
Netflix Downloads - LukeB_UK
https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/downloads-make-it-even-easier-to-watch-netflix-on-the-go
======
ulrikrasmussen
While this is great and very usable, especially for people with limited data
plans, I can't help but feel disappointed that simple offline caching of
content is still considered a major feature in 2016. Without DRM, this would
be a no-brainer.

~~~
greg7gkb
Who would license content to a company without any DRM protection?

~~~
izacus
Your question implies that there's any practical use for that DRM in streaming
services. There's not and it does nothing useful but annoy users.

Anyone with ounce of motivation can easily bypass and extract the media
content, so the only thing DRM does is piss of paying users which can't watch
content on flaky connections, flights, travel and alternative operating
systems.

Meanwhile on torrent sites you find Netflix digital dumps in matter of minutes
after release.

~~~
fastball
Not true.

An important use for DRM in regards to streaming services is to prevent people
on shared networks from getting access to the data. For instance, if I was in
a college dorm with dorm-wide wifi, and I was watching my de-DRM'd Netflix,
anyone on the dorm intranet could snoop my packets and get the data being
transmitted to me by Netflix, for free.

That is nigh on impossible to do when the content is encrypted with DRM.

~~~
izacus
Never in my times of working for content provider / transport was that even
remotely the reason for DRM.

It was always passing the legal buck ("It wasn't us that let those evil evil
pirates steal your series, we did all we could, look at that DRM software
certificate!").

Snooping packets in dorm rooms? No.

~~~
rudolf0
Not to mention that even if it were an issue, TLS would be a much easier and
cheaper solution.

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paglia_s
Looks like it's only available for smartphones and tablets, not for computers.
Probably because on smartphones and tables they have their own app and don't
have to rely on a browser.

~~~
tdb7893
Too bad they couldn't make it a chrome extension or something at least

~~~
mulletbum
Can someone please explain why this comment is being downvoted? Is it not
feasible or is that stupid in some way? I'd just like to know if the downvotes
are from a technical perspective.

~~~
dsr_
DRM relies on handing the ciphertext, a decryption program, and the key to the
opponent, and then telling them not to use it except when they are allowed to
use it.

If your browser is in charge of running the storage of the ciphertext and the
decryption, it is much easier to debug it and apply a patch that will store
the plaintext than if you have to do this all in an Android emulator as well.

But either way: DRM doesn't work for long.

In the meantime, Netflix is providing enough value for me that I happily pay
their monthly fee and don't bother looking for ways to break their DRM.

~~~
betandr
As they say 'convenient is better than better' and I've long looked for a
company like Netflix who will allow me to give them money and they will let me
watch what I want.

~~~
libraryatnight
I think that's what Netflix wants to be, getting the content creators to agree
is the tough part, I imagine. Another benefit to their producing their own
material.

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Tehnix
I reeeeeeally wish I could watch my shows in a more legitimate way than
currently. I recently went through everything that I'm watching and tried to
find out what I could actually watch on streaming services.

.....which was unfortunately only a limited subset, especially since I'm not
US based (Scandinavia here).

Besides the problem of everything being spread out over Netflix, HBO, Amazon
Prime and what have you not, some content is just not available, such as
Supernatural outside of US/UK/Germany.

I almost feel like the TV networks wants people to pirate things...

~~~
fooey
I think the TV networks were very short sighted and ended up with shitty
contracts that never accounted for distributing or streaming their content
internationally.

They would if they could, but they'd have to go back and renegotiate all those
old settled contracts.

~~~
dawnerd
Still happens today. Example being Amazons Grand Tour not being available in
Canada from launch. Of all companies they should have had that figured out.

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erelde
What kind of DRM would they use to store local copies?

EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a
large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or
video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And
several other very small files, subtitles maybe.

~~~
jbob2000
They probably aren't storing the videos as you are traditionally thinking
about them - you don't get to download a video file which you can play
anywhere.

Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the
Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the
netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks,
you'd probably just see a bunch of randomly named 100mb files. That's all the
DRM they need, you have no ability to consume these files without the Netflix
app.

