151–160 of 165 posts
Netflix made a bad decision, listened to the complaints of their customer base and reversed course on said bad decision. Not sure why that's such a huge ordeal.
Great companies can overcome Marketing mistakes. Coca-Cola was one of the world's great marketers. How else can they get you to pay so much for water + sugar + a jolt? (And how do they charge more for water than Exxon charges for gasoline?) They made a huge blunder in the 80s abandoning the classic formula, with a New Coke that was better by all objective measures. Despite all their market research telling them how g…
Ahem. New Coke was a known bad transition. Why would I say that? All you need do is to look on a Coke can ingredients list from before New Coke and after New Coke. There will be one change: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Or if you wish to try the classic formula, try the Mexican version of Coca Cola. They still use the old formula using cane sugar. There is also a Kosher version of Coca Cola that uses the older recipe.
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp
(Not the primary focus of the snopes page, but they cover this sweetener change and debunk the myth surrounding it.)
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We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. We were not either, so I would usually rip the DVDs when I got them and then watch it when we had time (also my only dvd player is a 360 and it's so loud...much better to stream over the ATV). After watching I would delete them...honest, I rarely watch a movie twice. Recently that became harder though because of incre…
How do you do your DVD ripping? I like to rip DVDs for my iPad, but was disappointed to learn that HandBrake won't do deCSS on Windows. I'm not keen on paying $50 for a 3rd-party decryptor just so I can watch movies I own on the bus.
The tone on this one is quite a bit different: http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-will-be-staying-at-netf... The email that came a few weeks ago actually had me stop what I was doing and read it (I was walking in to grab coffee, and I stopped outside to finish the email). That message was full of excitement, and started with a proper "Dear Customers: I screwed up". Why haven't I gotten an email this morning saying…
Why would this move cause you to cancel your service?
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I appreciate it, but I've used that before. I really would prefer not to spend $50 to rip DVDs I own if I can avoid it. I don't really understand why HandBrake has this capability on OSX but not Windows.
DVDFab has a free version built in called HD Decoder that relies on ImgBurn to build the ISO file. That's how I rip DVD on my Win 7 box. If you're looking for an encoded rip, then I'm not sure what your options are.
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How do you do your DVD ripping? I like to rip DVDs for my iPad, but was disappointed to learn that HandBrake won't do deCSS on Windows. I'm not keen on paying $50 for a 3rd-party decryptor just so I can watch movies I own on the bus.
I use Handbrake for Linux with the "High Profile" and the quality bumped a little because with the default quality I could still see artifacts on my TV. Actually I use a little script that I wrote that wraps Handbrake--it collects metadata from the net and also makes ripping TV shows pleasant.
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The most convincing explanation of their actions I read was essentially: 1. they made streaming a free add on to DVDs to get people using the service, which resulted in streaming becoming popular. 2. The media owners started to (or perhaps always had) cut their deals with Netflix on a per subscriber basis rather than per view. So Netflix was paying the networks for everyone who subscribed, including evyone who only w…
I found the article I summarized here: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/whats-really-behind-the-net... I think it explains the facts in the simplest way.
Netflix competes as a delivery pipe for content with Cable providers.
Cable providers already get ~$50/month for your Internet connection, and spend (collectively) $32 billion/year on streaming content, aka "cable TV".
Netflix wants to build on top of the network infrastructure of Cable providers while paying far, far less for the same content. This is their business strategy.
Verdict? Sell your Netflix shares. They are trying to operate a toll booth on a road they don't own. Furthermore, the actual toll operators (the Cable providers) are already getting 3-4x the $$$ from users, are already paying for the streaming content, and they show no history of being as stupid as the music companies (Tivo anyone?).
I don't see how Netflix can compete. That streaming was Hastings' personal vision for the company means nothing without a way to get there, and as far as I can tell, short of legislation, there is no way to get there.