5 ms·

Netflix's tech is unremarkable now, though it was impressive 10 years ago. The tech difference from a user's perspective between HBO, Disney, Hulu, and Netflix

Netflix's tech is unremarkable now, though it was impressive 10 years ago. The tech difference from a user's perspective between HBO, Disney, Hulu, and Netflix today is nil.

poink 3y ago
Netflix has caching boxes at every major ISP and has been randomly knocking over their own services for several years to ensure they can recover without significant manual intervention. Even if the customer experience isn't that much better, their content delivery is almost certainly much cheaper per stream. Beyond that, you don't have to _rebuild Netflix_. Even if you do a good job, that's very expensive. It's folly to think you're going to make more money doing that than you will striking very favorable licensing terms with a fairly desperate tech company. Keep the "we could just build Disney+" in your back pocket as a threat.
jrm4 3y ago
Given the existence of torrents, it really wasn't. Ever.
- number6 3y ago
  Some may claim that sonarr + jellyfin give them a better experience than the commercial service. Locally cached, all services combined, low fees for VPN. Password sharing with friends. There was a time when this was to much hazel to set up compared with a Netflix subscription.
  - charlie0 3y ago
    It still is quite a hazel. I find new issues popping up at least once a year that requires technical know how to resolve. The average person isn't going anywhere near that beside a simple torrent setup.
    - drcongo 3y ago
      That's nuts!
      - charlie0 3y ago
        Yep, I know. Some of the configuration can be quite squirrely.
e28eta 3y ago
I think Netflix still has an edge on syncing progress across devices making it seamless to switch devices (ex iPad to apple tv) mid-show and just keep watching, although I haven’t tried the others for that recently.
- tschwimmer 3y ago
  You sort of defeated your own point. This is an edge case, not a purchase influencing decision.

Netflix's tech is unremarkable now, though it was impressive 10 years ago. The tech difference from a user's perspective between HBO, Disney, Hulu, and Netflix today is nil.

poink 3y ago

Netflix has caching boxes at every major ISP and has been randomly knocking over their own services for several years to ensure they can recover without significant manual intervention. Even if the customer experience isn't that much better, their content delivery is almost certainly much cheaper per stream. Beyond that, you don't have to _rebuild Netflix_. Even if you do a good job, that's very expensive. It's folly to think you're going to make more money doing that than you will striking very favorable licensing terms with a fairly desperate tech company. Keep the "we could just build Disney+" in your back pocket as a threat.

jrm4 3y ago

Given the existence of torrents, it really wasn't. Ever.

number6 3y ago
Some may claim that sonarr + jellyfin give them a better experience than the commercial service. Locally cached, all services combined, low fees for VPN. Password sharing with friends. There was a time when this was to much hazel to set up compared with a Netflix subscription.
- charlie0 3y ago
  It still is quite a hazel. I find new issues popping up at least once a year that requires technical know how to resolve. The average person isn't going anywhere near that beside a simple torrent setup.
  - drcongo 3y ago
    That's nuts!
    - charlie0 3y ago
      Yep, I know. Some of the configuration can be quite squirrely.

e28eta 3y ago

I think Netflix still has an edge on syncing progress across devices making it seamless to switch devices (ex iPad to apple tv) mid-show and just keep watching, although I haven’t tried the others for that recently.

tschwimmer 3y ago
You sort of defeated your own point. This is an edge case, not a purchase influencing decision.