Netflix

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » September 10, 2004, 11:33 am

Does anybody have any experience with this? What is the typical turn-around on movies? Satisfied with it?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 10, 2004, 12:35 pm

Is that the pr0n one?

For any video mail rental service, I've heard that you get your movies in a timely manner but it takes awhile to get your top choices. Other than not always getting the movies you want sometimes, I think they service works as advertised.

A speedy internet connection and the newsgroups is a quicker way of getting movies. Donate the money you would have spent to rent to your favorite charity.

Kindo · Post by **Kindo** » September 10, 2004, 12:41 pm

I use it and really like it. The turn around time is very speedy, I send a movie back on Monday, they have it Tuesday and put another one in the mail on Wednesday (sometimes on Tuesday but that's kind of rare) and I have it by Thursday or Friday at the latest. I've never had to wait on a new release, the last one I can remember is Butterfly Effect, it was in my mailbox just a few days after release. You can have 3 movies out at a time, but can increase that with different subscriptions.

Mak · Post by **Mak** » September 10, 2004, 3:41 pm

I loved Netflix.

I never had to wait for a selection, and they were definately faster in getting me a movie than I was in returning it. I'd still have it but for the fact I can't even keep up with my TiVO stuff and decided to drop it.

It was well worth the money for me, and more convenient than Blockbuster.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 10, 2004, 4:25 pm

I used to use them and it was ok for finding movies that you wouldn't normally remember to rent at Blockbuster. However, I was finding that movies were getting lost in the mail and while I didn't have to pay for any, I knew that if they kept getting lost I eventually would or they'd cancel my membership for no fault of mine.

If these companies had any brains they'd realize it's better to use non-descript shipping sleeves than trying to use them to advertise. A thief is more likely to steal something that says "NetFlix" all over it knowing it's a movie, than some blank package.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » September 10, 2004, 5:09 pm

Never had anything but luck with netflix, I have a movie today, one that is being sent back and one that is being sent to me. Literally I get a movie 5 days a week in the mail unless I choose to hold onto one a few days

Ennia · Post by **Ennia** » September 10, 2004, 5:21 pm

Was somewhat satisfied with Netflix for about 6 months, until they raised monthly fee to 24 something, from original 19, that was about a year ago

I liked not having to go to Blockbuster, not having to search the shelves and convenience of driopping it in the mail

I did have doubts about what's gonna happen if the movie gets lost like Siji said. Also I hated having my 3 or whatever it was discs limit tied up on discs with special features, they treat each disc as individual shipment even if a DVD contains 2 or more discs.

Right now I signed up for Movie pass at blockbuster, with the baby and all I go to the store at least every other day and BB is right next door so I don't mind the trips. It's 29.99 for 3 movies so more than Netflix was charging, don't know what they charge now, but I like that I get the whole DVD, pretty much can watch it and return next day, there's no delay for mailing it and no risk that I'm gonna have my selections restricted to 2 or less movies while they "investigate"

Hope it helps

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » September 10, 2004, 6:06 pm

I use Netflix and love it. I usually get turn around in about 3-4 days. I have never had a movie lost. Its very convient not having to go to a video store, but that for me is the smallest of the advantages. Not having any set time I have to return a movie is very nice. Sometimes I get something and watch it and send it back the next day, if I have other stuff going on I have kept stuff for a week or two. And probably the best thing is something I hadn't really thought about. You set up a queue of dvd's that you want to see, as you send movies back, they automatically send you the next item on the queue. So whenever I happen to think of something I want to see sometime, I can just throw it on the queue and eventually get around to it (you can adjust the order of the queue whenever, to determine what you get next). Plus they have a great selection and you can search for things with search engine rather than by walking around a store.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » September 10, 2004, 6:44 pm

I'm been considering Netflix for a couple weeks. I have some friends who LOVE them and Netflix has a distribution center in Houston, which is supposedly better as far as receiving and returning the movies.

I signed up for the Blockbuster unlimited movues thing and I'm going to cancel soon. Selection sucks ass and I didnt realize you can only use it at the store you have the membership.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 10, 2004, 7:32 pm

I suppose it's good if you're not a spur of the moment type person that thinks of a movie and then want to see it right away.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » September 11, 2004, 12:24 am

I am considering doing this soon. Friends that have done Netflix loved it to the point of being cultish about it.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » September 11, 2004, 6:01 pm

The porn version is great.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 11, 2004, 6:55 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:The porn version is great.

