Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#181

Post by nathan_long » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:31 PM UTC

qwrusz wrote: post #57

Why would a company using a monthly subscription model pay to license the most expensive top-rated classic film catalogues? Why would you want them to? A big portion of the money you pay Netflix every month would then go to have indefinite access to films you don't watch or don't watch again often enough to justify this ongoing cost. Would you lease a Ferrari you drove one or two days a year? Especially if a one-day…

What's the point of paying said monthly fee if you frequently can't find anything you want to watch?

Why can't I pay a la carte to stream pretty much any movie ever made? Even if that's a fee on top of the monthly fee, I would do it sometimes.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#182

Post by dilap » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:32 PM UTC

Diederich wrote: post #179

roboguy12 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last weekend my wife and I wanted to watch the movie Goat. It was pretty recently in theaters, so we didn't expect it to be on Netflix. We searched HBO Now, Hulu, Starz, and all of the other video streaming services that we have (and pay money for!). We found two options - rent it on Google Play Movies, or rent it through Amazon Prime. Now, we wanted to Chromecast it, and Amazon (to the best of my knowledge) does not…

Right. Being the 'chaotic good' person that I am, my family stopped trying to view entertainment content the normal legal way many years ago. I've been using a torrent friendly VPS in eastern Europe for quite a few years now to avoid any complications. That, plus a little web service that presents youtube videos without commercials, gives us pretty reliable access to most anything we ever want to watch. The downside…

Lately youtube has been hitting me with multiple-minute-long prerolls to watch 30 second clips. What's the webservice? (Or is it a homegrown thing?)

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#183

Post by graton » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:32 PM UTC

pkroll wrote: post #140

jerf wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robotguy12 did not describe a UI problem. First there was a licensing problem, then there was a technical playback problem. The movie was nominally legally available, but it might as well not have been, for how hard it was to find and then playback. The technical problem is relatively easily fixed and probably just an isolated local issue. The licensing problem is a bigger one. For rentals, you have the problem of ha…

Is that Hulu making the decision, or the content owners? I'm guessing they're going to keep making the wrong decisions, while the various services throw up their hands trying to deal with the insanity.

Hulu at least makes the decision to agree to those types of restrictions.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#184

Post by pforpineapple » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:33 PM UTC

I find it interesting that Netflix is such a success, despite the availability of many great films.

As the presence of great films on the platform may suggest, it's a long shot to assume that they're more interested in creating their own -great- content than simply offering you great content. But given the unavailability of a single legal platform to rule them all, the bet on original ideas propelled with data and smart marketing was and is still the best one.

IMO, if Netflix had all the content in the world, they would probably stop creating their own.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#185

Post by ainiriand » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:33 PM UTC

How the 'legal' side could fight against 'piracy' sites? Seems that Netflix et others are losing the war again... I want to use Netflix model but for all the movies I want, not the ones they give me. Solutions?

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#186

Post by JoeAltmaier » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:34 PM UTC

swiley wrote: post #120

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm not sympathetic. The alternative to finding (and failing to find) a service to watch the show could possibly be - not watching it? The conclusion 'naturally we then had to steal it' isn't entirely justified. Shoplifting is easy and convenient too. Next time you forget your wallet at the corner store. Just sayin.

That's really not an accurate comparison: 1) they actually did pay to rent it. 2) the content owners don't lose more money weather it's "stollen" or just not watched at all. (In fact, it's better in some ways since these people will tell their friends about it now who may also watch it)

They then got a refund. Then pirated it.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#187

Post by mark_l_watson » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:34 PM UTC

I look at it as a matter of cost vs. benefits. My wife and I watch a fair amount of stuff on Netflix each month and our family plan is less than $10/month. How anyone can say Netflix does not provide sufficient value doesn't make sense to me.

We also subscribe to Hulu Plus to watch network TV with no commercials. Also a good deal. If we want to watch a new release, I rent it on Google Play Movies. I don't mind using a few different vendors, and competition is good.

What is not a good deal is cable TV. We hardly ever use it and it is relatively expensive.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#188

Post by cptskippy » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

roboguy12 wrote: post #85

SCdF wrote: post #28

It sucks that Netflix is pushing their own content as a solution. Don't get me wrong, some of their own content is great, but I don't want to subscribe to 10 different streaming services that all have their own original content, I want to subscribe to one. Netflix--and others, like Amazon Prime--are becoming less and less worthwhile, and piracy is becoming more and more convenient again.

Last weekend my wife and I wanted to watch the movie Goat. It was pretty recently in theaters, so we didn't expect it to be on Netflix. We searched HBO Now, Hulu, Starz, and all of the other video streaming services that we have (and pay money for!). We found two options - rent it on Google Play Movies, or rent it through Amazon Prime. Now, we wanted to Chromecast it, and Amazon (to the best of my knowledge) does not…

In my experience, Google Play has just been awful for video. Their App offerings on platforms other than their own are also quite horrid, trying to use Play or Youtube on a Roku is just a nightmare. If their goal is to get you to switch to Android TV, for a better experience, they need to rethink their strategy because it's really just driving me away from their services.

The whole no Amazon Services on Google Hardware and no Google Services on Amazon Hardware does neither of them any benefit and only solidifies Roku's position as the dominant platform because it's the only one that's open.

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#189

Post by ascagnel_ » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

uxp100 wrote: post #108

I always appreciate that Hulu has its Criterion collection section. And I very recently signed up for Seeso for $4 a month because I was craving some Monty Python's Flying Circus. I don't plan on keeping it long term, maybe just a month, to get it out of my system. And then I still end up digging through shitty cheap roku channels occasionally to find stuff. Mostly just schlock, but I saw, for example, niche titles l…

Hulu is about to lose the Criterion Collection license. Turner Classic Movies picked up the license for a new service called Filmstruck that's launching (in the US) next week.

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4252-filmstruck-laun...

Re: Netflix Now Only Has 31 Movies from IMDB's Top 250 List

#190

Post by jrnichols » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

SCdF wrote: post #28

It sucks that Netflix is pushing their own content as a solution. Don't get me wrong, some of their own content is great, but I don't want to subscribe to 10 different streaming services that all have their own original content, I want to subscribe to one. Netflix--and others, like Amazon Prime--are becoming less and less worthwhile, and piracy is becoming more and more convenient again.

"I want to subscribe to one."

But the studios all want you to subscribe to their store. And they don't want to let iTunes have everything, because they want you to go to them first. Or their friends with Ultraviolet.

Studios don't like giving up their iron grip, which is what Apple was doing a good job of doing. :/

I'm also on the list of people that don't want 10 different monthly subscriptions to streaming services, and piracy really does look way more convenient. Especially with things like Popcorn Time.