NETFLIX streaming

by **wprager** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:29 am

OK, the TV season had come to an end a while back, and now the NHL season has ended, too. Nothing left to watch. So I'm really going to have to give this Netflix 30 day free trial a chance. In my case 'll be going through my PS3, but I think the discussion can apply to whatever other platforms are supported.

Question #1:
I've been to their website and browsed the selections. Is that *really* all there is or are they adding new stuff all the time and not updating their website enough?
http://ca.netflix.com/BrowseSelection?fcld=true

Question #2:
Is it streaming only, or can you store something to your hard drive? Reason I'm asking is if we (wife and I) watch something and the kids (well, at least the older ones) want to later watch the same, I'd prefer *not* to have to download the content twice. Maybe there are tricks? For example, I'm sure that at least some of it is buffered, and if you want to rewind, I surely hope it doesn't mean they are streaming the content, in reverse, at 10x or something. So, maybe, just maybe, as you are watching it, the whole thing gets buffered, and if I hit pause before it is completely over I could re-start from the beginning without incurring additional downloads. Too much to hope for?

Question #3:
How are subtitles?

Question #4:
How are the controls? The lag? PQ?

Question #5:
Any other tricks, tips, traps, etc?

If you don't have answers, you can still add your own questions.

by **Number Twenty Nine** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:40 am

I have Netflix here in the US. It's great.

1. Netflix dot CA has less selection that the US version. All in all the movies are kinda old, but you get some gems in there alot of times.

2. You don't download anything - it's all streamed. If you stop a movie - it remembers where you left off if you want to carry on later.

3. not sure what you mean here

4. controls are great - no lag, PQ adjusts to line speed.

5. being in Canada - Rogers/Bell etc will rape you with overage charges. It's not a secret that Netflix is now responsible for the lions share of the internet traffic today. Count on 700mb per hour SD and 1Gig per hour HD. Your IP cap limit in Canada will be reached quickly. Call your IP to find out your cap. Here in the US my cap is 250GB - I never reach it and use Netflix alot.

by **wprager** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:06 am

#3 I meant how are subtitles. I watch a lot after the kids are in bed and don't turn the volume up very loud. And our preferences tend to the wordy ones and subtitles are often pretty much a must.

I have a 65GB cap and I use about 8 of that on regular stuff. So it sounds like I could watch nearly 2 hours per day, on average. Good to know. I'll have to monitor that, for sure (my oldest gets home from school at 3 and has an hour by himself; the wife and I watch an hour ourselves, usually; then there's weekends, and school is almost done).

by **Number Twenty Nine** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:39 am

I never use subtitles so can't help with that one...

by **SeawaySensFan** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:46 am

My wife watched a Sophia Loren movie and it was subtitled. That's all I got on that.

As for selection, it's a good idea to search for titles. You'll be pleasantly surprised, although new and even recent releases are few and far between.

If your movie doesn't come up, similar movies will be suggested. Although sometimes the suggestions are based on the stars more than the plot or genre.

by **Michallica** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:05 am

I believe there's an option to turn on subtitles. I've never gone that route but I'm pretty sure there's that option.

and yes, we get royally screwed in Canada. American netflix is the shiznit

by **SeawaySensFan** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:20 am

Michallica wrote:I believe there's an option to turn on subtitles. I've never gone that route but I'm pretty sure there's that option.

and yes, we get royally screwed in Canada. American netflix is the shiznit

Reminds me of Subway...

by **Michallica** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:26 am

SeawaySensFan wrote:
Michallica wrote:I believe there's an option to turn on subtitles. I've never gone that route but I'm pretty sure there's that option.

and yes, we get royally screwed in Canada. American netflix is the shiznit

Reminds me of Subway...

Exactly

by **The Silfer Server** on Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:38 am

1. Just to elaborate on what SSF talked about, there are more movies than just the apparent ones in each genre or category. Unfortunately the only way I've found to search through them is to go to the search function on their website, or while in netflix itself, and search the title or the actor/actress in the search field. There is a much larger choice than what is shown.

For example, if you go to Television, Dollhouse is not there. If you use the search tool and look up Dollhouse, you'll see they actually have both seasons.

3. Subtitles are weak. They don't often offer them for the movies. Sometimes they are offered for foreign language films, but some of them opt for a dubbed version. I hope they improve this feature in the future.

5. After you watch a movie, they make recommendations on what you may like. Take these with a grain of salt. After I watched a French Action movie (Wasabi, great movie), they suggested I'd like all the other French movies, whether they were romance, comedy, action or drama.

by **tim1_2** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:31 am

SeawaySensFan wrote:
Michallica wrote:I believe there's an option to turn on subtitles. I've never gone that route but I'm pretty sure there's that option.

and yes, we get royally screwed in Canada. American netflix is the shiznit

Reminds me of Subway...

$5 pizza subs is all the world really needs. And I have one for my lunch today. It's a good day.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:38 am

I think that the Green Lantern movie makes it to Netflix fairly quick. Even in Canada.

by **tim1_2** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:33 am

SeawaySensFan wrote:I think that the Green Lantern movie makes it to Netflix fairly quick. Even in Canada.

It might skip Netflix and just go to YouTube. The trailers made it look terrible, and, sure enough, it's terrible:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/green_lantern/

by **Flo The Action** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:45 am

tim1_2 wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:I think that the Green Lantern movie makes it to Netflix fairly quick. Even in Canada.

It might skip Netflix and just go to YouTube. The trailers made it look terrible, and, sure enough, it's terrible:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/green_lantern/

damn! i was a big GL fan as a kid.... I was really looking forward to this.

by **tim1_2** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:23 pm

Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:36 pm

tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

by **wprager** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:21 pm

SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

Actually: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/liam-lacey/a-modest-defence-of-price-gouging-at-movie-theatres/article1937104/

The year 2010 brought us the highest movie ticket prices so far, up 5 per cent from the previous year. The average ticket last year cost about $7.89 U.S., including age discounts and regional variations. In Canada, which is part of the U.S. domestic movie market, adult general admission prices are between $10 and $13.

That was 2010 and average ticket prices in the US was $7.98. More 3F this year likely means even higher *average* ticket price. Of course it's gone up in Canada as well. Local AMC in Kanata charges $10.50 for the Movie Watcher members, and $12.75 for non-members. Add $3 for 3D, and $5 for IMAX 3D.

And don't get me started on the price of popcorn.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:32 pm

wprager wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

Actually: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/liam-lacey/a-modest-defence-of-price-gouging-at-movie-theatres/article1937104/

The year 2010 brought us the highest movie ticket prices so far, up 5 per cent from the previous year. The average ticket last year cost about $7.89 U.S., including age discounts and regional variations. In Canada, which is part of the U.S. domestic movie market, adult general admission prices are between $10 and $13.

That was 2010 and average ticket prices in the US was $7.98. More 3F this year likely means even higher *average* ticket price. Of course it's gone up in Canada as well. Local AMC in Kanata charges $10.50 for the Movie Watcher members, and $12.75 for non-members. Add $3 for 3D, and $5 for IMAX 3D.

And don't get me started on the price of popcorn.

I just checked and it's 13.50 in the US (Syracuse) for 3-D. Interestingly enough, if you sign up for a Netflix free trial, you get 2 free movie tickets. Laugh1

by **tim1_2** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:34 pm

SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

Ahhh, but here in Canada I can still download movies, for free, to my heart's content. In the States, you tend to get nasty letters threatening legal action.

So all the money I've saved in movie rental fees more than makes up for more expensive subs (although the only sub that matters, The Pizza Sub, is still $5).

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:38 pm

tim1_2 wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

Ahhh, but here in Canada I can still download movies, for free, to my heart's content. In the States, you tend to get nasty letters threatening legal action.

So all the money I've saved in movie rental fees more than makes up for more expensive subs (although the only sub that matters, The Pizza Sub, is still $5).

Poutine is scarce there too.

by **tim1_2** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:58 pm

Although they do sell beer at Walmart. There are pros and cons I suppose.

by **spader** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:18 pm

tim1_2 wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:Well, I was really looking forward to the Spiderman movies...so other people should have their dreams crushed too.... It seems like only the new Batman movies (and a couple of the XMen movies) are doing justice to their comic book fans. Oh, and the Iron Man movies are pretty good too, if only because they are funny.

Any of those movies will cost you 7.25 in the States. Closer to 10 bucks here. Kind of like how we get Cussed over by Subway.

Ahhh, but here in Canada I can still download movies, for free, to my heart's content. In the States, you tend to get nasty letters threatening legal action.

So all the money I've saved in movie rental fees more than makes up for more expensive subs (although the only sub that matters, The Pizza Sub, is still $5).

I can't stand Subway. Their vegetables taste weird and are always in a well-preserved state of near-rot. They could charge $1 a sub for all I care. I still won't eat there.

by **wprager** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:11 pm

tim1_2 wrote:Although they do sell beer at Walmart. There are pros and cons I suppose.

If Canada had 3% beer they might sell it at WalMart, too.

by **wprager** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:12 pm

Old joke from Monty Python's live performance a the Hollywood Bowl:

Why is American beer like making love in a canoe?

