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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#591

Post by mrguyorama »

indigodaddy wrote: post #557
NearAP wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. - I recently realized I had only turned on my TV just about 4 - 5 times in about 6 months and yet I was paying close to $140 per month, so I downgraded my cable subscription to the minimal (combined cable & internet is cheaper than only internet). - Also realized I rarely watched Netflix (hadn't watched in months) cos I no longer found shows that I liked and I was paying $15.49 per month. And then I saw HBO…

Also if you look for sales on Slickdeals for 4K movies (digital as well as physical), you can OWN (albeit another discussion exists for what owning digital content actually means for the buyer) a 4K movie for as little as $4-5 dollars when sales slide down that low.

I don't have any 4K screens, so I like to just buy used DVDs off of ebay or local thrift stores and rip them.

Theoretically you could then resell the same discs if you don't care for copyright law, but I'm too lazy.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#593

Post by yardie »

ryandrake wrote: post #281
yosito wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, Netflix would be 1000 times better if they just let me sort, filter and find content based on concrete metadata. Instead, I'm forced to rely on their recommendation algorithms that purport to know what I want to watch, but for some reason keep recommending low quality content in languages I'm just not interested in. I'd be happy if I could just filter Netflix to only show me content with original audio in…

Yes! I recently went on a little trip and the AirBnB host had Netflix. This is the first time I’ve ever used Netflix. And oh my god how do people find anything with it?? I didn’t realize that you could scroll horizontally for about a day. And the categories are… useless. +1 for traditional “action” categories. And the content was mostly straight to DVD B-movies with a few “80s oldies.” I did manage to watch the new B…

Modern videostreaming is such a poison pill. Where the rights come and go arbitrarily. So Netflix decided they were going to do their own content because they couldn't rely on production studios. Since they don't have to pay royalties on their own content the streaming apps intentionally push the homegrown movies and obscure the slightly better 3rd party content. And it was not always like this. In their early streaming days the AAA titles (The Godfather, The Matrix, etc) were front and center. The recommendations engine was actually useful. And there were few competitors so AAA titles would stay on their platform for years.

I've been using their service since 00s when they were shipping DVDs. I barely recognize the same company even though they are wildly successful.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#594

Post by [deleted] »

Stunting wrote: post #291
cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

[deleted]

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#595

Post by rjbwork »

Stunting wrote: post #577
rjbwork wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, and nobody I know, has pirated games or music since Steam blew up about 12-15 years ago and Spotify/RDIO and similar blew up about 10 years ago. There was about a decade when Netflix went full in on online streaming and was offering a fantastic service for a reasonable price with a far superior experience to piracy. That is no longer the case, and the unbundling to now a dozen+ of subscriptions is driving pretty m…

Sure you're talking about economical motivators, which I hope and fight for our Union to adjust to. Until then tho..a person who steals from a moral high ground is still a thief stealing from my income.

No, it's not economic at all. You've repeatedly failed to grasp this in this entire comments section. It's about convenience. It is actually more convenient to pirate the handful of movies or TV shows people want to watch than to maintain a dozen subscriptions or activate just the one for the handful of shows or movies they want to watch at any given time.

Steam and Spotify have made it incredibly simple to just get what you want without having to juggle or manage any kind of bullshit.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#596

Post by arghnoname »

danans wrote: post #421
andrew_ wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had been a Netflix for customer for 10 years. For me personally, it's a combination of several of the reasons you cast doubt on. While I may not be in the majority, I am real and those reasons (which I shall not list, to avoid HN wrath) were attributed to my cancellation.

Your reasons are totally real and you are entitled to them, but in the context of subscriber loss in the 100s of thousands probably marginal.

You're probably right. For what it's worth, I'm like the parent and for me at least that stuff isn't why I cancelled, it's what pushed me over the edge. I don't watch Netflix much (poor catalog, maybe lack of discoverability), but I don't notice $20 going away either and would keep the service if it provided much value at all. Cancelling had been on my list for years.

I finally cancelled when I realized that whenever I did go look at it to see what's available it felt like there was more agenda pushing than entertainment, which itself made me check for content less often in the first place. Netflix won't miss my money, I may be in a small minority. It may be they get more subscribers for their politics than they lose (I'm sure they think so).

