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Netflix to move towards P2P streaming tech

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BeeBoop

BeeBoop

Golden Member
Sounds interesting and if it works, it would reduce their bandwidth.


http://torrentfreak.com/netflix-considers-p2p-powered-streaming-technology-140426/

Interestingly enough, the streaming service also has a lot to gain from file-sharing technologies. A recent Netflix job ad spotted by Ars Technica, reveals that they are considering using P2P technology to improve their streaming services.
“Netflix seeks a seasoned Senior Software Engineer with a special focus in peer-to-peer networks,” the company writes. The description of the new position has a clear focus on researching the possibility to allow users to stream videos via peer-to-peer technology.
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Interesting. Sort of a combination of bittorrent and the node mesh that Skype used before Microsoft in-sourced the network (unfortunately). Of course, the ISPs would still claim it represents a huge burden and they could probably target the traffic as easily as they've already targeted torrents.
 
Markbnj said:
Interesting. Sort of a combination of bittorrent and the node mesh that Skype used before Microsoft in-sourced the network (unfortunately). Of course, the ISPs would still claim it represents a huge burden and they could probably target the traffic as easily as they've already targeted torrents.
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Didn't an ISP already get in trouble for filtering torrent traffic?

It would certainly help alleviate Comcast's complaint that too much data is coming in from Cogent's line(s) (that's originating from Netflix). Depending on how it's engineered, the data for a single user's stream could end up coming in from many different "pipes", and he could share it through other "pipes".

Although, I guess the question is... how does this work? Do I seed the file (or the parts that I have) while I'm watching it or when I'm done? What about devices that have significantly small amounts of memory that can run Netflix? For example, only a few Roku devices have expandable memory and none of them have large volatile pools: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku#Feature_comparison . Do I collect small chunks of data and stream that to someone else that's watching?
 
Aikouka said:
Didn't an ISP already get in trouble for filtering torrent traffic?

It would certainly help alleviate Comcast's complaint that too much data is coming in from Cogent's line(s) (that's originating from Netflix). Depending on how it's engineered, the data for a single user's stream could end up coming in from many different "pipes", and he could share it through other "pipes".

Although, I guess the question is... how does this work? Do I seed the file (or the parts that I have) while I'm watching it or when I'm done? What about devices that have significantly small amounts of memory that can run Netflix? For example, only a few Roku devices have expandable memory and none of them have large volatile pools: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku#Feature_comparison . Do I collect small chunks of data and stream that to someone else that's watching?
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why I brought Skype up. I'm no expert on the bt protocol, but it obviously isn't optimized for streaming. Skype used a similar p2p network topology, but with more node management (i.e. super nodes and a lot of active traffic cop stuff).

As for Comcast, I more or less completely accept Netflix's version of the story, which is that Comcast is just using the traffic issue as an excuse to levy tolls. Something like this would definitely call them out on it. Thing is, in this case, and for a percentage of their customers that ticks upward the bigger they get, Comcast would always be shouldering the traffic from origin to destination. They'd figure that out soon enough and presto, the next excuse for tolls is born.
 
If they're basing their assumption solely on that job description, they could be completely off base. It could be that they've had good experience hiring people with that sort of experience in the past. If they were truly looking to implement something like that, it would likely require more than one new hire.
 
I'm sure ISPs would be super happy about moving netflix data both ways, since they obviously love doing it one way.
 
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