• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

EU Calls On Netflix To Switch To SD During Coronavirus (Update: Netflix agrees. YouTube too. See threadmarks)

Reader mode
¡ B 0 0 P !

¡ B 0 0 P !

Banned
Apr 4, 2019
2,915
Greater Toronto Area
MechaMarmaset said:
It's fucking pathetic. We're on a forum that constantly talks about helping out the poor and making society better, but muh 4k. No that's just a step too far.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Resetera's progressive credentials are widely overrated. The moment their own money, or their favourite company is involved half the people here turn into raging Libertarians. Just take a look at the gaming forum since the double whammy of the ND crunch story and HZD PC release. We have grown people acting as if they're highly paid employees of companies going at each other's throats over plastic boxes.
 
Mivey

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,832
For a supposedly left leaning board, there sure doesn't seem to be a lot of solidarity going on around here.
 
Last edited:
Arc

Arc

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,523
Mivey said:
For a supposedly left leaning board, there shouldn't doesn't seem to be a lot of solidarity going around here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You should see the stimulus threads. People with cushy six figure jobs talking about the TVs they'll buy while there are empty food banks that need help. Posters scoffed at the idea of donating a check they don't need. This is very little real empathy here and lots of hypocrisy.
 

Deleted member 18379

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,165
People really in here sweating over 20 bucks and not watching something in 4k for 30 days while an easily spread disease is ravaging the entire world. Fucking hell.
 

Deleted member 1726

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,661
So what does this actually mean? Only during peak hours during the day?

Id be pretty pissed if it was to be during the evening.
 

Deleted member 8166

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
4,075
It is a good decision of it's needed.

I hope they also reduce my monthly bill. I pay for 4K and if they lower it to 720p or 1080p I should not have to pay my usual 4K subscription.


Daffy Duck said:
So what does this actually mean? Only during peak hours during the day?

Id be pretty pissed if it was to be during the evening.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
30 days. All day.
 
Trup1aya

Trup1aya

Literally a train safety expert
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,407
LordRuyn said:
If the cap is 720/1080 i'll keep my sub. Otherwise I am cancelling for now. I have no issue with this move but I am not paying for 480p.

If the EU asks for Epic to shut down Fortnite that's when you'll see riots of masked teenagers in the streets. A massive amount of Internet traffic the other week here in Italy was Fortnite.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Taking out fortnight wouldnt make a dent. Video streaming is far more bandwidth intensive than gaming and pretty much anything else we commonly use the internet for
 
tiebreaker

tiebreaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,172
Most probably because kids don't have to go to school and have to watch something.

Is this during the day only?
 

Deleted member 7051

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,254
TheKeyPit said:
I pay for UHD. If they lower it to SD I want to pay 1/4 of the OG price.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The SD only subscription is half the price of the UHD subscription, so they should really just cap all subscription prices to how much the SD only one costs. I don't think that's being particularly unkind to Netflix, as some people here seem to think it is.

Daffy Duck said:
So what does this actually mean? Only during peak hours during the day?

Id be pretty pissed if it was to be during the evening.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Should be all the time. I don't buy this "people need to work from home" argument because working from home is a luxury most people either can't afford or are simply incapable of doing but if lowering the quality of video streams means the ISPs can handle more people using services like Netflix at once without dying on us that's only a good thing.
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
282
On the one hand, these networks should be able to handle the traffic regardless of the pandemic.

On the other hand, they can't, so we need to make some concessions.
 

Deleted member 3010

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,974
RadCatDad said:
imagine not being able to figure out something besides consuming Netflix at home
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
lol IKR?

People are so deeply entitled, and this thread did show some members here under a not too glorious light.

It's a crisis for christ's sake, I'm sure you'll survive a little more blurry picture while you're confined.

I mean holy shit.
 
Horp

Horp

Member
Nov 16, 2017
3,714
People need to chill. Watch your SD netflix and stop whining. Talk about a first world problem.
I hope the same people that whine about this don't go talk a big game about how people should just adapt to the drastic changes needed to achieve climate goals.
Netflix in SD for a few weeks is -nothing-.
 
