Netflix is still the leader in streaming video but an uncertain future looms

Lacks? BB has more tv series than Netflix

Originally posted by xaznboitx:

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Lacks? BB has more tv series than Netflix

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BB lacks movies as usual.....

I don't care what service you are talking about streaming sucks and is poor quality period, I'll take discs any day. I just signed up again with Netflix and it hadn't been two years yet but they lost my queue information, bumber. I got 1 month free streaming/1 disc home and used that for a month. I streamed a lot of movies and the video/audio quality was horrible, completely. There is now way I will watch streaming, I might as well go back and start watching VHS's and that's not going to happen.

It does show how low-fi we are getting in this new technical age we are entering. All I can think of is Dumb & Dumber....

Sad!

In fact, Netflix can and will stream HD, IF you have sufficient bandwidth. Quality of picture isn't why I dropped 'em like a steaming turd, however; their corporate greed and arrogance is to blame for that.

Still streaming crap even with bandwidth!

Again, I got HD streams from them just fine; I think you may have other issues.

I think not!

Originally posted by xaznboitx:

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Lacks? BB has more tv series than Netflix

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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I think not!

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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BB lacks movies as usual.....

I don't care what service you are talking about streaming sucks and is poor quality period, I'll take discs any day. I just signed up again with Netflix and it hadn't been two years yet but they lost my queue information, bumber. I got 1 month free streaming/1 disc home and used that for a month. I streamed a lot of movies and the video/audio quality was horrible, completely. There is now way I will watch streaming, I might as well go back and start watching VHS's and that's not going to happen.

It does show how low-fi we are getting in this new technical age we are entering. All I can think of is Dumb & Dumber....

Sad!

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Have both Netflix and BB. Block buster has better movie selection with Blu-ray and games, but streaming via DISH sucks. The menu is all wrong and there are newer movies aval, but for a fee. Typical DISH, a fee for everything. I stream from PS3 and Xbox and do not see much downgrade on my tvs.

I'm rather amazed at the quality I get. Perhaps not TOO amazed. I have a 5mb connection, and I do get HD streams from them. And from what I can tell, they don't even come close to saturating my connection speed. I'd estimate 70 - 80% bandwidth utilization. In all my years with netflix, my troubles have been extremely minimal. I talk to people at work that do have troubles. I tell them they've probably got too many devices utilizing their connection bandwidth. Because I've streamed netflix vids, on a 1.5mb connection as well. NO troubles. The video quality was ONLY acceptable for a small screen though.

One of my buddies told me he has like 5 or 6 wireless devices. I chuckled when he said his streaming is better late night. Funny thing about that LOL! Apparently he has a 12Mb connection now. He says no troubles now. With a connection like that, it really shouldn't be saturated very easily. Torrenting, gaming, and streaming however... that would probably come close ;)

I've also streamed netflix to a 50" plasma over a powerline adapter. It looked very agreeable. Impressive technology. I'd probably buy more of those, before wireless... but wireless does have it's uses of course.

I completely agree that DISH’s Blockbuster Movie Pass poses a true threat against Netflix not only because they offer streaming and online rental services, but also because these features are superior to what Netflix offers. As an ex-Netflix subscriber and a current subscriber of the Blockbuster Movie Pass, I have personally been able to compare the two services. The Blockbuster Movie Pass gets releases 28 days sooner, and they offer Blu-ray and video game rentals along with their online rental services at no extra charge. I initially started with a 3-month free trial and I have since decided to keep it because it is only $10 a month (considerably less than what I would pay for Netflix streaming/DVD rentals and a separate gaming rental service). I am very excited to see how Amazon and cable providers will strive to compete in 2012, and despite the fact that I work for DISH, I strongly believe that DISH’s ultimate bundling of entertainment may prove to be the best option for consumers and their pocketbooks.

Blockbuster apparently only allows 3 out at a time, via through the mail. I don't live near a blockbuster, so exchanging is out.

