Testing out Netflix

[Wayde Robson]

Okay, I know it's nothing revolutionary but I have finally decided to try out Netflix for the first time. I'm on my month's trial because I'm about to get rid of Cable TV.

I didn't expect much in the way of a/v quality obviously... but I didn't realize how bad it would actually be. Does anyone actually use this for a recently released movie? I don't get it. DVD is a significant step up.

That said, I might keep it for older TV shows and documentaries and movies I wouldn't otherwise get to see, they have a decent library of older and foreign movies.

The whole thing is neutered in Canada too, which pisses me off. Get this licensing stuff together - what the heck, Canada? Would our Canuck way of life be threatened if Netflix could stream Star Trek episodes like it does in the US? Sheesh!

I give Netlflix a 2.5 out 5 stars. I'll watch Marvel cartoons with my son and catch up old 80s sword and sandal films I loved as a kid, and documentaries. Otherwise, there's no way I'm watching movies on it when there's Blu-ray.

 

[Adam]

Wayde, how fast is your internet connection? I think that the video quality is outstanding on the shows that are in HD, and the 5.1 surround sound (when available) is great, too. My download speed is rated at 25 Mbps.

Some of the movies aren't in HD, though, so they don't look as good. I find myself drawn to the shows in HD and tend not to watch the others, but sometimes I do, and it's not too bad. I think that they are comparable to DVD except for the sound - I don't remember ever watching one in SD that had better than stereo sound.

Also, if you are watching on a Mac or PC, you can manually set the buffer to improve the video quality by following these instructions.

 

[Josuah]

Yeah, the video quality will depend on your bandwidth, and it also begins at a low quality to make playback start faster. It should ramp up anywhere between 1s to several seconds depending on your bandwidth.

Also, in Canada, I think there is a default setting to keep the video quality lower because of the bandwidth caps. Check your account settings on the web site to see if that setting is there.

 

[jinjuku]

I've watched titles on my 100" projection screen and had great image quality. Like others have said something else is going on.

As a litmus test watch 'Art of the Steal'. It is a HD title.

 

[Grador]

My experience has been the same as those above. On a fast internet connection I've found SD material to have video quality comparable to DVD and HD content to be exceptionally good. SD audio quality is.....sufficient for enjoyment of a TV show, but could be better.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Netflix picture quality was fine, but I had regular problems with network errors. Netflix and Comcast pointed fingers at each other and my equipment. Finally I just gave up and dropped the streaming service. Too flaky for me. I also found their selections wanting. Lots of trash, a few gems, but not enough.

Overall I'd rate my experience with Netflix streaming an F.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Thanks for the word!

I'm streaming it over my Oppo. I'll have to look into setting, I have a very fast cable, Internet connection so maybe there's a default cap I'm dealing with or maybe it's the choices I'm making. I'll check out a newer HD movie and see how that goes.

 

[Serj22]

Your video card will hinder the speed of the HD turning on as well for Netflix. We ditched cable in favor of a $7.00 Hulu Plus and $7.00 Netflix subscription. So we can still watch pretty much every new show and full seasons of the old stuff on Netflix. Hulu only gives you 720 if you pay the fee - and the quality of the stream alone is definitly worth it.

We have the netflix quality control set to 1gb an hour at HD quality. What is yours set at?

 

[j_garcia]

Not just the speed, but the device can itself can affect the experience. A device that has little memory and can't buffer will cause the stream to have to buffer more frequently. Note too that VERY few devices stream anything but stereo. Only the PS3 and maybe a few other devices currently stream 5.1 sound at 640k.

 

[DS-21]

Netflix (through an AppleTV) looks and sounds fine to me. But admittedly I'm not too picky about TV/movie quality. My vision's not great, and the product (TV/movies) just isn't as interesting to me as music is.

That said, the one thing I've watched on Netflix about which I cared about the audio quality, Pearl Jam Twenty, looked and sounded quite good to me.

 

[avnetguy]

The whole thing is neutered in Canada too, which pisses me off. Get this licensing stuff together - what the heck, Canada? Would our Canuck way of life be threatened if Netflix could stream Star Trek episodes like it does in the US? Sheesh!

This is a way around this but it requires you have access to a remote server/computer on the US side. My friend does this and it is so much better than CDN netflix.

Steve

 

[Josuah]

Not just the speed, but the device can itself can affect the experience. A device that has little memory and can't buffer will cause the stream to have to buffer more frequently.

This should only happen if your bandwidth is also unreliable. The individual devices are designed to stream bit-rates that will fit in device memory.

Or if you are using an older device which does not handle seamless bit-rate switching.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Only the PS3 and maybe a few other devices currently stream 5.1 sound at 640k.

I dialed up the settings through the web interface and noticed drastic improvement to video. I tested out a newer movie that should have 5.1 audio but it only came through my Oppo Blu-ray player Netflix app in 2.0.

I also have a PS3, I will try this. I don't know if it's a thing where they don't do 5.1 in Canada or it's just the Blu-ray player app that isn't capable of 5.1.

 

[Adam]

At least on the PS3, I had to manually select 5.1 under the audio options the first time before it would remember that as a preference.

 

[sholling]

Thanks for the word!

I'm streaming it over my Oppo. I'll have to look into setting, I have a very fast cable, Internet connection so maybe there's a default cap I'm dealing with or maybe it's the choices I'm making. I'll check out a newer HD movie and see how that goes.

The last that I remember reading the Oppo Netflix app was very limited in resolution and sound. That may have changed but a couple of months ago I posted and linked an article about which players were doing 1080P and 5.1 sound and the Oppo wasn't one and it said no update was planned. The latest higher end Rokus and PS3 apps will playback in 1080P with 5.1 sound but only a limited number of Netflix's movies are in 1080P. The quality is pretty darn good although not at Blu-Ray levels and I'm still buying Blu-Rays.

 

[tattoo_Dan]

Okay, I know it's nothing revolutionary but I have finally decided to try out Netflix for the first time. I'm on my month's trial because I'm about to get rid of Cable TV.

I didn't expect much in the way of a/v quality obviously... but I didn't realize how bad it would actually be. Does anyone actually use this for a recently released movie? I don't get it. DVD is a significant step up.

That said, I might keep it for older TV shows and documentaries and movies I wouldn't otherwise get to see, they have a decent library of older and foreign movies.

The whole thing is neutered in Canada too, which pisses me off. Get this licensing stuff together - what the heck, Canada? Would our Canuck way of life be threatened if Netflix could stream Star Trek episodes like it does in the US? Sheesh!

I give Netlflix a 2.5 out 5 stars. I'll watch Marvel cartoons with my son and catch up old 80s sword and sandal films I loved as a kid, and documentaries. Otherwise, there's no way I'm watching movies on it when there's Blu-ray.

I have tried it a couple times for new movies,and yes,IMO it totally sucks,I will stick with my blu-ray,it blows streaming away by miles in every way.

 

[Grador]

I have tried it a couple times for new movies,and yes,IMO it totally sucks,I will stick with my blu-ray,it blows streaming away by miles in every way.

Except selection and value. Netflix streaming is best viewed as an enhancement of your library rather than a replacement for it.