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submitted 5 months ago by kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Amazon Prime, like many services, is a DRM hell. It won't go to over 480p on Firefox on Linux at my end. However, instead of a rant, I am interested in why this is happening. Say, I rented the same film from YouTube Movies(Yes, such a service exists) and the quality can toggle all the upto 1080p but the same title on Prime Video is stuck at 480p. Is it because both services use two DIFFERENT kinds of DRM?

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[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 57 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I think they're using Widevine DRM. And with DRM they can enforce whatever arbitrary policies they like. They set special restrictions for Linux. I think Amazon set 480p as max, Netflix 720p and YouTube 4k or sth like that. AFAIK it has little to do with technology. It's just a number that the specific company sets in their configuration.

[-] mulcahey@lemm.ee 12 points 5 months ago

But... Why? Why would they get different restrictions on the basis of operating system?

[-] ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com 28 points 5 months ago

It's whether the OS has hardware to make the platform "trusted." Android does by default with Widevine, Windows does by default with TPM and Widevine, Linux does not by default.

"Trusted" here of course means, trusted by the company, not by the user. If it's a trusted platform, it has a cryptographic key exchange space that the user does not have access to. This prevents a spoofed DRM certificate or other interception of the HD stream, which in theory prevents a stream from leaking.

"In theory" of course, because every piece of content is ripped and available DRM-free as soon as it's released.

[-] mulcahey@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

Thank you for this clear, helpful answer

[-] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 13 points 5 months ago

Because they are assholes.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 points 5 months ago

Because you could use the Linux one to save the file unencrypted because it's not locked down.

[-] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 3 points 5 months ago

I could do that on Windows, too. Piracy os equally possible on both

[-] safesyrup@lemmy.hogru.ch 38 points 5 months ago

Louis Rossman made a whole 20 min or something video on this. He payed for a netflix 4k subscription and wanted to see it in his firefox browser on a laptop connected via HDMI (because fuck smart TVs spying on you in the background) and ended up with 720p. He ended up pirating :)

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 31 points 5 months ago

That's just one of the reasons why I completely killed my Amazon subscription, same with Disney and Netflix. Fuck that DRM BS.

Just get your stuff on the high seas and enjoy. I do subscribe to Max, and can play it all at 4K HDR in all my devices. I'll pay for services as long as they're worth it.

[-] User79185@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Companies put weird restrictions on quality to encourage pirating... company logic in nutshell....

[-] gh0stcassette@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 5 months ago

I mean, the correct answer is just to pirate it, but you could probably fool it into thinking you're on windows by changing the user agent string of your browser to Chrome Windows x86_64

[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 5 months ago

That doesn't work. You used to be able to run the windows version of google chrome in wine to watch amazon videos in 1080p, but that hasn't worked in years. Just pirate it. It's easier than messing with their stupid DRM.

[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 19 points 5 months ago

Pirate, learn to back up, own forever.

[-] Summzashi@lemmy.one 8 points 5 months ago

That's not the question

[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 9 points 5 months ago

Valid, but it's a bad question. I chose to answer a better one.

[-] Summzashi@lemmy.one 4 points 5 months ago

Also valid. Have a nice day.

[-] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 18 points 5 months ago

I would like to pay for the content, but they don't want my money. So I don't

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 17 points 5 months ago

Btw you can use stremio to get the resolutions you paid for

[-] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 11 points 5 months ago

I haven't been able to get more than 480p on Youtube Movies on Windows. I bought them back when it was called Google Play Movies.

[-] kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Huh. I rented couple of old films and they previewed at full HD. Upon purchasing, they were viewable at 1080p. I was at the worst possible combination from these companies point of view(Firefox on Linux). I could be wrong but is it possible that it has something to do with the company renting out the movies themselves? YouTube Movies just acts as an intermediary, I think, and the main company providing the source is listed in the description.

[-] Teknikal@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago

One of the reasons but not the main one I cancelled Netflix (to be honest I just thought the originals were bad and any I actually gave a a chance they cancelled almost immediately).

But yeah their selling thing like 4k at a premium and making it almost impossible to ever actually use it. Better off just pirating.

[-] IllNess@infosec.pub 9 points 5 months ago

Me complaining about how Amazon Prime Video is complete trash.

Out of all the streaming services, Amazon is the fucking worst.

[-] kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 5 months ago

I have Prime but mainly for delivery stuff rather than streaming. I did finally download their Prime Video on phone. I still pirate their original content and stuff that's available on the high seas because honestly I would rather see it on my laptop than the smaller screen of my phone(and Amazon won't let me see even in 720p on Linux legally).

[-] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 6 points 5 months ago

DRM is one potential reason, but not the only one.

Content is licensed under specific conditions, resolution, audio tracks, closed captions, etc. Two organisations might have licensed the same title, but not the same conditions.

You can see this clearly during the Olympics where some channels only have secondary rights, or only certain events, but only free to air, not online, etc.

Added to that are marketing and exclusively deals and in the end it's anyone's guess what you actually end up with.

[-] sirico@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago

Also the fire sticks keyboard is a-z not qwerty who does that

[-] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

Because someone in a position of authority at Amazon made the decision. I know people want to hear something enlightening or that even makes sense. That's not companies today work. It's always some absolute fucking brainless suite that storms in and demands these changes are made because they themselves, despite not knowing shit about anything, thinks its a good move (for very very stupid reasons).

And this isn't DRM. You gotta learn what that acronym means. This is just the way they scale their service. Has absolutely nothing with digital rights or copy protection.

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago

Out of curiosity, why did a mod delete my comment? I don't recall saying anything out of place, unless mentioning that I pay for a service that actually works is forbidden.

[-] kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 months ago

Your original comment made couple of days ago is visible. It was just duplicated couple of times more in the thread and the mods deleted the duplicates.

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Oh, yeah, I did delete them (again, right after you) as soon as I saw that. Have been having this issue in voyager where it tells me it wasn't posted, so I try again and then it's duplicated. I did not check that one again, and I do apologize for being careless. I'll be more careful moving forward. Thank you.