5 ms·

Netflix is actually probably the most common source of 4k home video for most people. Nearly all of the Netflix original content is 4k, increasingly in Dolby Vi

by baddox 8y ago

Netflix is actually probably the most common source of 4k home video for most people. Nearly all of the Netflix original content is 4k, increasingly in Dolby Vision. Unfortunately (and bizarrely, to me), you do have to buy the most expensive monthly plan to have access to the 4k content. I don't understand why they would choose to make video quality the main object of price discrimination (it seems like associating Netflix with great video quality would be extremely advantageous to them), but hey, it worked for them to get the extra bucks from me.

Matticus_Rex 8y ago
Doesn't 4k content both cost them more to deliver and generally go to a demo that is more price insensitive? Seems like an obvious play.
- lightgreen 8y ago
  No, most of the money Netflix spends on buying content, servers and network cables are cheap. I've just googled: Netflix yearly revenue is 16B and Netflix spent 12B on content.
  - Matticus_Rex 8y ago
    Well, if I could offer content (some of which was unique) to a self-selected audience that has very low price sensitivity, I would absolutely put it at a higher price point. Seems like a no-brainer.
klodolph 8y ago
While it is available in 4K, even if you are paying for access to 4K you are not necessarily getting the stream in 4K.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  I wonder at that - you can clearly see the difference with an HDR and Dolby Vision image in a way that you can't "downsample", so, do they/can they downsample the HDR image to hit 1080p?
  - klodolph 8y ago
    People are mostly concerned about content rather than picture quality. Netflix can deliver 720p and people will pay for it, some people will pay for 4K because of the marketing but don't actually notice that they're getting 720p, and only a small group of people left over actually care enough. Just like how TVs come with default settings that mangle the picture quite a lot, and only some people will fix them.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      I understand that. I was just wondering if the 4k streams (the ones that say 4k|Dolby Vision) are being converted down. I'd guess no.
    - baddox 8y ago
      Oh, are you suggesting that they're just straight up lying? They would need to not just trick me into thinking I'm seeing HDR (which is probably doable), but also trick my TV into thinking it's playing Dolby Vision, and also actually use significantly more bandwidth than a 720p stream would (I've checked at my router). I'm sure all those things are possible, but it's also pretty likely that they're actually producing and distributing content in 4K and Dolby Vision.
      - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        Yeah, I can't see a way to fake Dolby Vision - it's pretty obvious when you're getting the extra dynamic range from the image - I'm surprised by how much more apparent it is than 4k. I can see resolution fakery, but that's why I asked if they thought it was possible to scale down the 4k Dolby Vision to 1080p Dolby Vision
- baddox 8y ago
  Do you mean if you don't have a 4K TV and streaming device? Or if your bandwidth isn't enough? I'm not sure how they downsample their Dolby Vision streams, since my TV definitely switched over into Dolby Vision. I suppose the Netflix app may be able to stream lower resolution versions still with the Dolby Vision metadata.
lightgreen 8y ago
> I don't understand why they would choose to make video quality the main object of price discrimination I think this is how perfect society should work when marginal cost is zero. Netflix cannot directly charge proportionally to your income. But the cost of your TV set is somewhat proportional to your income. If you have 4K TV then you are rich, and you can afford to pay more. To allow poor people who cannot even buy FullHD TV to pay less. So everyone can watch movies, poor folks can afford it, and rich people won't mind the price. In another word, it would be worse (from a society point of view), if the price was constant, but only rich people could use Netflix. (BTW this is how people pay for government services with taxes: rich people pay more money (even with flat tax rate) but get the same service).

by baddox 8y ago

Matticus_Rex 8y ago

Doesn't 4k content both cost them more to deliver and generally go to a demo that is more price insensitive? Seems like an obvious play.

lightgreen 8y ago
No, most of the money Netflix spends on buying content, servers and network cables are cheap. I've just googled: Netflix yearly revenue is 16B and Netflix spent 12B on content.
- Matticus_Rex 8y ago
  Well, if I could offer content (some of which was unique) to a self-selected audience that has very low price sensitivity, I would absolutely put it at a higher price point. Seems like a no-brainer.

klodolph 8y ago

While it is available in 4K, even if you are paying for access to 4K you are not necessarily getting the stream in 4K.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I wonder at that - you can clearly see the difference with an HDR and Dolby Vision image in a way that you can't "downsample", so, do they/can they downsample the HDR image to hit 1080p?
- klodolph 8y ago
  People are mostly concerned about content rather than picture quality. Netflix can deliver 720p and people will pay for it, some people will pay for 4K because of the marketing but don't actually notice that they're getting 720p, and only a small group of people left over actually care enough. Just like how TVs come with default settings that mangle the picture quite a lot, and only some people will fix them.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    I understand that. I was just wondering if the 4k streams (the ones that say 4k|Dolby Vision) are being converted down. I'd guess no.
  - baddox 8y ago
    Oh, are you suggesting that they're just straight up lying? They would need to not just trick me into thinking I'm seeing HDR (which is probably doable), but also trick my TV into thinking it's playing Dolby Vision, and also actually use significantly more bandwidth than a 720p stream would (I've checked at my router). I'm sure all those things are possible, but it's also pretty likely that they're actually producing and distributing content in 4K and Dolby Vision.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      Yeah, I can't see a way to fake Dolby Vision - it's pretty obvious when you're getting the extra dynamic range from the image - I'm surprised by how much more apparent it is than 4k. I can see resolution fakery, but that's why I asked if they thought it was possible to scale down the 4k Dolby Vision to 1080p Dolby Vision
baddox 8y ago
Do you mean if you don't have a 4K TV and streaming device? Or if your bandwidth isn't enough? I'm not sure how they downsample their Dolby Vision streams, since my TV definitely switched over into Dolby Vision. I suppose the Netflix app may be able to stream lower resolution versions still with the Dolby Vision metadata.

lightgreen 8y ago

> I don't understand why they would choose to make video quality the main object of price discrimination I think this is how perfect society should work when marginal cost is zero. Netflix cannot directly charge proportionally to your income. But the cost of your TV set is somewhat proportional to your income. If you have 4K TV then you are rich, and you can afford to pay more. To allow poor people who cannot even buy FullHD TV to pay less. So everyone can watch movies, poor folks can afford it, and rich people won't mind the price. In another word, it would be worse (from a society point of view), if the price was constant, but only rich people could use Netflix. (BTW this is how people pay for government services with taxes: rich people pay more money (even with flat tax rate) but get the same service).