20 years with Netflix

BlueFox

Logged on tonight, and a Thank You was there for being a customer for 20 years. I bought my first DVD player in 1998, and it came with a coupon for 10 free DVD rentals. I signed up after that. For the first 10 years I really went though a lot of DVDs, and HT gear. However, not so much the last 10 years. Turns out the HT is what got me back into music, and I have been more focused on the stereo than the HT the last few years. Oh well, there is only so much free time.

muncybob

Too bad you didn't buy their stock back then. I'm coming up on 20 soon too,just not sure when that is.

BlueFox

That is the truth. I remember saying if they ever go public I should buy some. LOL.

billbillw

Time flies. I'm not approaching 20, but I'm pretty sure I've been with them since 2004, with maybe a couple brief pauses in service (I had 3 at a time for a while and ran out of stuff to watch). Its been many years since I've had their disc service though. I think I went to streaming only around 2011 when they decided to start charging extra for discs.

Jimbo18

I might only be about 12 yrs or so with Netflix, but (slightly off topic) I bought my first DVD player the end of 1999. It was, I think, a Magnavox and was cheaper because it could play DVDs as well as DIVX discs. Circuit City carried DIVX but was dropping them around that time.

msg

Netflix fan here, too. I can still remember when their streaming side was barely known. They used to have some kind of agreement with Starz at the time and had lots of great movies. I couldn't get over how cool that was, being able to search and watch on demand. It was a revolutionary concept, way better than cable on demand or Pay-Per-View which seemed a lot more limited, and no access to "catalog" or indie films.

Clipdat

Congrats on your 4,000th post.

msg wrote: »

Netflix fan here, too. I can still remember when their streaming side was barely known. They used to have some kind of agreement with Starz at the time and had lots of great movies. I couldn't get over how cool that was, being able to search and watch on demand. It was a revolutionary concept, way better than cable on demand or Pay-Per-View which seemed a lot more limited, and no access to "catalog" or indie films.

billbillw

Clipdat wrote: »

Congrats on your 4,000th post.

msg wrote: »

Netflix fan here, too. I can still remember when their streaming side was barely known. They used to have some kind of agreement with Starz at the time and had lots of great movies. I couldn't get over how cool that was, being able to search and watch on demand. It was a revolutionary concept, way better than cable on demand or Pay-Per-View which seemed a lot more limited, and no access to "catalog" or indie films.

Too bad he won't get a "Badge" until 5000

mrbiron

Last I read, Netflix DVD service is down to some 3,000,000 subscribers and falling. The good thing is, the DVD rental service is their biggest Cash cow so it shouldnt be leaving for a while, but if I had to guess, that service will be done for in about 2-4 years.

I'm on my second tour with Netflix and it works swimmingly.

mantis

I just rejoined Netflix for the 3rd time over the last 20 years. I had them with Disc's, then streaming now 4k stuff. I'm actually shocked on how much stuff there is I want to watch. They got a lot of good content not to mention plenty of 4k HDR and Dolby Vision stuff to mess around with.
With Apple taking their audio to the next level with Atmos I wonder if Netflix will start streaming higher quality audio then Dolby Digital plus.

BlueFox

mrbiron wrote: »

Last I read, Netflix DVD service is down to some 3,000,000 subscribers and falling. The good thing is, the DVD rental service is their biggest Cash cow so it shouldnt be leaving for a while, but if I had to guess, that service will be done for in about 2-4 years.

I'm on my second tour with Netflix and it works swimmingly.

I started with 4 DVDs a month, and am now down to 1 DVD a month. Sometimes it takes me two months to watch that one DVD. I have 200-300 unwatched Blue Rays of my own, but Netflix is for DVDs I don't want to buy.

I have never streamed anything; video or music.

rooftop59

mantis wrote: »

I just rejoined Netflix for the 3rd time over the last 20 years. I had them with Disc's, then streaming now 4k stuff. I'm actually shocked on how much stuff there is I want to watch. They got a lot of good content not to mention plenty of 4k HDR and Dolby Vision stuff to mess around with.
With Apple taking their audio to the next level with Atmos I wonder if Netflix will start streaming higher quality audio then Dolby Digital plus.