Perhaps the reason netflix is still the leader, is because they have premium plans. 8 out at a time is a nice plan :p I'm not much of a gamer either. Just PC games. I still see no reason to switch. Perhaps I'm stubborn, but perhaps I'm simply not impressed by other providers.

I ♥ you netflix :S

Originally posted by omegaman7:

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Blockbuster apparently only allows 3 out at a time, via through the mail. I don't live near a blockbuster, so exchanging is out.

Perhaps the reason netflix is still the leader, is because they have premium plans. 8 out at a time is a nice plan :p I'm not much of a gamer either. Just PC games. I still see no reason to switch. Perhaps I'm stubborn, but perhaps I'm simply not impressed by other providers.

I ♥ you netflix :S

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Omegaman7 is far from a die hard he just sees a good deal when it is presented to him.

The quality even when HD streaming is not great to those with trained eyes. The audio is stereo and not surround sound. Due to compression for streaming and forced stereo I would say the quality all around isn't even close to renting the movie on disc.

I'm not surprised that most can't see it or hear it in our iWorld of poor performance, streaming is low-fi in most cases period.

I'm not saying the streaming quality is great. Absolutely not LOL! But it's totally agreeable to me :p Even on the 50" plasma. I'd say it's either equal to or slightly better than the so-called digital television. Better than the HD stations? Perhaps not. My brother has a 7Mb connection. He streamed "Waterworld" one night. It was obviously HD quality. Looked and sounded pretty good. Great? NO. Not like blu-ray anyway. I definitely love blu-ray disc.

If you want to talk corporate greed, what do you call STARZ? Netflix offered them STARS $300 million (up from the previous contract's 1/10 of that) and STARS refused because STARS wanted Netflix to charge their customers an additional fee for STARS content. The Netflix price jump announcement was probably necessary. The content providers are asking for a lot more than they were (greed?) and just where was Netflix supposed to get that...other than their subscribers? The streaming service remains a screaming bargain at $8 and the DVD add-on gets you up to 8 DVD's a month for $8 (cheaper than Red Box with a much larger library) or $10 for Blu Rays (MUCH cheaper than Red Box). We got spoiled at the old pricing level and thought they owed us a screaming bargain on streaming/DVd forever. Life is not like that.

Originally posted by Bozobub:

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In fact, Netflix can and will stream HD, IF you have sufficient bandwidth. Quality of picture isn't why I dropped 'em like a steaming turd, however; their corporate greed and arrogance is to blame for that.

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Originally posted by nopcbs:

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If you want to talk corporate greed, what do you call STARZ? Netflix offered them STARS $300 million (up from the previous contract's 1/10 of that) and STARS refused because STARS wanted Netflix to charge their customers an additional fee for STARS content. The Netflix price jump announcement was probably necessary. The content providers are asking for a lot more than they were (greed?) and just where was Netflix supposed to get that...other than their subscribers? The streaming service remains a screaming bargain at $8 and the DVD add-on gets you up to 8 DVD's a month for $8 (cheaper than Red Box with a much larger library) or $10 for Blu Rays (MUCH cheaper than Red Box). We got spoiled at the old pricing level and thought they owed us a screaming bargain on streaming/DVd forever. Life is not like that.

Originally posted by Bozobub:

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In fact, Netflix can and will stream HD, IF you have sufficient bandwidth. Quality of picture isn't why I dropped 'em like a steaming turd, however; their corporate greed and arrogance is to blame for that.

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It was free and went to $9/mo., that is a 800% increase so it was a bad move/bad decision. They should have dropped Starz and went back to doing it the way they started their streaming venture or found another provider that would be happy for the business.

For free it was a nice convenience but I won't pay for poor quality just because it is easy, not the norm of course for todays standards.

FOX networks is another one getting greedy like Starz as they too want a 200% profit increase annually.

I suppose, just to add another perspective, I dropped out of the whole mail order DVD rental game once the streaming venture came onto the scene right after I caught wind that there was to be a remote possibility that Netflix 'may' start charging additional for the service. I think that was even as far back as 2006. That's probably a lie, more like 2008/9.

