Netflix streaming

Why are people ok with the crappy compressed streaming? I don't understand this. I now have to pay $1 more each month to get discs to help pay for the streamers. Why watch "worse than vhs" quality when you can pop in a disc and get HD?

 

If they offered current (just aired) TV shows, I might watch (if I missed them) But why watch low res movies?

 

 

I'm able to get HD quality when it's made available. 30 Rock is one example. I just watched Contact the other day and it was DVD quality, so it depends on how fast your connection is.

Unlike the people on a forum like this, most people don't care about quality, but only convenience.

 

Also, if the price was a dollar or two lower, I'd be tempted too.  "Worse than VHS quality" is understating it as well, to be fair.
 

I don't stream any videos. I won't watch TV on a computor, and I don't have one hooked up to my TV. Why should I pay extra for this? They came out with a streaming only subscription. Why didn't they come out with a mail only subscription at the same or lesser rate then what they just raised mine too.I also didn't like it when they started charging more for Blue ray. From what I have read tho, this is the future. They will eventually stream everything and stop mailing all together.  

Okay thoughts from someone that just signed up for Netflix

for the very first time yesterday....

 

After owning thousands of DVD and Blu-rays I came to the

decision recently that I don't want to continue buying product

that I am only going to watch once or twice and then just sit

on the shelf for the sake of having a collection.

 

It goes without saying that I will always buy my favorite films

on Blu-ray.  There is nothing currently available that matches

the resolution and experience of watching a movie on that format.

 

So, after months of toying with the idea of streaming, I finally

signed up for a Netflix account yesterday afternoon via the app

on my brand new LG display.

 

I get a free month's trial then a subscription of $7.99 a month

for unlimited streaming which I think is very fair.

 

I only clicked on one movie to sample.  I think it was called

"Finding Harry Nilsson" (or something like that).  Sampled the

first 10 minutes.  Overall, on a 60" plasma display, it looked

fairly good though a little dullish.   

 

If I can get DVD quality from streaming I would be a happy camper.

 

I'm not looking to use Netflix as a venue to watch 5-star releases.

I look to it to find stuff I would not normally buy -- or perhaps what

I used to buy blindly.  For that reason the quality does come second

to the selection as long as I am not watching really bad video.

 

I am happy that Netflix has made this arrangement for those that

just want to stream content.  I'm sorry that those that subscribed

to DVDs in the mail are having to pay more but it absolutely looks

as if Netflix may be wanting to get away from mailing out DVDs

as they are claiming that their streaming may mean the end for

that format.

I began using Netflix several years ago for the DVD delivery service.  Two years ago, I began paying a little extra for the blu-ray service.  When they began offering the streaming service, I thought, "that's nice, I might use it every once in a while."

Now I get maybe one Bluray a week, but the majority of my Netflix usage is the streaming service. (Currently working my way through seasons 1-5 of Doctor Who, did all three seasons of Torchwood, both seasons of Sarah Conner, the full season of Firefly, more movies than I can count.)  HD is great, DVD quality is acceptable. I dropped my service to one disc at a time, because I can see a lot of stuff online and, like Ron, I see too many discs collecting dust on my shelves.  Last year, I spent the summer converting my 500+ DVD collection to .iso, stored them on a couple of TB drives, and access them now through My Movies/Windows Media Center (Windows 7).  The few Blu-Rays I have, I've done the same thing.  I gave my son just about all of my DVDs.

I love the convenience and flexibility of watching Netflix Instant Stream. I can access it on my 46 inch tv, any of the 6 computers/laptops in my house, my iTouch and, coming soon, my Android phone.

I guess I dont see how all you people can get DVD/HD quality. You must have an extreamly fast internet connection. Some of us poor folk only have 1.5M so the video quality of this streaming service is horrible. Not to mention Comcast and others are throttling this sort of stuff to make sure we don't steel more than our share of bandwidth and they are my only other choice for internet.

 

To get BD quality, you would need 50 meg download speeds and hope the Netflix servers and all the entire "Cloud" to your house can support that speed.

 

I am sad. :(

Douglas,

 

You hit the nail on the end.

 

TV SHOWS.

 

This is where Netflix has the most potential for me.

 

Why spend up to $50 on season boxed sets when I can

watch a few seasons of television under my unlimited viewing

plan.

 

I don't know if anyone has actually seen a VHS tape recently, but on a large TV, it's quite horrible (even worse if it's home recorded tape).  We're talking 240 lines of resolution, and unless you have an S-Vid connection, it's simply unwatchable.

