On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 09:13:32 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote in

|I have been using the little red envelopes for years, but recently got
curious about streaming instead. Anybody use that? Satisfied? Prefer to
red envelopes?
|

I get the DVD service and love it. I still don't
know how they can afford such cheap prices,
given Hollywood royalty costs.

+1 on that. Also, I've read that the streaming movie selection is
pathetic compared to the DVD selection. I assuming that NetFlix is
pushing streaming so it can get away from postage; but I would rather
pay more and keep the DVDs.

I had a chance awhile back to check out Netflix
streaming service and was unimpressed. I didn't
recognize the movies listed on the front page. When
I searched for a few things I might be interested in,
they weren't there.

I've read other complaints like that.

--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

On 4/22/2014 12:52 PM, CRNG wrote:
On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 09:13:32 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote in

|I have been using the little red envelopes for years, but recently got
curious about streaming instead. Anybody use that? Satisfied? Prefer to
red envelopes?
|

I get the DVD service and love it. I still don't
know how they can afford such cheap prices,
given Hollywood royalty costs.

+1 on that. Also, I've read that the streaming movie selection is
pathetic compared to the DVD selection. I assuming that NetFlix is
pushing streaming so it can get away from postage; but I would rather
pay more and keep the DVDs.

I had a chance awhile back to check out Netflix
streaming service and was unimpressed. I didn't
recognize the movies listed on the front page. When
I searched for a few things I might be interested in,
they weren't there.

I've read other complaints like that.


We've had Netflix streaming for along time. The movie selection isn't
bad but it isn't great. It's well worth the $9/mth. There are some
really great series:

Lillyhammer, Breaking Bad, Rectify, and a bunch of others.

Streaming Netflix can turn you into a couch potato if you let it.
Another good streaming video provider is Amazon Prime and with it you
get free 2 day shipping for items bought on Amazon. It is one of the
best deals out there. If I had to chose one or the other I'd take Amazon
Prime.

Now we just have a HDTV antenna and the two streaming video services.

"Crackle" is free and worth looking into too.

http://www.crackle.com/

Nah....Netflix's a great deal but I heard today they are raising the
price for new subscribers.

On 4/22/2014 6:15 PM, gonjah wrote:

Another good streaming video provider is Amazon Prime and with it you
get free 2 day shipping for items bought on Amazon. It is one of the
best deals out there. If I had to chose one or the other I'd take
Amazon Prime.

Especially since Amazon and HBO just announced a new deal:

HBO Is Bringing a Ton of Its Shows to Amazon Prime

Amazon just announced an agreement that makes Prime Instant Video the
only place you can watch HBO originals online without an HBO
subscription. Starting May 21st, Prime members will get exclusive,
unlimited streaming access to pretty much every HBO original you're
interested in except Game of Thrones...

http://gizmodo.com/hbo-is-bringing-a...1566504724/all

posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP


On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:15:34 -0500, gonjah wrote:


We've had Netflix streaming for along time. The movie selection isn't
bad but it isn't great. It's well worth the $9/mth. There are some
really great series:

Lillyhammer, Breaking Bad, Rectify, and a bunch of others.

Streaming Netflix can turn you into a couch potato if you let it.
Another good streaming video provider is Amazon Prime and with it you
get free 2 day shipping for items bought on Amazon. It is one of the
best deals out there. If I had to chose one or the other I'd take Amazon
Prime.

Now we just have a HDTV antenna and the two streaming video services.

"Crackle" is free and worth looking into too.

http://www.crackle.com/

Nah....Netflix's a great deal but I heard today they are raising the
price for new subscribers.

I think this is the future of television for those who are not just
using rabbit ears. Now that content producers can sell directly to
consumers, who needs cable companies and networks. The guys who own
the fiber and the wire will just be selling bandwidth and the content
will be a separate commodity.

The only real question is whether the infrastructure can handle that
much bandwidth.

I remember when I was in the biz and they were just starting the fiber
backbone that became the data path for the internet, we thought that
if everyone just had a T-1, it would be more data than they could ever
use. That is a very slow DSL connection today. (1.4 mbs).
Now people expect at least 10x that..

Nobody will ever need more than 640k. (IIRC) Bill Gates

--
Tekkie

CRNG wrote:

+1 on that. Also, I've read that the streaming movie selection is
pathetic compared to the DVD selection. I assuming that NetFlix is
pushing streaming so it can get away from postage; but I would rather
pay more and keep the DVDs.

A couple of things lately have made me wonder if they're subtly pushing
people off DVDs. First, they moved their distribution center to Salt lake.
From where I live, that's two days for mail delivery. They do not appear to
work on Saturdays either, so for the most part no matter when I mail a DVD,
I'm not going to see a replacement until the Wednesday of next week. This is
close to the throttling that got them into trouble before.

