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That said, until other streaming services entered the scene I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. The only service comparable is YouTub

by nr2x 5y ago

That said, until other streaming services entered the scene I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. The only service comparable is YouTube, but even then, Netflix has much higher quality. HBO Max has a great content library, but barely works.

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
> I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. This is poignant as even the shittiest streaming service can dominate with the right IP. Content is king, engineering quality is not a differentiator. Because of this, Netflix is ripe for disruption, which we've been witnessing creep up slowly over the last decade. Netflix is easily the first of my several subscriptions to hit the chopping block, should it come to that.
- Lamad123 5y ago
  WTF is this 'IP' that y'all keep bouncing around?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - cogman10 5y ago
    Intellectual property
- dageshi 5y ago
  If you follow the ratings (granted the ratings for streaming services are likely not as easy to calculate as network tv), Netflix pretty much dominates top 10 most watched shows every week. It's weaker on Movies but still does pretty well there as well. If netflix keeps producing content at the rate it is, it won't be long until it has a fairly large back catalogue itself. At the end of the day it's Netflix's core business, whereas for most of the other streaming services it's a side gig.
  - lostcolony 5y ago
    Yep. Netflix correctly saw that if it was successful at streaming, content holders would be quick to try and cut it out as a middleman. They've had their sight on being a content producer since very early on, and have been extremely successful at it. There are many people out there who can only afford a few streaming services, and Netflix remains a top choice to hold, despite the fact they license comparatively little top tier US content any more.
  - dlainhart 5y ago
    Netflix can calculate their equivalent to Nielsen ratings preposterously easy and with far more accuracy and they can get far more data than Nielsen will ever be able to produce for anyone.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      So? The reasons the networks cared about the Nielsens so much was that they directly translated into how much they could charge for a 30 second ad block. Netflix obviously does care about how many people are watching its shows. If no one is watching licensed content they won't renew licenses on it or similar content. If a new show isn't doing well and doesn't have passionate fans, they'll cancel it. (Possibly faster than a network would have.) But they only care about how many people are watching something to the degree it increases the number of people subscribing which is a correlation that is harder to measure.
    - dageshi 5y ago
      uh yes, but for the purposes of this discussion unless you can compare them vs the watch times of other services that's not very useful. So far as I know Netflix and nobody else releases those numbers so they have to be estimated.
cogman10 5y ago
No doubt, Netflix has optimized content delivery better than pretty much anyone. They spend all the right time in all the right places to get media the plays well and looks good on pretty much every device and any bitrate. They are leaders in video codecs and encoding. Everyone else have been learning, slowly, the lessons Netflix learned years ago. Is anyone else even doing a program like OpenConnect? https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ That's the sort of stuff that really sets netflix apart from the competition. All that said, IMO, the average consumer doesn't really care about technical quality of the content, they care about the catalog.
- fhd2 5y ago
  Pretty subjective, but I find Disney+ quite superior to Netflix in both quality of the streaming and UX - two areas I'm surprised a "non-tech company" can win in. Seems to me like the tech part (anything but the content, really) is actually a commodity already.
addicted 5y ago
Have you used HBO Max recently? Aside from the first month or so it’s been nearly flawless for me across a variety of platforms (Roku/Chromecast/iPhone). And the first month pains were very clearly because it was rushed out to time it with the release of certain IPs during the pandemic.
- mmcconnell1618 5y ago
  HBO Max on Apple TV is a terrible experience. The app doesn't appear to use the standard playback and navigation functions in most other Apple TV apps so you get unintuitive scrubbing behavior and inconsistent searching. Also, the app signs me out on a regular basis at random intervals. When this happens, you can still browse shows and click play but at that point you're interrupted with a "buy HBO Max" screen which is totally confusing. You have to manually navigate to the account, sign out, then sign back in and re-find the one episode you wanted to play.
  - nr2x 5y ago
    To be fair, Apple TV is a pretty terrible experience, especially regarding them trying to force users to give Tim Apple a cut of streaming subscriptions.
    - dwighttk 5y ago
      Huh… hasn’t been terrible in my experience, but I’ve never been forced to give Tim Apple a cut of my streaming subscriptions.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  They still don't have a way to turn off auto play for the next episode. That's a basic feature and they're missing it.
- nr2x 5y ago
  Use it regularly, and nearly always wish same content was on Netflix due to really awful compression artifacts I never see on Netflix.

by nr2x 5y ago

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago

> I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. This is poignant as even the shittiest streaming service can dominate with the right IP. Content is king, engineering quality is not a differentiator. Because of this, Netflix is ripe for disruption, which we've been witnessing creep up slowly over the last decade. Netflix is easily the first of my several subscriptions to hit the chopping block, should it come to that.

