Netflix

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 21, 2011, 6:26 pm

Down another $1.53 today to $128.50. I am not a Netflix customer so have nothing against them personally. But I sort of hope they fail at least for the next 6-12 months as a warning to other companies that if you piss off your customers the ones paying might be you when all your customers jump ship.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 22, 2011, 12:12 am

When STARZ is gone, I'll likely drop my subscription. I've been a member for a really long time, but since I've dropped the disk part, am no longer interested in copying movies and their streaming selection is worse than a Blockbuster at closing time on a Friday night there's not much reason to keep it. The only thing I use it for now is the various selections of Thomas the Train shows for the kids.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 22, 2011, 12:27 am

I've been an in and off subscriber since they started. I currently stream only, but will likely drop that if the Starz expiration is not replaced by an equal or better studio deal. At that point I would just stick with Amazon Prime and torrents. For me, it isn't the rate increase or the ridiculous business decisions in the last months--it is merely selection.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 22, 2011, 12:09 pm

But cane...rates and business decisions have everything to do with selection!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 22, 2011, 12:56 pm

re-started a Blockbuster: Total Access subscription last night. 30 day free trial to see how it compares. I was reading some other stories about how their Streaming program has made a deal to include Starz, as Netflix lost it. I think that service is supposed to start next month, and I haven't heard anything about if/how streaming would be involved. Have two blu-ray movies on the way!

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 22, 2011, 3:18 pm

The ability to return movies to the physical stores is a plus for Blockbuster, until those go away.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » September 22, 2011, 5:29 pm

Which can't be far off, all but one of them anywhere near where I live is closed.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 22, 2011, 6:06 pm

Canelek wrote:The ability to return movies to the physical stores is a plus for Blockbuster, until those go away.

yeah, there is a store near where I live/shop, and not far off of my route to work. Blu ray at no additional cost is pretty big for me. Gonna see how the service is through the free month before deciding on anything with Netflix.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » September 26, 2011, 10:14 am

Signed up for a 30 day trial of streaming, looks pretty nice. As long as you don't have a Sony blueray player at any rate. They've a long standing issue showing netflix content, happily the store doesn't have a restock fee and the player went back.

There's really only two things we "intentionally" watch that aren't on broadcast TV, I watch futurama and the wife watches army wives. For the $7.99\mo netflix fee I may dump cable TV @$49\mo. Meaning I lose the package discount so the landline will go to Vonage. Will drop my my telecom spend by $75\mo.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 29, 2011, 7:42 pm

Down today 11% to $113.19. How low can it go! Those people who bought it at $304.79 have to be like.. "wtf!"

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 29, 2011, 11:07 pm

Aabidano wrote:Signed up for a 30 day trial of streaming, looks pretty nice. As long as you don't have a Sony blueray player at any rate. They've a long standing issue showing netflix content, happily the store doesn't have a restock fee and the player went back.

There's really only two things we "intentionally" watch that aren't on broadcast TV, I watch futurama and the wife watches army wives. For the $7.99\mo netflix fee I may dump cable TV @$49\mo. Meaning I lose the package discount so the landline will go to Vonage. Will drop my my telecom spend by $75\mo.

Just don't count on seeing the same shows available for streaming from week to week. You really have to manage your queue to move expiring shows to the front if you don't want them to just disappear. They seem to rotate regularly. I've seen a couple reasons why, but they didn't make it sound like something that would improve by any particular date.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 29, 2011, 11:41 pm

Amazon seems to be doing a rush at taking over the streaming thing. Of course, it is mainly geared towards Prime members. Then again, at 79/year, it is a fucking value. Next month, their new deal with Fox goes live, so that is a step in the right direction. They are still a bit short in the TV/movie category compared to Netflix, but I see them overtaking the market at some point; especially if they clean up the UI and add a queue.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 10, 2011, 9:22 am

about face!

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-wi ... ixcom.html

Monday, October 10, 2011
DVDs will be staying at netflix.com

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies & TV shows.

Thank you.
-Reed

Posted by Reed Hastings at 5:00 AM

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 10, 2011, 10:19 am

He doesn't sound too enthused. It's obvious the only reason they nixed Qwikster was because of how people hated it so much. So they didn't change heart because they wanted to.