I have watched Netflix Streaming on my PS3. It is worse looking than VHS. I stand by my statements. :)

 

That is why, for me, steaming will never be my choice until I get the BW to handle it. I have no clue how the internet cloud can handle everyone streaming HD movies. I doubt it can.

 

 

I've got 10mb cable internet and streaming of HD titles to my Pioneer Elite 60" KURO looks comparable to most HDTV broadcasts. Not Blu-Ray quality, but certainly better than DVD and not even in the same discussion as VHS. Too bad all the titles available for streaming aren't HD because the ones that are look great on my setup.

I picked up Netflix for my iPod Touch and then decided to use it in Media Center. In both my iPod and Media Center the videos for the most part look great. Sometimes the video stream on my iPod gets pixelated. But that is going over WiFi.

As Doug stated the content is buffered. In Media Center when Netflix starts up it checks your internet connection speed and adjusts the buffer for your connection.

As Ron stated this is great for TV series. I watched all of Better Off Ted on my iPod Touch the other night. I will definitely be cutting back on the number of TV series I buy from here on out.

The only real issue I have with this is the more this catches on the higher our internet connection bills are going to get with all the increased bandwidth usage.

Parker

 

I live in Hampton Roads Va., and have Cox. I pay for 20Mbps, but get upwards of 35 on a regular basis, so my "HD' viewing experience is probably not typical. On my iPod, I still get around 10Mbps through the wireless connection. The rest of my computers (2 downstairs, 2 upstairs) are all networked with Cat5.  I'm sorry you have a bad experience. My son lives in Abilene Tx and has Roadrunner or something like that, and can only get 1.5mbps...
 

I've found the quality to be varying depending on the title- some look adequate, others don't.  Never seen anything better than a standard DVD- I have a Vizio TV with Netflix built-in, and about 4mbps internet speed last time I checked.  I've been watching mostly weird old stuff that hasn't been issued at all on disc- great find was "American Raspberry" which is an obscure "Groove Tube" style movie.  I watched Michael Jackson's "This Is It" and it was obvious that it was SUPPOSED to look good, but there was just a lot of artifacting in the background.  I've noticed that if you internet service slows, it will switch to a low-res feed then kick back into higher-res when it can.

 

The main problem with streaming video is that it can't handle 30 frames per second- anything shot on video comes out at a more film-like frame speed.

That is precisely the point which is overlooked far too often in most tech articles I read. First, some of us are lucky to have any high speed internet period. I have no other options in my area and it is take it or leave it for service. My speeds also are at 1.5M and that is it. Second, the limited bandwidth for some providers can be an issue. Even if you have a 10 or 20M connection, they may limit you to what you can use because they are competing with those services and want your money spent on their cable TV services. I don't know how people can get excited over the "future" of streaming when all these limitations exist and there is no solution that can be provided since it would counter productive for them to do so.

You are 100% wrong on most of those statements and let me explain why. First, there are indeed limits imposed by Comcast and others as I have stated already. This is a FACT and most people know this based on the tech articles from places like arstechnica, tomshardware, engadget, etc. Also, I would refer you to some of the podcasts such as TWIT (This Week in Tech) with Leo Laporte. Do NOT believe what anyone says at those companies that provide cable service, read the articles done on them that show the REAL testing and truch of the matter. Yes, Comcast may not "throttle" the bandwidth, that just means they don't cut the speed down based on the bits scanned for packet data to a certain place (i.e. Netflix). However, that has nothing to do with what is being discussed here and that is "data caps". Most providers, such as Comcast and some others have been imposing data caps for some time now. Just do a Google search for "data cap" and you will find many that have them. This goes back to the original point which is you are NOT going to get streaming content, such as Netflix, without restrictions. This again can be referenced on the many tech articles if you search. All this talk about "streaming" is NOT the future unless those providers get on board and change their current policies. As stated, it is counter productive to their business and they don't care how popular Netflix streaming may be because of this.

 

Second, you made a bold statement in what you assume will be changes to ones service in the future. I have news for you, not everyone lives in a large city and they are lucky to have any service at all. There is no way many of us will ever get anywhere close to 5M service let alone 50M due to the fact there is no profit for them to do so. At this time I pay $100/mo for 1.5M service since there is no other competition. As I stated, there are no options for many of us and it is take it as is or leave it period.

Yuh know, I have been touting the possible advantages

of streaming movies to my home rather than purchasing DVDs.

 

Over the past few days I have finally given Netflix a good,

hard look and I am sorry to say that I am rather disappointed.

 

It has nothing to do with the streaming quality.  It has 

everything to do with the selection.

 

There's nothing of real interest here.  Not many new movies

listed under NEW RELEASES.  Most of the stuff is standard

catalog fare.  Many times I did searches for catalog titles that

were only 3-5 years old and was told that it was available for

DVD RENTAL ONLY.

 

So, last night, while in the mood to watch a movie I ended

up watching two really good documentaries, a National

Geographic piece on North Korea and a Marx Brothers bio.

 

....but the point is there is nothing of real interest to watch.

 

Am I missing something?  I understand that new releases

take about 30 days to hit Netflix after video release but looking

through the selection of stuff I couldn't find anything of real

interest.

I've been on a Blu ray Binge of late I guess the prices have wooed me, especially lately gettting disks for $8 or less and Box sets for under $25. But I know what you mean, I stream alot of movies and tv shows via my Apple TV , and the new one has Neflix streaming and even on my 65" screen it does'nt look too bad especially the HD content. I might go this route with my Membership since they are charging more for Blu ray and carrying less copies, they obviously want to go streaming only. Now if they can work out deals to get alot of their tv content streaming I'd be happy with that, it would save me on encoding and I have Netflix apps on almost every device possible, I too might be winding down on my purchases.
 

In addition to my comments about lack of content....

 

Got a question....

 

Does Netflix do 1080p or is it all 720p?

 

Reason I ask....

 

Looking to possibly buy an Apple TV.  However

that is only limited to 720p output for Netflix.  

 

I am not certain what Netflix via my new LG display

or Blu-ray player is outputting.   If it will output a 

better resolution than Apple TV then there is no need

to buy it.

Dave,

 

Had to remove your posts.

 

I very much appreciate the fact you wanted to offer

a reply but all you ended up doing was quoting my 

original posts with no additional content from you.

 

I know it was an accident.  Please try again.

Sorry, but you are yet again 100% wrong in your statements. I can prove them to not be factual in several ways, all you need to do is a search on Google or reference the articles and podcasts I refer to. As stated, most service providers can and do limit you with "data caps". One such statement from Comcast here:

 

http://www.comcast.net/terms/network/amendment/

 

I will not post others because all you need to do is read it for yourself as there are MANY articles on this. It is not just limited to Comcast but most other providers as well.

 

You said:

 

"They will HAVE to provide service able to handle the content because that is the direction everything is moving. Frankly at 1.5 mbps, much of what is available on the internet is not accessible to you. At least not reasonably accessible. If they don’t provide at least a 10mbps service, then someone else, be it satellite or some other service,  will come along and put them out of business. Even in small towns."

 

Again, you are 100% wrong in this statement for reasons I have already mentioned prior. If you think anyone is going to upgrade service outside of large cities for people demanding it then you have either never lived in a small town or you are not educated in business economics 101. It does not matter if this is believed to be the future or not and it certainly does not matter even if every single resident is "demanding it". As I said, it comes down to cost vs profit. There is no profit incentive for anyone to do so and no business in their right mind is going to do something they can not turn a good profit on. Most small towns don't even have ANY high speed internet and it is either dial-up or satellite service. Which brings me to the other point that most all current satellite service tops out at 1.5M down and about 256kbps up for their plans regardless of where you get it. Just look at DirecWay, Wild Blue, etc. so you will never see faster speeds there unless another company does so.

 

What you are talking about is simply pie in the sky type of things without having actually done research on it first hand to know the full details. I have explored all options and trust me when I say I know a LOT about all of this. You simply are not going to get what you perceive to be future changes in service for many years, if ever, in smaller towns. No one is going to just come along and put someone out of business as you suggest because of going back to what I have said all along, cost vs profit. You must have enough people willing to pay x amount of money for something before you can make money doing it. In a smaller town, even if every one signed up, it simply would not be enough to justify the expense. I have checked into this personally and there is no way, even with a possible government subsidy can it be done by anyone due to limitations. I could go on and on as to the reasons why still, but I have made my point many times over.

I signed up for Netflix just over a month ago and so far, I am very happy with it.  I live in Canada and where I am has excellent bandwidth, so the streaming is very fast and, I think, looks excellent.  I am a Hi-Def snob and I find the HD content to be just fine.  Sure, not up to Blu Ray, but very good...better than DVD.  

 

I agree with Ron that the selection is pretty limited.  However, for $8.00, I cant complain.  I am watching lots of TV series, the occasional movie and documentaries.  My thinking is that as the service increases in popularity, they will be able to get bigger/newer titles online.  I really see this as the future of TV.  If they can grow their selections and keep up with the demand of bandwidth, the next few years will see me getting rid of cable (heck, the only real reason I keep it now is for sports).