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#597

Post by michaelmrose »

Stunting wrote: post #456
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh huh, I'll stop stealing from you when you stop stealing from me. Advertizements everywhere stealing my attention, public space, and landscape beauty. Stealth taxes on empty hard drives and other storage media. Hardware-destroying rootkits and other malware (lost a DVD drive to DRM, will you reimburse me?). Draconian control mechanisms and lobbying stealing my control of the devices I own. Mountains upon mountains…

You, personally, are stealing from my income. All those issues you raise are valid and important issues to address. Stealing because those things make you angry makes you part of the problem.

The world is full of problems. We are looking at actual massive potentially civilization or species ending issues in the large and dealing with trying to make a living, manage illness, deal with death, parenting in the small.

If you live in a big city you probably walk by people in the street slowly dying from a drawn out form of suicide because you can't possible change all their lives on your way to the grocery store or coffee shop and people at large are choosing to do the same with your income stream. They opt to deal with problems more important and more personal than fixing the way in which culture is monetized so as to funnel slightly more money to rich folks who could do more for society as soylent green in hopes that a few extra bucks will stick to the hands of useful folks like yourself.

For myself I'm not angry nor do I have any intention of fixing the problem because nobody with any decision making power gives two shits what my opinion on anything is. I have monetarily in life about nothing and indeed will have nothing tomorrow and the next day. You feel like people are violating the social contract by not paying for multimedia. Part of your problem is that you even believe that we are part of the same society or share the same ethics.

We really aren't. I am not the benefactor of the current situation nor do I have any meaningful power to negotiate new ground rules or even enforce existing ones so rejection makes worlds more sense.

You say stop downloading and I hear enjoy poverty but with fewer books, music, movies, games. I wont actually be supporting the folks you mentioned to any greater degree but you will find such more ethically palatable. HALF of America is sharing 12% of the income. We don't have anything but you can stick a $200 PC and plug it into a $20 monitor and courtesy of a $10 internet essentials package download as many books music movies shows as you can possibly consume.

I don't feel like making my shitty life shittier in order for you to feel better. Artificial scarcity is a dumb way to run a society and its not my fault the people with all the money in this society have chosen it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#598

Post by throwaway24124 »

thepasswordis wrote: post #523

Netflix stuff has just come to feel so...sanitary. It's like they have an enforced style of wardrobe and cinematography or something. It all just feels kindof the same. Even shows like Ozark have this very "netflixy" feel to them. The sense I got when Netflix started going original content was that it was the place for creatives to go and flex their muscles. They could do really weird stuff like Sense8 or The OA (bot…

Anecdotal evidence, but I hear similar complaints from friends, and I think that the "netflixy" feel is going to be the single biggest downfall for the company. Netflix requires all original content must be filmed with a true 4K UHD sensor, and because these productions are all using the same powerful digital camera, these shows are all filmed with cheap low lighting setups, since these powerful new cameras require a lot less light to capture a scene (think of the newer iphone cameras and how they perform much better in low light). Whereas older non-netflix shows filmed on different cameras with much more powerful stage lighting setups.

The result is that all these new netflix-produced shows like Ozarks all look super flat and similar. Most scenes are very poorly lit, which leads to a really poor experience when watching on a laptop or tablet. I don't think all viewers are consciously realizing it, but I think this is why many people are getting "bored" of netflix shows.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90653850/why-netflix-movies-look...

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#599

Post by joemi »

Stunting wrote: post #291
cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

Thanks for speaking up about this from a perspective not often seen here on HN. It's really pretty weird that someone needs to explain to so many people that media piracy affects actual working people.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#600

Post by bombcar »

sschueller wrote: post #464
danans wrote: post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

Instead of increasing every one's pricing they should have added a FOMO tier giving people early access to new content before anyone else. Additionally to get people to think twice before unsubscribing increase the price for new subscribers but keep existing subs at the lower rate. You cancel you can't get that rate back.

FOMO vs resolution would have been brilliant, and grandfathering in is a great way to keep people around (even if you do something like bump them up in cost later, but still cheaper than everyone new).
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