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It seems to me that despite the tech, Netflix video quality is really horrible. Youtube is consistently much higher quality, even though Netflix's own "fast.com

It seems to me that despite the tech, Netflix video quality is really horrible. Youtube is consistently much higher quality, even though Netflix's own "fast.com" tells me my connection is capable of 75Mbps downstream. Which should be enough for crisp 1080p. Multiple times I've been so frustrated with Netflix's quality that I've started a movie, stopped it because it looked like something out of a VCR, torrented the true 1080p version and watched that.

SirHound 8y ago
Could it be your ISP is targeting and throttling Netflix? There's probably a way to verify this. I tend to find the quality of HD Netflix streams pretty great over my PS4. Certainly never a cause to download a torrent instead.
- dingo_bat 8y ago
  > Could it be your ISP is targeting and throttling Netflix? There's probably a way to verify this. I believe fast.com is supposed to test against actual Netflix video delivery servers, just to detect this kind of ISP fuckery.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dooglius 8y ago
  You can do a pretty direct test with https://www.netflix.com/title/70136810 https://www.netflix.com/title/70136810
  - dingo_bat 8y ago
    That just takes me to the netflix homepage for some reason.
gempir 8y ago
Could it be you are using an incompatible Browser? E.g. Chrome on Windows works not very good the native Netflix windows app delivers a way better quality
- lightbyte 8y ago
  Isn't that because Chrome refuses to add the DRM netflix needs for 1080p content? (I believe it was silverlight)
  - haikuginger 8y ago
    I think it's much more arbitrary. Silverlight is on life support with support for EME/HTML5 video on most platforms, but Netflix has historically chosen to only support 1080p video on the first-party browser for any given OS (Chrome on ChromeOS, Safari on macOS, and IE/Edge on Windows). EDIT: Looking at some stuff, it seems like Netflix might "trust" a first-party browser to select the highest-quality stream that it has hardware video decode support for. In comparison, it sounds like there are extensions that enable 1080p in Chrome by pushing it into the list of playlist options, but it can cause a serious performance hit by decoding on the CPU.
- wink 8y ago
  TIL there's a Windows app, I'll try that out as well, thank you. FWIW I haven't noticed huge differences on Chrome and Firefox on Win10, I usually blamed the wifi for bad quality though.
  - cpeterso 8y ago
    Chrome and Firefox use the same DRM (Google Widevine), so they receive the same 720p video from Netflix. Edge and Safari get 1080p because the use hardware-based DRM (Microsoft PlayReady and Apple FairPlay, respectively).
c2h5oh 8y ago
Most likely you're watching in 720p. In Chrome, Firefox and Opera you're getting 720p max. To get 1080p you need to be watching in Internet Explorer, Safari or on a Chromebook. To get 4k you need to be watching in Edge and have a 7xxx or 8xxx Intel CPU and HDCP 2.2 enabled display. Source: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742
- shawn 8y ago
  If that’s true, that’s pretty unfortunate. YouTube does 1440p@60fps now.
  - CyberDildonics 8y ago
    You can actually watch 8k video off of youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn24cQLqAE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn24cQLqAE4
    - shawn 8y ago
      Wow! Even at my monitor's 1024x768, the 8k video looks amazing! So much better than 1080p! Something something nyquist something
      - jakobegger 8y ago
        There is already an 8k display on the market.
        isostatic 8y ago
        SMPTE recommend a viewing angle of 30 degrees, which matches THX (26-36). Assuming you have 20/20 vision, You won't be able to tell the distance between 4K and higher unless your screen fills more than about 40 degrees, in which case you are losing detail at the edges. An 8K monitor on your desk may make sense -- if you're say 3' away from it and it's say 60", you'll start noticing a difference between 4k and 8k, however you will be focused on one area of the screen, rather than the entire screen. Even with 4K, for most people watching television/films the main (only) benefits are HDR and increased temporal resolution (60p vs 60i/30p) All the 8K stuff I've seen comes with 22.2 sound to help direct your vision to the area of the screen wanted. It certainly has applications in room sized screens where there are multiple events going on, and you can choose what to focus on (sport for example). If you were to buy a 32" 8K screen - say the UP3218K, about 28" wide, to get the benefit of going above 4K you would need to be sat within about 30 inches. At 30" you would have the screen filling about 50 degrees of vision. Even an immersive film should only be 40 degrees.
graedus 8y ago
Control+Alt+Shift+D in netflix to see information like the resolution of your video stream, bitrate, etc. As sibling comments mention, the max resolution can depend on your browser. On youtube, you can right click > stats for nerds for some similar info.
- mfrw 8y ago
  Thanks for this. [TIL]
isostatic 8y ago
On a PC you can apparently choose a higher bitrate [1], but it's still pretty ropey from what I can see. I get 66mbit on fast.com, but look at how poor this still [0] from civil war is. Perhaps it's just because it's firefox on linux [2] - are these values in kbits? I normally watch netflix on my LG tv and it tends to average 10mbit, which is still far less than a blueray, but it's "good enough". [0] https://i.imgur.com/cC2DJgN.png https://i.imgur.com/cC2DJgN.png [1] https://www.addictivetips.com/web/force-netflix-to-stream-in-hd-by-selecting-a-higher-video-bitrate/ https://www.addictivetips.com/web/force-netflix-to-stream-in... [2] https://i.imgur.com/LFPWR54.png https://i.imgur.com/LFPWR54.png
21 8y ago
Are you sure you have a 1080p subscription? The basic one, single device, is 720p only. You need the two device subscription for 1080p
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  I have the 720p subscription and Netflix will occasionally drop down to a crummy low res bit rate when playing via a 4k Roku. It isn't pleasant.
acchow 8y ago
You're having an abnormal experience. In my own home and all my friends', YouTube looks terribly blocky (low bitrate video) compared to Netflix.

