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

I had Netflix for a long time and I don't really get how people think there's variety in the selection of the streaming and the discs. A lot of the material is either those bargain bin documentaries, really old anime or cheesy movies. Even the TV selection sucks because of distribution fights. I also hate how I have to wait 3 weeks to see a new movie after it's on DVD and Blu so I just gave up my account. I'm trying a 3 month preview of Blockbuster and it's okay, about what I'd expect from renting at the actual store, a lot of the discs are unavailable.

there is a shitload of variety in the streaming and the discs

sometimes when I check out the new movies list i'm like "christ there is nothing but the worst movies ever on streaming" until I realize that I've got a queue 200+ deep and, since I've rated like 3000 movies on netflix, most of the good stuff is in "watch it again." It's not a good service if you want This Movie Now, but if you want A Movie Now, there's more worth watching than I'll ever have time for.

"I also hate how I have to wait 3 weeks to see a new movie after it's on DVD and Blu"

Yes this is truly awful awful... wait didn't you already wait a while? What's three more weeks?

I think the streaming selection is pretty great myself. I don't have any problem keeping my queue stuff to the gills with stuff to watch (lot of docs, true, but no shortage of good ones.)

yeah my reaction to the gap between retail release and Netflix availability is "uh if I was in a hurry to see this movie i would've gone to the theater 5 months ago"

Right. I don't even know when new movies are released on DVDs. The Netflix date might as well be the real release date cause that's all I know.

im telling you guys, buy buy buy, i wish i had money

― max, Wednesday, September 21, 2011 3:07 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah if it werent for my total opposition to individuals owning individual stocks, still tempting

where's lorax he might actually take your advice

I really want to buy some stocks, but being a manchild, I literally have no idea how to do that.

there's a big trading floor at the new york stock exchange, you just gotta go there and make some crazy hand signals, you'll probably end up with some stock

I think I go there in a suit and yell BUY SELL SELL BUY NO! NO! BUY! AUUGHH! into my cellphone and then jump off the 50th floor that afternoon.

Man, just two or three weeks ago, I thought about how this thread title ("not bad"!) was understating folks's contentment with Netflix, price-hike bump aside.

do you own a suit

only after walking into a JC Penney and making some hand signals...

I really want to buy some stocks, but being a manchild, I literally have no idea how to do that.

― kid ᒓᴥᒔ (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:41 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark

just sign up with an online brokerage and buy some stuff, weep later

http://www.tradeking.com/

talk to that creepy baby on TV

otm

ppl are just not being visionary about this

this "the masses are blind as are ppl on this thread" steez is nagl man, I mean my 5th grader knows streaming media is the future, but for netflix to rule they've gotta execute the strategy and the tactics, and they've been fumbling the latter.

they could be steering this transition in a user friendly way, but their recent moves telegraph "we don't give a crap about u" so if a significant competitor does rear its head they will be vulnerable. they're a service/distribution network, they don't own anything, and now they're blowing goodwill and brand allegiance in an arrogant way, just like blockbuster did before them. be a monopoly but don't act like one. companies can execute mass transformational strategies w/o turning their own consumers against them (e.g. amazon or apple). if ppl are booing your very mention on late night TV it might be time for some soulsearching. or chalk it up to the shittiest of all vision-lacking generations being shitty blind fools.

agree that this is a misstep but likely doesnt even register as a footnote in the bigger scheme

they've got a real image problem right now - obv apple's made missteps and recovered, nobody's perfect but general satisfaction is high

netflix can def turn it around but CEO reed richards seems to be stockpiling cluelessness which is surprising since he like totally ran the fantastic four

i said this upthread, but their entire value (to producers, studios, libraries, and media distribution co.s) is in their public face and catholic appeal. if consumer confidence in NF/QS drops too dramatically, the rights-owners of the online media are gonna hitch their wagon to another star.

if I ran amazon or hulu I'd be going crazy right now w/ the smell of blood in the water

i think they're both good (but ultimately different) models of distro, and i feel like if each played their cards right they could survive together. As it is, though, netflix has exposed a big gap in their armor. Not sure this is gonna have a huge impact - espesh if NF actually has something in the wings - but it's a real opportunity for others to tear off a piece.