Plus I still think most of the disgruntlement is over the price increase.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 10, 2011, 10:27 am

I'm still upset over the price increase, especially since I never actually received any notification of it from Netflix. The change with the split from dvd/streaming, was going to make things a tremendous pain in the ass. I constantly move things between my dvd queue and my streaming queue, it would be impossible with the split.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 10, 2011, 12:19 pm

Boogahz wrote:I'm still upset over the price increase, especially since I never actually received any notification of it from Netflix. The change with the split from dvd/streaming, was going to make things a tremendous pain in the ass. I constantly move things between my dvd queue and my streaming queue, it would be impossible with the split.

Heartbreaking story, dude. But don't kill yourself just yet.

Bowing to customers' anger and confusion over its move to divide its streaming and DVD video offerings, Netflix is reversing itself, snuffing the plan to offer DVDs by mail via a new service called "Qwikster." News of the backpedaling move was published on the company's blog early Monday.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 10, 2011, 12:36 pm

Spang wrote:
Boogahz wrote:I'm still upset over the price increase, especially since I never actually received any notification of it from Netflix. The change with the split from dvd/streaming, was going to make things a tremendous pain in the ass. I constantly move things between my dvd queue and my streaming queue, it would be impossible with the split.
Heartbreaking story, dude. But don't kill yourself just yet.

Bowing to customers' anger and confusion over its move to divide its streaming and DVD video offerings, Netflix is reversing itself, snuffing the plan to offer DVDs by mail via a new service called "Qwikster." News of the backpedaling move was published on the company's blog early Monday.

yo, dumbfuck, I posted the blogpost three messages above your own

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » October 10, 2011, 12:50 pm

Probably too late for most that went and found hulu and redbox. But at least they show that massive stock crashing, and customers fleeing, and negative attention, can cause someone to rescind their ideas as bad, and go back to what is right/working.

Move should at least stabilize stock, and let it grow again when the customers come back. If the customers come back.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 10, 2011, 12:56 pm

Boogahz wrote:yo, dumbfuck, I posted the blogpost three messages above your own

Forgive me. Kill yourself.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 10, 2011, 6:36 pm

Spang wrote:
Boogahz wrote:yo, dumbfuck, I posted the blogpost three messages above your own
Forgive me. Kill yourself.

At least he's not a total fucking moron who can't even read posts that he's commenting on. That explains a lot about the vegetarian thread. Forgive me. Fuck off. Kill yourself. In whichever order you prefer.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 10, 2011, 6:43 pm

Aslanna wrote:At least he's not a total fucking moron who can't even read posts that he's commenting on.

I read the post I commented on. I didn't read the earlier post.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 10, 2011, 7:22 pm

Thus I whole reason I used the plural form of post: posts.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 10, 2011, 8:04 pm

Aslanna wrote:Thus I whole reason I used the plural form of post: posts.

I only commented on one post -- the one I read.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » October 11, 2011, 1:29 am

People don't seem to understand what it means to get value for their dollar. Netflix streaming probably the biggest deal in the whole fucking world and all people do is bitch they have to pay $15/month for it by themselves. People whine there isn't enough content on it and then Netflix spends a whole bunch of fucking money on getting new deals on streaming and then people complain when the price gets adjusted. What a bunch of fucking babies. I'd pay $40/month for the US version of Netflix streaming and probably even more if they set it higher and these fucking cunts complain about $15/month.

20% of the prime time internet usage in north america now is Netflix streaming. Do you know how much that kind of bandwidth costs? Not to mention the money they have to put out for that kind of content? My fucking cable bill is 8x the amount I pay for NF Streaming and I use it about 10% as often.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » October 11, 2011, 9:45 am

I'm still looking for all the content they added in the last month that was mentioned in that blog/email. Looks like the same old stuff in the categories I watch. Mostly crime stuff, bbc shows, pbs shows, they haven't been updated and added to in years. Some of them are like season 3 of a show, but none of the other seasons. Its hilarious how hodge podge it really is sometimes.

I'm sure Reed will use the qwikster decision to blame that he can't do all this really cool stuff he was going to do, so its all our faults in the end!

But anyways, I don't think its the price so much as the way it was done, that most are bitching about. My original complaint was that there was a price hike in December 2010, then another half a year later. Even cable and phone companies don't try that one (at least my cable companies never have).

