Netflix - Not bad! Qwikster - uh, never mind...

getting the sense we're witnessing a corporation self-immolating here.

some blockbuster level hubris at work here

Also I love browsing the streaming options on my Netflix PS3 and seeing listed as "NEW ADDITIONS" shit like that awful Flintstones live action thing with John Goodman and like SyFy original movies.

yeah this whole split thing just seems... stupid. like, his whole spiel about "two completely different products"... except that they're not??? comparing it to pizza and coffee is so dumb - it's more like starbucks serving take-out coffee and coffee in a mug.

and this: "And to make up for my poor communication, we're making sure you will no longer be able to conveniently cross-check queues to which in your dvd queue are also streaming. Fuck you very much." ugh so true.

was there really such a huge outrage over the price hike? it didn't bother me at all, since i'm still getting a way better deal than when i use to rent from blockbuster.

I never have an issue w long load times.

I get dvds from my local rental spot if I'm looking for something obscure

whiney was outraged that people were outraged

was there really such a huge outrage over the price hike?

big enough that they had to revise their subscriber numbers down by one million

was there really such a huge outrage over the price hike?

From Thursday:

Internet subscription services provider Netflix, Inc. (NFLX: News ) Thursday backed its earnings and revenue guidance for the third quarter, however, reduced its projections for subscriber numbers by around one million. The company cited increased visibility for the revision, following its strategic step of separating streaming and DVD-by-mail into two distinct services in last July. NFLX shares are currently trading around 15 percent lower in pre-market activity on Nasdaq.

haha xp

physical media forever

― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Monday, September 19, 2011 10:26 AM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― moonshit journey to caca (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, September 19, 2011

Obv I meant "Physical media until I'm dead," you neurasthenic ninny.

I think I'm gonna switch to online-only

Although they're up nearly 5% since US markets opened so ???

I rarely have problems w/Netflix loading over my PS3 or my Mac Mini. Now, Hulu+, they have some fucking serious buffering issues.

I bet that starbucks would make an alright pizza.

haha better than subway at least

I would try caffeinated pizza

So how many ppl can watch on their TV when they stream, at this point? Ballpark percentage. Cuz watching a film on your fucking computer is a last resort for better-than-Bridesmaids material.

it'd be made with rustic italian flatbread

anyone can watch it on their tv if they have the energy and known how to set it up

so in the US population, that's what? cuz I know people suddenly acquire smarts if it means seeing Hangover 2 on a flatscreen as opposed to figuring out that tax cuts for the rich don't help them.

99% of the time streaming works fantastic for me. Even spread out over 46" on my TV, it's pretty good. I'm not going to mistake it for a Blu-ray, but it's good for me who watches 10 episodes of Pawn Stars, Star Trek, or The Universe in a row.

I'm not outraged, but I'm very irritated. Mr. G. Weingarten, I think it's absurd to claim it as evidence of "Entitlement Generation" to be asked to pay a 60% price hike for (what amounts to) a reduction in service.

Netflix is functionally a utility service, albeit a posh one, and a major change in expense and terms of service that alienates a large part of the customer base is definitely irritating, and very poor business practice.

i think they are underestimating what introducing a little needless hassle into the lives of their customers will do to their brand.

Man, they mastered the post office like no other business, didn't they?

Lol morbs hates bridesmaids

Our viewing habits went to mostly-streaming as soon as it became available through the Wii, and I watch a fair amount streaming on my computer. Never had any problems with image quality that aren't already there with digital cable (ie compression artifacts on TCM).

cuz I know people suddenly acquire smarts if it means seeing Hangover 2 on a flatscreen as opposed to figuring out that tax cuts for the rich don't help them.

http://boisee.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/web%20point%20of%20interest-8641.jpg

Morbs, I was agreeing with with you, why u comin at me?

I get dvds from my local rental spot if I'm looking for something obscure

you've got a local rental spot? there are zero in my town. the only places that have DVDs are the library and those redbox things, which altogether carry about 100 titles. unless I want to go into the city and hope they've got a copy of death note III or the lathe of heaven or whatever weird thing I feel like watching.

agree w/ morbs that the concept of "almost everything" being on DVD is laughable. but the netflix physical catalog does sit on 10+ years of heavy DVD production which is unlikely to be reproduced in the blu-ray world, and although it could easily be reproduced in the streaming world it just doesn't seem to be happening with any volume or velocity...

if ISPs continue throttling or start charging based on GBs/TBs

Start charging?

nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD

Then, bitch, please please PLEASE let me borrow your DVD of Howdy, Broadway (Charles J. Hunt, 1929)!

sorry Whiney, Monday misinterpretation + paranoia

physical media forever

considering tattooing this across my shoulders

can't decide: henna, or sharpie?

lol

just out of curiosity i checked to see how many of the movies in my queue are available for streaming: 17 out of 111. as i said, i just think this is way premature. i'd love to know the behind the scenes rationale for it.

maybe they're dramatically underestimating how long it takes you to watch 111 movies

over *OVERestiating* arghgh

ok i give up

surely the rationale is: DVD mailing costs a lot more to operate than streaming, so let's try to phase that out and beef up the streaming division.

the thing about the "well clearly they're going to do something really awesome with streaming soon" logic is...why would they not wait to shit on long-time dvd users until AFTER beefing up the stream scene?

so let's try to phase that out and beef up the streaming division.

Yes but for this to work, they'd have to actually BEEF UP the streaming division.

Seems like streaming is contingent on agreements with studios, distributors, etc., and so, while cheaper for them, it's also more unstable than just having a giant library of DVDs to lend.

I think they want to force the studios/distributors to realize that streaming is the future and Netflix is the juggernaut that they'll have to work with to get their content out.

The thing is, the studios aren't going to give up something like On Demand, which would be pointless if new releases became available on streaming.

netflix streaming selection is pretty great if you only like shitty horror movies, wesley snipes, and movies that have "national lampoon presents" in the title

also, kid's cartoons (I watched the entire Avengers season the week I took off because I go bored)

they are slowly adding more criterion titles to streaming but i feel like they are taking some away too ...

They used to have a deal with Criterion, but that's gone to Hulu now. I think they still get the ones that IFC releases through Criterion though.

There's actually a lot of stuff for foreign/arthouse types. I've got well over 100 in my instant queue.

Their deal with Criterion expires at the end of this year. After December 31 they will have NO Criterion stuff available for streaming.

my deal with streaming will probably expire at that point too

basically how the digital delivery of movies/tv plays out ie who wins/who gets what parts etc is one of the biggest lol business fights of the next decade and will have profound implications for all the industries in that ecosystem - netflix has known this all along, which is why theyre called netflix and not netdvd - apple knows this, nbcuniversal knows this, google know its, time warner knows it - they all know that whoever controls this market will be a much larger more powerful company in the near future and whoever doesnt will be greatly diminished

not to say this wasnt stupid by netflix, cause pissing off yr customers never is, but theyre a v smart company w/a p amazing track record so far, so i wouldnt personal dismiss any move they make out of hand

btw didnt realize read hastings was gay before i saw that video

this kind of blew my mind a few years ago when i first saw it (to the extent that a corporate hr powerpoint deck can blow ones mind) http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664