Netflix not making users very happy.

heiney9

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Check out the appleseed movie stream right at the start and have a look at the panning motion over the city and tell me it is not choppy

Will do tonight when I get home. Is this the only "choppy" scene? If so, your response is misleading as in you make it sound like everything you've tried to stream is choppy.

Occasionally I'll have an issue here or there with streaming, the most annoying is audio sync issues. Had that happen about 4 times in 2 years all on the same TV series. They fixed it everytime.

On a scale of 1-5 I give Netflix a solid 4 and if I find out my few and far between streaming issues aren't Netflix related I give them a 5.

When I was having issues early on, it turned out to be my router, not NETFLIX. It's easy to blame Netflix, but there are a lot of other things going on to get that stream to your TV, and anywhere in the chain there could be an issue.

H9

steveinaz

Like anything, show your displeasure by not sending them anymore of your hard-earned money.

apphd

This is thread is great timing for me. I just signed up for the 30 day streaming trial from Netflix. So far for the price and convenience, I am pretty impressed. Going wireless to a Wii console, and only occasionally have an issue with my connection keeping up, (still better than sitting through a comercial:biggrin:) One thing I am seeing and heard from a co-worker is about streaming selection availability. While not huge what I am seeing as available seems to be more than what I was told by the co-worker is available to him with his subscription, and more than what it sounds like others have. Does Netflix cut back on streaming availability once they start getting paid?

As far as infrastructure investment, which is what is needed. It will be paid for from one of three sources. The: IPs, Uncle Sam, or the consumers (especially the early adopters). Who do you think is going to fund this? Actually I think with out the streaming consumer we would be 10-15 years from seeing this investment take place by the ISPs with some gov. subsidizing. With the current streaming market it will probably take place over the next couple years, and it won't cost 2 of the 3 possible sources much of anything.

dvran

dbaldus wrote: »

I only really have two problems with this:
1) Lack of high-res sound (e.g., DTS-MA or TrueHD) while streaming
2) The selection
I can't stand streaming movies in HD without the proper high def sound, especially action movies. I'm sure it's just a bandwidth issue at this point, but if they were to add true surround sound (i.e., not the matrixed Dolby Digital Plus crap) and increase their movie selection for streaming, then I'd have no problem with this.
Until that happens, I'll keep streaming my TV shows and renting Blu ray movies for $13 / month!

I agree with this guy 100%!

The selection for the first month is good when you are watching movies you've never seen before. After a while the content is too old and not worth it.

I'm still a fan of Redbox! $1.50 for a Blueray.

heiney9

The streaming selections are many, many, more than I could ever watch. I have 151 in my qeue. If you are always looking for New Releases in streaming, you will be disappointed currently.

I could give a rats **** about new releases, there are so many choices for streaming it's mind boggling. If you can't find a few to entertain you for the evening then dump Netflix and pay more with On-Demand or Amazon.

H9

bobman1235

I love how people are still not bothering to read what this change is. As of now, DVD and BluRay shipping isn't going anywhere.

disneyjoe7

Netflix works for me, I'm happy with it.

heiney9

dvran wrote: »

I'm still a fan of Redbox! $1.50 for a Blueray.

I'm sure Redbox has even less selection than Netflix.

Is Netflix perfect for everyone? No. Those wanting 100% theater sound you still need to rent discs or pay more with another streaming service. You guys are expecting a lot for $8.99 a month

For me, I am perfectly happy and have enough content in both qeue's to keep me in movies and TV shows for the next 2 years if I didn't add another thing to either qeue.

scottyboy76

streaming selection, for someone like us, who love to scour the old, weird offbeat and obscure, is almost useless.

The documentaries, like the maysles bros.,Salesmen, a doc from the 60s, showing door to door bible salesmen back when housewives with little ones at their feet could feel safe letting strangers into their home, and people really bought family bibles for the benefit of the kids.

A doc called note by note about following the making of one steinway concert grand, all the craftsmen and women, their tools, many one of a kind, some, brought from europe where where grandpa and dad used them, before passing them down.

Not to mention the so terrible they are great 50s and 60s b movie sex movies,nothing graphic, just so of their time and place, interesting, and more than a little stimulating, because of the innocence and naturalness of the girls, compared to today.

None of these will be available in my lifetime online.

As long as i can still get discs, no problem.

The pic quality for streaming is iffy, some are pretty good, some are definitely not.

Sound is not close to being up to snuff online. I rarely bother with music or concert videos.

By the way, wasnt some of the hundreds of billions of dollars the obama adm. has absolutely LOST TRACK OF, not exaggerating, they cant account for it, and its your money, was some of that money meant to expand and upgrade high speed access and bring our systems up to what other countrys already have,....just wondering.

In short, as long as the huge library of offbeat discs by mail are available, and some streaming if you want something right now, i think its a great resource at reasonable pricing.

If they do away with discs, it seems maybe that would be a business opportunity for someone to begin an offbeat title rental, no lame iron man 2 or teen girl comedy romance, just storys about quirky offbeat people or events, or fascinating peeks into the glorious diversity of people, cultures, ways of life, or events tha have brought us here, where we all are today.