Do they advertise on their mailers as well? It might take an extra day to get to you so the mailman can take a peek if so.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 12, 2004, 9:50 am

btw, I have an email for a free month to new members if anyone wants to test it out. Normally you only get 15 days free. PM me with your email address, and I will send it your way.

Canoe · Post by **Canoe** » September 13, 2004, 10:37 am

I have had nothing but great experiences with netflix.

Never had a movie lost etc.... and i've never had a movie I wanted to see delayed. As soon as I wanted it shipped to me, it came.

Post by **Xouqoa** » September 13, 2004, 2:32 pm

Netflix rules.

Post by **Sylvus** » September 13, 2004, 2:47 pm

I used netflix like 4 or 5 years ago when it was pretty new, but they booted me out of it after I got 8 of their movies at once and never returned any of them.

I liked it when I had it.

Bojangels · Post by **Bojangels** » September 14, 2004, 2:37 pm

I use Netflix, the good things are it's a LOT easier to find what you want on the website than in a store, they have a massive selection, and the free shipping is nice too.

The only thing that kinda sucks is if you want to see a certain movie, you have to wait a couple days to get it. If you're patient enough it's cool though.

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » September 14, 2004, 4:39 pm

Well I signed up for a free monthly test so we'll see. I don't really mind waiting a couple of days for movies, so that is not a worry. The nearest Blockbuster is a bit away from here so it saves driving, and I don't even have to leave the building to mail it back heh.

I've been impressed so far by their selection and their webpage. Time will tell if they keep up the positive impression! Thanks for the feedback

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 16, 2004, 2:01 am

I used it for about 2 years until I moved up here and needed to hedge monthly spending. I will sign up again soon.

It is the best if you enjoy watching DVDs. Also, they are not like the Blockbuster nazis or ad-whore hollywood videos.

Netflix is simple and convenient...and well worth the 14.95/mo for its selection. Also, you can pretty much have non-stop movies as long as you space your movies out and return them promptly to get your next selection.

The only thing I had run into was a shortage of some newer or rarer movies, so a longer wait--but I am sure they have a better stock now.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » October 25, 2004, 2:33 pm

Just lowered the price from 21.95 to 17.95, they rule

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » October 25, 2004, 7:20 pm

Very happy with them so far for sure. Would recomend it to others!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 26, 2004, 12:27 am

yeah, they raised the prices around July I think. They just lowered them back down to (or closer to) what they were before. I think it could be due to other companies offering similar deals. I have still not found any fault with them at all. It's nice when you get a few movies and pop one in to find out that it's defective...just jump online and report it, and a replacement is sent to you which basically occupies the same position on your queue as the original.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 5, 2004, 7:31 pm

Yeah, they didn't lower the price to be nice.. But either way it's cheaper.

Although Amazon.com Inc. has yet to publicly state its plans for the online DVD rental market, word of its involvement has set off a price war among Netflix Inc., Blockbuster Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Netflix kicked off the competitive round on Nov. 1, when it dropped its monthly subscription fee 40% to $17.99 from $21.99 in response to an expected entrance into the market by Amazon. Amazon admits that some of its customers have asked it to launch an online DVD rental service, but has no plans to announce, a spokeswoman says.

Wal-Mart’s Walmart.com has since dropped its monthly subscription fee 8% to $17.36, and Blockbuster has dropped its monthly fee 14.3% to $17.49.

Netflix says it’s sticking to its current price, despite the price cuts from Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, because it believes its service levels set it apart from those rivals, a spokeswoman says. “We were already competing in the space and being successful when Blockbuster was at $19.99, Walmart.com was at $18.76 and we were at $21.99,” she says.

Tyek · Post by **Tyek** » November 26, 2006, 8:46 pm

Has anyone noticed a drop off in service from them recently?

Suddenly the one day turnarounds are becoming less common. I waited 4 days for the last movie after they said they shipped it, and they still have not posted the returns I sent them 4 days ago (I know there was a holiday in there, but they still should have posted within the 3 other days). It seems to be a trend that I have seen in the past month or so. If it continues I may switch to Blockbuster. Their new plan lets you bring the movie to the store, get an instore movie for free and you still get mailed the next movie on the list.

Akanae · Post by **Akanae** » November 27, 2006, 1:01 am

A month or so ago Netflix started slowing down shipments to their "high volume" customers. If you have a fast turn around on discs your account may have been flagged for slower shipments - its a really lame system.

