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Simple: You'd have to install a plugin or a separate special app to watch video, like the bad old days of RealPlayer.
by rjmunro 8y ago
Simple: You'd have to install a plugin or a separate special app to watch video, like the bad old days of RealPlayer.
- theprotocol 8y agoThis is the most plausible outcome. Netflix wouldn't just leave that money on the table and the most obvious thing to do would be to provide the support they want from browsers themselves. Users follow use cases and would not be averse to spending 30 seconds installing something in order to watch their favorite content. There's also sort of a game theory situation with the removal of DRM, as it would be a competitive advantage being the only one that supports it.
- bad_user 8y agoAll Netflix movies are on PirateBay already, in spite of their DRM. I’ve seen movies pop up on PirateBay the day they are released. They wouldn’t leave any money on the table. People paying for Netflix are paying for convenience. That wouldn’t change in absence of DRM.
- theprotocol 8y agoI think you're greatly underestimating how much more cumbersome torrenting is even compared to a plugin, especially for "normal" users who are not necessarily tech-savvy.
- bad_user 8y agoThis argument is repeated ad nauseam but it’s false, all it takes is a torrenting app installed, that’s the only threshold. But back to the point, if Netflix wouldn’t use DRM, it would change absolutely nothing since copyright infringement is still illegal and those DRM protections are completely useless.
- fixermark 8y agoCan my torrenting app stream my video, or do I have to wait for a full assembly of the pieces from torrent hosts and enough downloaded to watch it? If the latter, torrenting is plenty cumbersome enough that if the studios are pushing movie-viewing to "Pay us money or you have to torrent it," they're winning.
- radisb 8y agoPop-Corn Time would like to have a word with you
- fixermark 8y agoI don't think it would, unless it begins playing within thirty seconds of the user choosing a video and provides an uninterrupted streaming experience? Last I checked, the BitTorrent protocol didn't provide packet sorting that would allow for this behavior (by forcing the beginning of the movie's bytestream to be the first data downloaded), so my mistake if the protocol has improved and I was unaware it provided this service.
- Dylan16807 8y agoThe downloading client is in charge of which parts of the file it gets first. It can easily go in order.
- fixermark 8y agoHow easily, and how much setup is necessary? Remember, we're talking about competing with a service that doesn't even make the end-user consider whether that is a problem that needs to be solved (just plug in a credit card and off you go).
- Dylan16807 8y agoA coder spent an hour changing the code, once, and now it requires zero effort for users. They never know the difference. Open popcorn time and wait for it to quickly buffer.
- jhasse 8y agoThey could block that, too. (It won't work on Android and iOS anyway)
- theprotocol 8y agoThis would be an authoritarian action, compared to just opting out of supporting something. There's a huge difference and I think these organizations' supposed interest in ethics precludes that sort of move. DRM is not illegitimate. It just sucks and operates in a way that is immune to free market competition - the reasons for that immunity are the true thing to fix. Users should have alternatives as there is a clear market there. If DRM is so bad, then that's what should kill it.
- dingaling 8y ago> You'd have to install a plugin or a separate special app to watch video How is that different from the current state of EME plugins? Other than that proprietary browsers ship with the most popular plugins installed.
- Operyl 8y agoEdge and Safari have the appropriate tools to deal with DRM, so significantly different. The built in browsers already just work.