Lamad123 5y ago
WTF is this 'IP' that y'all keep bouncing around?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- cogman10 5y ago
  Intellectual property
dageshi 5y ago
If you follow the ratings (granted the ratings for streaming services are likely not as easy to calculate as network tv), Netflix pretty much dominates top 10 most watched shows every week. It's weaker on Movies but still does pretty well there as well. If netflix keeps producing content at the rate it is, it won't be long until it has a fairly large back catalogue itself. At the end of the day it's Netflix's core business, whereas for most of the other streaming services it's a side gig.
- lostcolony 5y ago
  Yep. Netflix correctly saw that if it was successful at streaming, content holders would be quick to try and cut it out as a middleman. They've had their sight on being a content producer since very early on, and have been extremely successful at it. There are many people out there who can only afford a few streaming services, and Netflix remains a top choice to hold, despite the fact they license comparatively little top tier US content any more.
- dlainhart 5y ago
  Netflix can calculate their equivalent to Nielsen ratings preposterously easy and with far more accuracy and they can get far more data than Nielsen will ever be able to produce for anyone.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    So? The reasons the networks cared about the Nielsens so much was that they directly translated into how much they could charge for a 30 second ad block. Netflix obviously does care about how many people are watching its shows. If no one is watching licensed content they won't renew licenses on it or similar content. If a new show isn't doing well and doesn't have passionate fans, they'll cancel it. (Possibly faster than a network would have.) But they only care about how many people are watching something to the degree it increases the number of people subscribing which is a correlation that is harder to measure.
  - dageshi 5y ago
    uh yes, but for the purposes of this discussion unless you can compare them vs the watch times of other services that's not very useful. So far as I know Netflix and nobody else releases those numbers so they have to be estimated.

cogman10 5y ago

No doubt, Netflix has optimized content delivery better than pretty much anyone. They spend all the right time in all the right places to get media the plays well and looks good on pretty much every device and any bitrate. They are leaders in video codecs and encoding. Everyone else have been learning, slowly, the lessons Netflix learned years ago. Is anyone else even doing a program like OpenConnect? https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ That's the sort of stuff that really sets netflix apart from the competition. All that said, IMO, the average consumer doesn't really care about technical quality of the content, they care about the catalog.

fhd2 5y ago
Pretty subjective, but I find Disney+ quite superior to Netflix in both quality of the streaming and UX - two areas I'm surprised a "non-tech company" can win in. Seems to me like the tech part (anything but the content, really) is actually a commodity already.

addicted 5y ago

Have you used HBO Max recently? Aside from the first month or so it’s been nearly flawless for me across a variety of platforms (Roku/Chromecast/iPhone). And the first month pains were very clearly because it was rushed out to time it with the release of certain IPs during the pandemic.

mmcconnell1618 5y ago
HBO Max on Apple TV is a terrible experience. The app doesn't appear to use the standard playback and navigation functions in most other Apple TV apps so you get unintuitive scrubbing behavior and inconsistent searching. Also, the app signs me out on a regular basis at random intervals. When this happens, you can still browse shows and click play but at that point you're interrupted with a "buy HBO Max" screen which is totally confusing. You have to manually navigate to the account, sign out, then sign back in and re-find the one episode you wanted to play.
- nr2x 5y ago
  To be fair, Apple TV is a pretty terrible experience, especially regarding them trying to force users to give Tim Apple a cut of streaming subscriptions.
  - dwighttk 5y ago
    Huh… hasn’t been terrible in my experience, but I’ve never been forced to give Tim Apple a cut of my streaming subscriptions.
HWR_14 5y ago
They still don't have a way to turn off auto play for the next episode. That's a basic feature and they're missing it.
nr2x 5y ago
Use it regularly, and nearly always wish same content was on Netflix due to really awful compression artifacts I never see on Netflix.