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I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since

I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since my video needs are modest It never occurred to me until I reached the end that this wasn't a "enjoy this tool we made" post, but instead a "look how awesome we are" post. :-/

Gshaheen 2y ago
Ha! Yes sure, but it does make sense that they’d keep something like this to themselves. Creating massive amounts of high quality content efficiently, on a global scale, with seamless global distribution is an incredible competitive advantage. I don’t see why they would provide it to anyone outside of their ecosystem. It’ll be interesting to see if they translate this to games as well.
- nottorp 2y ago
  High quality?
- persedes 2y ago
  They've been pretty great about pushing for open standards. In the last article their argument to provide these tools for free was along the lines of "A rising tide lifts all boats".
VWWHFSfQ 2y ago
I've worked at a few different FAANG's (including this one). I've participated in some of these engineering blog posts. They will never tell you anything that is real-world relevant for you. At best, you might get some kind of _theoretical_ insight. It's because they're operating at a scale that just isn't realistic for hobby developers. But they're still engineers just the same as you and me. So they write blogs like this. And it's interesting! I love to read them.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
penultimatename 2y ago
I’ve sat through a few Netflix talks and they’re all the same flavor of “look what you can achieve with millions of dollars and hundreds of engineers.” They’re somewhat interesting from an architectural perspective, but even scaled down versions aren’t feasible in most environments and it leaves a taste in your mouth that you just sat through a recruiting pitch.
- LeFantome 2y ago
  Mostly agree though I find VMAF useful
- diab0lic 2y ago
  Until a few years ago most projects at Netflix were done with a handful of engineers ( <= 6 ). A dozen people working on something would have been considered very large. Four dozen would have been considered a company wide effort.
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    isn't the TCO for those engineers also something like 400k each? not talking Principle Big-Dick Super-Staff Engineer, but like mid-level. Netflix was famous for that, too -- no RSUs, just straight cash, and we'll fire you if we think you can't deliver. 100s of devs would essentially be their entire, company-wide, operating budget; it's gotta be like 10-15 people tops on these things.
    - dkh 2y ago
      Netflix is still pretty cash-heavy on average, though with a lot more compensation going towards stock options in recent years. They let the employee choose the ratio. They pay extremely well, but this comes along with very high hiring standards and a very difficult culture. The culture was and still is as you have described, with massively high pressure, "radical candor" taken to arguably very unhealthy levels, and with no hesitation in firing you. This is a major reason why, despite the fact that I am a video engineer with a film background who lives walking distance to 2 of their campuses and has a great amount of respect for their technical achievements, I never apply there.
dagmx 2y ago
I know quite a few people who worked on this and unfortunately this is effectively the product. It’s a company that prioritizes micro services and enterprise style crud apps internally. I’ve seen so many of their presentations and it’s like an IBM demo. It’s data , data, data. That’s their approach to everything.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  they're streaming fantastic quantities of movies in HD, constantly. why wouldn't data data data be their approach? that and churning out design-by-keyword visual media
  - dagmx 2y ago
    It’s fine, but it doesn’t make for nice to use tools or even interesting tools, which is what the person I responded to was talking about. CRUD apps are great for what they are. Exciting they are not.
MarceliusK 2y ago
Yeah, I had the same feeling. The tech itself sounds genuinely impressive, but the article reads more like an internal case study than something aimed at engaging the wider community
oDot 2y ago
Hi there, I'm a fellow filmmaker building my own tools and would love to hear your thoughts and needs. If you'd like (and anyone reading this), please email Studios at weedonandscott dot com
- dkh 2y ago
  At last I've stumbled upon somebody using Gleam without expressly going and looking for it
dkh 2y ago
For people in within the industry or the tech side of it, Netflix’s engineering blog has always been fascinating and extremely useful because of the insane amount of stuff in this space they have solved or reworked. They have put more into tech side of modern-day TV/film than anybody else, and it's not even close. In a technical/workflow sense, working on a Netflix show is unlike working on any other. I have my issues with Netflix in other respects, but with respect to technology and workflow, they are awesome. If you’re unable to appreciate a behind-the-scenes look at their engineering because the technology isn't for you or available to you, that's totally valid! But it's a you're not interested thing, not a Netflix is boasting about something that doesn't matter thing. Only a few thousand teams in the world need most of what they do over there, but that doesn't mean they aren't massive technical achievements. Most of them are. The scale, complexity, and cadence of modern production has given rise to some of the biggest technical challenges I’ve ever seen. And for anyone close to that world, this kind of content is of great interest — if not genuinely valuable.
- fidotron 2y ago
  Netflix get away with it because they own the result at the end of the process. If you were to suggest these workflows to other studios they'd balk at the idea of having the raw stuff being uploaded to the cloud etc. If they tried selling this as a solution do we think people outside Netflix would buy and use it? One of the people I worked with that is now at Netflix on this stuff was so violently opposed to not owning his own in office render farm and drive array it verged on ridiculous.
  - okdood64 2y ago
    > they'd balk at the idea of having the raw stuff being uploaded to the cloud Why?
    - dangoor 2y ago
      Perhaps over fears of their shows getting leaked early. Apple apparently has people using Remote Desktop for severance: https://tedium.co/2025/03/29/severance-apple-remote-editing-weirdness/ https://tedium.co/2025/03/29/severance-apple-remote-editing-...
barrkel 2y ago
The purpose of these articles is to promote the brand among engineers, help hire engineers, and help the careers of the authors both internally ("I'm helping the company hire") and externally (you can point at what you built because it's now public).
- pritambarhate 2y ago
  Also creates an image that Netflix is a tech company!
pests 2y ago
For your first point, you can see it in the videos they have embedded.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  Not really -- the videos have brief glimpses of UI, but are mostly film clips and vague and pointless diagrams.

