Netflix Knocked Out by Paul vs Tyson

PLUS: Barry Sonnenfeld’s Blistering Take On HDR

Author

Steve
November 19, 2024

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Netflix Knocked Out by Paul vs Tyson

The big streaming event over this past weekend is obvious: my video game livestream! I played Civilization 6 for 12 hours straight to a staggering audience that included my mom, my freshman year college roommate, my Aunt Joan who was violating the terms of her parole, and a number of other rabid fans of mine too numerous to count!

Some may argue the bigger deal was the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight on Netflix, which could be considered the boxing event of the decade, or perhaps an Idiocracy-esque spectacle featuring a YouTuber beating up an old man. Who can say!

What is a big deal is the amount of viewers that streamed the fight: approximately 60 million. Those are big digits! Unfortunately for Netflix, the number of complaints about the stream was also significant. Per The New York Post:

Fans have been pointing out lagging issues, the stream dying out entirely, and just overall quality and buffering issues have persisted.

Buffering screens were prevalent for many across the viewership.

Others posted about how unenjoyable the evening has been as a result.

“Seriously @netflix should be embarrassed right now,” one user wrote, adding a GIF of a buffering screen. “As soon as people actually want to use their service, THIS IS WHAT WE GET.”

“@netflix should not have been given the opportunity to host something of this magnitude,” another viewer posted. “Constant lagging and buffering. The most unenjoyable fight night we’ve ever watched.”

For many observers, this provoked questions about Netflix’s next big live show:

On Christmas Day, the service will air back-to-back games: the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. ET and the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Houston Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET. Beyoncé will perform at halftime of the second contest, drawing in dedicated fans and potentially causing a sudden spike in viewers, which can present technical challenges. The biggest question now is whether Netflix’s servers can perform that day, too.

Far be it from me to counter criticism of a streaming company, but my take on this is Netflix is likely totally fine and maybe even pleased with the error-prone broadcast. What people forget about tech companies is that they love to test. This is the reason Netflix will show alternate artwork for movies and TV shows to different accounts, and also the reason Facebook made my grandmother believe the Earth was flat.

The Paul v Tyson fight is just the opportunity Netflix needed to run a live event test before putting on something at the level of prestige possessed by the NFL. If you’re upset at the broadcast quality of the Paul/Tyson fight, isn’t that on you for watching it in the first place?

Barry Sonnenfeld’s Blistering Take On HDR

Many thanks to Twitter user TerwillikerInst, who surfaced this incredible clip of Barry Sonnenfeld on a podcast describing his distaste for HDR:

As you likely know, Sonnenfeld was the original cinematographer for the Coen Brothers as well as the director of films like Men In Black, Get Shorty, and numerous TV shows.

While the podcast episode is from a few years ago, and the streamer-approved camera circumstances have evolved somewhat, Sonnenfeld’s central point is important: the creative decisions of filmmakers should not be dictated by the tech platforms. Their control is inhibiting and standardizing the look of film and television, in an era when it should be expanding!

Check out the full episode of The Dead Pixel Podcast for the entire interview.

Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:

What it would it take to build an indie film super-streamer? (link)

The VFX team behind the dragons of House of the Dragon. (link)

The next big streaming service is coming from… Walmart?. (link)