10 ms·

Streaming pre-recorded video (e.g. movies) over the radio is wildly inefficient considering flash memory costs peanuts. The primary reason it's done is because

Streaming pre-recorded video (e.g. movies) over the radio is wildly inefficient considering flash memory costs peanuts. The primary reason it's done is because we're in desperate need of copyright reform (streaming is being used by the video industry as a form of DRM.)

tzs 7y ago
What copyright reform do you think we need for this?
- liability 7y ago
  Sane copyright expiration. e.g. damn the mouse.
  - tzs 7y ago
    The movies most in demand tend to be recent movies, so unless "sane copyright expiration" means a few months, I don't see how it would change the streaming situation.
    - liability 7y ago
      If that truly is the distribution of demand, then the media industry should have little to fear from such dramatic copyright reform (of course they would disagree!)
- COGlory 7y ago
  Revoke the force of law for DRM circumvention.
jasonwatkinspdx 7y ago
The efficiency of flash doesn't matter much if I have to wait for it to physically get to me, vs just opening up my browser.
- liability 7y ago
  People binge-watching a TV series could certainly anticipate their near-future media demands and download the series through means other than cellular networks. Downloading video and storing it on flash memory could eliminate a huge chunk of the demand for streamed video.
  - deanCommie 7y ago
    They could, but...they don't want to. So they won't!
    - liability 7y ago
      You don't know that. Currently consumers don't have the (legal) option, so extrapolating their current behavior to their potential desires is fallacious.
      - majormajor 7y ago
        I could've been doing this with iTunes for TV shows for years. It would be way less convenient, though. So I don't. I don't know which device I'll end up watching on, and don't want to deal with syncing and all that shit.
        liability 7y ago
        > iTunes for TV shows for years. Which is way more expensive than streaming services. Prohibitively so for wide swaths of the general population who don't have tech industry salaries. The cost of one TV show from iTunes can approach the price of several months of Netflix. With copyright reform, that needn't be the case. (Note that for many consumers, Netflix is already considered too expensive. Several people sharing the cost of one account is pretty common from what I've seen.)
      - scottlegrand2 7y ago
        I download entire seasons of TV series with my Android Netflix client all the time. It's fantastic for travel.
mort96 7y ago
That's not true though. It's not like the people who currently spend lots of time watching niche videos on YouTube (myself included) would start ordering flash memory with those videos instead if only it wasn't for copyright. The case for movies is a bit stronger, but my family's movie/TV show routine is to figure out what we want to watch last minute, then find that on netflix or crunchyroll or piracy sites and then stream it. I also think the current copyright system is insane, but streaming genuinely is more convenient than buying physical media. If anything, DRM makes media available through streaming _less_ convenient.
- missosoup 7y ago
  No, but they would download their content once and store it locally instead of repeatedly re-streaming it every time. IF you have children, you're probably familiar with the concept of streaming Frozen for the 50th time. If you're using netflix or spotify or similar, you're probably also familiar with the concept of something that was previously available just vanishing because of circumstances outside of your control. Streaming is mostly a DRM/copyright enforcement tool. The only time streaming is actually adding value is live streaming.
  - wideasleep1 7y ago
    Agreed. If 5G delivers as promoted, there is no reason to 'stream' any static content...it simply caches to your flash memory in milliseconds (song) or seconds (movie, Netflix already has mobile downloading). I can see a case for streaming in VR/AR or active content (live/multiplayer,etc), but streaming static content isn't efficient.
    - isostatic 7y ago
      That doesn’t happen now though - the video doesn’t download comptlelty as fast as possible, it downloads 30 seconds or so ahead of the play position. 4G is perfectly fine for that, but if I Street watching a 40 minute video before I go on the tube, I can’t finish once underground

tzs 7y ago

What copyright reform do you think we need for this?

liability 7y ago
Sane copyright expiration. e.g. damn the mouse.
- tzs 7y ago
  The movies most in demand tend to be recent movies, so unless "sane copyright expiration" means a few months, I don't see how it would change the streaming situation.
  - liability 7y ago
    If that truly is the distribution of demand, then the media industry should have little to fear from such dramatic copyright reform (of course they would disagree!)
COGlory 7y ago
Revoke the force of law for DRM circumvention.

jasonwatkinspdx 7y ago

The efficiency of flash doesn't matter much if I have to wait for it to physically get to me, vs just opening up my browser.

liability 7y ago
People binge-watching a TV series could certainly anticipate their near-future media demands and download the series through means other than cellular networks. Downloading video and storing it on flash memory could eliminate a huge chunk of the demand for streamed video.
- deanCommie 7y ago
  They could, but...they don't want to. So they won't!
  - liability 7y ago
    You don't know that. Currently consumers don't have the (legal) option, so extrapolating their current behavior to their potential desires is fallacious.
    - majormajor 7y ago
      I could've been doing this with iTunes for TV shows for years. It would be way less convenient, though. So I don't. I don't know which device I'll end up watching on, and don't want to deal with syncing and all that shit.
      - liability 7y ago
        > iTunes for TV shows for years. Which is way more expensive than streaming services. Prohibitively so for wide swaths of the general population who don't have tech industry salaries. The cost of one TV show from iTunes can approach the price of several months of Netflix. With copyright reform, that needn't be the case. (Note that for many consumers, Netflix is already considered too expensive. Several people sharing the cost of one account is pretty common from what I've seen.)
    - scottlegrand2 7y ago
      I download entire seasons of TV series with my Android Netflix client all the time. It's fantastic for travel.

mort96 7y ago

That's not true though. It's not like the people who currently spend lots of time watching niche videos on YouTube (myself included) would start ordering flash memory with those videos instead if only it wasn't for copyright. The case for movies is a bit stronger, but my family's movie/TV show routine is to figure out what we want to watch last minute, then find that on netflix or crunchyroll or piracy sites and then stream it. I also think the current copyright system is insane, but streaming genuinely is more convenient than buying physical media. If anything, DRM makes media available through streaming _less_ convenient.

missosoup 7y ago
No, but they would download their content once and store it locally instead of repeatedly re-streaming it every time. IF you have children, you're probably familiar with the concept of streaming Frozen for the 50th time. If you're using netflix or spotify or similar, you're probably also familiar with the concept of something that was previously available just vanishing because of circumstances outside of your control. Streaming is mostly a DRM/copyright enforcement tool. The only time streaming is actually adding value is live streaming.
- wideasleep1 7y ago
  Agreed. If 5G delivers as promoted, there is no reason to 'stream' any static content...it simply caches to your flash memory in milliseconds (song) or seconds (movie, Netflix already has mobile downloading). I can see a case for streaming in VR/AR or active content (live/multiplayer,etc), but streaming static content isn't efficient.
  - isostatic 7y ago
    That doesn’t happen now though - the video doesn’t download comptlelty as fast as possible, it downloads 30 seconds or so ahead of the play position. 4G is perfectly fine for that, but if I Street watching a 40 minute video before I go on the tube, I can’t finish once underground