proper techniques.
Yeah, I already got my money back from old copies of SNES games. Newer games, I'm waiting some 10 years or so to sell. They don't take much space after all.
In fact, that's exactly what I do - I have access to Prime and Netflix, but I like to download and watch stuff later (sometimes days or weeks later) on different devices (TV, computer, tablet etc.). All the spying, DRM, crappy UI, poor usability etc. of both apps get in the way. The solution - download a good copy from the internet. No need to feel guilty since Amazon and Netflix still get paid.
I always find it odd too pay for content with more restrictions than the “pirated” version. Though honestly I stream now. I used to strip the drm of iTunes shows but when that got broken I stopped buying..
The only trouble I see is that streaming service use those metrics to decide which shows to not cancel and that way of watching doesn’t get counted. (I have a bad record of enjoying many shows that didn’t get renewed… still grumbly about the dirk gentley)
When I was student, I didn't feel guilty about pirating. Now that I make money, and know how hard it is, I do feel an occassional guilt (when I pirate something) and often try to either reduce the consumption or pay for it. But I still hate DRM with a passion, and hate this "renting" business instead of owning something - that gives too much control to the distributor and is detrimental to our consumer right.
I would agree with any streaming service. My main gripe is that if my network connection weakens and the streaming quality dips then a lot of stuff isn’t worth watching (especially in the age where everything is “visually stunning”). I can’t let it buffer or watch it later on a lot of services. I just have to tolerate a lower quality stream… no thanks, I’ll watch it elsewhere away from your terrible drm experience.
The last time I checked, the web version was limited to 720p. Although I guess that might have been better than broken lipsync.
While I'm on the subject... about a year ago I tried subscribing to the 4K plan, since I bought a 4K monitor. Netflix only played in 4K if I used an HDMI cable, not DisplayPort, and only if I completely unplugged my secondary 1440p monitor (turning it off wasn't enough).
That sounds more like your external driver (PC or some Box) or your monitor didn't share a supported Displayport Version that supported 4k60 and the HDMI interfaces did. Might've also been the calbe but display-standard supports often sucks on many devices in that regard for higher-level standards.
It turned out my monitor supported HDCP 2.2 over HDMI but not DP (edit: and Netflix requires that all connected monitors support 2.2, not just the one you're trying to watch the video on.)
I would maybe understand enforcing that requirement if it was effective in protecting the content, but it isn't. 4K content (from UHD blurays and various streaming services) is widely available to pirate, and VLC doesn't care what kind of cable you're using.
> I would maybe understand enforcing that requirement if it was effective in protecting the content, but it isn't. 4K content (from UHD blurays and various streaming services) is widely available to pirate, and VLC doesn't care what kind of cable you're using.
Speculation on my part but I wouldn’t be surprised if those kinds of requirements are mainly there to appease motion picture industry partners who Netflix is licensing content from.
Furthermore, given the long experience the people of the release groups in the piracy scene have in fine tuning video codec parameters for optimal balance between quality and file size, and choosing video codecs that can be decoded on a wide range of devices, I think it is highly probable that many of the people working on the technical side of these things at Netflix have had roles in various piracy release groups prior to having come to work for Netflix.
Not saying Netflix would actively seek out piracy release group members to hire them. In fact it’d probably count as negative to openly state any kind of involvement with the piracy scene, and especially to mention having been part of a release group. What I mean is just that the people who were members of these groups have both the skills and the technical motivation to work on these same kinds of things for Netflix.
>Speculation on my part but I wouldn’t be surprised if those kinds of requirements are mainly there to appease motion picture industry partners who Netflix is licensing content from.
Quite likely, but why I, the end user, would ever care about that?
> I wouldn’t be surprised if those kinds of requirements are mainly there to appease motion picture industry partners
And those partners require it not because it protects something but because they make money of it by running licensing agencies, so they profit from every compliant monitor and video card sold.
If any portion of "secure-from-user" display chain gets broken, including nerfing intel ME, Widevine won't provide higher support than IIRC "Level 1" and Netflix (and other streaming websites) won't provide anything above 720p.
Of course forget about it on anything other than windows (maybe mac?)
Which is hilarious given the pirates have been able to rip full 4k streams from Netflix no problem. Just another case of DRM hurting the end users and doing nothing to stop piracy.
More likely, this is because the DP didn't support HDCP (which requires a dedicated license while the DP port does not). I suppose the HDCP license cannot be shared between HDMI and DP.
I shouldn’t need a 4k monitor to watch at a better quality than 720p. The only reason I use Edge these days is because that idiotic (and purposeful) limitation isn’t present there (for some reason).
Afaik the resolution is lower and some audio features are not supported in most browsers. It is only Microsoft Edge on Windows and Safari on Mac that supports 4k, https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444.
The difference between Netflix 1080 and 720p is often pretty small, so you might've really just not noticed. They're generally streaming with pretty poor bit-rates
The first time I watched a pirated episode after years of streaming from Netflix was pretty eye opening for me wrt video quality.
Chrome works in 1080p, but has a 1 in something chance of crashing your graphics driver for some reason. After I had to force restart my pc from a black screen for the 3rd time I eventually moved the the desktop app which doesn't have those problems.
Netflix/HBO in browser AFAIK doesn't have 5.1 audio, just stereo. That's the main reason I download "unofficial" content while still paying for these two services for kids/wife to watch or for shows where surround sound doesn't matter. The other reason is subtitles.
I would've had a much better experience if I'd just went to thepiratebay and sought out nine MKV files instead.