Hacker News Reader

Comment by angrygoat | Hacker News Reader

Apple TV+ is so locked down with DRM that you can't even easily take a screenshot from a show and share it on social media. Shows on Netflix, Disney+, etc have huge traction because people have got excited about them and talked about them online.

I've really enjoyed For All Mankind, but looking on twitter there's almost no fan base talking about it. Contrast with Ronald D. Moore's previous sci fi hit: the 2000s reboot of Battlestar Galactica. There were free to watch webisodes, a lot was done to encourage and enable a fan community.

It does feel like Apple are so obsessed with the IP that they're missing that having fans and the constellation of content that people will just go off and make because they're excited about a show is crucial to their success.

View on HN

For all Mankind combines the attention to period detail of Chernobyl with great character drama and a really fascinating alternate history of the space race and the American political system.

The alternate history details even manage to be smart, for instance, minor spoiler, a female cosmonaught leads a Russian moon landing and the US ratifies the ERA in response.

It's good stuff.

There's no fan community yet because the service just launched and it's starting from zero subscribers. The 1 year trial requires a hardware purchase, so that will only start to build a critical mass over the next year or so. I don't think it has anything to do with DRM.

Hardware nay be one thing, content is another one. See Disney+ and Mandalorian.

Disney+ has decades of content and a giant world wide fan base already which is a big incentive to sign up. Apple TV is starting from scratch.

To emphasize: Disney has 90 years of back catalog, including a ridiculous number of pop culture touchstones dating back that far.

Meanwhile, Apple has billions in cash on hand. I hope they open their platform up some though, or they need to make some very compelling shows. We’re talking enough for a hardware purchase in a household with no other iOS devices present. If anyone has the resources it’s them.

You don’t need to buy any Apple hardware to sign up. You can watch on the web or even Roku or Samsung TVs.

Doesn’t change the fact they have all the resources to hire all the best talent!

If I were them I’d be making the second season of Firefly and anything else with wide interest like that.

The fanbase OP was talking about is talking about the new content though. Apples new content is meh.

The only reason I'm interested in Disney+ is all the social media buzz around baby Yoda. I can't name a single reason to sign up for Apple TV.

> Apple TV+ is so locked down with DRM that you can't even easily take a screenshot from a show and share it on social media.

This seems incredibly blind. Do they realize how much culture spreads via gifs these days? If anything exporting clips and screenshots should come built-in.

The rights holders probably wouldn’t like that.

It's probably the lawyers that have a say in this.

To the best of my understanding, Apple TV+ is entirely Apple original content. Considering their hard-line stance re: the original iPhone and carrier demands, wouldn't they be able to make the same requirements here?

You can take screenshots of Netflix shows? Which platform?

No built-in mechanism but I’ve had zero problem using system’s screenshot feature to catch interesting scenes and share those with others.

I just tried it on every platform I have access to; Android, Linux, Macos, Windows and Chromebook. I was able to take a screenshot of a show playing on Netflix on every one.

Doesn’t work on iOS 13.3. Just get a black screen with the CC text.

Doesn’t this fly in the face of the fair use doctrine?

Fair use is not a right; it’s a defense. You don’t have a right to use materials for educational purposes. What happens is: you’re sued and you argue that your usage was fair use.

Because of that distinction, you technically have no right to take screenshots of copyrighted media.

Side note: the reason for this distinction is that there’s no set criteria for fair use. Some people say there’s the “10 second rule” or whatever, but they’re wrong.

Your distinction is tortured. You absolutely have a right to do things there is a defense for.

It’s not tortured. You may have the right under the law, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the private service needs to make it easy for you.

That is absolutely not true.

There are plenty of legal defenses which merely reduce or shift culpability.

Thanks. Haven't tried it on four out of five of those platforms. Last time I tried it didn't work for me on macOS but maybe that has changed. Definitely does not work on any recent iOS.

Still remember listen to the podcast on driving to work. Lost the first 8 podcast as others now come with the dvd but not the first 8 nor the pilot run.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com