Netflix To Offer Streaming-Only Service Plans 151
MojoKid writes "Debates are raging as to what the future of movie distribution will look like.
There are those who claim that physical discs, like DVDs, Blu-ray, and whatever format will eventually supplant Blu-ray, will always deliver a superior viewing experience versus anything that will be available via streaming. Pundits on the other side of the debate say that as broadband's footprint continues to expand, quality is improving.
Interestingly, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is siding firmly with the latter camp, and it would even appear that Netflix is gearing up to move all of its eggs
from the mail-distribution basket to the online streaming basket. Hastings indicated that perhaps as soon as later this year or sometime in 2010, Netflix might start offering online-streaming-only subscription plans beyond just its current Starz
plan."
Not ready for prime time (Score:5, Informative)
I've used the Netflix service and I'd have to say the quality is OK but not nearly good enough to replace DVDs. It's especially poor at the beginning of films. And while they have a lot of titles, there are still notable absences.
In my experience, Fox TV's service is far better w/r/t quality. It frequently looks as good as DVDs.
Unwatchable (Score:3, Informative)
Between the video quality and the quality of the selection, "watch instantly" is just about unwatchable.
The visual quality doesn't even begin to compare to DVD. There's a huge gap to make up to even consider comparing it with Bluray.
The question is, does a significant portion of the movie watching population care? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
-Peter
Re:Not ready for prime time (Score:3, Informative)
Have you only viewed it on a computer (which limits you to standard def), or have you actually used one of the third party devices that connect to HDTV's and support HD streams? I have both an Xbox 360 and a Tivo Series 3, they each support Netflix's streaming service in HD, and they both look fantastic. Now not everything is in HD, but at least most new TV series (Heroes, The Office, etc.) are all supported. Even non-HD stuff looks pretty good, although again that may just be due to the Tivo or Xbox 360, since they don't support Linux, I really can't comment too much on the desktop.
I signed up in November when the Xbox 360 started supporting it, I'm on their lowest plan (1 DVD out at a time), and haven't even watched one disk. However I've finished two seasons of the office, and watched a handful of movies through streaming. If they offered a streaming only plan for like $5.99-7.99 a mo I would downgrade to it immediately.
Re:Not ready for prime time (Score:3, Informative)
Even with the HD offerings, though, the quality isn't as good as a DVD in my upconverting DVD player but it is better than non-digital cable or broadcast.
I love my Roku player and it's probably the best $100 I've spend on entertainment. I've also been watching the various TV series (Star Trek is in HD too), lots of documentaries (History Channel, PBS, etc) and some movies. It is certainly easily watchable.
There are some artifacts in the images, though, especially when the screen is mostly one color or shade - you will see the digitization as blockiness. But that's generally not an issue and easily overlooked for the kind of viewing I use the Roku for.
I have the single DVD but unlimited tradeouts (which gets me free streaming), and anything I want to see in really high quality, I just get as a mailed DVD. I can wait a day or two.
Other than that, the only other issue I've seen is on Saturday evenings, the image quality can go down a little but I think that is due to heavy load on the NetFlix servers or through network choke points near them.
As an aside, I started out with the Roku on a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection through Qwest. During movies, the load held fairly constant at about 1.3 Mbps. With so little headroom, and since I've been pining for faster speeds anyway, I upgraded my service to 7 Mbps. Now, instead of a constant 1.3 Mbps, I see pulses of download traffic up to around 5-6 Mbps and then periods of no activity in between. The average still comes out around 1.3 Mbps.
But I have no problem recommending streaming NetFlix and I love the little Roku player.
Re:ok (Score:3, Informative)
With pay per view and DVD rentals, there is apparently a payment made that keeps them happy. I don't know if that is currently true with the stuff NetFlix streams. What they offer on streaming might be pretty similar to what is made available through broadcast TV.
I could see this as an opportunity for NetFlix to offer a tiered subscription, though. Free streaming of older, less mainstream stuff, and then pay a higher subscription price for the same stuff they mail out on DVDs. Maybe they are waiting on a sufficiently large installed base of NetFlix streaming compatible players.
Not to malign what they offer through streaming - I am a long way from running out of movies and such that I want to see that are already available.
Re:Not ready for prime time (Score:3, Informative)
From the Roku "What's New" menu page:
By now you've noticed our new Home screen. This screen will become your launching pad for a number of great new channels that will begin to appear on your player in early 2009. In addition to the hugely popular Netflix channel, you'll see new movie channels, TV channels, web video channels and more!
We've also upgraded your player to support an advanced video format that will deliver better video quality, especially over slower Internet connections.
Finally, your player is now fully HD capable. If you have an HDTV, select "update display type" below to get the full HD experience. (Tip: visit www.netflix.com/instantHD for HD movies from Netflix.)