Anyone with ounce of motivation can easily bypass and extract the media content, so the only thing DRM does is piss of paying users which can't watch content on flaky connections, flights, travel and alternative operating systems.
Meanwhile on torrent sites you find Netflix digital dumps in matter of minutes after release.
If they do, they should be able to get this to the web version of Netflix.
(Laptop screens are great for watching video content on e.g. a flight or train ride. Bringing an extra piece of hardware like a tablet just for this purpose seems silly. Phone screens offer poor ergonomy. They are only really a decent compromise on a bus or a subway, or similar.)
I'm sure the Netflix files on your iPad are still DRMed. They just give you some kind of key that's only good for a limited amount of time.
But then they have to rely on the OS instead. Not sure what is better.
edit: Actually, I just checked an apparently you can download the free apps from the store without logging in now. I tried to do this a very long time ago and skipped because it wanted a Microsoft account login, so I left. I'm glad they've changed this.
.....which was unfortunately only a limited subset, especially since I'm not US based (Scandinavia here).
Besides the problem of everything being spread out over Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and what have you not, some content is just not available, such as Supernatural outside of US/UK/Germany.
I almost feel like the TV networks wants people to pirate things...
The differences are pretty nuts:
http://exstreamist.com/is-your-countrys-netflix-library-grow...
They would if they could, but they'd have to go back and renegotiate all those old settled contracts.
EDIT: On Android 7.1 VLC for Android, was able to "open" (duration etc) a large file I found in Netflix directory (.hidden), though not decode sound or video. There were two smaller files besides I suspect are audio tracks. And several other very small files, subtitles maybe.
Most likely what they've done is stored the video chunks locally and then the Netflix app is "streaming" these chunks from the local storage rather than the netflix servers. If you looked through the folder that holds these chunks, you'd probably just see a bunch of randomly named 100mb files. That's all the DRM they need, you have no ability to consume these files without the Netflix app.
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This is like saying that .doc files are as good as DRM'd, since who's going to open one in anything but Word?
I get what you're saying but it's a security through obscurity argument - if this takes off, of course someone can figure out the encoding and transcode straight from those files.
But I still see some risk for Netflix there... Split files are made to be whole again.
If you had only one movie stored locally, you would very quickly be able to solve the puzzle.
“I think it's something that lots of people ask for. We'll see if it's something lots of people will use. Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It's not going to be instant, you have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I'm just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it's worth providing that level of complexity.”
Part of me wonders how much this was marketing spin to cover a gap they had relative to Amazon Prime and they were in actuality evaluating how to catch up.
This happens far to often. Notorious example is Ballmer saying iPhone will be a flop when teams internally know that Windows Mobile just blew up.
But we all know that it's a very desirable feature and most people are willing to pay for that complexity to be able to watch offline.
So it was mostly spin, like Steve Jobs saying they'd never make a tablet at a point where it had to be in final development internally.
Browse/download any streaming service (that you have access to) easily - I love it.
Morally I don't think what they're doing is wrong. But the US government is in bed with media goliaths, and the two work together to shut down re-hosted content (even in areas where re-hosting MIGHT be fair usage).
The whole thing is a little flaky, but I'm really pleased with what it cost me ($60 if I remember).
From the article: "For example, Orange is The New Black, Narcos and The Crown are available for download today."
Polygon said there are some non-Netflix movies that are available for download.
I too am very curious what the download policy is. I think you only get a few days on Amazon or stuff you copy off your TiVo so I wonder how much time Netflix gives you.
For instance, in the case of Luke Cage, maybe Marvel needs to sign off on delivery changes like this? Hard to determine without looking at Netflix's actual contracts.
HK in particular I would assume Netflix (content producer) are interested in partnering with a Chinese company as that region tends to favour those quite heavily.
It looks like it won't be possible to stream the contents of the netflix app in my phone to the projector.
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MHL-HDMI-Adapter-Packaging/dp...
The real fix is to have reasonably priced unlimited 4G/5G data. But it doesn't seem to be coming.
Now fix subtitles and expand the catalog...
And yeah, it would be swell if Netflix could snap their fingers and expand their catalog, but they can't.
Also sometimes the last character is trimmed.
