Netflix Drops DVD Queue Editing in Apps & Devices

[admin]

In a seemingly innocuous post on the company blog, Jamie Odell, director of product management at Netflix dropped a bombshell on users that is echoing across the Internet (and on Netflix' own website). The announcement was that Netflix was dropping DVD-queue management functionality on everything but its own website. While it may not seem like a big deal, Netflix recently raised prices to compensate for higher fees on content delivery. This raised pricing for those renting DVDs and Blu-ray discs by mail. At the same time they announced a lower cost streaming-only plan. Together, these moves seem to point to a streaming-only model for the rental company. The trouble is, most of their DVD-based content isn't available for streaming, and eliminating convenience features doesn't seem like a truly helpful way to encourage greater levels of adoption.

Discuss "Netflix Drops DVD Queue Editing in Apps & Devices" here. Read the article.

 

[kevon27]

Netflix is currently the king of the hill for movie rentals and streaming. This position can quickly change when they start making decisions that may seems better for them but the consumer think it stinks. Competition is growing very rapidly. All apple has to do is to offer a subscription model, with real HD content and 5.1 surround and you'll see people start to move away from netflix.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Not giving the customers what they want - a surefire way to success in business....
But on other hand Netflix did say they movie streaming company who happens to renting DVDs to customers as their side business.... I expect DVD shipping to fade away eventually if Netflix gets it's way with the Big Content....

 

[ratso]

i own netflix stock, which has increased over 1000% (!!!) in the last couple years. the boards over at motley fool are just starting to get this news and everyone is starting the speculation - just what is netflix up to ? hmm....

 

[jfalk]

For those interested, a recent debate between a Wall Street investor who doesn't like Netflix's long run prospects here and a very cordial reply from the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, here.

FWIW, I think Whitney Tilson has the slightly better argument if one really believes streaming is where the market is going. I just don't see any way that Netflix can provide current movie streaming on a subscription rather than a PPV basis, and if it's all going to be PPV, it's unclear to me what Netflix has other than momentum. And remember: Blockbuster used to have momentum.

 

[GlocksRock]

It's not that big of a deal to walk over to a PC and add the dvd to your queue, but still not sure why they would remove that feature from every other device that currently supports it.

 

[sholling]

Reducing functionality is a pretty stupid move. I've streamed twice and it just doesn't excite me and would rather give up streaming entirely if the price of discs would go back down. But then I have access to HBO's library.

 

[GlocksRock]

If the offered everything via streaming that they offer via disc, and offered it in HD, at leat 720p, with at least standard dd 5.1, then I would be ok with streaming, but sometimes the interenet is down and it's always best to have a disc, as long as the disc isn't cracked or scratched.

 

[davidtwotrees]

My Netflix streaming pq is lousy. I like their mailings. I didn't know you could queue up from other devices, I just use my PC.
I don't care about queing up from other devices. Meh. Smart phones are the new TV. Wink.

 

[cwall99]

Yeah, both the picture quality and sound quality of streamed content is somewhat less appealing than watching even a standard DVD. Blu-Ray knocks streamed content out of the park.

Granted, we're still in the infancy of the technology, and that as the infrastructure develops to support higher bit rates and as better compression algorithms get developed, maybe they'll get there. It's a ways off, though, IMHO.

I stream Netflix when nothing else is on and I don't feel like listening to music. We usually get about 22 or 23 Mbps (going by what www.speakeasy.net/speedtest says), but once the XBox 360 gets going, and one of my sons gets on his laptop and starts watching YouTube and the other starts using the desktop... well, you get the picture...

I'm not bothered by having to use a PC to manage a queue. It just seems like a goofy thing to blame their constriction of service on.

 

[Pyrrho]

Yeah, both the picture quality and sound quality of streamed content is somewhat less appealing than watching even a standard DVD.

If one watches streaming HD from Netflix, it looks better than standard DVD. If one has a poor internet connection, one will not be able to watch the HD content as HD, and then it will look worse than a DVD. The sound is only two channel, so a DVD can be better for that.

Blu-Ray knocks streamed content out of the park.

Yes, BD (Blu-ray) is significantly better than current Netflix streaming, which can only provide a compressed 720p and 2 channel audio.

Granted, we're still in the infancy of the technology, and that as the infrastructure develops to support higher bit rates and as better compression algorithms get developed, maybe they'll get there. It's a ways off, though, IMHO.

I stream Netflix when nothing else is on and I don't feel like listening to music. We usually get about 22 or 23 Mbps (going by what www.speakeasy.net/speedtest says), but once the XBox 360 gets going, and one of my sons gets on his laptop and starts watching YouTube and the other starts using the desktop... well, you get the picture...

I'm not bothered by having to use a PC to manage a queue. It just seems like a goofy thing to blame their constriction of service on.

A lot of people cannot get a fast internet connection now. And of those who do, it is not completely reliable, which is very annoying when a program gets interrupted because of this (or in your case, when others in your family are using up the bandwidth). Also, consider the sort of capacity that Netflix would need to send out 1080p with 7.1 lossless audio to millions of people at once, and one will see that BD is likely to remain the best consumer option for high quality for a long while.

 

[sholling]

A lot of people cannot get a fast internet connection now. And of those who do, it is not completely reliable, which is very annoying when a program gets interrupted because of this (or in your case, when others in your family are using up the bandwidth). Also, consider the sort of capacity that Netflix would need to send out 1080p with 7.1 lossless audio to millions of people at once, and one will see that BD is likely to remain the best consumer option for high quality for a long while.

I think this is where Netflix is getting ahead of itself. First cable companies are never going to allow Netflix enough bandwidth for 1080P with 7.1 lossless audio which is one of the only two advantages over just waiting for a movie to come out on HBO (the other is uncut/unrated videos). My thought is that the next rate increase will see me drop Netflix in favor of buying one Blu-Ray per month and taking advantage of FIOS' free 1080i 5.1 audio video on demand if I'm desperate for something to watch. It's a rare year that produces more than 12 movies that interest me.

