3 ms·

I've spent a long time wondering the same thing. The standard answer is that it's fallout from the anti-anti-piracy cat and mouse game. The more conspiratorial

by Retr0id 9mo ago

I've spent a long time wondering the same thing. The standard answer is that it's fallout from the anti-anti-piracy cat and mouse game. The more conspiratorial answer is that bandwidth is expensive and streaming sites will take any excuse to serve you a lower resolution than what you actually paid for, while still being able to say that they technically support 4K. There are sensible-ish technical reasons why they can't deliver DRM'd 4K on linux, but when browser extensions can upgrade you to 4K there are no excuses on the technical level.

TacoCommander 9mo ago
We need to divorce "corporate" from "tech"
- reactordev 9mo ago
  Never going to happen. Tech came from corporate.
hermanzegerman 9mo ago
The point is, people usually pay because it is more convenient for them than getting it illegally. But when I have to fiddle around for 30 Minutes to see a picture (it worked before until it suddenly didn't work anymore), pirating the movie is suddenly the better option. Because I certainly don't see a point in paying and wasting more of my time. And the piracy cat and mouse game is stupid, as in the End it's always Available illegaly, except for the people developing and selling DRM
stavros 9mo ago
Bandwidth is only expensive if you're getting it from Amazon or Google. Cloudflare gives it away for free.
- Retr0id 9mo ago
  Netflix is responsible for 15% of global internet traffic. That's expensive no matter how you slice it, and dropping that by a mere 1% is a huge saving.
  - stavros 9mo ago
    Hm, true. Then again, I don't know if that's worth the reputational hit. These subscribers are paying for 4K.
nitwit005 9mo ago
Netflix does charge more for 4k, so they simply pass along the cost: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926
- Retr0id 9mo ago
  Netflix still saves money when someone watches in a lower resolution.
  - nitwit005 9mo ago
    Yes, but what they care about is profits. People aren't going to pay for the expensive plan if they can't actually use the features of it.
    - Retr0id 9mo ago
      Most people who aren't getting proper 4K don't even notice.
      - apparent 9mo ago
        Bingo. I mostly have watched Netflix for the last decade and recently tried Apple TV. It looks so much crisper. I didn't realize what I was missing.
  - bobdvb 9mo ago
    There's a fine line, reduce quality too far and customer satisfaction drops. Some customers will have a higher tolerance to dropping quality than others, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. So you do studies, you look at the impact of quality changes to customer churn and then you move the line appropriately.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      Marketing emphasizing 4K helps reduce this.

by Retr0id 9mo ago

TacoCommander 9mo ago

We need to divorce "corporate" from "tech"

reactordev 9mo ago
Never going to happen. Tech came from corporate.

hermanzegerman 9mo ago

The point is, people usually pay because it is more convenient for them than getting it illegally. But when I have to fiddle around for 30 Minutes to see a picture (it worked before until it suddenly didn't work anymore), pirating the movie is suddenly the better option. Because I certainly don't see a point in paying and wasting more of my time. And the piracy cat and mouse game is stupid, as in the End it's always Available illegaly, except for the people developing and selling DRM

stavros 9mo ago

Bandwidth is only expensive if you're getting it from Amazon or Google. Cloudflare gives it away for free.

Retr0id 9mo ago
Netflix is responsible for 15% of global internet traffic. That's expensive no matter how you slice it, and dropping that by a mere 1% is a huge saving.
- stavros 9mo ago
  Hm, true. Then again, I don't know if that's worth the reputational hit. These subscribers are paying for 4K.

nitwit005 9mo ago

Netflix does charge more for 4k, so they simply pass along the cost: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926

Retr0id 9mo ago
Netflix still saves money when someone watches in a lower resolution.
- nitwit005 9mo ago
  Yes, but what they care about is profits. People aren't going to pay for the expensive plan if they can't actually use the features of it.
  - Retr0id 9mo ago
    Most people who aren't getting proper 4K don't even notice.
    - apparent 9mo ago
      Bingo. I mostly have watched Netflix for the last decade and recently tried Apple TV. It looks so much crisper. I didn't realize what I was missing.
- bobdvb 9mo ago
  There's a fine line, reduce quality too far and customer satisfaction drops. Some customers will have a higher tolerance to dropping quality than others, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. So you do studies, you look at the impact of quality changes to customer churn and then you move the line appropriately.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    Marketing emphasizing 4K helps reduce this.