Netflix launches its own speed test website, Fast.com
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
I see what they keep to keep it stupid simple for novices on the main page but they really need to add advanced testing for experts if they want to get support of the service.
It may well be of a cost magnitude for it to appear in a future SEC filing.
(This is all conjecture - I have no knowledge of the situation, nor is this financial advice, etc)
"This is from Netflix, it downloads Netflix content and reports the speed back. This is important because unlike your average Internet speed test (which ISPs take pains to optimize), there's a very real possibility that your ISP is happy to let your Netflix experience suffer - assuming they don't throttle it outright".
It's not for deep network testing, it's just to see if your Netflix is being slowed down or not.
Also, Google Play movies has an offline option, which is not the same experience as DVD, but seems to fit you bill: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851696?hl=en
If it makes you feel better, pay and then "pirate".
As long as Netflix & co keep giving the frankly ridiculous excuse of preventing piracy as the reason I can't stream 4K content with mpv, I'm going to remain very reluctant to give them my money. (I'd be much less reluctant if their anti piracy efforts actually worked, but they don't and they never will)
Why do that, when you already give the creators exposure? Surely an lighting technician and a sound engineer can pay for groceries in exposure, right?
Perhaps those lighting technicians and sound engineers should just leave the industry that insists upon making it ridiculously difficult to give them money, if I want to get a high quality digital copy of a movie or TV series the only option is logging into BTN or PTP and grabbing a bluray remux.
Hell, often these communities have content available at a significantly higher quality than any of the official releases. See DIMENSIONs 20GB mad men episodes for example.
I personally just frequent the cinemas, and try to pay for the few TV series that I can, despite it often being impossible here.