More troubling, I've got about 50 titles on my queue currently with about
50% being short, long, or very long waits. One is 'unknown' and has been in
that status literally for years. Several of the long waits have been there
for months. Actually, the newer TV series seem to do better than the older
theatrical movies. What I really liked about Netflix was the ability to get
classic, foreign, and obscure DVDs. If they drop those in favor of new
releases, RedBox beckons.

|
| +1 on that. Also, I've read that the streaming movie selection is
| pathetic compared to the DVD selection. I assuming that NetFlix is
| pushing streaming so it can get away from postage; but I would rather
| pay more and keep the DVDs.
|
| A couple of things lately have made me wonder if they're subtly pushing
| people off DVDs. First, they moved their distribution center to Salt lake.
| From where I live, that's two days for mail delivery. They do not appear
to
| work on Saturdays either, so for the most part no matter when I mail a
DVD,
| I'm not going to see a replacement until the Wednesday of next week. This
is
| close to the throttling that got them into trouble before.
|
I imagine they'd like the simplicity of switching to all
online, but they simply can't get the rights for that.
I'm in Boston and have no trouble with delivery in most
cases. I often get a DVD 2 days after mailing one back.
I figure we're paying well under $2 each for movies, but
we could pay less if we really tried to watch them all the
same day they arrive.

Actually, I get a lot of the movies I watch from the local
library. And I don't have cable TV. I just have a small
antenna next to the TV, which provides me about 20
local stations. I actually get 5 PBS stations -- more than
the cable TV offers!

| More troubling, I've got about 50 titles on my queue currently with about
| 50% being short, long, or very long waits. One is 'unknown' and has been
in
| that status literally for years. Several of the long waits have been there
| for months.

That has nothing to do with them. The movie studios have
a system of release. They won't release to DVD before they've
milked the higher paying venues. The time for that depends
on how long a movie stays in the theaters.

Another aspect that I'm concerned about, which I don't
think has been mentioned, is the longterm situation with
streaming. Netflix recently paid Comcast to get faster speeds.
They're complaining about it, but they paid nevertheless.
As more people stream more through online something has
to give. Maybe ISPs will start charging for extra traffic.
Maybe the Internet will turn into one giant cable TV and
cable Internet prices will skyrocket to pay fees charged
by media companies, just as most people with cable TV now
pay a fee for numerous cable stations whether they watch
them or not. Maybe cable TV will even merge with Internet,
with people being forced to buy everything for $200/month
or get no Internet at all.
However it works out, it's clear that it can't go on the way
it's going, because that would overtax the Internet while putting
the cable TV companies out of business. For that reason, in
addition to the paucity of streaming offerings -- I haven't
put much effort into looking into streaming options. I figure
I'll wait for the dust to settle.

Mayayana wrote:

That has nothing to do with them. The movie studios have
a system of release. They won't release to DVD before they've
milked the higher paying venues. The time for that depends
on how long a movie stays in the theaters.

I'm not talking about current releases. I'm content to be a year behind the
world theatrical releases or cable TV series like 'Game of Thrones' or
'Justified'. However 'Heart Like a Wheel' is a 1983 biopic about the drag
racer Shirley Muldowney and probably hasn't seen a big screen in this
century. It's not on my saved queue, it's on the real queue which presumably
is DVDs they actually have in hand, but it's been a very long wait for
months. And for the real goody:

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Foreign Unknown DVD

That's been #1 literaly for three or four years. They either have it or they
don't. That one was released in 1985 so ut's not like they're waiting for it
to be made. Others, like 'Wild Angels' was on my saved queue until I said
the hell with it and bought it from Amazon.

On Wednesday, April 23, 2014 7:13:37 AM UTC-7, rbowman wrote:
CRNG wrote:



+1 on that. Also, I've read that the streaming movie selection is

pathetic compared to the DVD selection. I assuming that NetFlix is

pushing streaming so it can get away from postage; but I would rather

pay more and keep the DVDs.



A couple of things lately have made me wonder if they're subtly pushing

people off DVDs. First, they moved their distribution center to Salt lake.

From where I live, that's two days for mail delivery. They do not appear to

work on Saturdays either, so for the most part no matter when I mail a DVD,

I'm not going to see a replacement until the Wednesday of next week. This is

close to the throttling that got them into trouble before.



More troubling, I've got about 50 titles on my queue currently with about

50% being short, long, or very long waits. One is 'unknown' and has been in

that status literally for years. Several of the long waits have been there

for months. Actually, the newer TV series seem to do better than the older

theatrical movies. What I really liked about Netflix was the ability to get

classic, foreign, and obscure DVDs. If they drop those in favor of new

releases, RedBox beckons.

Have left your msg in despite the hatchet-job folks, so I can respond by item.

My local mailing address is still local and is fast turnaround. Only time it's more is on weekend/holiday.

