Netflix is letting people choose the speed at which they want to watch something on their phone or tablet with new playback controls.
Netflix will allow anyone on an Android mobile device to stream at speeds of 0.5x or 0.75x for slower viewing and speeds of 1.25x or 1.5x for faster viewing. Those are slightly less options than YouTube, allowing people to slow down to 0.25x speeds, and speed up twice the normal playback speed. Playback speed options are also available in downloaded titles that people have saved for offline viewing.
Subscribers must choose to use the playback speeds with each title they want to see; It won’t just stay active when you choose something else to watch. This prevents people from accidentally looking at everything at 1.5x speed if they don’t want to. The feature will launch tomorrow and will be available to everyone worldwide in the coming weeks.
Netflix announced that it was testing the feature in 2019 and received a backlash from the Hollywood creative community. Actor Aaron Paul and director Brad Bird spoke out against Netflix’s decision to introduce playback controls, and director Judd Apatow tweeted in October that “distributors cannot change the way content is presented.”
The Netflix team is introducing a number of features with the launch to try to work with the creative community to ensure that the quality of content is not affected, including automatic correction of “tone in audio at faster and slower speeds.” , according to the company.
“We have also taken into account the concerns of some creators,” said a spokesman. The edge. “That is why we have limited the range of playback speeds and require members to vary the speed each time they see something new, rather than correcting their settings based on the last speed they used.”
It is understandable that the creative community wants their work to be viewed in a specific way. That is why Christopher Nolan refuses to release his films anywhere other than a theater. But distribution methods have changed in recent decades that have already affected the industry. VHS, DVD and Blu-ray players, along with digital retailers and PVRs, have given viewers more control over how they watch movies and television shows. There are people who listen to podcasts at faster playback speeds, and anecdotally, I watch all YouTube videos at twice the speed.
Keela Robison, vice president of product innovation at Netflix, addressed the changes in technology that have enabled different types of viewing over the years, and why Netflix decided to move forward after a brief testing phase.
“The feature has been in high demand by members for years,” wrote Robison. “Most important of all, our tests show that consumers value the flexibility it provides, whether it’s to re-watch their favorite scene or slow things down because they are watching captions or are hard of hearing.”
Both the National Association of the Deaf and the National Federation of the Blind praised Netflix for adding the play features. Since subtitles slow down (and also speed up) to keep up with on-screen images, it can help deaf people who might prefer subtitles at a slightly slower speed, according to Howard A. Rosenblum, Association CEO Deaf National On the other hand, many people in the blind community “can understand and appreciate the audio played at a much faster rate than what would be comfortable for most sighted people,” said Everette Bacon, board member. of the National Federation of the Blind. a declaration.
Netflix plans to monitor the response to playback speeds of both the creative community and subscribers. The company is also set to start testing on iOS devices and the web version of the app, but there is no trial phase set for the Netflix TV app.
