Netflix Low Res via download and in Chrome/Firefox/Edge

Mike_M

In researching the low resolution that Netflix is offering for The Man from Toronto via StreamFab I thought the below would be useful for various reasons for others to know.

If you do Ctrl/Alt/Shift/D in Netflix (this is part of Netflix's core interfacing) while it is running in Chrome, FireFox or Edge it will display a transparent overlay over the movie that is playing with statistics on resolution streaming and other data.

If you install the below addons from addon stores in browser you can modify the resolution being sent from Netflix for most files that are being sent as 720 to 1080.

It *didn't* change what resolution that Netflix is sending for The Man From Toronto that can only currently be downloaded as 960x540 and viewed as 960x540 in Chrome/Firefox/Edge.

The Man From Toronto also plays as 960x540 in Edge.

There's also some verbiage in one of the addon's that says "If you encounter movies stuck at 540p, that's a DRM (Widevine L3) limitation".

I don't know if that applies to The Man From Toronto, but it may.

That was useful information to know both for troubleshooting, watching (which I do on other monitor) and other various reasons.

Chrome addon

Netflix Super
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...jcpjkloe?hl=en

Netflix - 1080p 5.1
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...nnfbnmgp?hl=en

FireFox addon

Netflix 1080p
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...1080p-firefox/

Edge Addon?

Attachments;

The attachments (only show part of the overlay that deals with resolution for clarity) and are actually transparent overlays that show a lot more data while your movie is playing in browser.

Red Notice before Addon 1280x720
Red Notice after Addon 1920x1080 (also changed audio to 5.1 in Chrome/Not in Firefox)
The Man From Toronto is 960x540 on before & after Addon (no change)

Down2Earth

Interesting and thanks for sharing.... So, there's no hope in getting a higher resolution than 540p for 'The Man from Toronto' from Netflix. That is pretty sad, and I hope Netflix is not testing the waters for this in giving access to only crappy resolutions for new releases. 720p I can deal with.....540p is grainy and just unacceptable for a service if you are paying for the Ultra HD service plan, this will be a game changer....this is across the board with watching and downloading with this movie with no reason, so something is up with it/them.

AGuyWithAComputer

when I play this movie in edge 103.0.1264.37 and use the ctrl/alt/shift+d it shows as 1080. whereas SF only gives the 540 option at most. So maybe not drm but some other flag netflix is looking at to limit what resolution we can download in. I would think that if it was a drm issue we'd have the 1080 option but then it would fail the processing stage

Mike_M

Interesting and thanks for sharing.... So, there's no hope in getting a higher resolution than 540p for 'The Man from Toronto' from Netflix. That is pretty sad, and I hope Netflix is not testing the waters for this in giving access to only crappy resolutions for new releases. 720p I can deal with.....540p is grainy and just unacceptable for a service if you are paying for the Ultra HD service plan, this will be a game changer....this is across the board with watching and downloading with this movie with no reason, so something is up with it/them.
Down2Earth

See my new post

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/411820-netflix-sony-vids-only-download-play-in-browsers-as-960x540

I *think* it's a Sony thing on specific films.

AGuyWithAComputer

I did note the man from toronto was a sony film. and though putting some kind of block would be a very sony thing to do

Mike_M

when I play this movie in edge 103.0.1264.37 and use the ctrl/alt/shift+d it shows as 1080. whereas SF only gives the 540 option at most. So maybe not drm but some other flag netflix is looking at to limit what resolution we can download in. I would think that if it was a drm issue we'd have the 1080 option but then it would fail the processing stage
AGuyWithAComputer

After I saw you got 1080 in Edge it sent me on a campaign to do some more testing/research.

Just posted this to another thread...

*******

I've been doing some more testing with Netplayer App & Edge after researching some more.

I did this because another user said his Edge was playing a higher resolution for him.

Here's what I think is happening.

Netflix is serving those files at the lower resolution of 960x540 (New Sony Films) and you can't override the playback of them via the addon's for Chrome and Firefox, but you can play them at higher resolutions in NetFlix App or Edge.

I believe this lock to lower resolutions in Chrome/Firefox and allowing higher in NetFlix App and Edge is due to later using Windows DRM and not allowing screen capturing.

1. The NetFlix App (available in Microsoft Store) right off the bat played with higher definition for me with The Man From Toronto.

It plays the The Man From Toronto at 2560x1440 on my 3840x2160 monitor.

2. While Edge installed with the defaults played "The Man From Toronto" at 960x540, I figured out how to correct this default playing resolution in my computer Edge environment for Netflix.

By typing Edge://flags in the search window and changing below:

Enable Playready
Disable Widevine

I also turned on Hardware acceleration under settings in Edge.

Edge is now playing The Man From Toronto at a full 3840x2160 for me after doing the above.

You might have to fudge with these a bit to see what works in your environment and with your video card.

I have no idea how downloaders (StreamFab & another) will get around this serving of these files at that resolution since Netflix is sensing the interfacing environment and I think using adaptive streaming and if it's not based on Windows DRM/adapting you only get the lower resolution?

I really hope this 960x540 doesn't proliferate beyond these Netflix/Sony files.

I also tested playback via Edge with the above settings for the below streaming services and quality was really good.

Amazon Prime - Purchased Movie - Dr Strange newest movie (HD)
Amazon Paramount+ - Star Trek (HD 1080p)
Amazon Discovery - Portal to Hell (HD 1080p)
Amazon Shudder - Poltergeist (HD 1080p)
Hulu - The Orville Season 3
Peacock - Downton Abby
HBOMax - Secrets of Dumbledore
Disney + - Dr. Strange Error - had to go in Edge://flags and enable Widevine & Disable PlayerReady, then it played ok for Disney+
Netflix - The Man From Toronto & Red Notice (both said 3840x2160)

Win10/64 Pro, 100Mbps on Spectrum, RTX Super 2070,
Netflix ULTRA Plan for HD, If your on the Standard it'll only do 1080p as max I believe, not going to change my plan to test.

AGuyWithAComputer

I don't have any extensions added to Edge save last pass. I also have those two settings in edge set to "default". It could be an ad blocker or even the extensions you've added to chrome and Firefox to try and force Netflix to a higher resolution that's causing your trouble in browser. My suspicions is Netflix added some jQuery that SF isn't processing that causes the playlist to not return the high resolutions. I do only have the standard streaming sub from Netflix since I do not own a 4k TV.