Gshaheen 2y ago

Ha! Yes sure, but it does make sense that they’d keep something like this to themselves. Creating massive amounts of high quality content efficiently, on a global scale, with seamless global distribution is an incredible competitive advantage. I don’t see why they would provide it to anyone outside of their ecosystem. It’ll be interesting to see if they translate this to games as well.

nottorp 2y ago
High quality?
persedes 2y ago
They've been pretty great about pushing for open standards. In the last article their argument to provide these tools for free was along the lines of "A rising tide lifts all boats".

VWWHFSfQ 2y ago

I've worked at a few different FAANG's (including this one). I've participated in some of these engineering blog posts. They will never tell you anything that is real-world relevant for you. At best, you might get some kind of _theoretical_ insight. It's because they're operating at a scale that just isn't realistic for hobby developers. But they're still engineers just the same as you and me. So they write blogs like this. And it's interesting! I love to read them.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

penultimatename 2y ago

I’ve sat through a few Netflix talks and they’re all the same flavor of “look what you can achieve with millions of dollars and hundreds of engineers.” They’re somewhat interesting from an architectural perspective, but even scaled down versions aren’t feasible in most environments and it leaves a taste in your mouth that you just sat through a recruiting pitch.

LeFantome 2y ago
Mostly agree though I find VMAF useful
diab0lic 2y ago
Until a few years ago most projects at Netflix were done with a handful of engineers ( <= 6 ). A dozen people working on something would have been considered very large. Four dozen would have been considered a company wide effort.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  isn't the TCO for those engineers also something like 400k each? not talking Principle Big-Dick Super-Staff Engineer, but like mid-level. Netflix was famous for that, too -- no RSUs, just straight cash, and we'll fire you if we think you can't deliver. 100s of devs would essentially be their entire, company-wide, operating budget; it's gotta be like 10-15 people tops on these things.
  - dkh 2y ago
    Netflix is still pretty cash-heavy on average, though with a lot more compensation going towards stock options in recent years. They let the employee choose the ratio. They pay extremely well, but this comes along with very high hiring standards and a very difficult culture. The culture was and still is as you have described, with massively high pressure, "radical candor" taken to arguably very unhealthy levels, and with no hesitation in firing you. This is a major reason why, despite the fact that I am a video engineer with a film background who lives walking distance to 2 of their campuses and has a great amount of respect for their technical achievements, I never apply there.

dagmx 2y ago

I know quite a few people who worked on this and unfortunately this is effectively the product. It’s a company that prioritizes micro services and enterprise style crud apps internally. I’ve seen so many of their presentations and it’s like an IBM demo. It’s data , data, data. That’s their approach to everything.

red-iron-pine 2y ago
they're streaming fantastic quantities of movies in HD, constantly. why wouldn't data data data be their approach? that and churning out design-by-keyword visual media
- dagmx 2y ago
  It’s fine, but it doesn’t make for nice to use tools or even interesting tools, which is what the person I responded to was talking about. CRUD apps are great for what they are. Exciting they are not.

MarceliusK 2y ago

Yeah, I had the same feeling. The tech itself sounds genuinely impressive, but the article reads more like an internal case study than something aimed at engaging the wider community

oDot 2y ago

Hi there, I'm a fellow filmmaker building my own tools and would love to hear your thoughts and needs. If you'd like (and anyone reading this), please email Studios at weedonandscott dot com

dkh 2y ago
At last I've stumbled upon somebody using Gleam without expressly going and looking for it

dkh 2y ago

For people in within the industry or the tech side of it, Netflix’s engineering blog has always been fascinating and extremely useful because of the insane amount of stuff in this space they have solved or reworked. They have put more into tech side of modern-day TV/film than anybody else, and it's not even close. In a technical/workflow sense, working on a Netflix show is unlike working on any other. I have my issues with Netflix in other respects, but with respect to technology and workflow, they are awesome. If you’re unable to appreciate a behind-the-scenes look at their engineering because the technology isn't for you or available to you, that's totally valid! But it's a you're not interested thing, not a Netflix is boasting about something that doesn't matter thing. Only a few thousand teams in the world need most of what they do over there, but that doesn't mean they aren't massive technical achievements. Most of them are. The scale, complexity, and cadence of modern production has given rise to some of the biggest technical challenges I’ve ever seen. And for anyone close to that world, this kind of content is of great interest — if not genuinely valuable.

fidotron 2y ago
Netflix get away with it because they own the result at the end of the process. If you were to suggest these workflows to other studios they'd balk at the idea of having the raw stuff being uploaded to the cloud etc. If they tried selling this as a solution do we think people outside Netflix would buy and use it? One of the people I worked with that is now at Netflix on this stuff was so violently opposed to not owning his own in office render farm and drive array it verged on ridiculous.
- okdood64 2y ago
  > they'd balk at the idea of having the raw stuff being uploaded to the cloud Why?
  - dangoor 2y ago
    Perhaps over fears of their shows getting leaked early. Apple apparently has people using Remote Desktop for severance: https://tedium.co/2025/03/29/severance-apple-remote-editing-weirdness/ https://tedium.co/2025/03/29/severance-apple-remote-editing-...

barrkel 2y ago

The purpose of these articles is to promote the brand among engineers, help hire engineers, and help the careers of the authors both internally ("I'm helping the company hire") and externally (you can point at what you built because it's now public).

pritambarhate 2y ago
Also creates an image that Netflix is a tech company!

pests 2y ago

For your first point, you can see it in the videos they have embedded.

gcanyon 2y ago
Not really -- the videos have brief glimpses of UI, but are mostly film clips and vague and pointless diagrams.