LordRuyn

LordRuyn

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,910
Joni said:
Fortnite doesn't have an actual impact on the internet. It is not that popular. 60% of all internet traffic is video.

250-Global-Application-Category-Traffic-Share.gif


And that gaming includes the stuff being downloaded.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I know that, I was just kinda thinking out loud. I am curious to see if there are going to institute any restrictions on Twitch, though it might not be a large enough userbase or as widespread to make a difference.
 
Relic

Relic

Member
Oct 28, 2017
632
Many problems with this. Failure to imagine a less-centralized caching mechanism for Netflix content and implement it before the crisis.

For privacy and market research reasons, Netflix shifted ~all traffic to HTTPS years ago.

No indication that you can download videos at full quality off-peak, which would address the supposed "issue" here.

Comes off like Netflix/EU is lying about a serious issue. It's like they're lying about rationing to build community solidarity.

This is a big threat to Netflix's credibility as a replacement for physical media. Blu-Rays and pirated copies don't have this issue.
 
Aexact

Aexact

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,275
Wackamole said:
Hopefully most are joking. But yeah...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
maximumzero said:
I can't tell what posts in this thread are joking and which are serious.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hmmmmm I remember reading about this phenomenon. Oh wait, here it is.
Poe's Law.

Poe's law is an adage of Internet culturestating that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the views being parodied.[1][2][3]

Poe's law is based on a comment written by Nathan Poe in 2005 on christianforums.com, an Internet forum on Christianity. The post was made during a debate on creationism, where a previous poster had remarked to another user: "Good thing you included the winky. Otherwise people might think you are serious".[4] Poe then replied, "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article".[1]
 
Xando

Xando

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,378
Winny（๑•̀ㅂ•́）و said:
Should be all the time. I don't buy this "people need to work from home" argument because working from home is a luxury most people either can't afford or are simply incapable of doing but if lowering the quality of video streams means the ISPs can handle more people using services like Netflix at once without dying on us that's only a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not sure where you are getting your data from but according to a recent poll in germany 49% (22 million) are planing to work in homeoffice full or part time during the crisis.

Previously the number of people working in homeoffice was at 31%. That's around 8 million more people working in homeoffice since last week.

Edit:

Here is the poll, german obviously.

Corona-Pandemie: Arbeit im Homeoffice nimmt deutlich zu | Presseinformation | Bitkom e. V.

Presseinformation Zwei Drittel der Bundesbürger sehen digitale Technologien im Kampf gegen das Coronavirus als hilfreich an Jeder fünfte Berufstätige arbeitet wegen Corona erstmals im Homeoffice Berlin, 18. März 2020 - Im Kampf gegen die Corona-Pandemie misst eine deutliche Mehrheit der...
www.bitkom.org www.bitkom.org
 
Last edited:
Loud Wrong

Loud Wrong

Member
Feb 24, 2020
14,200
Netflix's 1080p picture is great. Not a big deal at all, and good on them for caring enough to help.
 
LukeOP

LukeOP

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,749
How about people from home turn off their video instead? We don't need to stream 20 people on a conference line to show you in your pajamas working from your home office.
 
EloKa

EloKa

GSP
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,906
smisk said:
Does someone who knows how the internet works want to explain this to me? I get that speeds can suffer when there are too many people streaming stuff, but what physically is the limiting factor here? Are there not enough cables, switches etc?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Cables and Switches can be the limiting factor but usually it's more about something called Peering Points (aka "uplink"). Imagine this as a smart Switch which ties several smaller networks together so they can exchance information which each other. Now there are large global Peering Points with a capacity of several terabytes bandwith that are still under-worked right now. But there are also smaller uplinks for example you have one somewhere in your road which sends your data to a larger one somewhere in your district or city. These smaller ones aren't build to handle the current traffic and might cause a bottleneck. All of those smart switches use a software we'll call "routing tables" for now and they need to consantly look up those tables for every bit you send / receive to understand which other network they have send that data to. If there's too much data a the same time then those machines can start to lag like if you just openend chrome with 5 million active tabs. Reducing the traffic equals reducing the chrome tabs. If it's lagging then you have to reduce the most demanding tabs / traffic for now.

tl;dr: the global internet can be fine and have vast amounts of free bandwith - but the data might not reach your endpoint and vice-versa if there's a bottleneck.
 
