HDTV Almanac - Big News from Netflix

alfredpoor · Post by **alfredpoor** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:00 am

The Motley Fool declares “game over“. I agree, though the seeds for this domination were planted a long time ago.
What’s the big deal? Netflix has agreed to pay $1 billion to Epix over the next five years in return for the right to stream movie titles over the Internet for its Watch Instantly service. Who [...]

[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns/2010/08/hdtv-almanac-big-news-from-netflix.php]Read Column[/url]

film11 · Post by **film11** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:59 pm

"A recent deal with Starz has boosted the quality a tad"

You're kidding, right? The STARZ films offer poor PQ (usually not even as good as standard DVD), no 5.1 audio, and cropped films! Wouldn't pay ten cents extra for that!

ccclvib · Post by **ccclvib** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:13 pm

I'm not in a position to comment one way or the other on what is currently available from the Netflix download service, but since STARZ does have at least one HD channel, are you saying none of the movies available for download are from the HD services? Admittedly, the amount of time and bandwidth needed for an HD movie versus cropped SD is significant. Under those conditions, I don't believe I would be induced to download anything from STARZ either. And... unless the feed from Epix is available with HD output, I wouldn't be all that anxious to download anything from that service either. I may not be in the majority here, but unless it's HD, I'm not interested. It's why I pay the extra to Netflix to get Blu-Ray disks.

And here I was looking forward to the download process after I purchase a Tivo box. Now, I'm not so sure it's something to look forward to.

Another case, Alfred, of why DVDs will be around a while longer. Until the bandwidth and download time for HD is reduced to the point the consumer as well as the provider can see a point in waiting, people like me won't be doing much downloading. That means, incidentally, compression that can be undone without significant degradation to the picture - otherwise it won't be HD.

film11 · Post by **film11** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:28 pm

Netflix does offer some HD downloads...mostly indie films (althoiugh there are exceptions for some older films like SERENITY). However, those are only 720p and they aren't quite up to par either...often resulting in a stuttering (and sometimes freeze-frame) video image. However, none of the STARZ films offered in the HD format at all. They are all standard and cropped. Like you, I pay extra for the BD rentals. But I'm sure Netflix and some studios would be happier if we went away so they could continue to delay films and offer sub-standard streaming to those who could care less, one way or the other.

ccclvib · Post by **ccclvib** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:13 am

I live in an area that is geographically tightly bounded as far as TV stations are concerned. Eight miles to the north, is a pass across the Santa Cruz Mountains at over 1800 feet. I live in an area that is right around sea level - in fact, you can see the ocean from my front yard. The Bay Area, with all its TV stations, then, might as well be a thousand miles away, instead of 30. We do have four network affiliates in our area, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS. No ABC, though. Not since the nearby ABC affiliate went to NBC a few years ago. (Boy, I'll bet they would like to re-think that decision on a regular basis!) Needless to say, this is an area that heavily depends on cable or satellite. And, at least where I live, the cable system is so bad I'd say half the houses around me have dishes. Including my next-door-neighbors.

And this is what prompts this post. I have Dish Network (soon to be AT&T U Verse), and they have DirecTV. Dish, for some time, has had local channels in HD - at least the network affiliates - but DirecTV has told their customers "the market is too small for us to spend the money to provide HD for local channels." So that means my neighbors watch the local channels in SD. I didn't find this out until yesterday. They were talking about how they went to DirecTV because the local cable system had nothing - at the time - in HD, and they had this beautiful, new LCD TV they couldn't use. So they get DirecTV, and all the rest of the HD that DirecTV provides, but no local channels. And here's where I get to the reason for the post - they watch the local channels in stretch format in order to fill the screen! Distortion like crazy, but that's what they want. I guess they're the perfect customers for the current download services. They can watch SD movies in stretch on their (much better than that) LCD TV and be happy.