Netflix has become a game-changer in the video industry by mailing DVDs to homes, then streaming movies to desktops and laptops. The company's engineers have now made a virtual video store for its latest Hack Day that recreates the experience of driving to a local Blockbuster. Netflix Zone is like an old-school video rental shop that requires a HTC Vive VR headset to search through shelves of VHS tapes
Netflix holds a Hack Day from time to time. It allows its engineers to create anything as long as it is somehow related to the company. The projects often extend existing projects or use company resources.
Netflix's virtual store shows poster-filled sections for each employee, and the company's TV/movie recommendations. The entire space becomes a screening room when a user picks up a title to scrutinize it, according to Engadget.
Hack Day Spring 2016 includes other new ideas. They include a "Family Catch-Up" feature that shows how many episodes of a series other profiles in an account have viewed.
There is also a drag-and-drop homepage interface that lets users attach categories to the top.
Meanwhile, there is also the "QuietCast" feature. It turns smartphones into a wireless headphone adapter while streaming a video to Chromecast media players.
Netflix engineers also created a Minecraft world using their open-source content delivery system. The debugging tool provides order in three dimensions.
Finally, Tetris is a system that lets users customize categories within the desktop Netflix interface. This is done by adding, moving, and removing categories.
Netflix has been adding several new features to its video-streaming service. However, it is unclear if any of the new Hack Day ideas will be added to its business.
In related news, Netflix and Amazon could face quotas on European Union (EU)-made content, according to BBC. A minimum of 20 percent of catalogs would be required to be produced locally.
It is part of a proposed revision of the EU's audiovisual Media Services rules.
The European Commission claimed that the move would provide cultural benefits. However, one expert argued that the new rules would have less of an effect because a broken-up EU would have problems competing with Hollywood studios.
Here's a video on VR movies at Netflix: