Netflix streaming - Page 3

That's because, since they stopped offering a lot of BD disc (and no longer carry newly-released BD catalogue titles (and often not many NEW BD releases...such as ALL-STAR SUPERMAN), AND raised the price for BD discs, many people changed their plans to only one or two out-at-a-time and switched to Blockbuster or some other service.  But they still use straming (even though there's little to watc opf value) just because it's there.  So their subscription base stays basically the same...but it reads as fewer disc rentals.  But it's NOT because people have stopped getting discs...they just go elsewhere.  As for their "HD" streaming...it's bottom-of-the-barrel.  First, it is only 720p (that's less than cable) and, depending on the movie, can look "okay" or downright terrible.  Not to mention those pesky buffering issues.  And SD looks barely better than VHS, I think.  Look, streaming is great if you're looking for some foreign film, a low-budget indie, or MEGA HYENA VS DINO SQUIRREL.  But it pretty much does suck...however, as someone noted, people only care about convenience and not quality.  MP3 sounds just dandy for most music listeners, regardless of the poor quality, and, if you don't mind watching movies on  a 2-inch Phone screen...well, that just about says it all.

It doesn't "suck" at all, actually.

Today from Netflix we streamed NIAGARA and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE in SD, and THE ODD COUPLE in HD.  All of them looked fantastic.  Certainly not "bottom of the barrel."  Way better than "okay."

 

Last night watched TIN PAN ALLEY, which Fox has never released on DVD.  Looked great, and I was pleasantly surprised to see they are showing some "exclusive" content like this.

 

We stream it through Apple TV.  I've seen a few things that did look bad (MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM), but for the most part I have been thrilled with the quality, and as someone with hundreds of laserdiscs, dvds, blu rays and vinyl records, I dont really fit the "only care about convenience and not quality" demographic.

 

True..if you are looking for new films you will probably be disappointed.  But you can put together a pretty nice little monthly film festival for yourself.  My instant queue is loaded with great stuff....THE RED SHOES, NETWORK, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, DRIVING MISS DAISY, TOY STORY 3, WEEDS, PAPER MOON, ALL THAT JAZZ, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. 

 

Nary a "mega hyena" among them.

 

For $8 a month?  Nope...definitely doesn't suck.

I recently downgraded my membership from a grandfathered 4-out plan (at the 3-out base price) to a 2-out plan, partially because my wife and I weren't renting as many discs as we used to with the service, but also due to the fact that they were raising their prices rather steeply. Although we were grandfathered in with the 4-out at the 3-out rate, they were still charging us for the 4-disc Blu-ray surcharge, which also went up with their last rate hike at the beginning of the year.

 

Their streaming service works quite nicely, not quite as good as Blu-ray, but not bad, either. But, I think that Netflix, as well as many of the other streaming services such as HuluPlus, VuDu, Amazon, etc, are going to hit a brick wall in a few short years as more and more people switch to streaming, the ISP's begin to place more bandwidth caps, and the current internet infrastructure finally collapses under its own weight because no one will invest in upgrading it.

Looks like the party is over.

Just received an email that streaming and shipped discs are now going to be two separate accounts, so my current 1 disc unlimited streaming for $10 will now be $16.

I'm not sure which one to give up at this point, but leaning toward the dvd's as I can still get those from kiosks or the library.