Thursday, January 14, 2016

Smartflix the mysterious app that unleashes Netflix – Inrocks

What is the common point between the Australian series Wentworth , Amélie and the first three seasons of House of Cards ? They are all absent from the catalog of Netflix France, so that we can watch them on the platform of streaming from other countries such as Canada or the United States. It is this limit that wishes Smarflix tier software, launched in early January 2016 by an Internet “cinephile”, interviewed by Monde.fr , who prefers to remain anonymous.

When it performs a classic research on Netflix France, for example to find the animated series Bob’s Burgers, it is impossible to fall on the program sheet. It is not available in our area. An American user can however watch the first four seasons on Netflix US. If the American video platform on-demand subscription recently announced that it would be available in 190 countries worldwide, their catalog varies greatly depending on territory from which it used.

more resourceful is already came out using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that changes a computer’s IP address to make it look a site that is located in another territory. Smartflix but goes further, by aggregating all the catalogs of Netflix, all confused countries. In research, we thus find the animated series Bob’s Burgers , unprecedented in France, together with the words “ US Watch on Netflix “. But we can also play Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales on Netflix Denmark, Transporter II on Netflix Australia or French movie LOL on Netflix Germany.

Screen shot 2016-01-13 at 15.44.59 (Screenshot of Star Wars research Smartflix)

To give the Access to all these films, the creator of Smartflix created a search engine that aggregates the contents of all the catalogs of Netflix, and automatically connects the user to a proxy Smartflix based film or series that wishes to watch. Only drawback: some languages ​​(audio and subtitles) are not available through this software. One can thus fall on Japanese movies without dubbing or subtitles (see below).

Screen shot 2016-01-13 at 18.54.54
(Screenshot language settings of a movie from Netflix Japan)

If using a VPN, which can mask an IP address, is legal software that bypasses the “blockages” geographical Netflix raises several questions.

Algorithm The contents of funding problems and circumvention

First Financially bypass these barriers can be problematic. If House of Cards (seasons 1, 2 and 3) is not available on Netflix France, it is because Canal + bought the broadcast rights before Netflix arrives in France. The company would thus have had to buy the rights of his own series to be able to offer its subscribers. Also, the fact that users of Smartflix can watch the series on Netflix can cause worries Canal group, which, he spent a lot of money to circulate on French territory (Canal + and Canal + on demand) .

Asked, Netflix does not communicate on software for circumventing the geographic blocking its catalogs. Yet there is another side to the “matter” Smartflix which could disturb more multinational. Unlike the home page of Netflix, the software does not offer content based on what the user has already seen, or what he likes. This “algorithm”, which Netflix is ​​proud, allows the platform to precisely know the habits of its subscribers and even helps create original series, as highlighted Todd Yellin, Chief Innovation Officer of Netflix, in the columns of the Obs in October:

“The technology allows us to choose from many good stories which has the most potential . Then there’s always human creativity. “.

Giving this valuable data would, in the long term, a big shortfall. Similarly, and although it is a key detail of “user experience” dear to Netflix, Smartflix does not prevent, at the end of an episode, the next episode “will start automatically in 15 seconds”. Exit buttons “back to navigation” or “more episodes,” and the summary of the next episode. On Smartflix, the next episode will automatically start without warning. We made the comparison between the end of the same episode of the series Modern Family (CBA) on Smartflix and Netflix.

modern 1
(Screenshot by the end of Modern Family S01E02 on Smartflix)

modern2
(Screenshot by the end of Modern Family S01E02 on Netflix)

What annoy the multinational, which relies heavily on the quality and clarity of their applications, they are used on computers, smartphones or tablets.

Entrusting his password to a third-party application

Finally, it is never advisable to insert their IDs and passwords to pass on a third-party application, the risk of being hacked and the data fuitent.

“My business model is a paid application, retorted Smartflix the creator of the Monde.fr . My interest is to make a good product, secure, and sell it. “

So far on his website, as he announces that its software will remain in version” beta “It will not be paid. Then, it could be sold € 7.99 (for a lifetime of use, and not a subscription).

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