~~~
m3ta
That is not "all the DRM they need". Files split up into "randomly named 100mb
chunks" does not make them safe from would-be pirates with a penchant for
reverse engineering.

~~~
izacus
DRM never did stop "would-be pirates with penchant for reverse engineering".
Ever.

Plus, the owner of the Android/iOS device is paying for that content anyway,
why would it be in any way a problem if he can open that downloaded file in
another software?!?!

~~~
9point6
Technically paying for a license to play said content in the Netflix app.

I agree that DRM is a waste of time and the pirates are going to get the
content whatever happens, but a $10/m streaming service is only licensing you
to watch video in a few specific scenarios. If you had spent $3 an episode (or
whatever it is on iTunes/Google Play these days) to own it, then I'd expect a
DRM free file to be available (Though I doubt you actually get one in
reality).

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betandr
I saw Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt say a while ago Netflix would
"never" offer downloads, but I have to say I'm really pleased with this.
Getting the train through spotty service areas effectively rendered Netflix
unusable, but now! :)

~~~
ziszis
Neil Hunt a year ago [[http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/09/the-real-reason-
netflix-won...](http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/09/the-real-reason-netflix-wont-
offer-offline-downloads/)]

“I think it's something that lots of people ask for. We'll see if it's
something lots of people will use. Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity
to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to
download this thing. It's not going to be instant, you have to have the right
storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I'm just not sure people
are actually that compelled to do that, and that it's worth providing that
level of complexity.”

Part of me wonders how much this was marketing spin to cover a gap they had
relative to Amazon Prime and they were in actuality evaluating how to catch
up.

This happens far to often. Notorious example is Ballmer saying iPhone will be
a flop when teams internally know that Windows Mobile just blew up.

~~~
MBCook
He wasn't wrong, it does add serious interface complexity.

But we all know that it's a very desirable feature and most people are willing
to pay for that complexity to be able to watch offline.

So it was mostly spin, like Steve Jobs saying they'd never make a tablet at a
point where it had to be in final development internally.

~~~
JadeNB
> He wasn't wrong, it does add serious interface complexity.

How? I don't have Netflix, but, for Amazon Video, you get a download
button—that seems to be the only bit of the interface that reflects the
ability to download at all. After that, you don't have to worry about whether
you're watching a local or streamed copy; the movie plays just the same.

~~~
MBCook
It was "click on anything and it plays".

Now it's "click on anything and it plays. Unless your offline. Where search
also doesn't work. And when you're offline you probably go somewhere else to
see what you're looking for. When online we need to show that too. And buttons
to let you download or see the download status. And....

I'm not saying it's insurmountable, but it's quite a bit more than the old
"everything you see you can watch now and that's all there is to it" model.

~~~
JadeNB
> It was "click on anything and it plays".

> Now it's "click on anything and it plays. Unless your offline. Where search
> also doesn't work. And when you're offline you probably go somewhere else to
> see what you're looking for. When online we need to show that too. And
> buttons to let you download or see the download status. And....

But it seems that your 'before' is not quite right: if you can't download
videos, then it's "click on anything and it plays, unless you're offline",
full stop! That is, by allowing download of videos, a total-failure mode has
been replaced by a mode with different functionality. Although it's
technically true that "you can do some things" is more _complicated_ than "you
can't do anything", I'm not sure that it's really _worse_.

~~~
MBCook
No, because if you were off-line the app wouldn't let you in. The app set that
condition clearly and enforced it. So there was no confusion, 'cause if you
could see it you could play it.

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naspinski
PlayOn is on sale for $50 right now:
[https://www.playon.tv/playlater](https://www.playon.tv/playlater)

Browse/download any streaming service (that you have access to) easily - I
love it.

~~~
gok
Isn't BitTorrent still free?

~~~
jansenv
Trackers aren't doing so hot right now :(

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tiger3
Seems like only a limited selection is available offline.

From the article: "For example, Orange is The New Black, Narcos and The Crown
are available for download today."

~~~
rickyc091
It's probably due to licensing. These are all Netflix originals where as
movies or partnerships would probably charge a fee for offline content. I'd
imagine offline would be considered "rentals" so it would be treated similarly
to Amazon Video or iTunes.

~~~
MBCook
There are some non-original content movies and such too.

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Desustorm
This has been the differentiator between Netflix and Amazon Prime - very
welcome news indeed. I do wonder how limited the number of allowed downloads
will be, though...

