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Thread: So... Netflix

  1. #1
    Junior Potato
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    So... Netflix

    I'm supporting terrorism (but not in a totally terroristic torrenty way) by subscribing to a pretty neat fake DNS server that allows my 'puter and my iPhone to pretend it's in the USA.

    Which means I can get Netflix. I don't have a US-based funding source yet but I'll cross that bridge later when my free trial is up.

    $5 a month for the DNS and $8 a month for all the movies I can possibly watch makes me a happy boy. I've never been able to justify spending over $70 a month on subscription TV, which is full of ads anyway, when I could just steal all the content I want at my leisure. I've even figured out how to force HD on the PC video stream!

    After a few days checking out Netflix, I do have one gripe.

    The selection of movies, especially recent release stuff is not as fat as I thought it would be. All the good stuff appears to be disc rental only. The list of Oscar winners is very thin and not much of it is what I would consider watching.

    The range of TV shows is very good but I am not much of a TV show kinda guy. If I had the time to watch 11 seasons of Futurama, the mental gymnastics for Arrested Development, and the insufferable whinyness required for How I Met Your Mother, I'd be in heaven. But I'm not into that.

    Except for Archer, and An Idiot Abroad, and maaaaybe Breaking Bad. Oh, and I'm gagging like a $2 whore to see the next series of House of Cards.... TWEEEE!!!!

    But aside from those four TV series, I'm in it for the movies and I'm having trouble finding shit that I want to watch.

    Is anybody who is experienced in this Netflix thing able to explain why the movie selection looks so broad, but seems to be maddeningly short of depth?

  2. #2
    Wanna Fight?
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    I pay for the UK Netflix and Lovefilm (Amazon-owned) but may or may not use a browser extension that lets me select a region to view any sites. My UK Netflix name and password seems to work just fine as a US account when it thinks I'm in the USA.

    Or so I've been told...

    In my experience, Netflix (any region) seems a bit crap for newer movies, but has the best selection of TV shows, whereas Amazon have been snagging the latest films to the detriment of their TV series.

  3. #3
    What does the Bat say? Jason's Avatar
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    I might cancel Netflix again... every time I resubscribe, I check out what they have, and the movie collection is rather sparse. The only real benefit of Netflix anymore seems to be for some of the TV shows they have in their library.

    The studios are all gearing up to make their own paid streaming options, and leaving companies like Netflix out to dry.

  4. #4
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    I don't understand why people watch How I Met Your Mother. I suppose it's the same crowd who found Friends to be hilarious.

  5. #5
    Junior Potato
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    You've just gotta replace Gen X for Gen Y.

    Even when you're paying for it, you're still left short, or needing to go for multiple services.

    Why can't there be one? Just one. Like Steam but for video content, where every fucker on Earth makes it available and the good independent stuff is sold on equal terms with the major stuff, and it's affordable and the hosts are not arse holes and the content owners are not pricks.

    There is a place like this and it is called The Pirate Bay, but it's legality is questionable. That's what I want to get out of one day.

  6. #6
    What does the Bat say? Jason's Avatar
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    There is "one"... it's called the most expensive cable package. And paying like $150/mo for it.

  7. #7
    What does the Bat say? Jason's Avatar
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    Or, you can use iTunes/Amazon/etc and buy content that way... most media is sold on those sites. Not much is streamed for cheap, though.

  8. #8
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    Netflix has decent kid programs and documentaries which you otherwise probably won't be able to find or wouldn't be willing to spend money to buy.

    If you want the latest Hollywood hits, Netflix is not the provider for that. They probably just cannot afford to pay the licensing fees to maintain an awesome library. Or perhaps the movie studios just don't want to license their latest and greatest too soon..., at least not until they can milk the consumers til the very end with DVD sales or cable subscription or itune download?

    If I were you, I wouldn't waste my time pretending to be in the USA trying to watch stuffs on Netflix.

  9. #9
    Member Member 21Kid's Avatar
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    They do have a lot of kids shows and some decent TV shows. I love not having to FF through the commercials. But, they are at least a full year behind anything that you'd want to watch currently. So, you hear all about the breaking bad finally way before you'd ever be able to watch it.

    It's okay, but like everything else it's not perfect.

    I can't stand HULU since they force you to watch commercials. And they only rotate 3-4 of them. So, if you watch more than 2 episodes of something, you'll want to rip your hair out.

    Personally, I'd rather pay twice as much to Netflix and have a larger category of things to watch than pay the cable company for 546 channels that I'll never watch. Or be forced to watch commercials that I've seen 500 times. Or even try to download them via pirate bay. I don't have the time to sit down and download every episode of Sons of Anarchy before I want to watch them. And then I'd have to connect my laptop to my TV and won't have a remote.
    Also, with my wife's wacky schedule. I don't know when we'll be able to sit down together to watch said episodes. So, our DVR filsl up rather quickly.

  10. #10
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    I am very happy with my Netflix, but agree that a) the streaming content is far from perfect, and b) I'd pay more for streaming if it meant more content. But, I do both the streaming and disc service, and for <$20/mo it's 99% of all content (even if that means resorting to discs) and 50% of any conventional TV service. It's imperfect, but it's the best The Man is going to let us have.

    I worry a little bit about what happens when studios try to stream directly and cut Netflix out of the picture, but I think/hope that will end in a lawsuit. As a studio, it would be a very difficult to make the case you could previously sell your content to a distributor for $x, but you can no longer do that at any price, or at some new unreasonable price. I suspect that would very quickly result in a lost lawsuit or an FTC investigation.

    If such a thing were to happen and the only way I could get movies was by paying per-movie to each studio I'd add movies to my Do Not Watch list right along with television. I've stuck with Netflix because it's easy - I don't have to pay a dozen different vendors each for a small piece of my media pie. If those assholes are going to try to make my life difficult by charging a bigger piece of my disposable income or manage relationships with multiple vendors they can all fuck right off. The boob tube is not a healthy part of my life anyway - making it more difficult to be unhealthy rsn't going to work out for them.

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