Netflix Rolls Out Variable-Speed Playback Feature on Android

Netflix has launched a new feature which is allowing the users to play Netflix content at different playback speed. Users are now able to slow the speed by minimum at half (0.5x) or play faster, maximum at 1.5x. But this new feature has caught the attention of hollywood as many celebrities has called this feature disrespectful for cast, crews for the content providers.

As of today , this feature is now available on Android devices and Netflix is planning to launch on iOS and website in next few weeks.

This totally disrespectful to the casts, crews, writers and directors who provide your content @netflix. Please don’t do this. https://t.co/w1JaQzejzV

— Bradley Whitford (@BradleyWhitford) July 31, 2020

According to Keela Robison, VP of product innovation at Netflix, the variable-speed playback was “well received” by customers and a frequently requested feature. She also pointed out that such features have been available on DVRs and DVD players for years. The variable-speed playback capability received support from the National Association of the Deaf and the National Federation of the Blind.

“People who are deaf and have difficulty reading appreciate the option of slowing down the captioning, and people who are hard of hearing value the ability to listen at slower speeds — while many individuals who are vision impaired are used to listening to digital audio much faster (for example with screen readers),” she wrote in the blog.

Robison also said, the company conducted “extensive surveys” of customers in several countries that found that their perceptions of content quality were not affected by the speed at which they watched the titles.

Netflix said, it capped the range of playback speeds. In addition, the feature will require that users select which speed they want to play back video each time they watch something new, as opposed to letting them set a default nonstandard playback speed.

Hollywood raised these objections last year when Netflix started testing this feature. Celebrities like Judd Apatow, Aaron Paul, and Brad Bird were the first among those who voiced objection against it.

Also this feature is not as bad as Hollywood is suggesting as this kind of features are already available on many other platforms. And also Streamers like Netflix and Prime already have a feature which let users skip the end credits automatically which is way more disrespectful to the artists than this new feature.