Hacker News Reader

Comment by buserror | Hacker News Reader

It is just not even just deleting shows, they do whatever they like. For example, if you buy a "HD" show on youtube, you are actually getting 480p, because something something DRM will prevents you from playing that HD version you bought on anything but a locked up air gapped computer in Youtube's VP's own office.

This is a scandal that has been going on for years -- they still sell you HD versions of the movies and shows knowing full well you can't possibly play them in anything but 480p

View on HN

Please, quit whinning.

Microsoft's been working on it for ages and they are almost there.

That's exactly the point of PMP in Windows (Protected media path) and (almost) mandatory TPM in Windows 11.

Not long now... and then you'll rent. May be even pay for the accrued mouse mileage, who knows.

What sort of reply is this? Does it address the fact they sell a product and you aren't getting what you paid for?

Sarcasm. That was a sarcasm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

It's a bitter joke.

What do you actually need to playback the HD version in a browser?

A recent-ish version of Chrome on Windows and an HDCP connection? It's annoying sure, but not an outlandish requirement.

You don't need any of it. But if you buy it, you should expect to receive it, and if you don't receive it, you should get your money back.

How about: If you buy it you should just download it? It's the only way to complete the transaction.

Wait, why is requiring Windows not outlandish? It's not like other platforms or browsers don't have DRM support. Even on Firefox on Linux, there's a setting to enable DRM-required media.

I don't know what is actually required. I'm asking.

It is a little different from publisher to publisher. Basically a main-stream OS, plus hardware attestation of any displays, plus an official browser version with the right codecs will get you there with no issues. If you are missing any of those pieces, you get downgraded on quality for sure.

No you don't really, google around and you'll see that whatever you use, unless it's a google stick (not even sure either), you won't get HD. Seems the DRM for displays has been cracked a while back and everyone has just downgraded playback silently ever since.

With zero notifications, refunds or anything of course.

A browser won't even work at all, as you need dedicated software (i.e. native app, TPM/TEE support) in order to play 4K media at full resolution, at least in Netflix's case.

There isn’t a native app for Mac’s, and I’m pretty sure you can watch 4K there.

You don’t consider vendor lock-in to be outlandish? Particularly when it is trivial to support much more? (literally just changing a setting)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com