Netflix Offline Viewing - Just Short of Awesome

[gene]

Netflix subscribers – rejoice! The feature you’ve been waiting for is finally here. The streaming video service has been dropping hints that it was coming for the past six months, but the wait is now truly over. Netflix finally lets you download err... some of your favourite movies and TV shows. But, of course some conditions apply. Read on to find out what.

Read: Netflix Offline Viewing - Just Short of Awesome

 

[Dan Madden]

What's the difference between streaming the content or downloading it in regards to data usage? If it's the same then I don't see the relevance.

 

[TLS Guy]

What's the difference between streaming the content or downloading it in regards to data usage? If it's the same then I don't see the relevance.

The greatest advantage is if your Internet service is sub par and you have buffering with streaming content. This will get rid of the buffering.

Also it allows for the possibility of less video and audio compression. On BBC iPlayer for instance, the audio streaming bit rate is 320 KBS, for the Proms TV broadcasts, but in download it is 640 kbs. With AAC+ and MPEG DASH that is as good a BD in my opinion.

It is interesting that Netflix CEO has been heaping praise on BBC engineering for iPlayer, and acknowledging their innovation and leading the way with the streaming and downloading of media.

As usual though for reasons Netflix can not understand, the BBC have made their work open to all. This is what happened when the BBC developed the first digital volume control and mixer. They have never collected a cent in royalties. They just published their work and incurred the wrath of Margaret Thatcher over it.

In the world of audio and video, most have no idea of the deb owed to the BBC. It was nice to see the Netflix executives acknowledge it.

I'm sure that the download service will be based on BBC technology.

If you are going to Download however you will need something other than just a streaming device like ROKU. You will need something with memory, like an Intel NUC

I have tried to draw peoples attention to the Intel NUC, but to no avail. That device should be on all members Christmas list.

 

[TLS Guy]

Now the link works, I see this is only available for mobile units. What they should do is do it like iPlayer, where high quality downloads are time limited. For iPlayer they are gone in 30 days. The DRM is very difficult to defeat I understand.

Having on a mobile device is pretty useless. The main use of this technology should be for better quality viewing, with less video and audio compression.

 

[jinjuku]

I have tried to draw peoples attention to the Intel NUC, but to no avail. That device should be on all members Christmas list.

The NUC's are nice but pricey in comparison to systems from the likes of Quantum Byte, Acer Revo and Dell 3050. I have a $99 JKY Atom based Windows 8.1 computer for HTPC playback and it does a great job.

 

[lovinthehd]

I can see the advantage for those of us with slow/minimal internet services; while my dsl is usually good enough for streaming, not always, and to have the alternative of downloading and watching later would be nice. Watching on a mobile device...not so interesting. Since we're finally supposed to get high speed fiber access in a month or two it won't matter much anyways.

 

[TLS Guy]

The NUC's are nice but pricey in comparison to systems from the likes of Quantum Byte, Acer Revo and Dell 3050. I have a $99 JKY Atom based Windows 8.1 computer for HTPC playback and it does a great job.

 

[TLS Guy]

The NUC's are nice but pricey in comparison to systems from the likes of Quantum Byte, Acer Revo and Dell 3050. I have a $99 JKY Atom based Windows 8.1 computer for HTPC playback and it does a great job.

I have had a chance to look at those other units. They are in no way comparable to the Intel NUC.

The NUC has a lot more RAM which is crucial for streaming, especially to get the best results form MPEG DASH sites. The other issue is that the NUC runs Windows 10. The integrated AV ivy Bridge processors are he absolute best for AV work.

Coupled with that the fit and finish of the Intel NUCs is really superb. As you know I like quality units in my rigs and make it last. That Intel NUC apart from not having a disk drive, works just like and as fast as my large HTPC. My wife is happy as both work the same and from the same model of remote keyboard. My wife I'm glad to say is not a committed AV enthusiast. It really is amazing how far this has all come in such a short space of time.

 

[jinjuku]

I have had a chance to look at those other units. They are in no way comparable to the Intel NUC

You just need enough hardware to get it done. The X3 based stuff is good for 4K video.

I run multiple VM's and a typical Windows 10 at idle is about 800MB of RAM. Leaving 1.2 GB of RAM available. I have no problems streaming DVD and BR content across my $99 JKY Atom based system.

I like quality parts also. My JKY unit is going on a year old and runs great. A NUC system was simply going to cost more with out any tangible benefit.

 

[TLS Guy]

You just need enough hardware to get it done. The X3 based stuff is good for 4K video.

I run multiple VM's and a typical Windows 10 at idle is about 800MB of RAM. Leaving 1.2 GB of RAM available. I have no problems streaming DVD and BR content across my $99 JKY Atom based system.

I like quality parts also. My JKY unit is going on a year old and runs great. A NUC system was simply going to cost more with out any tangible benefit.

I stream the BBC though from the UK, and they add MPEG DASH on top of AC3+. This takes a lot of RAM as they dump data in huge burst every 20 sec or longer, although it does auto adjust to your system. The more RAM you have the better the quality up to an easily achievable level. My son and I have determined that 16 Gig of RAM is about optimal.

 

[jinjuku]

I stream the BBC though from the UK, and they add MPEG DASH on top of AC3+. This takes a lot of RAM as they dump data in huge burst every 20 sec or longer, although it does auto adjust to your system. The more RAM you have the better the quality up to an easily achievable level. My son and I have determined that 16 Gig of RAM is about optimal.

I know what DASH is. It's bandwidth adaptive MPEG over HTTP. The systems I listed will work with it fine.

 

[Bryce_H]

I am excited for the download option since I travel a lot. I'm getting ready to binge on Breaking Bad next week while on travel since I can download the episodes onto my tablet and watch on the plane and hotel room all week.

Also appreciate the option for kids stuff to keep the kids busy during long car rides.

Download for home viewing...not so much for me

 

[panteragstk]

Am I the only one that noticed that this is just for mobile devices? That's cool and all, but the file size for one episode of Narcos was only 227MB. Quality won't be all that great at that small of a file. Even with as good as H.265 encoding is.