The future is here. Netflix has announced a new subscription option; for $7.99 a month, you get unlimited access to the company’s streaming video content for movies and television episodes. That’s a drop of $1 a month from the old plan that also included one DVD movie rental at a time. The cost of the [...]
Not even close. Ostensibly 720p and no 5.1 audio (except for some PS3 apps)...but their 720p doesn't look much better than standard DVD...and sometimes not even up to those standards. For me...bye bye Netflix, hello Blockbuster.
I agree that Netflix streaming does not match a Blu-ray disc in terms of image quality, but that's not the point.
First, the percentage of movies rented for viewing on HDTVs overwhelmingly favors DVDs, which are standard definition. So while we may appreciate the finer points of high-def content, remember that this is not an issue for the people spending most of the money.
Also, keep in mind that this is not what Netflix will look like forever. They have done a superb job of creating demand for streaming content (rather than Blockbuster's strategy which apparenty was to just respond to demand created by someone else), and they are building the system as it grows. The original content choices were lackluster at best, but that improves daily. Netflix has become a force that Hollywood must reckon with one way or another. I have no doubt that the resolution will improve over time, along with the title catalog. With Verizon's announcement of 150 Mbps broadband to the home, there will be plenty of bandwidth to deliver 1080p (even in 3D).
The quality is why I'm absorbing a $1 increase next year to continue to be able to rent blu-ray discs. If the black-friday sales are good enough, maybe I'll buy a new player that can stream not just Netflix, but Vudu as well. But I don't see much point in having a nice home theater and not play better than DVD content in it...
I started using this service two weeks ago and signed up based on my initial experience. They hooked me in with a nice selection of Japanese science fiction animation, which looked like hi-def on my system, but animations are admittedly hard to judge in this respect. However, i soon discovered that their selection of hi-def movies is still very limited. Once they increase their stock of hi-def movies, I might be able to recommend them, but right now it's too early to tell.
CNET has several interesting articles about NetFlix in the past couple of days. The band width problem I forecast has apparently reared its ugly head since Christmas and on top of that the biased compromise the FCC came out with that *they* call Net Neutrality.
Paul Venezia's blog article "How the ISP duopoly is nailing Netflix -- and you" talks about the drop outs, stuttering, and other problems tht have cropped up since Christmas, while his cometary on "Comcast bullying NetFlix" talks about real Net Neutrality. He also describes the FCC's version of Net Neutrality as "A watered version of Net Neutrality that's mostly a dream come true for major ISPs"
None of these bode well for us as the consumer or companies like NetFlix.
I agree that Netflix streaming does not match a Blu-ray disc in terms of image quality, but that's not the point.
First, the percentage of movies rented for viewing on HDTVs overwhelmingly favors DVDs, which are standard definition. So while we may appreciate the finer points of high-def content, remember that this is not an issue for the people spending most of the money.
Also, keep in mind that this is not what Netflix will look like forever. They have done a superb job of creating demand for streaming content (rather than Blockbuster's strategy which apparenty was to just respond to demand created by someone else), and they are building the system as it grows. The original content choices were lackluster at best, but that improves daily. Netflix has become a force that Hollywood must reckon with one way or another. I have no doubt that the resolution will improve over time, along with the title catalog. With Verizon's announcement of 150 Mbps broadband to the home, there will be plenty of bandwidth to deliver 1080p (even in 3D).
Alfred
This to me begs the question...why? I record and playback true HD on my computer and 1080p, yet the only way to do this from a dvd is by computer. It would take very little for HD playback on set top boxes, but the war was for HD and Blu-Ray when most any DVD/Blu-Ray disk reader could easily read computer DVDs (both 4 and 8 Gig) at little extra cost. OTOH I can burn and read Blu-Ray disks in my computer drives.
I had commented on streaming video getting better here, but this past week end it was worse than ever. Now I'm reading that more areas are seeing this with Netflix as well.
To me NetFlix represents a bargain "at its present price", but how long will consumers be able to receive even an SD image without problems.
The band width problems are showing up now. What will it be like as they continue to gain consumers and try to stream HD?
Roger, it's true that bandwidth is getting pinched at various bottlenecks in the system. I suspect that it has a lot to do with how your bandwidth is delivered. I watch a lot of Netflix and Hulu content, and cannot remember the last time I had a buffer overrun problem. We have a viber optic service which gives me my own connection to the provider's routers, as opposed to most cable arrangements where everyone in the neighborhood shares a connection.
Granted, the streamed content that I watch is not HD, but most content watched by Americans is not HD, so I don't think most of them notice. I also expect that improved compression algorithms (such as H.264) will help us effectively double our capacity or better before long. Even so, I expect that the bottlenecks will get worse before it gets better, especially as more "smart" televisions are sold and people hook them up to watch Netflix. I think it is solveable, but probably not before it gets to the point where more people complain. Ultimately, I expect we'll pay more for the content and for the network connections.
As for the DVR problem, I don't think that there are enough of us who get our content over the air to attract the manufacturers of DVR equipment. I still have the Panasonic unit that has analog tuners that we loved dearly, but I have not found a suitable replacement. Instead, I rolled my own using a computer in the living room and a Hauppauge dual-tuner card. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well.
I bought a Magnavox H2160MW9 DVD and DVR player/recorder from Wal*Mart a couple of years ago for $240+tax. Works well, although it doesn't do HD recording. Doesn't have all the program info of a subscription service but doesn't have its monthly cost either. User manual is poor but there's lots of tips on www.avsforum.com.
Bill, Walmart no longer has that model in stock, but does show two other Magnavox models: MDR-513H/F7 (320 GB, $200) and MDR-515H/F7 (500 GB, $250). They appear to be SD machines that will upconvert to 1080p, but I want to record in HD when it's available. It's a lot of money to spend on a limited feature set, in my opinion, and would rather apply that toward a compact PC model that I can add a tuner card to, and get it to do much more (such as access content on the Internet). With 2 TB drives selling for under $100 these days, these prices just don't make sense.