Ahh never mind

LessisNevermore

jon s wrote: »

What's gonna happen when cable providers start capping the bandwidth users use or by using stepped rates where the more bandwidth you use, the higher the rate? I think ComCast is already doing this in some states as a trial run... If this ends up profitable, you can bet all the providers will jump on this and increase their rates to make more money.

Streaming video consumes a LOT of bandwidth and the providers will have to pony up a lot of money to increase their bandwidth to accomodate the increased consumption caused by streaming. They definitely are not going to do this for free...

^This^

This won't be good, considering that Comcast, and other providers also push on-demand programming, and that Netflix, Hulu, etc. cut into that business.

I hope I'm wrong, but I see them trying to squeeze out the competition through bandwidth caps, and significantly higher rates. When they do, I'll go back to renting locally, and buying USED blurays.

heiney9

LessisNevermore wrote: »

^This^

This won't be good, considering that Comcast, and other providers also push on-demand programming, and that Netflix, Hulu, etc. cut into that business.

I hope I'm wrong, but I see them trying to squeeze out the competition through bandwidth caps, and significantly higher rates. When they do, I'll go back to renting locally, and buying USED blurays.

I agree..........I'm holding my breath hoping this isn't the case. We already pay ALOT for cable service.

H9

heiney9

BlueFox wrote: »

I never said anybody can stream lossless music. My standards are what they are. If Netflix wants me to stream then they need to offer the equivalent of a Bluray DVD, both picture and audio. Why do I want to go backwards?

That is the whole point. Netflix is trying to get people to stream since it saves them tons of money by not having to buy, and mail, physical media. Fine, I can understand that. But, for me, if one thing is going to replace something else, then I expect the replacement to be at least equal to, and preferably better than, the original.

Being able to watch "I Love Lucy" at anytime I want is not an improvement. :rolleyes:

Would you be willing to foot part of the cost as in a higher subscription fee to make that avail? Say $19.99 a month and an increase in cable bill for the extra bandwidth yo would use?

Seriously, what do you expect for $7.99 a month? Totally unrealistic expectations under the current model. Last I checked you could still get physical media if you choose to.

H9

BlueFox

heiney9 wrote: »

Would you be willing to foot part of the cost as in a higher subscription fee to make that avail? Say $19.99 a month and an increase in cable bill for the extra bandwidth yo would use?

Seriously, what do you expect for $7.99 a month? Totally unrealistic expectations under the current model. Last I checked you could still get physical media if you choose to.

What are you talking about? I do get the physical media. I have been since 1999. I have no desire to stream. The quality is unacceptable. Maybe at some point in the future when it works at an acceptable level for the same cost I am currently paying for 3 DVDs outstanding at the same time. Of course, I suspect DSL will probably never support quality streaming. Maybe ATT Uverse would work.

gimpod

It's all about then cost of doing business, It cost them about $0.05 to stream and $1 to mail per DVD, at around 2 million DVDs mailed a day that adds up quick.

http://www.techspot.com/news/42036-mail-service-costs-netflix-20-times-more-than-streaming.html

heiney9

BlueFox wrote: »

What are you talking about? I do get the physical media.

BlueFox wrote:

Netflix is trying to get people to stream since it saves them tons of money by not having to buy, and mail, physical media. Fine, I can understand that. But, for me, if one thing is going to replace something else, then I expect the replacement to be at least equal to

here you seem to assume physical discs are on there way out.

They aren't replacing anything yet, and I bet if (that's a big if) they stop sending physical discs the capabilities will be there to stream most anything and everything; for a lot more money.

H9

Ricardo

concealer404 wrote: »

This just makes me love my Blockbuster account all the more.

I pay $20/month, get unlimited rentals, 3 out at a time, unlimited in-store exchanges, and includes ANYTHING on their website. Blurays, games, whatever.

+1,000,000

Looks I have the same plan you do. Love it. Did someone mention that Blockbuster has new releases when they are actually new releases?

Did I mention that I watch ONLY Blu Rays?

apphd

scottyboy76 wrote: »

......By the way, wasnt some of the hundreds of billions of dollars the obama adm. has absolutely LOST TRACK OF, not exaggerating, they cant account for it, and its your money, was some of that money meant to expand and upgrade high speed access and bring our systems up to what other countrys already have,....just wondering.

About 8 billion (by some accounts closer to 7.2B) is working its way through Washington to be divvied up to different agencies. Depending on which speech, or which aid you want to listen to, this was a plan to bring high speed to the rural, underserved areas/people of America. Or as another aid put it, "access to all is the long term goal, the stimulus “should only do things that are timely, targeted and temporary and can lead to lots of jobs."
Obama aid Levin speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus, said "Obama will still pursue goals of expanding broadband access for the unserved and underserved and getting public safety officials a national network. "You kind of have to use existing structures,".

I suppose this would benefit the existing system, but it sounds like it will in true Washington style, try to stretch what is there, to reach and serve more, but not address the issue of what is already there being insufficient.