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 11, 2011, 10:30 am

They have signed more deals to stream content, but they also constantly remove content. Finding things worth watching can be a chore, and it will only get worse if they don't come up with a new Starz deal by the end of the year.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 11, 2011, 3:23 pm

You're right, bitching about the content is absurd

The infrastructure cost for them is overrated, as usual, and if the media companies want to get greedy and ask for mre money because streaming is getting more popular, or actors aren't getting money because streaming "sales" weren't included in their contract (few actor friends have bitched about this in recent conversations) that's their problem amongst them, and Netflix and the media companies can take the hit.

I'm hanging onto Netflix for a few more weeks to see if they really add much of anything, and if not I'll cancel it. For me to continue paying for it, they're going to have to start putting new releases on their simultaneous to their DVD release. Otherwise I'll just watch hbo/sho on demand or go to the fuckin red box.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 11, 2011, 5:02 pm

I do most of my streaming through regular Hulu, Uverse online (access to my dvr online), HBOGo, and MAXGo. My trial of Blockbuster's Total Access service has gone pretty well so far, and there is the benefit of some movies being available weeks before Netflix which has already been nice.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » October 11, 2011, 5:13 pm

Boogahz wrote:They have signed more deals to stream content, but they also constantly remove content. Finding things worth watching can be a chore, and it will only get worse if they don't come up with a new Starz deal by the end of the year.

It would help a lot if they actually showed all the content available to be streamed in their clients instead of forcing you to go to the website to add stuff to your IQ. But yeah, 90 percent of what they are adding is complete garbage.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » October 11, 2011, 6:01 pm

The AMC trifecta (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Walking Dead) has kept me very busy of late.

I wonder how this would have gone down if, instead of the convoluted gyrations we saw two months ago, they'd just had a press conference and said something along the lines of "Netflix is going up $2/month. But we're now streaming Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Walking Dead, along with tons of other shit we couldn't before."

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 23, 2011, 2:39 pm

The amount of unplayable DVDs I have gotten lately is causing me concern. Basically, 1 out of every 3 movies the past 2 weeks has been so badly scratched that I cannot watch them. It's becoming the norm, especially for older movies.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 23, 2011, 3:01 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:The amount of unplayable DVDs I have gotten lately is causing me concern. Basically, 1 out of every 3 movies the past 2 weeks has been so badly scratched that I cannot watch them. It's becoming the norm, especially for older movies.

You have a weak laser! Time for a new DVD player.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 23, 2011, 3:39 pm

No problems here. Maybe the distrobution center you're getting them from had some issues. Hope you're reporting them online.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » October 24, 2011, 2:33 pm

Funny you should mention that. I just had to return one that I wasn't able to view. That makes 3 in the last month or so. I guess I can understand somewhat as the movies were older movies but stuff I wanted for my collection. At least they send out a new one right away. It isn't like I am in any major hurry.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 24, 2011, 11:18 pm

Ouch! That's just brutal! Netflix down 27% in after hours trading after reporting bad earnings. Stock was 300/share not long ago. Posting 85.75 now.

You got fucked royally if you held today into earnings...not that you already weren't if you bought a few months ago.

from just awhile back:

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 25, 2011, 10:29 am

Seems to be a large drop for after hours only! wow

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 25, 2011, 10:45 am

Netflix Inc. has gapped open dramatically lower Tuesday morning and is now down 42.11 at $76.74 on above average volume. The stock has dropped below a one-month trading range and has set a new low for the year.

Down $42.11. Whoa!

My guess is eventually it will go back up.. Probably not to what it was at $300 though.. but damn they are sure getting their ass kicked lately.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 10, 2012, 3:42 pm

I've been watching quite a bit of Netflix on both my PC and iPad lately.

Anyone notice how nice their interface has become on both the PC and iPad? I wish all video UI's were that nice. Netflix seems to be doing some good things lately. I've found enough content in there as well to make it worthwhile.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 10, 2012, 5:47 pm

I'm not a fan on the changes to the PC interface, but the tablet interface changes fit well.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 10, 2012, 6:12 pm

Boogahz wrote:I'm not a fan on the changes to the PC interface, but the tablet interface changes fit well.

What don't you like about the PC updates? For me it's well laid out and the appearance if very sleek.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 10, 2012, 6:30 pm

I prefer the interface in media center over any of the others.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 10, 2012, 6:55 pm

Winnow wrote:
Boogahz wrote:I'm not a fan on the changes to the PC interface, but the tablet interface changes fit well.
What don't you like about the PC updates? For me it's well laid out and the appearance if very sleek.