Because it's $&%*ing close to water!

by **wprager** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:46 pm

I'm glad every one understood what I meant by 3F. I read it over and couldn't figure out what I meant until I read a reply.

by **spader** on Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:49 pm

wprager wrote:I'm glad every one understood what I meant by 3F. I read it over and couldn't figure out what I meant until I read a reply.

Ha. I immediately looked at my keyboard when I read that to confirm that the "F" and "D" keys are next-door neighbours. Nod

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:22 pm

Latest reasons to dig Netflix:

The A-Team and The Larry Sanders Show.

Hey Noooooowwww!!!!

by **Hoags** on Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:26 pm

A nice feed showing what's new on Netflix Canada

http://app.whatsnewonnetflix.com/

by **Number Twenty Nine** on Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:28 pm

I quit Netflix because they doubled the bill here in the US. I have AOD, which is better IMHO.

by **TheAvatar** on Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:23 am

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I quit Netflix because they doubled the bill here in the US. I have AOD, which is better IMHO.

What's AOD?

by **wprager** on Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:41 am

Amazon on-demand?

by **Michallica** on Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:05 pm

Hoags wrote:A nice feed showing what's new on Netflix Canada

http://app.whatsnewonnetflix.com/

thanks for this! very useful Cheers

by **Hoags** on Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:02 pm

I watched Inside Job a few days. Great documentary about the Financial crisis of the last few years.

It's a terrific film, you can't help but feel furious watching at the insane levels of greed which caused it.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:47 am

Hoags wrote:I watched Inside Job a few days. Great documentary about the Financial crisis of the last few years.

It's a terrific film, you can't help but feel furious watching at the insane levels of greed which caused it.

I have to say the docs are worth the 8 bucks on their own. Last two I watched were Brother's Keeper and Winter Soldier. Solid.

by **Hoags** on Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:57 am

SeawaySensFan wrote:
I have to say the docs are worth the 8 bucks on their own. Last two I watched were Brother's Keeper and Winter Soldier. Solid.

Oh yes I never even heard of these docs but a lot of them sound interesting.

I watched the Fly 2 as well Laugh1

Didn't even know they made a sequel.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:03 am

Hoags wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:
I have to say the docs are worth the 8 bucks on their own. Last two I watched were Brother's Keeper and Winter Soldier. Solid.

Oh yes I never even heard of these docs but a lot of them sound interesting.

I watched the Fly 2 as well Didn't even know they made a sequel.

Lots of direct-to-video "sequels". Titanic 2 immediately comes to mind.

by **Michallica** on Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:50 pm

Anyone seen the content added lately? It's AMAZING! so many better movies now and tv shows such as Futurama and Family guy added = big WIN for me!

by **tim1_2** on Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:20 am

Michallica wrote:Anyone seen the content added lately? It's AMAZING! so many better movies now and tv shows such as Futurama and Family guy added = big WIN for me!

Yeah, my wife just signed us up on Friday for NetFlix. The content is better than I thought it would be. Good selection of both movies and TV shows, although it still is missing most brand new releases, but what can you expect for like $10 per month.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:50 am

tim1_2 wrote:
Michallica wrote:Anyone seen the content added lately? It's AMAZING! so many better movies now and tv shows such as Futurama and Family guy added = big WIN for me!

Yeah, my wife just signed us up on Friday for NetFlix. The content is better than I thought it would be. Good selection of both movies and TV shows, although it still is missing most brand new releases, but what can you expect for like $10 per month.

Best movie I never heard of: Southern Comfort.

by **wprager** on Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:46 am

SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:
Michallica wrote:Anyone seen the content added lately? It's AMAZING! so many better movies now and tv shows such as Futurama and Family guy added = big WIN for me!

Yeah, my wife just signed us up on Friday for NetFlix. The content is better than I thought it would be. Good selection of both movies and TV shows, although it still is missing most brand new releases, but what can you expect for like $10 per month.

Best movie I never heard of: Southern Comfort.

The 1981 one about the National Guard fighting the locals? Or one of the other three listed in IMDB that I'd never heard of?

by **SeawaySensFan** on Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:39 am

wprager wrote:
SeawaySensFan wrote:
tim1_2 wrote:
Michallica wrote:Anyone seen the content added lately? It's AMAZING! so many better movies now and tv shows such as Futurama and Family guy added = big WIN for me!

Yeah, my wife just signed us up on Friday for NetFlix. The content is better than I thought it would be. Good selection of both movies and TV shows, although it still is missing most brand new releases, but what can you expect for like $10 per month.

Best movie I never heard of: Southern Comfort.

The 1981 one about the National Guard fighting the locals? Or one of the other three listed in IMDB that I'd never heard of?

This one. Another solid Walter Hill flick.