Tyek · Post by **Tyek** » November 27, 2006, 4:44 am

I thought they lost a law suit because of that. We don't see to many movies actually, maybe 1 - 2 a week, depending on if they are for the kids or for us. I am having knee surgery number 6 tomorrow and I was hoping to have some good movie time for the next 2 weeks, maybe I will give Blockbuster the 2 week trial then and see what works better. Thanks for the help.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » November 27, 2006, 11:31 am

They didn't start the slow down a month or so ago. It started about 1.5 - 2 years ago (Throttling). I did, however, notice something that is happening a lot more to me now than before. Many of my movies are shipping from locations further away from me, and the return envelopes are for those locations. This adds up to a week travel time for them to get to me. I continue to send them back to the local PO Box by just including multiple movies in one envelope.

As far as I know, the settlement in the lawsuit mentioned must not have actually taken effect yet...or they are takin their sweet time in complying with the court's final decision on it.

Akanae · Post by **Akanae** » November 27, 2006, 3:15 pm

Ever since they built processing building close to us (30 min away) we have had fast turn around times. I didn't hear about the law suit - most of the time we send the discs back pretty fast. But sometimes it will take us a few weeks to get to it, so I just assumed we weren't high volume enough to be effected.

We tried the blockbuster thing when it came out and our problem with it is that their selection online and in the rental stores wasn't nearly as good as Netflix. My husband likes to rent a lot of foriegn and independant films though, so if your tastes are more main stream it might work out better for you. Also I hate how blockbuster edits films (I assume they still do that?)

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » November 27, 2006, 5:10 pm

I used the Blockbuster free month I received from a friend last year, and the service really sucked. That was before they enhanced it with more options that included local stores though. I recently received an email asking me to come back for two weeks, but I am not sure I really want to. The only thing I used it for last year was to get a couple extra movies in while waiting on Netflix to catch up.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » November 27, 2006, 5:28 pm

I haven't noticed any slow down. I've been using Netflix for over a year and am at the 6-at-a-time plan now. I turn them over pretty quick too. I don't watch television, so I watch a lot of movies and Netflix'd TV shows while I knit or surf the web.

Post by **Xouqoa** » November 28, 2006, 2:52 pm

I've been using Netflix for a couple of years and love it. It's a great service.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » November 28, 2006, 3:01 pm

Same.. my turn around will sometimes lag a day or two, but I don't think they've really throttled me much lately. It did get pretty bad about a year ago and I almost cancelled.. but lately, it's been better. That and I haven't been as quick to ship them out every single time.

As for selection though, you can't beat NetFlix.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 9, 2007, 12:30 pm

bumping this after I noticed a new feature yesterday (not sure when it actually went live)

Now you can basically stream movies as well as receive them in the mail. You get a number of hours free with your membership that is the same as the price of the plan you are on. If you are on a 17.99 plan, you get 18 hours per month. I don't know how the timer works, and it is not the entire movie selection right now. It could be a handy way to watch a few movies while waiting on new ones to come in.

I haven't tried it yet, and I don't have a comp WinXP-MCE to try streaming to the TV. If anyone tests it, let me know how well/poorly it works!

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » February 10, 2007, 12:55 am

My account says it will be active June 2007

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 10, 2007, 3:11 am

Sionistic wrote:My account says it will be active June 2007

hmm, maybe it's not rolling out to everyone at once. Mine is active now. I may go ahead and install the software and check it out over the weekend.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » February 10, 2007, 3:23 am

Yeah, in the press release I read they said that it's being released over time to their members, but everyone should have it by June 2007.

I do not have it yet either. Will be interesting to hear your experiences with it.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 10, 2007, 12:26 pm

Ok, I checked it out last night. It's better than most streaming video I have seen, and that's all it really is. One thing I like about the pages where you select the movies is that you can see which available streams are there for movies you have in queue.

Pro's: Easy to use interface consistent with the rest of the Netflix "experience;" Clean screen prevents distraction while watching the moviesl; No ads; decent movie selection; quick loadtimes; no stuttering common with many streaming video selections; Free with paid membership; good video quality.

Con's: No way to pause and come back to your movie later (closed mine once and had to scroll through the movie to get back to where I was); runs in the browser which would prevent you from streaming it to your TV or keeping the window in the foreground; JUST the movie, no DVD extras.

Overall, it's a good service if you just want to stream a movie. It is (currently) free, so you will have a way to knock out that movie you've been waiting for in your queue between discs. The quality was better than expected as well, so you shouldn't have to squint at grainy video.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » February 15, 2007, 3:16 pm

*cheer!* Either yesterday or today, they enabled instant viewing on my account. Haven't tried it yet, but I will soon! Will be nice for those days when I don't have anything to watch.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 17, 2007, 10:09 pm

A Netflix Employee describes what it's like to work there:

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2007/02/w ... r_net.html