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So is Starz still pulling out?

I hope so, Netflix can't afford to pay for birth control anymore.

And try the veal!

I don't think anything new has been reported about the Starz thing for a while, but for now, yeah, they're still gonna bail. Some people have guessed that Starz will realign (get it?) with Blockbuster / Dish, but I think that's just a rumor so far.

For those who still have the streaming service: Last call for Duck Soup!
It expires tonight.

ando wrote:For those who still have the streaming service: Last call for Duck Soup!
It expires tonight.

Does this look any better than the rather mediocre DVD version?

Better than I expected, actually. I giggled through most of it this morning but found the big musical number near the end a bit unwieldy.

Another cinephile staple that I've never seen, Preston Surge's Unfaithfully Yours, is apparently due to expire soon. In truth, I've never seen any Sturges. Be a nice start.

He's still at it:

Hastings explained the world is moving toward faster Internet connections and mobile devices — pointing out 5 billion people are active mobile phone users — and that Netflix has to be positioned to seize the opportunities these changes represent. That means moving fast, making mistakes and focusing on the digital side of the business, rather than the still-lucrative DVD arm of the company.

Hastings hopes that as more people gain smartphones and broadband connections they will become Netflix subscribers. It’s important to note Hastings isn’t thinking about Netflix’s growth in terms of months or years, but “the next two decades.”

There you have it: Reed's target audience is people who watch movies on their telephones.

And ... I just signed up for the disc-only plan again, having cancelled in August, and Netflix completely wiped out my queue. Guess that's their way of saying "don't bother" in terms of filling it with discs I'd like them to carry someday.

Perkins Cobb wrote:He's still at it:

Hastings explained the world is moving toward faster Internet connections and mobile devices — pointing out 5 billion people are active mobile phone users — and that Netflix has to be positioned to seize the opportunities these changes represent. That means moving fast, making mistakes and focusing on the digital side of the business, rather than the still-lucrative DVD arm of the company.

Hastings hopes that as more people gain smartphones and broadband connections they will become Netflix subscribers. It’s important to note Hastings isn’t thinking about Netflix’s growth in terms of months or years, but “the next two decades.”

There you have it: Reed's target audience is people who watch movies on their telephones.

More specifically, people who watch movies on their phones 20 years from now. Current paying customers that want to rent Netflix discs that are already available have to take a seat at the bottom of the totem pole.

I still don't know anyone who ever watches movies on their phone. Why would you when there's much better ways to watch movies and much better ways to entertain yourself with a smartphone?

I saw someone watching Harry Potter on their phone so it sadly does happen.

I understand watching a movie on your phone/laptop/tablet when you're at the airport, on the bus, or trying to pass the time during some other unescapable bout of tedium (though when I do that I usually watch TV shows or a movie I've already seen, never a new one,) but I'll never understand how people could choose those things over a regular TV and a couch. I remember using my computer as a short term replacement for a TV/DVD combo in college so I could watch movies and found it really obnoxious. Aiming your business at people watching movies on smart phones just dumbfounds me.

cdnchris wrote:I remember using my computer as a short term replacement for a TV/DVD combo in college so I could watch movies and found it really obnoxious.

Sure but that's a little different. I watch the majority of my films this way either at my girlfriend's or at university. It's pretty much the same as watching on a small TV and to be honest I prefer a PC over a standalone DVD/Blu-ray player: fan subs for foreign DVDs, cropping videos so you just have a single shade of black around films that aren't the same size as the monitor and circumventing region locked disks is a piece of piss.

Hasting needs to understand this: Just because people own a mobile device with wifi/3g/4g capabilities, does not mean that they want or are willing to stream a film to it. Including the iPhone, most phones have limited battery capacities and in most phones, streaming a movie drains the battery preventing users from using a phone for what it supposed to do, communicating with other people. Streaming a film is very different that streaming radio or music from Pandora because when the film is played the bright screen of the phone is turned on at all times, draining the battery in the process.