Obviously, the service was free & in its infancy at the time & most if not all the customers at the time were beta testers. All the movies were pretty much 20+ years old or complete garbage & not worth trying to get through the first 15 minutes, much less attempting to notice if they merited anything worthy of HD quality or not.

Basically once Netflix decided to press their own DVDs (leaving out the 'making of' features & the likes) & started nickle & dimeing the prices up on me, it was adios.

With the current behavior they're all pulling, I'm looking forward to the mom & pop, brick & mortar stores to start popping back up.

Originally posted by LordRuss:

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I suppose, just to add another perspective, I dropped out of the whole mail order DVD rental game once the streaming venture came onto the scene right after I caught wind that there was to be a remote possibility that Netflix 'may' start charging additional for the service. I think that was even as far back as 2006. That's probably a lie, more like 2008/9.

Obviously, the service was free & in its infancy at the time & most if not all the customers at the time were beta testers. All the movies were pretty much 20+ years old or complete garbage & not worth trying to get through the first 15 minutes, much less attempting to notice if they merited anything worthy of HD quality or not.

Basically once Netflix decided to press their own DVDs (leaving out the 'making of' features & the likes) & started nickle & dimeing the prices up on me, it was adios.

With the current behavior they're all pulling, I'm looking forward to the mom & pop, brick & mortar stores to start popping back up.

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Again, it's not the quality of the actual service that pisses me off, it's the overabundance of "B" movies, combined with the overweening arrogance of their CEO, and their recent, obnoxious flubs. I mean, "Qwikster"? Really..?! SPlit the services, really? Quite obviously, no one really took the time to vet those choices; they expected their users to swallow 'em hook, line, and sinker. Oops! Fail. Their stock price tells no lies.

You know, the local "mom & pop" video store has a LOT more videos that I *cough* actually care to watch.

Your numbers are wrong it's not $4-5 more per month and it's not just $2 for BD's the price goes up depending on how many at home you get. Before it was a set price and didn't go up with more out.

The Nickle-Diming is just all of those additional pricing factors so Russ is absolutely correct with his comment! Netflix has doubled their pricing factor in the last year, that is insane...

Where he was wrong is about new movies not being streamed from the start, they did but there was a push on old movies and at the start it was old movies and the latest new releases that were getting setup for streaming.

Had Netflix offered a more enhanced service along with the price increase I think many of their subscribers would have been happy to accept the increase. They went about their changes all backwards so I agree that their stock plummet last year was evident of that.

I was paying $12 for 1 DVD at a time + Blu Ray + streaming last year. That was 8 DVD's a month and simulatneous streaming on three TV sets. Now I pay, same service, $6 more ($18). If I wanted 2 Blu Rays at a time, it would be $5 more ($23). That's $1.80 a Blue Ray (one at a time) and free streaming or $1.15 a Blue Ray and free streaming for the two at a time package. Red Box charges $1.50 per Blue Ray, and no streaming of course (I use them as the low cost competition DVD option). Who can match that package price? No one. And I get excellent HD streaming quality (58" Panasonic plasma) with Charter (yeah, Charter!).

The people who are whining about the price having be lower before are missing reality. We were getting a ridiculously good deal before that was not sustainable. Now we are just getting just an excellent (and still the best value) deal and some people feel cheated? When you supermarket runs a buy one get one free promotion for a week on soap, do you feel ripped off the following week when the promotion is over and you have to pay the normal price? BK had free fries one day last December. Did you feel ripped off the nest day when they were a dollar? Dominos was doing half off on all Pizzas last month for a day. Did you feel ripped off when they went back to full price?

I was PO'd at Netflix, too, when they raised their prices, but after thinking about how much bang for the buck they are still offering, I had to say to myself, "Dude, what are you complaining about? It's still a great price, just not as great." My bigger problem is that Hollywood makes so many bad movies that there is little to bother renting. So, now I do a one month on and three months off on the DVD option. I would keep the DVD option on all the time if there was anything new worth renting, regularly.