Paches

Paches

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,608
Fuck your critical work tasks, I need to watch Love is Blind in 4K HDR 5.1 surround.

/s
 

Deleted member 7148

Oct 25, 2017
6,827
If watching SD content on Netflix during a pandemic is the worst thing that happens to you right now I would consider that a win.
 
nampad

nampad

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,238
Do they lower the bitrate for all resolutions/streams or just the best option?

Wonder when we will hear the same from other video streaming services.
 
nature boy

nature boy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,877
nampad said:
Do they lower the bitrate for all resolutions/streams or just the best option?

Wonder when we will hear the same from other video streaming services.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They only said they're reducing bitrate and that would save 25% of bandwidth

we don't what the % of customers is actively consuming 4k content over 1080p and lower.
 
obin_gam

obin_gam

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,035
Sollefteå, Sweden
Chatting with netflix support now, and they said that they wont change it for current customers...

That's only offered if you're account got cancelled long time ago and you recently decided to restart the membership.
 
Xando

Xando

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,378
"Following the discussions between commissioner Thierry Breton and Reed Hastings - and given the extraordinary challenges raised by the coronavirus - Netflix has decided to begin reducing bit rates across all our streams in Europe for 30 days," said a Netflix spokesman.

"We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members."

However, Netflix expects some customers may see a reduction in picture quality, while many will not. The small number getting its most expensive package with Ultra High Definition (4K), priced at £11.99 a month, will be the most likely to notice the difference. The vast majority of customers pay £8.99 a month for Netflix's standard package, which comes with high definition quality.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

www.theguardian.com

Netflix to slow Europe transmissions to avoid broadband overload

Streaming service reducing bit rate for 30 days, freeing up bandwidth for home-workers
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 

Deleted member 41178

User requested account closure
Banned
Mar 18, 2018
2,903
If it really is dropping to SD I'll cancel my sub this month, not out of outrage but I'm not paying £12 for it.
 
MrKlaw

MrKlaw

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,100
Disney - can you give us a couple of weeks to watch Star Wars in 4K before you downrez us?
 
Protein

Protein

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,030
Let's help the poor and suffering, unless it eats into my taxes and my 4K. Neoliberalism.
 
MrKlaw

MrKlaw

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,100
Mortemis said:
Completely reasonable and fine with me. Good move by Netflix.

The real conversation I want us to have is with ISPs who are going to charge cap overages. I will blow through my cap this month because of working from home, and I'm sure a bunch of others will be in this situation as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

yeah this is far more important than Netflix quality - EU should demand caps be lifted on both broadband and mobile networks
 
Sunfyre

Sunfyre

Member
Jan 15, 2020
585
I live in Europe won't unsub from my UHD plan just because Netflix throttles the quality. Solidarity is a two-way street, I have always been satisfied with Netflix so I see no reason to "punish" them because they have the "audacity" to do the responsible thing.
 

Deleted member 41178

User requested account closure
Banned
Mar 18, 2018
2,903
Serious Sam said:
Relax. They didn't change resolution, just 25% lower bitrate. You'll manage.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I love passive aggressive comments like this, maybe you should be relaxing.

All I said was that if it drops to SD I'll cancel, that's all.

Me keeping my account subscription if it did drop wouldn't have benefitted anyone except for Netflix so not sure why the defence force is out.
 
smileyforall220

smileyforall220

Banned
Mar 3, 2019
1,831
JDFaulky said:
If watching SD content on Netflix during a pandemic is the worst thing that happens to you right now I would consider that a win.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's not the fact it's going to SD, it's that the cost is going entirely to the consumers and not the company reducing the quality. No one has an issue with going to SD for a pandemic. As far I know, Netflix is still charging full price for 4K so they are reaping the benefits of reduced costs on their ends with lower bitrate, while still charging full price. That's not cool, Netflix should lower the price they charge since they aren't offering what you are paying for(4K). Trying to make this as some sacrifice for the greater good is laughable and exactly what Netflix wants people to argue amongst themselves since they get to save money.
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.