Roger your comment about "classic, foreign and obscure DVDs". That's basically what I want from Netflix, as I am NOT NOT NOT into contemporary pop films, few of which appeal outside the 13-24 year male action bang-bang no-story genres.

Can't speak to the po$tage factor, but might well BE a negative for Netflix.

ATC, Mayayana reflects my view: I am definitely NOT happy watchinng "any old thing".

He said:

"So I think it depends on what you watch. If you're
happy watching any old thing but like to see a lot of
TV, it will probably seem a very good deal. If you like
to see "art house" movies, good foreign movies, recent
*good* movies, movies that have won awards at
Sundance, etc, then I'm guessing you'd be very frustrated
with the streaming offerings. I find that I can get nearly
anything on the DVDs, but it seems that the way they
afford to give you an all-you-can-eat streaming menu
is because Hollywood only approves the dregs, which are
no longer making money elsewhere, to be streamed."

So I think conservative moi will stay with the red envelopes. After all, if it's that unbearable being w/o a DVD during a turnaround evg, I can always get a DVD from the Library.

Thanks again to all for input.

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:

My local mailing address is still local and is fast turnaround. Only time
it's more is on weekend/holiday.

You're lucky. It used to be in Spokane, which wasn't too bad, then it moved
to Butte which was really good. The next move was to Salt lake City, which
really sucks. If I wanted to fly from here to hell I'd have to change planes
in SLC but I think the USPS still uses mules to get up here.

I did get a chuckle out of a couple of DVD's. They were the ones where
Netflix says 'your next item on the queue will take a while to get there so
we're sending another one in the meantime. About 5 days later the red
envelope trickled in from Honolulu, still slightly damp from being dragged
behind a Malaysian container ship.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 08:13:37 -0600, rbowman wrote
in

A couple of things lately have made me wonder if they're subtly pushing
people off DVDs.

There no subtly about it. They would love all their customers to go
"digital". The problem is the digital selection sucks and a lot of
people in the U.S. still can't get anything more than dial up.

If I was required to go digital, I would just cancel my account.
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

CRNG wrote:

If I was required to go digital, I would just cancel my account.

Same here. 4G wireless is a lot better that dialup but it's still not up to
streaming much more than youtube videos most of the time. I've got Amazon
Prime for the shipping and other perks but their streaming service is as
useful as tits on a bull to me unless I want to stay late at work.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 20:15:28 -0600, rbowman wrote
in

CRNG wrote:

If I was required to go digital, I would just cancel my account.

Same here. 4G wireless is a lot better that dialup but it's still not up to
streaming much more than youtube videos most of the time. I've got Amazon
Prime for the shipping and other perks but their streaming service is as
useful as tits on a bull to me unless I want to stay late at work.

I live in a rural area and around here we consider a dial-tone to be a
miracle. In this state the utilities own the Public Utilities
Commission.
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

"CRNG" wrote in message

stuff snipped

I live in a rural area and around here we consider a dial-tone to be a
miracle. In this state the utilities own the Public Utilities
Commission.

It's that way in almost every state. Here in the DC area Verizon is
actively working to convert all their dial tone/copper wire customers to
FIOS. I've told them repeatedly I don't want a phone line that can't
support a dial up modem, that isn't regulated by the public service
commission, that runs out of battery power in an emergency and that depends
on the stability of the Verizon computer network.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...Say-They-Felt-
Pressured-Into-Fios-235098041.html

http://tinyurl.com/n3xgwvp

I'm with you - the sound of a dial tone is a miracle. When all the
cellphones went out in the DC area on 9/11, the landlines kept on truckin'.
I assume that the VOIP service will crash pretty much the same way when
everyone gets on their phone in an emergency all at the same time. It's
really a public safety issue but since the PSC has been "captured" by the
companies they regulate they don't care. They're hastening the destruction
of the copper phone network that has demonstrated far greater overall
reliability than any of its replacement technologies. That's progress, I
guess. )-:

One good thing about being one of the last of the dinosaur dial-up guys is
that with the exodus of subscribers from copper phone lines, there's hardly
*ever* any crosstalk on the lines these says. The tech told me I had the
only dial tone on a 50 pair trunk cable. It's lonely at the top (and
bottom).

FWIW, the Feds probably want everyone to switch to VOIP so they can more
easily monitor everyone's phone conversations.

Give me that old time religion, give me that old time religion, give me that
old time religion, it's good enough for me!

--
Bobby G.

wrote:

I think the days of any entertainment on little bits of plastic are
limited.
DVDs will go the way of 8 tracks, hard copy books and photos on film.

I expect high speed, unlimited bandwidth to reach me about the 12th of never
so I'll stick to little bits of plastic. Un this most advanced of all
nations I live about 10 miles from the center of what passes for a large
cuty (50,000 or so) and consider myself damn lucky to get 4G wireless with a
5GB limit per month. It's not bad, but it's not up to streaming video.