This was written in a way to try and not turn this political in any way, (hope it is read and interpeted that way) just some info on the stimulus money (which is 1 to 2 years old, can not find any newer updates) mentioned by scottyboy.

danger boy

i'm dropping my cable tv and upping my bandwidth for streaming/internet/Wii.. even though I can stream right now with 7mbps, i want to be up near 10 or 12 mbps. cable TV i can do without.. fast internet no way.

quadzilla

bobman1235 wrote: »

Wow, talk about blowing something out of proportion.

They changed a single way you can add discs to your queue. THat is it. They didn't remove the ability to add discs. They didn't take away anything tangible. They just said that from your streaming device, youc an't add a disc to your disc queue. Mildly annoying at the very worst, and even that is a stretch.

It's annoying as hell when 90% of what you want to watch is only available via dvd. Almost makes having the streaming device pointless.

zingo

bobman1235 wrote: »

Wow, talk about blowing something out of proportion.

They changed a single way you can add discs to your queue. THat is it. They didn't remove the ability to add discs. They didn't take away anything tangible. They just said that from your streaming device, youc an't add a disc to your disc queue. Mildly annoying at the very worst, and even that is a stretch.

I only add discs from my iPhone Netflix app or as I'm streaming on either of my TVs because I'm usually not sitting in front of my TV twiddling my thumbs looking for titles to add to my queue. I won't drop my subscription because of the change, but it does make it more inconvenient.

heiney9

quadzilla wrote: »

It's annoying as hell when 90% of what you want to watch is only available via dvd. Almost makes having the streaming device pointless.

I think it's so funny people are bitching about this. About a year ago there was no streaming, now you get the ability to stream for free (as in no add'l cost), and people still ****. Hilarious, streaming is a bonus at this time, as they ramp up for more titles, bandwidth, options, etc you can bet your **** costs will go up and up and up.

Then maybe, just maybe, some people will have something to **** about. Right now people should shut their pie hole as it's not costing you one extra cent to stream, except you expect every option and quality under the sun.

Yes, I know costs of the Netflix plans just increased, but I'm sure they would have even if streaming wasn't included. Look around at everything you buy, costs are going up everywhere.

What a bunch of whiners. How about people start bitching about how McD's double cheese burger just went from .99c to $1.19 and they didn't even give you more food or condiments. :rolleyes:

H9

bobman1235

I agree, it makes it mildly more inconvenient. Now you have to go on their website to add a movie to a queue. In the grand scheme of things, it's a mild inconvenience, your actual SERVICE is not changing.

I was annoyed when the iPhone app came out and there was no way to organize my DVD queue. I get it. I'm not gonna cancel my service or forecast doom and gloom because of it.

LessisNevermore

heiney9 wrote: »

here you seem to assume physical discs are on there way out.

They aren't replacing anything yet, and I bet if (that's a big if) they stop sending physical discs the capabilities will be there to stream most anything and everything; for a lot more money.

H9

No Brock, this IS in the game plan. They are reducing the # of discs they purchase, and have said that they intend to phase out physical media. No exact time frame given, but it's coming.

dkg999

Ricardo - all of my local Blockbuster Express kiosks have been removed because they couldn't compete with Redbox. I'm not sure what the problem was, but they did have the new movies before Redbox did. I wish I had a Blockbuster kiosk or store close by!

bobman1235

LessisNevermore wrote: »

No Brock, this IS in the game plan. They are reducing the # of discs they purchase, and have said that they intend to phase out physical media. No exact time frame given, but it's coming.

They've said it's coming for a long time, that doesn't mean that this particular change is making it come any faster. Netflix knows who is doing what with their service, and they arne't going to stop DVD rentals when the majority of people are still using them heavily.

heiney9

LessisNevermore wrote: »

No Brock, this IS in the game plan. They are reducing the # of discs they purchase, and have said that they intend to phase out physical media. No exact time frame given, but it's coming.

I fully expect that would/will happen, but do you or anyone else believe when that day comes that a Netflix user won't be able to stream a new release in HD quality w/ 5.1?

Let's get real people, when the physical disc option disappears you won't be left high and dry with only "Lucy" re-runs to watch.

I think many are doom and gloom when it's not necessary at this point.

H9

heiney9

dkg999 wrote: »

Ricardo - all of my local Blockbuster Express kiosks have been removed because they couldn't compete with Redbox. I'm not sure what the problem was, but they did have the new movies before Redbox did. I wish I had a Blockbuster kiosk or store close by!

All but one small Blockbuster is left in a town of 175,000. Blockbuster can suck it as far as I'm concerned. Never cared for them or their service.

H9

AsSiMiLaTeD

heiney9 wrote: »

All but one small Blockbuster is left in a town of 175,000. Blockbuster can suck it as far as I'm concerned. Never cared for them or their service.

H9

+1, Blockbuster can indeed suck it. Their service and business practices are horrible.

Ricardo

I love Blockbuster.

bobman1235

Well, unfortunately for you you're basically loving a corpse at this point. If they're around to see 2012 I'll be pretty surprised.