I'm wondering who is the imbecile(s) providing Hastings with these flawed information and who is analyzing it at face values instead of looking at the big picture. The continuous blunders these guys have been making for the past several months is just ridiculous. Next thing is that someone will bring Hastings saying that people prefer movies in color, and then he'll eliminate every black and white film from their catalog selection.

dx23 wrote:Next thing is that someone will bring Hastings saying that people prefer movies in color, and then he'll eliminate every black and white film from their catalog selection.

That's basically happening, if only by attrition. Pick any 100 in-print catalog titles, stick 'em in your queue, and then report back on how many are still available in six months. If you have 75 left, I'll be surprised.

As Dazed and Confused is a popular title on the board lately I thought I'd mention that it's currently streaming in HD.

Is it just me or is Netflix getting really lax lately with the quality control on DVDs they ship out? I always assumed they cleaned or buffed discs between shipments because they've typically looked well worn but played just fine for me. However, in the past three weeks, I've gotten like five DVDs that don't play properly (they start getting blocky, skipping, or freezing up at some point during playback). My wife says this makes me a conspiracy theorist, but I wouldn't put it past Netflix to have cut costs in this department, with the added bonus to them of customers getting fed up with physical media and moving over to the streaming service.

It's not just you - a coworker of mine has been complaining about the disc quality for some time.

Btw, don't know what people see in Dazed and Confused (bored with paddle wielding dorks threatening absolute dorks) but Burn, Witch, Burn (in HD) is loads of fun so far.

Yeah, same problem with a few discs. I have no doubt their customer service is going to start lacking severely when it comes to physical media in the next year or so.

Also, to defend Dazed, the paddling is only a small section of the film (I'm guessing you didn't watch it all.) But the love for it comes from (primarily) the people who grew up or were teenagers in small towns, even though I went to high school in the 90's. Other than the paddling (which I never experienced or performed) that is exactly how high school was for me: pretty pointless and a lot of wandering around.

cdnchris wrote: Other than the paddling (which I never experienced or performed) that is exactly how high school was for me: pretty pointless and a lot of wandering around.

As a teenager in the 2000s, this is exactly how I feel about Superbad.

Drucker wrote:

cdnchris wrote: Other than the paddling (which I never experienced or performed) that is exactly how high school was for me: pretty pointless and a lot of wandering around.

As a teenager in the 2000s, this is exactly how I feel about Superbad.

Every generation seems to have a nostalgic film that takes place in "one crazy night" at the end of high school. DAZED AND CONFUSED, taking place in 1976, is clearly inspired by AMERICAN GRAFFITI which took place in 1962. The difference with SUPERBAD is that it is not a period film, but it fits the mode nonetheless.

As for Netflix, I've had so much trouble getting a decent streaming experience over the past few months, I've just avoided it.

Same problem here with damaged discs, thought it was coincidence, but figures they came up with a new way to screw us

cdnchris wrote:... to defend Dazed, the paddling is only a small section of the film (I'm guessing you didn't watch it all.) But the love for it comes from (primarily) the people who grew up or were teenagers in small towns, even though I went to high school in the 90's. Other than the paddling (which I never experienced or performed) that is exactly how high school was for me: pretty pointless and a lot of wandering around.

I can see that (I'm from a small town as well), which is why when I was a young knucklehead I was always up to some crazy scheme (total freak). Don't think I want to go back, though.

My experience with HD streaming has been a fairly good one (just wish they'd add more titles). There are occasional pauses during the average stream (depending, it seems, on the time of day/popularity of the film) but it's a rare viewing when I don't get up to do something anyway.

If I offered them like $1000 for all of their DVDs I wonder if they'd take it.

ando wrote:There are occasional pauses during the average stream (depending, it seems, on the time of day/popularity of the film) but it's a rare viewing when I don't get up to do something anyway.

Don't get me wrong, Netflix streaming is great for playing films while I'm in the other room doing the ironing or whatever.