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Netflix beware

KilarneyKilarney
edited December 2007 in Movies
Apple is getting into the movie rental business. This may actually make Apple TV worth consideration. (They are in talks with other studios.) I use Amazon Unbox with my TIVO, and I have to say that I love it. They often have 99 cent specials, and it's really seemless. Press a button and in an hour or two you have a movie right on your TIVO.

Netflix has two advantages. For high-volume users they are cheaper. (Good for the user, not good for Netflix. Netflix doesn't make money off of these folks. They want to keep the low-volume users.) They also have a much better selection.

Still...if Netflix doesn't get into the download business soon, they could be in big trouble down the road. I think we'll see Unbox and Apple sitting pretty for the time being. Unbox has access to a gazillion homes thanks to TIVO. Apple has the portable media player market cornered. In other words, they both have a nice built in market. Netflix will be playing catch-up.

I just recently canceled Netflix thanks to Unbox. Netflix made a lot of money off of me, since I rarely used my quota - even on the cheapest plan.

Now if Netflix is in trouble, Blockbuster is all but dead in the water.
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Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    This isn't going to hurt Netflix for a few reasons. The biggest reason is that the vast majority of people still do not have a computer connected to their television, and won't for some time. However, almost everybody has a DVD player. DRM and lack of selection are the other two factors that are keeping download services stuck behind. If you want to see how to do the digital download service properly, check out Gametap or Steam. From what I see, they seem to be doing much better than Gamefly.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited December 2007
    How about a cheap dock available for future IPods that will connect them to your television? The only problem is that it likely won't be hi-def content.

    What I like about Unbox with Tivo is that you don't have to store anything on your computer. My hard drive is bursting at the seams, so this really helps.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    edited December 2007
    Still...if Netflix doesn't get into the download business soon, they could be in big trouble down the road.
    Netflix is in the download business. They have over 6,000 movies and TV shows available for immediate viewing. Granted, it's not all new material, but they're making inroads. For my "three-out-at-a-time, $16.99/month" package I get 17 hours worth of viewing time on their "watch instantly" service every billing period. Sure it's there, but I generally don't use it for the reasons Scott listed: I don't have a computer connected to my TV, but I do have a DVD player. Sure, I could sit there in bed with my laptop and watch streaming movies, but why the hell would I want to do that when I have a large TV with a decent surround-sound system downstairs?
    Post edited by Techparadox on
  • KilarneyKilarney
    I forgot about Watch It Now. I used it a couple of times, but like others, I don't enjoy watching TV on my computer. I also don't care to hook up my computer to my TV, even though it wasn't that hard.

    That's why I like Amazon Unbox with TIVO so much. Just click on the title you want, and it gets downloaded to a dedicated TV box. That's where videos should go - to your TV. I got a Series 2 TIVO for free, with the purchase of a one year service plan. That's cheaper than I was paying for my cable company DVR, which had no internet connection. What's nice about TIVO is that I don't have to subscribe to all of the digital channels that my cable company required for their own DVR. Granted, the Series 2 is becoming obsolete, but I don't own a hi-def TV (and have no plans of getting one until my current TV dies), so it works fine for me.

    Now if they'd reduce the price of TV shows to 99 cents per episode, I'd get rid of cable TV entirely.

    TIVO has some other cool internet functions, such as being able to download video podcasts (Cranky Geeks, DL.TV, CNET, etc.), Live 365, Yahoo Photo and some other cool things.
  • AprecheApreche
    Yeah, Tivo is pretty good. If you aren't watching TV, like us, it's a waste of money. Also, there are more DVD players out there than there are Tivos. That may change in time.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    Ironically, I watch less TV ever since I got a DVR. Now I just record the shows I want, and I never channel surf anymore. With add skipping, you can watch an hour-long show in about 45 minutes. The DVR lets you treat your TV as a media center, and not just something to sit in front of for no reason.

    Of course, my wife and I are in the middle of catching up with Battlestar Galactica. I saw the first few minutes of the miniseries when it first aired, and assumed that it was going to be typical Sci-Fi channel crap. I guess I got that wrong. We've made it to episode four of the second season. Catching up with BSG has put a serious crimp in my reading.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited December 2007
    If your computer isn't hooked up to your TV, the other purchase that I HIGHLY recommend is a Philips DVD player that plays DIVX, XVID, etc. These can be had for $40-$65.

    I download the torrent, burn the raw .avi file to a CD-RW, pop it into my DVD player, and off I go.

    It's the best $40 bucks I've ever spent. So far it's played everything that I've thrown at it.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    I think if I had a Tivo (or a HTPC setup) I'd probably watch a lot more TV than I do right now. Currently my TV acts as little more than a monitor for my DVD player and the consoles I have hooked to it. The cable box pretty much just sits there taking up space. Remember the old Springsteen song "57 Channels (and Nothing On)"? That's pretty much how I feel about the current cable offering in my area. Heck, the only reason I have a tuner box is because it's mandated with the package I have (their "VIP package" - Video, Internet, and Phone). It's not like the cable companies can't do an a la carte offering of channels - they just prefer to stick you with the package deal to get more money out of you. But I digress; that's a different rant for a different post.
  • ReimuReimu
    Netflix: yet another service made possible only by the horde of stupid, fat and lazy Americans.
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    Netflix: yet another service made possible only by the horde of stupid, fat and lazy Americans.
    Care to back up that flame-bait with some reasoning?
  • RymRym
    Netflix: yet another service made possible only by the horde of stupid, fat and lazy Americans.
    How so? Most of those movies aren't easily available for convenient rental in a lot of places, especially foreign ones. It's much smarter to rent a movie than to purchase it, unless you plan to view it multiple times.