eh neither amazon or hulu has shown any signs of being able to do what netflix does - i mean ill just have to disagree w/remy here in that most of netflix appeal lies in the the quality of their product - the content providers will licence their content to lots of different distributors who give them money - but of course you have to get the viewers to watch the things in order to get the money and thats all abt the product

netflix has a benefit in that delivering media is the sole focus of their biz (unlike amazon or the studios) but streaming services start looking the same after a while, I've started using crackle on the ipad, maybe the future is a plethora of streaming channels just like we have cable channels and the netflix's comprehensive library was just a beautiful shining moment that is passing

working on a streaming channel library aggregator it's like a TV guide for the cloud age brb

in the future instead of "what time is it on" we will ask "when does this streaming media's content license expire?"

the upcoming original kevin spacey content has the reek of yahoo! logic about it

eh people subscribe to hbo et al for one show all the time, p sound well tested logic imho

if they keep the price around pay cable and keep the rights to a large body of films, totally. but when you're losing pr and the owners of movies don't want to work with you, throwing your $$$ K-Pax might be a fools errand

that should be at K-Pax

eh i kinda doubt that either of those cons are long term trends, and if they are then nothing you do is gonna work anyway so might as well pack it up

really, everybody's saying the same thing. Netflix is pissing off customers but it all depends on if there's worthwhile competition in the future. only point debated is really people's faith in Netflix. Flipping off your customers while chasing Spacey just doesn't make me think they've got all the aces.

every company is gonna make some mistakes, feel like if you look at a slightly longer trendline theyre doing p well, aka this will all blow over

imho creating original content is a v wise move as you want something to differentiate yrself from the competition and reel in those fence sitters - of course you have to make an actually like good show which is obvs a huge leap for a distro/software company

e3 i feel you i guess as much as anything im having trouble seeing why people are so blindly enraged by this that theyre like booing the company on conan? maybe if i could "get inside the head" of the internet i would feel differently but right now its like, get over it

not to mention that i dont *want* a future w/ a bunch of different streaming channels--i mean obviously this *will* happen but i want like 2-3 big comprehensive libraries not 12 different small ones, especially not if those small ones are run by studios and cable channels.

so this is ideological for me--people ditching out on netflix (for what??) are just doing their part to ensure an *even shittier* content environment in the future. thats what i mean by lack of vision.

netflix's lack of anime subs is distressing

i'm curious how many people are ditching netflix as a streaming service due to this - I could see far bigger drops on the "qwikster" side of things, which does seem to plausibly be their goal

like, I dig the comedy of a pr flub like this, and if qwikster blows I may well take the trek to my local video store for new movies (hooray 4 brooklyn where that's still a thing), but for my money netflix is still a great source of tv shows and obscure richard widmark movies

the only really irritating thing about this is not crosspollinating the streaming from my dvd queue. also agree w/max on hating the idea of bunches of streaming channels, fuck that noise.

have they said anything more about this supposed gamefly component btw?

im sure im just reiterating what other people have said, but not jumping into the skipping 1472 messages gulf so youll just have to bear with me

video store is not an option for a lot of people, and the selection on netflix is hardly catholic. i mean i guess i agree w/ everything except the 'they have everything but obscure morbius shit' line w/r/t their streaming section b/c at this point they don't, honestly, have a lot of top shelf shit. i mean i'm a guy who really likes to watch columbo, so i'm happy, but...

i understand how a variety of streaming channels would annoy but i dunno if i'm "ideologically" opposed to any absence of a monopoly

and yeah, if I was back in central PA I'd be PISSED OFF about this shit

feel like what youll see is many places where you can view everything ever made forced to differentiate themselves via product and original programing

i like the idea of a bunch of similar services with similarly-sized services competing on price and speed and GUI (and maybe library content at the margins)--but im deeply afraid of six or seven $10/month subscription services run by (& being the exclusive source of content from) studios and content creators which is what sony & nbcu and everyone else wants

yeah exactly

this is especially scary in the case of a conglomerate like NBC/comcast which would control not only the content and distribution but the infrastructure bringing you the content--meaning no one would fight them if they wanted to throttle bandwidth or charge you extra for streaming video over yr dsl line

like i said above if i trusted that the FCC/congress was looking out for my best interests, keeping the internet open & free & fast, being tough on mergers and so forth, i would feel less invested in this.

i'd see this as a reason to be annoyed with netflix right now