I read somewhere that they transcode everything on the fly, which they insist is necessary
Oh that could be the explanation.
I wonder if the journalists are lying though. It’s not even in Netflix’s corporate interest to use big energy.
I don’t think so. Afaik, factors such as subtitles, different languages, different client hardware, mean that transcoding everything on the fly isn’t quite as crazy as you’d first think. I imagine there’s some sort of DRM stuff too, which is going to take its toll.
But I stand by what I said about the business needing the energy cost in order to justify its existence. It’s not just a question of revenue/expenditure — e.g. constantly needing to expand capacity makes a compelling story for investors. Capitalist efficiency, innit
I think you’ve got it backwards. The energy cost is real, so economies of scale make sense.
I’m not an expert in this field ofc, but I suspect simply serving a file would be way less energy intensive. There are less centralized alternatives too such as torrent streaming, which may or may not be more efficient. It would be nice to exist in an economy where we could explore these questions!