SirHound 8y ago

Could it be your ISP is targeting and throttling Netflix? There's probably a way to verify this. I tend to find the quality of HD Netflix streams pretty great over my PS4. Certainly never a cause to download a torrent instead.

dingo_bat 8y ago
> Could it be your ISP is targeting and throttling Netflix? There's probably a way to verify this. I believe fast.com is supposed to test against actual Netflix video delivery servers, just to detect this kind of ISP fuckery.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dooglius 8y ago
You can do a pretty direct test with https://www.netflix.com/title/70136810 https://www.netflix.com/title/70136810
- dingo_bat 8y ago
  That just takes me to the netflix homepage for some reason.

gempir 8y ago

Could it be you are using an incompatible Browser? E.g. Chrome on Windows works not very good the native Netflix windows app delivers a way better quality

lightbyte 8y ago
Isn't that because Chrome refuses to add the DRM netflix needs for 1080p content? (I believe it was silverlight)
- haikuginger 8y ago
  I think it's much more arbitrary. Silverlight is on life support with support for EME/HTML5 video on most platforms, but Netflix has historically chosen to only support 1080p video on the first-party browser for any given OS (Chrome on ChromeOS, Safari on macOS, and IE/Edge on Windows). EDIT: Looking at some stuff, it seems like Netflix might "trust" a first-party browser to select the highest-quality stream that it has hardware video decode support for. In comparison, it sounds like there are extensions that enable 1080p in Chrome by pushing it into the list of playlist options, but it can cause a serious performance hit by decoding on the CPU.
wink 8y ago
TIL there's a Windows app, I'll try that out as well, thank you. FWIW I haven't noticed huge differences on Chrome and Firefox on Win10, I usually blamed the wifi for bad quality though.
- cpeterso 8y ago
  Chrome and Firefox use the same DRM (Google Widevine), so they receive the same 720p video from Netflix. Edge and Safari get 1080p because the use hardware-based DRM (Microsoft PlayReady and Apple FairPlay, respectively).

c2h5oh 8y ago

Most likely you're watching in 720p. In Chrome, Firefox and Opera you're getting 720p max. To get 1080p you need to be watching in Internet Explorer, Safari or on a Chromebook. To get 4k you need to be watching in Edge and have a 7xxx or 8xxx Intel CPU and HDCP 2.2 enabled display. Source: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742

shawn 8y ago
If that’s true, that’s pretty unfortunate. YouTube does 1440p@60fps now.
- CyberDildonics 8y ago
  You can actually watch 8k video off of youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn24cQLqAE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn24cQLqAE4
  - shawn 8y ago
    Wow! Even at my monitor's 1024x768, the 8k video looks amazing! So much better than 1080p! Something something nyquist something
    - jakobegger 8y ago
      There is already an 8k display on the market.
      - isostatic 8y ago
        SMPTE recommend a viewing angle of 30 degrees, which matches THX (26-36). Assuming you have 20/20 vision, You won't be able to tell the distance between 4K and higher unless your screen fills more than about 40 degrees, in which case you are losing detail at the edges. An 8K monitor on your desk may make sense -- if you're say 3' away from it and it's say 60", you'll start noticing a difference between 4k and 8k, however you will be focused on one area of the screen, rather than the entire screen. Even with 4K, for most people watching television/films the main (only) benefits are HDR and increased temporal resolution (60p vs 60i/30p) All the 8K stuff I've seen comes with 22.2 sound to help direct your vision to the area of the screen wanted. It certainly has applications in room sized screens where there are multiple events going on, and you can choose what to focus on (sport for example). If you were to buy a 32" 8K screen - say the UP3218K, about 28" wide, to get the benefit of going above 4K you would need to be sat within about 30 inches. At 30" you would have the screen filling about 50 degrees of vision. Even an immersive film should only be 40 degrees.

graedus 8y ago

Control+Alt+Shift+D in netflix to see information like the resolution of your video stream, bitrate, etc. As sibling comments mention, the max resolution can depend on your browser. On youtube, you can right click > stats for nerds for some similar info.

mfrw 8y ago
Thanks for this. [TIL]

isostatic 8y ago

On a PC you can apparently choose a higher bitrate [1], but it's still pretty ropey from what I can see. I get 66mbit on fast.com, but look at how poor this still [0] from civil war is. Perhaps it's just because it's firefox on linux [2] - are these values in kbits? I normally watch netflix on my LG tv and it tends to average 10mbit, which is still far less than a blueray, but it's "good enough". [0] https://i.imgur.com/cC2DJgN.png https://i.imgur.com/cC2DJgN.png [1] https://www.addictivetips.com/web/force-netflix-to-stream-in-hd-by-selecting-a-higher-video-bitrate/ https://www.addictivetips.com/web/force-netflix-to-stream-in... [2] https://i.imgur.com/LFPWR54.png https://i.imgur.com/LFPWR54.png

21 8y ago

Are you sure you have a 1080p subscription? The basic one, single device, is 720p only. You need the two device subscription for 1080p

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
I have the 720p subscription and Netflix will occasionally drop down to a crummy low res bit rate when playing via a 4k Roku. It isn't pleasant.

acchow 8y ago

You're having an abnormal experience. In my own home and all my friends', YouTube looks terribly blocky (low bitrate video) compared to Netflix.