- nopcbs

Originally posted by nopcbs:

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I was paying $12 for 1 DVD at a time + Blu Ray + streaming last year. That was 8 DVD's a month and simulatneous streaming on three TV sets. Now I pay, same service, $6 more ($18). If I wanted 2 Blu Rays at a time, it would be $5 more ($23). That's $1.80 a Blue Ray (one at a time) and free streaming or $1.15 a Blue Ray and free streaming for the two at a time package. Red Box charges $1.50 per Blue Ray, and no streaming of course (I use them as the low cost competition DVD option). Who can match that package price? No one. And I get excellent HD streaming quality (58" Panasonic plasma) with Charter (yeah, Charter!).

The people who are whining about the price having be lower before are missing reality. We were getting a ridiculously good deal before that was not sustainable. Now we are just getting just an excellent (and still the best value) deal and some people feel cheated? When you supermarket runs a buy one get one free promotion for a week on soap, do you feel ripped off the following week when the promotion is over and you have to pay the normal price? BK had free fries one day last December. Did you feel ripped off the nest day when they were a dollar? Dominos was doing half off on all Pizzas last month for a day. Did you feel ripped off when they went back to full price?

I was PO'd at Netflix, too, when they raised their prices, but after thinking about how much bang for the buck they are still offering, I had to say to myself, "Dude, what are you complaining about? It's still a great price, just not as great." My bigger problem is that Hollywood makes so many bad movies that there is little to bother renting. So, now I do a one month on and three months off on the DVD option. I would keep the DVD option on all the time if there was anything new worth renting, regularly.

- nopcbs

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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Originally posted by nopcbs:

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I was paying $12 for 1 DVD at a time + Blu Ray + streaming last year. That was 8 DVD's a month and simulatneous streaming on three TV sets. Now I pay, same service, $6 more ($18). If I wanted 2 Blu Rays at a time, it would be $5 more ($23). That's $1.80 a Blue Ray (one at a time) and free streaming or $1.15 a Blue Ray and free streaming for the two at a time package. Red Box charges $1.50 per Blue Ray, and no streaming of course (I use them as the low cost competition DVD option). Who can match that package price? No one. And I get excellent HD streaming quality (58" Panasonic plasma) with Charter (yeah, Charter!).

The people who are whining about the price having be lower before are missing reality. We were getting a ridiculously good deal before that was not sustainable. Now we are just getting just an excellent (and still the best value) deal and some people feel cheated? When you supermarket runs a buy one get one free promotion for a week on soap, do you feel ripped off the following week when the promotion is over and you have to pay the normal price? BK had free fries one day last December. Did you feel ripped off the nest day when they were a dollar? Dominos was doing half off on all Pizzas last month for a day. Did you feel ripped off when they went back to full price?

I was PO'd at Netflix, too, when they raised their prices, but after thinking about how much bang for the buck they are still offering, I had to say to myself, "Dude, what are you complaining about? It's still a great price, just not as great." My bigger problem is that Hollywood makes so many bad movies that there is little to bother renting. So, now I do a one month on and three months off on the DVD option. I would keep the DVD option on all the time if there was anything new worth renting, regularly.

- nopcbs

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As I said you are wrong, here is Netflix's current pricing structure straight from Netflix itself.

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I did not confirm what you are saying. Netflix went from $15++ for three movies unlimited with streaming and now that service is $28++ which isn't quite double but it certainly isn't a $4 spread.

You are wrong!

And on top of that plus their biggest mistake was to split the company.

last year, pre-fall increase, I was paying $12 for 1 DVD at a time + Blu Ray + unlimited streaming to $6 now for the same thing.

You say that you were paying $15 for three DVD's + unlimited streaming (no Blu Ray) pre-increase last year? That is up to 24 DVD's a month plus streaming for $15. That is riculously cheap. Now you would be paying $24 for that same package...a buck a DVD plus free streaming. Not as cheap, but still cheap for the renatls alone and you can call the streaming "free".

It's still a great deal.

The split was for the reason stated (expansion overseas plans or streaming only) and it was a dumb idea for them to do it in their home market. They backed off, so it is not an issue.

