Netflix Imposes 28% Rate Hike on Existing and New Customers

[j_garcia]

An alternative

https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/m/plan/c.helloblockbuster/pt.helloblockbuster/r.hp

Except for one tiny detail: they probably won't make it to the end of the year.

 

[enrique]

Except for one tiny detail: they probably won't make it to the end of the year.

Probably right? maybe.If i remember correctly they said that some time last year.Yet they are still sticking around.(maybe because of store closures).regardless they get the dvd's same time as the stores.Allways having to wait nearly a month or longer for new releases with netflix..

 

[xego]

netflix

I have had NEtflix practically from the beginning so it really upsets me to see it go this way. I think it is a great service but with some people making some poor decisions. As far as streaming goes I never thought that this would stay free--and it hasn't the price has been creeping up--I quit paying for cable long ago and streaming has helped, and I am still paying far less and getting far more for my money with netflix than I ever would from TimeWarner. I am unhappy to hear that physical media might be going away? Streaming will never match what is available in physical media. Unfortunately the same soccer moms that chose redbox's 100 selections over a brick and mortar video store, are the same driving force that will allow netflix to feel confident that they can offer less choice--streaming only--they aren't going to miss the obscure titles that I will be missing.

and to those clueless people that are dropping the discs and just going with streaming think on this ...why would the studios allow netflix to stream a movie within their price model when the same title is being --even almost a year after it's release-- streamed on other sites for $3 or more dollars a download? In most cases they wouldn't ,,,just check a list of new releases and see how many are available streaming say out of the top 100...2? 3? at best?

 

[washburn]

NF streaming just sucks *** for content - newest movies available for streaming with NF are hardly new...they're freaking OLD! not that I only watch new movies, but if they expect people to keep streaming and pay MORE, they're nuts! Selection is piss poor, IMO.
I will cancel my NF mail and streaming, and see about amazon prime and/or amazon on demand...

 

[j_garcia]

NF streaming just sucks *** for content - newest movies available for streaming with NF are hardly new...they're freaking OLD! not that I only watch new movies, but if they expect people to keep streaming and pay MORE, they're nuts! Selection is piss poor, IMO.
I will cancel my NF mail and streaming, and see about amazon prime and/or amazon on demand...

I've already said this before: check the options for other (legal) offerings. Not only are they no different (most of the films are older), their offerings are typically considerably fewer. It does depend on what you want to watch, but that has ALWAYS been an issue with Netflix, even with discs. New stuff is available on a few sites for streaming but they are charging you so much that it almost costs as much as Netflix streaming for the whole month.

I am unhappy to hear that physical media might be going away?

Netflix said they wanted to get rid of discs, but they realize that they will piss too many people off, so it will still be around for some time.

Redbox also said their intention was to add streaming as well, though I am not sure how soon that might be.

 

[zhimbo]

An interesting read on the topic....

Jim Emerson: About this whole Netflix pricing thing...

A portion of it:

The more serious problem is that too many of the movies themselves (even the good ones) are being made available in lousy prints: not just shabby public-domain versions (the equivalent of the old 16 mm local TV station prints that used to circulate through low-end nontheatrical distributors), but films shown in the wrong aspect ratio (beware of anything with the Starz logo on it) or even obsolete pan-and-scan (shame on you, Warner Bros.)

...

A recent anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) movie like "Let Me In" shown in "full screen" (16:9)? Not acceptable. Albert Brooks' "Lost in America" (1.85:1) in 4:3? Outrage! (Actually, that particular movie doesn't look so bad, but why crop it? The Amazon $2.99 Instant Video 48-hour rental is in the right ratio.) And the mangled movies aren't even labeled, the way they would be if they were hacked up for television or DVD: "This film has been modified from its original version: it has been formatted to fit your screen."

I've noticed wrong aspect ratios and effed-up frame rates on quite a few movies myself.

 

[zhimbo]

More commentary...

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/5x48

 

[Rickster71]

Except for one tiny detail: they probably won't make it to the end of the year.

Dish Network got Blockbuster in a bankruptcy action, and likely gives Dish the rights Blockbuster had to stream movies over the Internet, the Blockbuster brand name and customer lists. A little competition would be nice along with fostering competitive prices. (I can dream can't I?)
Netflix is reading the writing on the wall and realizes at the moment they are one of the few games in town and until Dish shows up, they can temporarily raise prices.

 

[j_garcia]

Dish has been sending me offers for BB, both in store coupons and online access, recently. Unfortunately, I don't see them putting out streaming that would directly compete with their own bread and butter service unless it is available directly through their boxes/DVRs. They basically already offer this functionality as VOD.

 

[Rickster71]

Dish has been sending me offers for BB, both in store coupons and online access, recently. Unfortunately, I don't see them putting out streaming that would directly compete with their own bread and butter service unless it is available directly through their boxes/DVRs. They basically already offer this functionality as VOD.

I'm curious to see what they'll do with BB to increase market share.
Since they now own the BB name, I wonder if it will remain; or somehow be integrated into Dish.
I agree, they may possibly use their DVRs.
The VOD is $7.00 a movie. I have Dish and refuse to pay that, been using Netflix instead.

 

[j_garcia]

I'm curious to see what they'll do with BB to increase market share.
Since they now own the BB name, I wonder if it will remain; or somehow be integrated into Dish.
I agree, they may possibly use their DVRs.
The VOD is $7.00 a movie. I have Dish and refuse to pay that, been using Netflix instead.

The only rental/vod movies I have watched from Dish were freebies from initial sign up and referring friends. I suspect they will either eliminate VOD or leverage the licensing that they presumably got in the deal to expand their library. To compete, they need to lower the cost of VOD or switch to some type of streaming at a lower cost otherwise I'm not sure what they hoped to gain by buying BB.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

HD Audio 5.1 Streaming on Netflix

I was streaming "Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes" in HD yesterday in the family room (Infinity P362/ BIC PL200/ Denon 3310).

I was pleasantly surprised when the BLUE HD AUDIO light lit up on the Denon 3310. The input signal was Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. The LCD also read Dolby Digital Plus. The sound was fantastic. The video looked awesome as well.

HD Audio 5.1 streaming on Netflix. Pretty sweet.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Netflix streams 1080p

So now Netflix streams up to 1080p video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

Perhaps the increase in price is justified at least a little bit.

 

[skizzerflake]

Now Netflix is up sh*t creek (it may still have a paddle) over the apparent loss of Starz movies, which make up a lot of their recent films. It appears that distributors are realizing that they made bad deals with Netflix a few years ago when they had no faith in streaming and gave away their movies on the cheap. Netflix is between the proverbial rock and hard place.

If that were not bad enough, they are going to limit users to one simultaneous stream so multiple users won't be able to use the same login on different gadgets at the same time.

Looks like the $8 month nearly free ride is nearly over. Too good to last.