A few of the buttons just don't make sense. I can just picture a bunch of guys in a meeting room talking about how a picture would be perfect to replace the old picture with. The "back" feature is also kind of pointless for viewing in a browser.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 10, 2012, 7:36 pm

A few of the buttons just don't make sense. I can just picture a bunch of guys in a meeting room talking about how a picture would be perfect to replace the old picture with. The "back" feature is also kind of pointless for viewing in a browser.[/quote]

Um, I view full screen so it works for me. Don't have to use it but does it hurt anything by being there?

The pause screen is nice as well. Finally feels like its own product instead just another YouTube video window.

Funk, I'm not talking about all media interfaces. If I was, I prefer bare bones with an oversized search bar. Also, XBMC has some killer UI skins if you like that sort of thing.

I like the new Pause screen. More informative and just looks nice.

I like the auto start of the next episode. It gives you about 10 seconds to stop it if you don't want to see the next episode and also doesn't wait for all the credits to end before switching to the next episode.

I like the look of the control bar. Has some decent functionality and look to it.

On the iPad, I really like the large slider controls and 10 second rewind. Also like the look which doesn't create solid bars at the top and bottom of the screen when using the controls.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » October 10, 2012, 7:57 pm

I thought that change was a few months ago or more.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 10, 2012, 8:01 pm

Canelek wrote:I thought that change was a few months ago or more.

It was : ) I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » October 10, 2012, 8:09 pm

Gotcha.

I rarely use Netflix anymore since it becomes harder and harder to find something to watch that is a) interesting and/or b) I haven't yet seen.

Also, I have DirecTV so it is easy for me to put on FoodTV, HGTV, etc...

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » October 11, 2012, 8:13 am

Haven't run out of stuff to watch yet, caught up on 30+ years of TV in a surprisingly short time. Dropped cable 3-4 months ago and don't miss it, have been watching dirty jobs during dinner instead of the news as I can't stand the election adverts.

Seems like they dropped a whole bunch of movies recently.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 11, 2012, 11:26 am

Aabidano wrote:Haven't run out of stuff to watch yet, caught up on 30+ years of TV in a surprisingly short time. Dropped cable 3-4 months ago and don't miss it, have been watching dirty jobs during dinner instead of the news as I can't stand the election adverts.

Seems like they dropped a whole bunch of movies recently.

Dropped DirectTV and Cable TV several years ago. Picked it up last month for the football season and regret it. I'll be dropping that shit again end of December. I already called up to drop it but the desparate cable company offered six more months of discounted pricing, of which I'll use until December.

Cable/Satellite is a huge waste. You can download TV shows same day they Air on TV. I've had all the movie channels the past few months and haven't watched a single movie on them.

I've found with Netflix, once I start watching a series, I watch all seasons back to back. You can see your viewing history on netflix and when I first got Netflix I watched seven seasons straight of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with no other shows/movies in between. (Joss Whedon!)

It's interesting to scroll through your history of viewing. Based on what I've seen, Netflix has been worth the monthly fees.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » October 11, 2012, 6:24 pm

Aabidano wrote:Haven't run out of stuff to watch yet, caught up on 30+ years of TV in a surprisingly short time. Dropped cable 3-4 months ago and don't miss it, have been watching dirty jobs during dinner instead of the news as I can't stand the election adverts.

Seems like they dropped a whole bunch of movies recently.

http://instantwatcher.com/titles/expiring/

is handy for seeing what's going to expire, if there's anything on the list you care about it's a chance to watch it before it goes.

As I understand it, it's the studios that insist everything is a rental and they can only have the content (movies and TV) for a set time. Keeps them in the driver's seat where they love to be.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 11, 2012, 6:37 pm

A lot of the items that expire tend to pop back up for instant viewing within days of disappearing. I gave up on trying to rush to watch anything online anymore. If I see something about to expire in my instant queue, I just add it to the end of my DVD queue. I can always move it back if it gets kicked out of the instant queue that way. Some things seem to randomly either get added back into the Instant queue, while others have to be manually done for me.

Yes, I still have the 2 DVD plan, but I am really tempted to go with a one disc plan through Blockbuster again for Blu Ray.