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Netflix is on Fire

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Re: Netflix is on Fire

#141

Post by [deleted] »

wyager wrote: post #124
mike-cardwell wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feb 2015 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31623659 "The TV licence does not have a long-term future and is likely to be replaced by a new levy within the next 15 years, a group of MPs has said." "The MPs suggested every household could pay a new compulsory levy instead." Yeah. So if enough people decide they don't need or want the BBC so they're not paying for it, it will hit a threshold where they just…

Maybe this is just a cultural thing, but is that not messed up? It seems wrong, or at least very wasteful, to force people to pay for state-produced entertainment. Even the current TV licensing scheme is bad, because it assumes you watch BBC content if you have a TV.

[deleted]

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#142

Post by atomwaffel »

wyager wrote: post #124
mike-cardwell wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feb 2015 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31623659 "The TV licence does not have a long-term future and is likely to be replaced by a new levy within the next 15 years, a group of MPs has said." "The MPs suggested every household could pay a new compulsory levy instead." Yeah. So if enough people decide they don't need or want the BBC so they're not paying for it, it will hit a threshold where they just…

Maybe this is just a cultural thing, but is that not messed up? It seems wrong, or at least very wasteful, to force people to pay for state-produced entertainment. Even the current TV licensing scheme is bad, because it assumes you watch BBC content if you have a TV.

> It seems wrong, or at least very wasteful, to force people to pay for state-produced entertainment.

The entertainment isn't produced by the state though. The BBC is owned and funded by the British public, not the state. The government isn't directly involved in the BBC, although "BBC Trustees are appointed by the British monarch on advice of government ministers"[0]. Other European countries have similar models.

Besides, and I understand that this is a contentious issue, I think that there are certain services that all members of a society should pay for, even if not everybody uses them. My taxes pay for roads even though I don't own a car. Bear in mind that the BBC also produces news and a lot of other content, all without ads and independent of commercial interests.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC#Governance_and_Corporate_S...

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#143

Post by e40 »

hackerboos wrote: post #128
wtbob wrote: post #107

I wonder how much of Netflix's success is that its show are good, and how much is that they are easy to watch. Anytime I want to, I can go to Netflix and watch any episode of their shows. I ca watch the first season; I can watch the intervening seasons; I can watch the current season. There are no blackouts; there are no embargoes. I can binge-watch if I want, or I can pace myself, at my pace. Compare that to the big…

I'm a prolific pirate. The Amazon offerings as pointed out by the author (Transparent, High Castle..) sit on my HTPC - downloaded from torrents because Amazon's streaming services are not offered here in Canada so how else would I get them. I haven't pirated any Netflix shows because it's simply too cheap and too easy to just do it legit.

I have Amazon Prime and I've been forced to pirate the content because their streaming app on the Roku 3 sucks ass. On the same device, the Netflix app never buffers (I have a 55 Mbps connection). So, I recently downloaded a series I was watching. Turns out, I had paid for it (Hannibal season 3), in HD. Just couldn't stream, over a few days, without stopped. So, torrenting I went.

I have the same complaint about HBO Now on the Roku. Man, does it suck.

Lest people think the problem is my network, often when I have the issue I switch to Netflix and never once have I had a problem after the switch. Seems unlikely I just happened to switch when the network problems went away.

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#144

Post by e40 »

cm2187 wrote: post #40

Don't know if the catalogue is the same here in the UK than in the US, but in the UK Netflix is only good for TV shows. The movie offering is very light. The other thing is the lack of offline viewing, which is useful when travelling. The media industry is so backward. I can't believe most of them still live in the 90s and these problems haven't been solved yet.

Don't know if the catalogue is the same here in the UK than in the US

I know of one difference. Jimmy Carr advertised on twitter his new special more than a month ago. Still not available in the US. That just makes no sense to me, and not that I'm reminded of this I think I'll torrent it.

EDIT: hmm, googling doesn't show there is a Jimmy Carr netflix special. The tweet in question:

https://twitter.com/jimmycarr/status/663762543157096448

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#145

Post by casperc »

ownagefool wrote: post #121
scriptdevil wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this was possible, I would get a friend of mine in USA to pay for my account. People complain about piracy in India and do not understand that torrents and streaming sites are currently my only source for good TV series. I am readily willing to pay even $40 a month for such a service.

You simply need to sign up and consume netflix using a VPN which terminates in the US and thus they'll see you as a native US user.

Or even better, sign up using a Canadian IP. The their dollar is lower than the American, so it is cheaper (might be cheaper elsewhere). It doesn't limit you in any way to sign up and use in another country as far as I can tell.