    Netflix beats any other solution to date hands-down. I can't remember the last time I want to a Blockbuster.
  • DaveDave
    Even from a price standpoint the difference is obscene. A month of netflix costs less than TWO rentals from Blockbuster.
  • ReimuReimu
    edited December 2007
    "Netflix" is the guy down the street you gave CDs to so he'd burn you all the latest moviez he downloaded, except now you're paying monthly and waiting longer for less shit.
    Post edited by Reimu on
  • DaveDave
    You're also not being a total douchebag and stealing media, but whatever. That's cool, man.
  • ReimuReimu
    edited December 2007
    You're also not being a total douchebag and stealing media, but whatever. That's cool, man.
    People like you still exist?

    Tell me more about the huge revenues the people actually make this stuff are getting from netflix rentals. Then tell me again why I should bother paying for mainstream shit anyway.
    Post edited by Reimu on
  • DaveDave
    People who aren't tools? They're around. You gotta stop abusing your wing-dang-doodle to futanari double-stuffs on /d/ if you wanna find them, though.
  • ReimuReimu
    People who aren't tools? They're around. You gotta stop abusing your wing-dang-doodle to futanari double-stuffs on /d/ if you wanna find them, though.
    Why on Earth would I want to do that?
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    I'm sure the content producers get some sort of revenue share from Netflix and Blockbuster. Think of how many people no longer buy DVDs because they can rent them for cheap? How many "lost" sales are out there because DVD buyers have become Netflix members?

    The same thing is moving into to the video game world with GameFly (and the clones).

    Take a typical video game with no post game content and you have the equivalent of a movie on DVD. With rare exceptions most people will only watch a movie once, why buy it? Same goes for video games, why buy the game if you only intend to play it through once?
  • spiritfiendspiritfiend
    I think Apple could make this work. They definitely brought the digital music player to mainstream America. Maybe they will be able to convince people to buy an Apple TV, even though it's just a stripped down computer hooked up to a television.

    Plug and play is easy. People will pay for convenience. Some people would call it laziness, but using tools available to you to make less work for yourself is smart in my book. Saving money by doing work is a different kind of smart.
  • AprecheApreche
    With rare exceptions most people will only watch a movie once, why buy it? Same goes for video games, why buy the game if you only intend to play it through once?
    To lend it to somebody else.
  • Hitman HartHitman Hart
    Someone earlier in the thread mentioned burning video files to DVD and putting them through his DVD player. Does anyone have an idea of the ideal resolution you need to do that on a normal non HD TV?
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    With rare exceptions most people will only watch a movie once, why buy it? Same goes for video games, why buy the game if you only intend to play it through once?
    To lend it to somebody else.
    Why pay $20 to lend one DVD when you can pay less than that per month for Netflix?
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited December 2007
    Someone earlier in the thread mentioned burning video files to DVD and putting them through his DVD player.
    Not quite. I burn the raw .avi file to a CD-RW. My DVD player has the codecs built in. Frankly, I'm not sure what the resolution is. It's the standard stuff off of bittorrent. The only catch is that the CD-RW is limited to 700mb. I don't have a DVD burner, but I don't download movies so I've never had trouble with the 700mb limit.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • CremlianCremlian
    To lend it to somebody else.
    I second this. Best way to spread great media is to lend it out. Share the wealth so to speak.
  • AprecheApreche
    Why pay $20 to lend one DVD when you can pay less than that per month for Netflix?
    Fiddling with your Netflix queue to coincide with your social schedule is not so fun. Also, not everyone you know might be a Netflix member. Even if they are, are they really going to put the movie you suggest at the top of their queue? If a movie is the kind that you will watch again and again at parties, show to other people who haven't seen it, etc. then it might be worth owning.
  • kage_rodkage_rod
    ...I want Netflix.. *pout* Is it in Canada?

    Haha, I never watch anything on my TV; much easier to use my computer. =3
  • Hitman HartHitman Hart
    Someone earlier in the thread mentioned burning video files to DVD and putting them through his DVD player.
    Not quite. I burn the raw .avi file to a CD-RW. My DVD player has the codecs built in. Frankly, I'm not sure what the resolution is. It's the standard stuff off of bittorrent. The only catch is that the CD-RW is limited to 700mb. I don't have a DVD burner, but I don't download movies so I've never had trouble with the 700mb limit.
    What I'm thinking is can I use the average anime fansub I find and have it not look like pixelated garbage?
  • KilarneyKilarney
    It will look as good as it looks on your computer.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited December 2007
    Why pay $20 to lend one DVD when you can pay less than that per month for Netflix?
    Fiddling with your Netflix queue to coincide with your social schedule is not so fun. Also, not everyone you know might be a Netflix member. Even if they are, are they really going to put the movie you suggest at the top of their queue? If a movie is the kind that you will watch again and again at parties, show to other people who haven't seen it, etc. then it might be worth owning.
    I mentioned that, but keeper movies are few and far between these days. For every Blade Runner or Empire Strikes Back there are a hundred 'see it once' movies like the Bourne movies or Phantom Menace.

    I watched the hell out of my Star Wars VHS tapes back in the day and now I have them on DVD. I buy almost no DVDs these days. The only ones I buy are TV show box sets and movies that I know I will watch again and again.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • AprecheApreche
    Yes, the vast majority of movies are not worth buying.
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