On windows 10 and Xbox One you can get atmos. I have tried it on my little media pc that I mainly use for streaming music, it doesn't seem like there is that much difference (I was watching season 2 of Jessica Jones). Maybe on content with more surround activity?

mlistens03

My entire family uses Netflix, but all of the shows that I like to watch on there are in between seasons right now. However, so is every show I watch on Amazon and Hulu as well.

kevhed72

Big fan of Netflix and went through several streaming devices over the years, including a couple of Roku boxes.
On an unrelated note....am I the only person who doesnt like Netflixes new on screen interface that "opens" a summary of each show when you scroll on it.
Even worse is DirecTVs new display which is hard on the eyes and somewhat confusing when scrolling thru channels or recorded shows? I know it was a matter of time before ATT mucked it up. First world problems I suppose...

msg

kevhed72 wrote: »

Big fan of Netflix and went through several streaming devices over the years, including a couple of Roku boxes.
On an unrelated note....am I the only person who doesn't like Netflix's new on screen interface that "opens" a summary of each show when you scroll on it.

No, you're not. The automation stuff really annoys me. I wish these "features" were options one could adjust. Especially annoying is this autoplay business when you open a title just to read more information on it. If I want to play it, I'll play it. Most of the time I just want to read more, since the browse blurbs and actual title summaries seem to be different. I've taken to muting my system when browsing so as not to be blasted with intense trailers. At least then I'm not distracted by the trailer or the actual program starting before I decide to watch it.

I still use an earlier gen Roku 2 XD in the BR setup. It's significantly slower than the main space Roku 3, but apparently it must be maxed out in what it can support, fancy interface-wise, so it still has the earlier "dumbed down" interface, which I much prefer. Advance the product, sure, but man, give us options. I've tried contacting both Roku and Netflix support on these sorts of things off and on over the years, but pretty much just get the packaged customer service response, and no action.

On a positive note, I've just discovered the Netflix DVD (Queue) App for mobile and tablets. I'm finding it *really* handy for exploring titles. I have to say, streaming wise, Netflix has made it more difficult to find older, catalog titles from the Roku app on streaming devices. They seem to push a lot of content. (I'm surprisingly enjoying some of the Netflix originals, just not that disturbing OitNB) I have to wonder if this has anything to do with the data "cost" of being able to serve unique content to subscribers. Seems like if they get everyone streaming the same set of programming, the ISPs may have a lot of this content cached (just speculating), which would benefit Netflix, ISPs, and viewers alike, in a way, but man those choices seem either very in your face or stale.

Side note/unsolicited social commentary - I couldn't imagine living my life on mobile alone. So tedious, even as a technology person. I hate that "Mobile First" is driving user experience across the design of the web. So many sites look like they're made for smartphones, and it's a bloated waste for the computing side with larger displays.
Everyone trying to do too much on smartphones is really dumbing the world in some ways.

msg

Annnd this is probably one of the reasons Bud doesn't stream...

mlistens03

kevhed72 wrote: »

Big fan of Netflix and went through several streaming devices over the years, including a couple of Roku boxes.
On an unrelated note....am I the only person who doesnt like Netflixes new on screen interface that "opens" a summary of each show when you scroll on it.
.

No you are not.
The interface looks cool overall, but I wish it wouldn’t play when I’m looking at a movie! And I wish it would list the rating before I click on it, because one time my dad walked in while I was looking at it. Of course it autoplayed, and he thought I was trying to watch a rated R movie. I wasn’t. Still got grounded though.

kevhed72

My question is...if the built in Netflix in my TCL P series TV does down....then what??? Back to a Roku device I suppose.

exalted512

No idea when I started netflix. Probably around 2005. Then I cancelled in 2011 when they separate the DVD and streaming service and haven't used it since. Maybe once we get our house built in a couple years we'll look back into it. But for now, prime and directv is more than enough for us. We're not big tv watchers.
-Cody