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pilsetnieks
It's probably not a coincidence that this is coming out at the same time as
AT&T is zero-rating their own streaming service.

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AlexRobNewton
Looks like it's only going to be on Netflix originals at the moment. But at
least it's a step in the right direction! Wonder how long you can keep the
content for after download?

~~~
BillinghamJ
Your account seems to be marked as [dead] btw. I have vouched for you, as I
can't see any real reason for this.

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kevinbluer
Oddly not everything is downloadable though. No Luke Cage here on Netflix Hong
Kong (which is odd given it's Netflix made).

~~~
fastball
Not every Netflix Original is available in every region. This can be either
because Netflix was producing the show before they were in that region, and so
signed over the rights to the show in that region to a different provider, or
because they have agreements with other producers that need to be on board as
well. The same idiosyncrasies will probably apply to downloads.

For instance, in the case of Luke Cage, maybe Marvel needs to sign off on
delivery changes like this? Hard to determine without looking at Netflix's
actual contracts.

~~~
schnable
A lot of the Netflix "Orginals" are really just Netflix being the exclusive
distributor in a particular region of a show produced by someone else.

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overcast
I literally just typed "netflix offline mode" in Google, because of an
upcoming long flight next week. This couldn't have come at a better time. Even
if this is just limited to Netflix originals, I'm fine with that. Their
original content is better than their studio catalog at this point.

------
niij
I am on a tablet on Android 4.4.4, with the latest Netflix version downloaded
4.12.0 (code 13287), trying to download Narcos, and don't see the download
icon as shown on Netflix's instructions[0]. Anyone else not seeing it?

[0]:
[https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816](https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816)

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danso
Fantastic, this has been a welcome feature on Amazon Prime and even moreso on
Netflix where the selection is currently more to my liking.

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neves
Nice! I'll travel with a bunch of kids to a place without internet. We would
like to watch a movie at night in a projector connected to a laptop.

It looks like it won't be possible to stream the contents of the netflix app
in my phone to the projector.

~~~
ninju
depending on which kinda of phone you have you can have your smartphone screen
shared via HDMI to your projector:

[https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MHL-HDMI-Adapter-
Packaging/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MHL-HDMI-Adapter-
Packaging/dp/B005LGUDKK)

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WheelsAtLarge
It's a nice Nexflix addition. When's Pandora/Spotify is going to do this? It
only makes sense.

The real fix is to have reasonably priced unlimited 4G/5G data. But it doesn't
seem to be coming.

~~~
forbidden404
You can do that with Spotify if you are a Premium user.

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mtgx
Is this the precursor to making Netflix a hybrid/P2P service, too?

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taleoftwohumans
Huh? Just updated the app, doesnt work - no downloads ready. Not even the
Netflix shows they promote in the blogpost. Im on android 5.1.1. Hopefully
theyll get it together, nice feature.

~~~
givinguflac
I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a limitation of your "old" Android
version. Not saying that's definitely the case, but wouldn't be surprised.

~~~
bsharitt
Looks like they support 4.4.2 and higher
[https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816](https://help.netflix.com/en/node/54816)

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brownbat
Any confirmation of what resolution? Preloading 4k HDR might make a more
consistent experience than random downsampling mid-scene.

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ozgurozkan
I have a new theory about user requirements. Spotify and Netflix has same
feature now. Only one difference exists music vs. video. What will be the
spotify and netflix of VR content? It will be downloadable to our mobile
phones. to be continued...

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jokoon
Good!

Now fix subtitles and expand the catalog...

~~~
fastball
I've never had an issue with Netflix subtitles, what exactly is your problem
with them?

And yeah, it would be swell if Netflix could snap their fingers and expand
their catalog, but they can't.

~~~
jokoon
Some subtitles just fail to load or appear on an android device.

Also sometimes the last character is trimmed.

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omouse
Fuck DRM. Seriously.

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JamesBaxter
Apple will be happy more people will pay for the extortionate large iPhones.

~~~
fastball
How could you possibly be correlating Netflix supporting downloads and phone
screen size preferences?

~~~
collias
I think he means large storage space, not physically large devices.

~~~
JamesBaxter
Yeah I was meaning storage, but larger screen size phones might see a boost in
sales too.

