Netflix Instant Streaming Recommendations Thread

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by cincyinco

The Art of the Steal.. Based on some recommendations here.. Great documentary.. But also left disgusted with this travesty.

Yep. Still can't believe it.

[cincyinco]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Yep. Still can't believe it.

Yeah, still pissed off about it..

[Caveman Techie]

Guess I'll add one of my favorite shows I haven't seen anyone mention yet:

The IT Crowd

[reds1869]

Originally Posted by Caveman Techie

Guess I'll add one of my favorite shows I haven't seen anyone mention yet:

The IT Crowd

Brilliant show. "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by Caveman Techie

Guess I'll add one of my favorite shows I haven't seen anyone mention yet:

The IT Crowd

I love that show. Joel McHale was set to head an American version but it got scrapped at the last minute and they did Community instead. I love Community but I think he would have been great in The IT Crowd.

[Caveman Techie]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

I love that show. Joel McHale was set to head an American version but it got scrapped at the last minute and they did Community instead. I love Community but I think he would have been great in The IT Crowd.

Yeah they filmed a pilot episode for it, but never went any further. It was basically a reshoot of the original British pilot frame by frame. I think you can still find it out on youtube somewhere.

[GAC]

Netflix is taking a HUGE hit over this price increase. Down 600,000 customers.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_18906709

It could get uglier if the worst-case scenarios play out. Netflix suffered another setback earlier this month when Starz Entertainment ended talks to renew the licensing rights to a key part of Netflix's video library for streaming over the Internet. The fallout from that decision will hit in March when Netflix will no longer be able to stream the popular mix of recently released movies and TV shows that it got from Starz, raising the specter of another onslaught of customer defections.

Raising prices while providing less content? Not a good formula.

[reds1869]

Originally Posted by GAC

Netflix is taking a HUGE hit over this price increase. Down 600,000 customers.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_18906709



Raising prices while providing less content? Not a good formula.

We dropped Netflix and purchased Amazon Prime. They have really good options at a much lower annual price than Netflix, and of course there are other benefits to membership. I highly recommend anyone who is interested give their one month free trial a shot.

[*BaseClogger*]

I joined Family Video here in Oxford. Lots of coupons and discounts for joining, and it's only $1 or less for all of their older DVDs...

[GAC]

Originally Posted by reds1869

We dropped Netflix and purchased Amazon Prime. They have really good options at a much lower annual price than Netflix, and of course there are other benefits to membership. I highly recommend anyone who is interested give their one month free trial a shot.

I get Amazon through my Roku, and have looked into it. AP's current subscription is $79/year, but it's movie selection (approximately 6,000) is far inferior to Netflix, Hulus, and several others at this current time, though there could now be a push to vastly improve it.

I see where Netflix's CEO Sunday apologized to it's membership for the drastic price hike. He also announced they are also separating the DVD mailing system from their direct streaming, adding video games, and going to call it Qwikster.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/19/tech/w...flix-qwikster/

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I joined Family Video here in Oxford. Lots of coupons and discounts for joining, and it's only $1 or less for all of their older DVDs...

Yeah. You really can't beat that, or Redbox, IMO.

[JaxRed]

Originally Posted by GAC

I see where Netflix's CEO Sunday apologized to it's membership for the drastic price hike. He also announced they are also separating the DVD mailing system from their direct streaming, adding video games, and going to call it Qwikster.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/19/tech/w...flix-qwikster/

.

They are really making some bad decisions at Netflix. They apologize for the price hike.... but don't change it. Therefore the apology was BS. Then they split the company into 2 services. No one asked for that. Now I have to deal with 2 companies when I only wanted to deal with 1.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by JaxRed

They are really making some bad decisions at Netflix. They apologize for the price hike.... but don't change it. Therefore the apology was BS. Then they split the company into 2 services. No one asked for that. Now I have to deal with 2 companies when I only wanted to deal with 1.

This whole situation has been handled beyond poorly. They've gone from a pricing model that made sense and was popular to a complex method of pricing involving two separate entities. I don't understand it at all, and as a Netflix subscriber, I'm left wondering what is happening -- will my account now be streaming only and require me to separately sign up for this new service if I want to receive DVDs?

If I'm holding a Netflix DVD, do I just get to keep that now, or am I automatically enrolled in the new service until I send it back?

This will be a case study in poor management for years to come.

[Caveat Emperor]

BTW, here's the full text of their "apology" e-mail, for those who cancelled the service and no longer get such things -- you'll of course note that the explanation given in no way attempts to show why a price increase was needed (added cost of making streaming movies available, postage increases, etc.):

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

[Roy Tucker]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

BTW, here's the full text of their "apology" e-mail, for those who cancelled the service and no longer get such things -- you'll of course note that the explanation given in no way attempts to show why a price increase was needed (added cost of making streaming movies available, postage increases, etc.):

I saw that email this AM. When I saw it was from the Netflix CEO and the subject of it, I thought "well, maybe they've come to their senses".

And then I read the email and thought "that's the most moronic apology I've ever heard of" and doesn't address a thing about why their customers are ticked off and leaving.

I think I'm going to cancel just because they are total idiots and obviously don't have a clue. They must have gone to the "New Coke" School of Fouled Up Marketing.

[Yachtzee]

I've heard that splitting the services might result in more videos available for streaming in the future. If that is true, it might eventually work out for the best. The movie industry seems to be trying to keep the dvd market afloat by limiting what can be made available for streaming. As more devices with streaming capabilities come to market, propping up the dvd market to the detriment of streaming may prove difficult. Not to say that dvds will go away. People still love to own them. But dvds as a rental medium may fade.

I think cable faces the biggest threat from streaming. Why subscribe to a premium movie channel when streaming services provide the same content in a more convenient manner?