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#146

Post by Fargren »

soylentcola wrote: post #26
jerf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, how good is the streaming UHD? I've always wondered how the tension between bandwidth consumption and "actually looking better than 1080P" would pan out. Last week with some Christmas funds we bought a 24" TV. Even at the point-blank range it is sitting at, 1080P isn't worth much so I got the nicer (and non-Smart!) 720P Samsung rather than the off-brand "we have 1080P!"-bullet-point-feature brand. W…

On bigger screens and/or ones closer to the viewer it's definitely a noticeable improvement. It's obviously compressed and not up to the standard of a really high bitrate 4k video file but I guess it's equivalent to how "HD" on cable doesn't look as good as HD over the air but it still looks a lot nicer than standard def or DVD. One major downside is that you can't stream 4K Netflix or Amazon to your browser so even…

I also have a 27" 2560x1440 monitor and while the content looks fine, the video gets really choppy if I don't configure my monitor to 1920x1080, as if it's struggling to resize the video. Does this not happen to you?

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#147

Post by diamondtrim »

e40 wrote: post #143
hackerboos wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a prolific pirate. The Amazon offerings as pointed out by the author (Transparent, High Castle..) sit on my HTPC - downloaded from torrents because Amazon's streaming services are not offered here in Canada so how else would I get them. I haven't pirated any Netflix shows because it's simply too cheap and too easy to just do it legit.

I have Amazon Prime and I've been forced to pirate the content because their streaming app on the Roku 3 sucks ass. On the same device, the Netflix app never buffers (I have a 55 Mbps connection). So, I recently downloaded a series I was watching. Turns out, I had paid for it (Hannibal season 3), in HD. Just couldn't stream, over a few days, without stopped. So, torrenting I went. I have the same complaint about HBO…

Sounds like the Netflix app just had better bandwidth detection and quality adjustment than Amazon or HBO. Not surprising, as the latter two are less mature apps and infrastructure built by relatively newcomers to the streaming business whose core competency is not in digital media distribution (regardless who may have built their system). Ironically, it might be because you bought it in HD that it buffers excessively on your roku, whereas it might stream better in SD.

But none of that matters, you are correct at this point that Netflix clearly has it figured out and working for you, while their competition does not. Only to say, the dynamic bitrate support is likely to improve on the other apps with time (not to mention, your internet connection is likely to periodically increase in speed for various upgrades to your equipment or your ISPs) so those issues are likely not permanent.

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#148

Post by scurvy »

e40 wrote: post #143
hackerboos wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a prolific pirate. The Amazon offerings as pointed out by the author (Transparent, High Castle..) sit on my HTPC - downloaded from torrents because Amazon's streaming services are not offered here in Canada so how else would I get them. I haven't pirated any Netflix shows because it's simply too cheap and too easy to just do it legit.

I have Amazon Prime and I've been forced to pirate the content because their streaming app on the Roku 3 sucks ass. On the same device, the Netflix app never buffers (I have a 55 Mbps connection). So, I recently downloaded a series I was watching. Turns out, I had paid for it (Hannibal season 3), in HD. Just couldn't stream, over a few days, without stopped. So, torrenting I went. I have the same complaint about HBO…

It could also be congestion at the peering points your ISP uses to connect (directly or through transit) to Amazon or HBO.

I think Netflix also still uses caching boxes in a few locations, but they are being phased out.

In other words, there are a lot more variables in the equation than just your home network and the Roku app.

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#149

Post by scurvy »

delecti wrote: post #136
wtbob wrote: post #107

I wonder how much of Netflix's success is that its show are good, and how much is that they are easy to watch. Anytime I want to, I can go to Netflix and watch any episode of their shows. I ca watch the first season; I can watch the intervening seasons; I can watch the current season. There are no blackouts; there are no embargoes. I can binge-watch if I want, or I can pace myself, at my pace. Compare that to the big…

Netflix is super cheap, and obscenely easy. It's more difficult to pirate than to watch something on Netflix, which should really be the goal of any service. For me, it's almost entirely that it's easy. Aside from Daredevil and a handful of their comedy specials, I haven't watched any of their produced content, and I'd be just as satisfied if it didn't exist.

The Hollywood movie selection (non Netflix produced) is pretty horrendous. They have a fair amount of TV shows, but the movies are absent.

Re: Netflix is on Fire

#150

Post by criddell »

pdappollonio wrote: post #140
criddell wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that Hulu Prime, the version without commercials The last time I looked, the commercial free version of Hulu still had commercials for some shows. Has that changed?

There are a few shows that large cable companies wants to have with ads. But it's minimal. I think one of them is "Once upon a time".

> large cable companies wants to have with ads

Any guesses why this is? It seems so strange to me that it isn't possible to offer a commercial free service.

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