New Netflix user very, very Impressed! (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Donahue]

I think it may be something at your end. The screenshot I posted earlier was actually from my iPad's Netflix app not my TV, and I just ran the same title in Netflix on my PC's browser and it's still saying it's in HD:

Interesting - I just tried Million Dollar Baby on my iPad and Mac and both were in SD while some other titles did HD. I wonder if Mark-P is right that it's different for every title, and we're getting something different because we are in the U.S. and you are in Austrailia?

 

[Persianimmortal]

Well what do you know - you guys are right. It looks like Netflix is restricting HD viewing on devices in the US but not Australia.


I use a region switching smartDNS service called Getflix to geo-hop. I switched regions to Netflix US on my PC - I usually only watch Netflix on my TV - and this is the result: same title, same account playback settings (HD), same PC, but no HD available in the US:

Either the crafty devils at Netflix are trying to save bandwidth in their larger markets, or perhaps there's some odd clause regarding lower device quality in their license for these titles in certain markets.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This is true with a lot of other services and devices as well - for instance, in my collection of Vudu titles, I have HDX access to all of my titles when viewed on any set-top box (Roku, PS3, Oppo BD player), but many of the titles are locked to only SD playback when viewing on my computer and/or iPhone. I always assumed the higher resolutions were being blocked on my computer out of some misguided copy protection strategy.


(This is yet another example of why I'm perfectly okay with redeeming free UV codes or paying to rent titles on these services, but not OK with making expensive digital-only purchases. If I purchase a title, I should be able to view it at the quality I purchased on whichever devices I own and have authorization to use. I don't want the studios or retailers telling me that I'm only allowed to watch high quality versions on devices of their choosing as a surprise after making a purchase.)

 

[DaveF]

Netflix is a stray cat that wandered into my home, and now is costing me money every month...but my wife thinks it's the cutest thing ever and I can't get rid of it.





I signed up this summer to watch "Switched at Birth", since it doesn't rerun for the Tivo to record. Well, six months later, I'm still working slowly through SaB and Netflix seems to have taken up semi-permanent status, with my wife watching Jane the Virgin reruns, Leverage, and other series that she's not able to Season Pass on the TiVo.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Netflix is the best deal out there !!

 

[bigshot]

Netflix is great. Anyone with cable and not Netflix is a sap.

 

[TonyD]

Netflix is great. Anyone with cable and not Netflix is a sap.

Yeah okay.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I was wondering why a Vermont farmer tried to "tap" me yesterday...

 

[DaveF]

I considered dropping cable for Netflix a couple years ago. But its lack of live shows (Survivor, The Amazing Race) made that a non-starter.

And because it has no offline viewing, I'm hooked on TiVo for airplane and hotel viewing.

So now it's cable + Netflix.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Netflix is great. Anyone with cable and not Netflix is a sap.

I guess I'm a sap, then. The vast majority of my cable watching is live sports. Netflix doesn't offer that. For the limited streaming I do, Amazon Prime (which also gets me other benefits) works fine, and I can rent an occasional movie through either Amazon or Vudu.

 

[Tony J Case]

See, I'm in the other boat. The streaming looks like crap and the selection is pathetic. There are so many flicks I want to watch that they simply don't have - and not just the weird, obscure cult stuff either, but reasonably mainstream stuff (Their horror movie selection is laughable). Plus their content being at the whims of a studio that can pull their movies the second they feel the need to throw a hissy-fit (which really isnt Netflix's fault, but another flaw of the streaming model regardless).


Mind you, it's not just Netflix. I tried out the Amazon streaming, and it sucks too, as does Hulu. The A/V quality is uniformly shit across the board and the selection is wanting.


Yeah, give me physical media any day.

 

[TravisR]

To each their own but if I had to choose between cable and Netflix, cable is going to win every time for me because I watch a pretty good amount of TV that would require me to pay for multiple streaming services. I got a buddy who dropped cable over the summer and all he does is complain about how he's still missing TV shows while spending money to buy shows on iTunes and paying for Hulu & Netflix & HBOGo. He'll never admit it but I'd bet he's spending more money now than he was on cable.

 

[Worth]

See, I'm in the other boat. The streaming looks like crap and the selection is pathetic...Mind you, it's not just Netflix. I tried out the Amazon streaming, and it sucks too, as does Hulu. The A/V quality is uniformly shit across the board and the selection is wanting.

Compared to what? Blu-ray? DVD? Cable or satellite? I find Netflix's HD offerings in particular to be about on par, maybe even a bit better than cable or satellite. Certainly better than DVD, but well below blu-ray. iTunes is about the same. Hulu is a little bit worse, but still pretty decent. Vudu is easily the best - there's an occasional compression artifact or bit of banding, but very good. Never tried Amazon.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Just in terms of how it looks on my screen (and not judging the quality of the actual content), streaming often looks better on my setup than cable. I just recently got a coupon from the cable company for a free on demand movie rental, and while it was fine, it did not play nearly as cleanly as something from Netflix or Vudu. Though the movie was advertised as HD and definitely was better than SD, it didn't seem as sharp and detailed as a stream, and the DVR glitched a few times during the playback, which usually doesn't happen with streaming.

 

[DaveF]

See, I'm in the other boat. The streaming looks like crap and the selection is pathetic.

When did you last try Netflix? It was terrible for me until mid 2015 (worse than analog TV). But once Netlifx starting paying Verizon their protection money, quality has been good to great. It's not Blu-ray in general, but pretty close to cable HD.


But the movie selection is still as random as ever

 

[JayHink]

And here I am still watching regular broadcast network free over-the-air TV via digital antenna. Commercials and all.

I watch classic TV (& movies) via disc collection, so I guess I'm not "saving money" by not paying the $10 per month Netflix fee. lol

One of these days I'll get these streaming services, but I've found that, despite being a (mostly classic) TV lover, I don't have nearly as much viewing time as my friends & fam seem to have.

(And they allllll love their Netflix.)

 

[bigshot]

If you like classic TV and movies, Warner Archive Instant is the best streaming service.

 

[Persianimmortal]

Something that's starting to bug me about Netflix is the bizarre ways they present some classic films in non-original aspect ratios. It seems almost as though they randomly decide the presentation. Last week I watched Desk Set, recently added to Netflix US. It had great image quality, except for the fact that they'd cropped it to 4:3 instead of its original CinemaScope presentation. Makes no sense, since now instead of having black bars above and below, it has big black bars on the side. Then I watched The Enemy Below on Netflix Canada, and it too is a CinemaScope picture, but this time it starts playing in proper OAR just for the titles, before being zoomed in. At other times, I've watched CinemaScope movies with preserved OAR on Netflix. What gives?

 

[Richard V]

Netflix is great. Anyone with cable and not Netflix is a sap.

No need for insults here.

 

[Worth]

Something that's starting to bug me about Netflix is the bizarre ways they present some classic films in non-original aspect ratios. It seems almost as though they randomly decide the presentation. Last week I watched Desk Set, recently added to Netflix US. It had great image quality, except for the fact that they'd cropped it to 4:3 instead of its original CinemaScope presentation. Makes no sense, since now instead of having black bars above and below, it has big black bars on the side. Then I watched The Enemy Below on Netflix Canada, and it too is a CinemaScope picture, but this time it starts playing in proper OAR just for the titles, before being zoomed in. At other times, I've watched CinemaScope movies with preserved OAR on Netflix. What gives?

It also varies from country to country. I watched the Robocop remake on Netflix UK in its proper 2.35 ratio, while it was cropped to 1.78 on Netflix Canada.