I think the management team starting believing they were some kind of genuises (looking at the share price) and with that came a bit of conceit about what they could get away with, but a price increase was appropriate given the squeeze they were/are getting from the suppliers.

I do not mean to say that Netflix management acted correctly. I do say their product remains a great value, just not quite the screaming bargain it was...and no one else ever was.

Originally posted by nopcbs:

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What nickel and diming are you referring to?

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I did read what you wrote, but could not believe you are complaining about being charged more than you were 4 years ago. Thought you were PO'd about last year's increase.

You are going back to ancient history when the streaming library was much smaller and the whole thing was experimental and not great quality, anyway. You had to buy a Roku box for $100 to even use it. Been there, done that, not interested in going back to that. If you are, dream on.

If your mom/pop stores don't get your credit card number as a requisite to renting you any DVD, I am very surprised. The Red Box devices are connected via wireless internet to central computers. Your credit card number is not stored in it.

Cheers and goodbye. You can have the last word.

- nopcbs

nopcbs,

Once again you don't want to get it and if you are fine with being raped so be it, but the facts are facts and the increase over the last two years is enormous, so once again people have the right to whine about it as you wish to point out. And I disagree with your great deal theory as does most people who have bailed on Netflix, and that takes a lot these days as people will pay $150/mo for internet phone access.

Just got turned off from the mom & pop stores :p National Treasure! I cannot believe that neither of the two stores in my area have them! National treasure 1 & 2 are huge disney releases. Not having them is a shocker to say the least. Netflix has them... and they deliver them to my door. Redbox currently does not have them. Blockbuster is ~30 miles away :( I miss hollywood video

Redbox and BB mostly only carry new releases which is why Netflix has such an appeal. Had Hollywood Video and Blockbuster not killed all of the mom & pop's in my area I would have good alternatives to use, which I did prefer. But that was then unfortunately and those very poor business models ruin it for all of us.

I have National Treasure but not two as it was too horrible to even waste the rental fee on let alone buy it.

I'll admit it wasn't as good as the first, but in MY case, it's worth having :p
By the way, I'm speaking of the blu ray discs. Bet you don't have those... LOL!

Originally posted by nopcbs:

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Cheers and goodbye. You can have the last word.

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Originally posted by omegaman7:

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Just got turned off from the mom & pop stores :p National Treasure! I cannot believe that neither of the two stores in my area have them! National treasure 1 & 2 are huge disney releases. Not having them is a shocker to say the least. Netflix has them... and they deliver them to my door. Redbox currently does not have them. Blockbuster is ~30 miles away :( I miss hollywood video

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Lucky you :) Oh well. I'm patient. At least I can generally count on netflix. They've let me down a few times, but most of the time they're good to me.

Originally posted by LordRuss:

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Originally posted by nopcbs:

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Cheers and goodbye. You can have the last word.

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Kinda thought I did have the last word? & if 3 to 4 years ago is ancient history for you then you really are "new".

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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I never said that anyway Russ he totally wasn't wanting to see reality. In fact it was a little more than 6 months ago that they changed the pricing model but for me it was almost two years ago since I used them last.

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The bottom line for me is that Netflix basically kissed customer service goodbye. Sure, I could have kept streaming only, and actually would have seen a reduction in cost, but their terrible missteps, obnoxiously arrogant tone of their CEO, and lastly, the sudden removal of the capability to stream to multiple devices unless you have a DVD-by-mail plan, spelled doom for their tentacles in my pocket.

I don't care how nice your product is, if you treat me like poo. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Actually their customer service has gotten better from my experience(s) and I've used them a few times recently when signing up again.

But I agree with you Bozobub the CEO's arrogance and like I said almost doubling the price of doing business with them, which I think you are touching on, killed it for most people. But splitting the company was huge too.

I'm back with them because they didn't split the company, Even though I don't need their poor streaming, although for free it was good to preview movies for rent, and they do have more to offer in movies than anyone else at the moment.

As soon as another company comes along that can beat or compete with Netflix I will drop them cold and move on. Blockbuster and Redbox can't even come close but if all I wanted was New Releases then maybe they would suffice.