Netflix Downloads

[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?

[maxerickson]

A no-brainer except for the $10/month streaming part.

[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

[johansch]

Does anyone know if e.g. Google's Widevine or Apple's FairPlay support the concept of applying DRM to downloaded files?

If they do, they should be able to get this to the web version of Netflix.

(Laptop screens are great for watching video content on e.g. a flight or train ride. Bringing an extra piece of hardware like a tablet just for this purpose seems silly. Phone screens offer poor ergonomy. They are only really a decent compromise on a bus or a subway, or similar.)

[tantalor]

Works on Chromebook.

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7021273?hl=en

[amelius]

> Probably because on smartphones and tables they have their own app and don't have to rely on a browser.

But then they have to rely on the OS instead. Not sure what is better.

[ihuman]

They have a Windows 10 app, though.

[plg]

what if you get your computer browser's developer mode to masquerade as a tablet/phone?

[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...

[sharkweek]

Netflix is well aware of their massive quantity differences country-to-country, hence the push to focus almost entirely on building their own originals to create a unified library w/o having to negotiate for streaming rights in each country.

The differences are pretty nuts:

http://exstreamist.com/is-your-countrys-netflix-library-grow...

[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.

[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.

[tblair]

On the Kindle Fire we had a "secure enclave" bit of hardware so the files were encrypted with a key that was hard/impossible for users to get. I don't think regular android has anything like that, but they might use Widevine or something similar

[JadeNB]

How much are Android apps able to hide things in the filesystem? It drives me crazy sometimes not being able to figure out where Amazon Music puts my downloaded music files; there's an `amazonmp3` folder, but all it has in it is `.prefs.bak`.

[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...]

“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.

[talmand]

Anybody in such a position that says "never" to anything is either naive or they're protecting their current short-term interests. I'm willing to bet most of them say that for short-term reasons while internally they'll still consider it in the future; there was once a time that HBO would "never" offer a monthly streaming service and here we are today.

[naspinski]

PlayOn is on sale for $50 right now: https://www.playon.tv/playlater

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

[Someone1234]

The concern I have with giving them money is: They're going to get shut down, sooner if not later. Big media have had people raided for less than what they're doing, and laws are written (again, by big media) to put them into a legally gray area.

Morally I don't think what they're doing is wrong. But the US government is in bed with media goliaths, and the two work together to shut down re-hosted content (even in areas where re-hosting MIGHT be fair usage).

[gok]

Isn't BitTorrent still free?

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[MBCook]

Congratulations on being alive again?

Polygon said there are some non-Netflix movies that are available for download.

I too am very curious what the download policy is. I think you only get a few days on Amazon or stuff you copy off your TiVo so I wonder how much time Netflix gives you.

[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.

[CmdrSprinkles]

I would imagine agreements regarding distribution rights. Netflix (distributor) can only offline stuff they have the rights to.

HK in particular I would assume Netflix (content producer) are interested in partnering with a Chinese company as that region tends to favour those quite heavily.

[ianai]

They said it wasn't going to be available for every title yet.

[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

[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.

[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...

[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.

[mtgx]

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

[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.

[erelde]

Delayed rollout probably.

[brownbat]

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

[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...

[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.

[omouse]

Fuck DRM. Seriously.

[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?