 

[Warpdrv]

I think this is where Netflix is getting ahead of itself. First cable companies are never going to allow Netflix enough bandwidth for 1080P with 7.1 lossless audio

Funny - this is something that many many people have trouble even doing in their own homes.... streaming over their internal network.

Trying to accomplish something like that without the entire world being on optical cable connections is just going to be a joke.... Much less with DSL and Cable companies that sell you the best connection you can pay for and then have them secretly throttling it back all the time to increase their network distribution is another questionable scenario...

Test your connection speeds regularly to make sure you are getting what you pay for people.... just a friendly FYI.

 

[JohnA]

Maybe I am the lucky one, but I have no problem streaming Netflix over the wireless G with 3 other computers on the network at the same time.

I think the PQ looks great.

 

[majorloser]

Maybe I am the lucky one, but I have no problem streaming Netflix over the wireless G with 3 other computers on the network at the same time.

I think the PQ looks great.

I've also had no problem with streaming quality. I also just hooked up a new Samsung BD-C6500 Bluray player that has Netflix capabilities and it's wireless. I was watching a couple movies yesterday with no problems. Never had to stop once to re-buffer.

 

[audiofox]

Streaming has been more or less okay (SoCal Roadrunner), but I don't find myself using it that much because of the other options I have available. I have accounts with Blockbuster and Netflix (my daughter uses and pays for the Blockbuster account for the present time so she doesn't have to compete with the parental units for rental titles). The DVD rental service is identical (ie, timeliness of delivery, response to issues like DVDs lost in the mail, etc), but Blockbuster frequently has better and larger selection and earlier availability of new titles for less money (Netflix charges an additional fee for Blu-Ray while Blockbuster does not) if one only considers the DVD rental service. I am still in the "nice to have but not critical" category with respect to streaming, which may or may not change with higher resolution offerings because of issues others have already pointed out. My concern regarding streaming as the primary delivery model is that even the service providers like Time Warner can't (or won't) provide service without some dropouts, so how a company like Netflix, which has no control over the distribution network, can do better is unclear, to say the least.

 

[jostenmeat]

I don't know, but to me, I walk to the mailbox everyday anyways. So I spend time throwing stuff on to a queue, instead of scrolling around to see what I'll stream next.

Just my Godfather series alone is 200 gigs of info.

My collection, by far, is on 50 GB discs. The majority of BDs made are on 50 GB discs, and without stopping, the proportion is ever increasing towards 50 GB, and always has been for years now.

Just how much video compression must I suffer? I'm not even concerned about the dropouts.

Can anyone tell me how large the typical streamed movie file is? Is it even as large as 5 GB, or near 10% of the info on so many of my BDs? Could I even hope for 10%?

Would you guys all prefer 128 kbs MP3 over lossless just because you get to spend time scrolling through a menu, even when the lossless track would only be as far away as the driveway?


There is nothing stopping the price hikes of streaming either. The broadband companies want to charge companies like Netflix more, because they are using so much of the provider's bandwidth. I believe streaming has become the #1 hog of bandwidth in America, or so I've been told.

Maybe it will become like an ESPN thing. ESPN charges more, otherwise no contract, and so providers have to pay up, and pass the costs along to consumers. Hm.

 

[digicidal]

Maybe it will become like an ESPN thing. ESPN charges more, otherwise no contract, and so providers have to pay up, and pass the costs along to consumers. Hm.

And that is the real reason that the whole 'net neutrality' debate is such a hot-button issue. We're already 'taxed' in more than one way for media and information access - but it could be much, much worse... with pretty much everyone fingers in the pot!

For me - I will continue to use the through-the-mail route for DVD's and BD's that I really want to watch, but don't have any desire to purchase (at least until after I've seen the movie to make a better judgement). I will also continue to purchase anything I really like and would want to ever watch a second time. And I will forever relegate to streaming those things that I'm curious about enough to give about 10mins of my time to and make a determination after that. I do this with a bunch of foreign films, indies, and anime titles. So much of it is such overwhelming crap (IMHO of course, you're welcome to differ on this aspect) that I don't want to waste my time and rental slot to the entire piece if I can determine in 5-10 minutes that the production value, plotline, acting, sound, etc... aren't worth suffering through further.

Plus I do like the streaming for watching previous seasons of TV shows - however, if this were my main reason for signing up with Netflix - I'd probably be better served giving that cash to Hulu for a 'plus' membership (which I think I'll probably do anyway).

Oh and @Warpdrv: twice weekly - same as my NAS backups. I just consider that (checking my cable bandwidth) part of my 'maintenance' around the house.

 

[smurphy522]

It does seem like a peculiar move to eliminate the queue editing feature from Apps and devices. Possibly explained this way:

In order to make efforts to minimize the streaming amount but not totally lose the customer base they have made that move. Granted they will upset some by this but the core base of customers most likely use computers to edit and view their queue.
Maybe they are reacting to the recent complaints/issues stemming from the bandwidth use on the providers lines. Just a guess
This is somewhat different to Apple's approach who also make the hardware - so the desire to enable the players to be able to do the choosing is more or less justified. Funny though I can't recall reading about any complaints from providers stemming from Apples/iTunes streaming content to devices. Possibly because it is so compressed and less saturated withing the market.
In order to stream movies from iTunes you have but a few choices of hardware as compared to Netflix at least.

 

[rnatalli]

Might be too early for this. Netflix streams don't even have Dolby Digital yet. Netflix has to be real careful especially when companies like Hulu are looking to issue an IPO for the sole purposes of competing with Netflix.