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I am shocked at how many people watch Netflix in their browser. I have multiple different ways (AppleTV, Xbox, TV Smart App) to watch Netflix on my tv, and at

• gruez 6y ago
  It's not too surprising. Media players (chromecast, appletv, etc.) seem pointless if you already have a laptop and you're not too into movies/tv. Not everyone owns a game console, either because they don't game or they play on PC. Finally, some people (especially hn users) think that smart tvs are a privacy/security nightmare, so use them as dumb tvs.
  • rblatz 6y ago
    I agree on the smart tv thing, I don’t use it, but it’s available. But even with numerous laptops and desktops I’m just not very likely to watch on one. It’s harder to watch with my wife or friends on a laptop, or desktop. And even though I have a nice setup I don’t want to sit in my desk chair all night after sitting in it all day. Im more likely to watch on a tablet while laying in bed or on the couch than an actual computer. But still use the Apple TV 90%+ of the time.
• saxonww 6y ago
  I don't have a TV, so if I watch Netflix it's in a browser. Most people don't realize this but you can only watch Netflix in 4K in a browser if you're using Microsoft Edge on Windows or Safari in macOS 11. In fact, you can only get 1080p if you're running Chrome in Chrome OS, or IE, or Safari. All other browsers, including Chrome and FF on macOS, Linux, and Windows, are stuck at 720p. Their blog post[0] from 2017 sounded hopeful for higher resolution video on Linux - they wrote "We... look forward to high-resolution video being available on more platforms soon" almost immediately after announcing FF on Linux was supported - but in hindsight it's clear that what they really meant was what you point out - support for things like Apple TV, Xbox, and TV Smart Apps. [0]: https://netflixtechblog.com/update-on-html5-video-for-netflix-fbb57e7d7ca0 https://netflixtechblog.com/update-on-html5-video-for-netfli...
  • exikyut 6y ago
    What differentiates Edge from Chromium on Windows? Edge hasn't been around as long as Netflix has provided in-browser service, I'd have thought Chrome w/ Widevine would have been part of Netflix' success.
    • saxonww 6y ago
      Edge supports PlayReady in addition to Widevine. PlayReady is what gates the higher quality stream. No idea what the technical reason is for this.
      • rblatz 6y ago
        Honestly the whole thing is stupid. 4k videos of everything on Netflix are available on the high seas. What’s the point?
        • dimensi0nal 6y ago
          Right now stripping Netflix's 4K DRM is possible but it requires buying a new Nvidia Shield TV for every release you do. If you could strip the DRM without buying expensive hardware every time people might be slightly quicker to release the entire 4K Netflix catalog.
          • exikyut 6y ago
            I've tried to do a bit of searching around to learn more about how this works, but failed. Got any citations?
          • rblatz 6y ago
            That is interesting how does that work where you have to sacrifice a shield per release?
  • TheGuyWhoCodes 6y ago
    If you are watching on a windows computer the Netflix windows store app can play 4k and 4k hdr titles.
• isatty 6y ago
  I have an appletv connected to a projector but sometimes I just want to throw on something on the computer when I’m eating/waiting for something else. And of course because I’m on Linux I can’t get even 1080p encoded at a shitty bitrate unless I force it with a Firefox extension that they can gimp at any time (in a way, many thanks to the engineers who made the extension possible by relaxing checks on the browser). I don’t understand why most platforms hate their paying users like this - I can and will pirate a Blu-ray quality rip if I can’t pay for it easily.
• Mindwipe 6y ago
  > I am shocked at how many people watch Netflix in their browser. They don't. They're just very noisy.