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Spin Team... ACTIVATE! Netflix goes BR only

Haha, wow, did they kill your dog or something? I don't particularly like them either, and I worked for them (in my country, a long time ago), but service is not much different really. It's the movie availability really mostly what made me move (NF only cares about number of inidvidual titles they carry, it seems), and it's pretty much the subject of this thread, I guess.

Well, I guess you have your own reasons. I personally have found a loophole that pretty much gets rid of my monthly limits of exchanges (reasonably), so I don't complain much.
 
I'll give you the (boring) details. Many years ago I was a BB member. It was on my way to work so it was fairly convenient. After work one day I rented a couple movies. Forgot to return them so they were a day late. I dropped them off the next day and figured I'd go in and pay the late fee the next time I rented a movie. No big deal, I used to do it all the time with my other video store and they had no problem with that. 3-4 weeks later I got a certified collection letter stating that if I didn't pay the $4.xx balance IMMEDIATELY they'd take me to court. Needless to say I never went back. That is not the kind of "customer service" I'm looking for. My hatred of them goes even beyond that but that's the beginnings of a really bad customer relationship. I tried their online service and it failed to impress me. Especially when they refused to stock NR and UR titles. (I don't know nor care if they've since changed their policy)
 
BB is on my evil company list. Right up there next to Sony. I'm considering adding M$ due to them only releasing Halo 2 on Vista.

(theme from Empire Strikes Back playing in the background.) I'm bummed with the Netflix decision, but HD DVD died when Warner sold out. I don't like it, but it's the truth. I'm hoping for a big HD DVD sale when retailers start dumping it as well.
 
I've canceled my account with Netflix. I'll go back to Blockbuster if they still have HD rentals online. If not, I'll go to the local video store.

It's not like it's worth staying with Netflix as i went a whole month waiting for new blu-ray and HD movies and received NONE. They all have very long wait... still do.

Not saying I won't go back, but this is the only way I can speak my voice is with my wallet. Those who feel the same way, I recommend doing the same.
 
as someone who was very much for hd dvd over blu ray in the beginning i bought a hd d1 and a x box 360 drive mainly due to the lower price. but over the last year or so i have felt let down by toshiba i feel they droped the ball on advertising & marketing while they were cheaper sony and the blu ray camp was out there pushing there format, and no matter what they said, true or not people were hearing blu ray, now that blu ray prices came down i am format neutral with a combo drive, i still like hd dvd a little better but they are both very good. one reason i think toshiba dropped the ball is i think they realized hdm will not be the next dvd and why put all that money into a niche product, let the other guy go broke :D
 
I've been trying to figure this one out for a couple of minutes: what are NR and UR titles?
 
I've stuck with Netflix partly because I'm grandfathered in to the old 4 disk at a time pricing (I get 4 disks for $16.99/month), but I will say that I'm not happy at all with them dropping HD-DVD this soon. There will be more HD-DVD exclusive releases and now I have no way of getting them. I'm certainly not buying them at this point either. :bang:
 
andy o said:
I've been trying to figure this one out for a couple of minutes: what are NR and UR titles?
Click to expand...

Sorry, Not Rated and UnRated. Last I knew (and bothered to look), BB only carried rated R or lower films.
 
talon95 said:
I've stuck with Netflix partly because I'm grandfathered in to the old 4 disk at a time pricing (I get 4 disks for $16.99/month), but I will say that I'm not happy at all with them dropping HD-DVD this soon. There will be more HD-DVD exclusive releases and now I have no way of getting them. I'm certainly not buying them at this point either. :bang:
Click to expand...

While I'm in the same boat in terms of HD DVD exclusive releases, I don't blame NF for the decision to drop HD DVD. I put that blame squarely on the HD DVD camp. They had the chance to fight and win. They didn't. Now we've got two hold outs who somehow think it's a good thing to stay HD DVD exclusive at this point. Well, at this point, WHY?! How can that POSSIBLY serve consumers?! So, companies like Best Buy and NF are now doing what they truly believe is in the best interest of the consumer....forcing the issue to one format. If Paramount and Universal want a piece of the HD pie, they're going to have to pony up some Blu-ray releases. Otherwise, they'll be cut out of the HD market. No consumer in their right mind would choose HD DVD over Blu-ray at this point. It makes NO SENSE. I don't blame the companies that are going Blu-ray exclusive. I blame HD DVD for a failed marketing campaign and absolutely no strategy to win the studios over.
 
I had NetFlix for a couple of years and then switched to BB when they started offering their free unlimited in-store exchanges with their online service. I was ticked when they said they were going to carry BD only in selected stores. Fortunately for me, the one local store that stocked BD discs also carried HD-DVD titles (I have both) so I was a happy camper. Then BB pulled a fast one and decided to cut out the unlimited free in-store exchanges (talk about bait and switch:mad:) and then raise their rates for less service. Their online turnaround times had drastically suffered with all of the cutbacks.

I finally switched back to Netflix after BB announced yet another rate increase. I had the free 2-week trial and actually received more movies from Netflix in the 2-week period than I did from BB, and that included the 5 free in-store exchanges in my BB plan! With the latest Netflix announcement I may have to rethink my position and head back to BB for the HD DVD selection. I wonder about the rationale behind their game plan when they say they are offering a better selection of movies yet they'll only carry HD releases from two-thirds of the major studios. I think someone needs to go back and redo the math.:doh:
 
Netflix does or can do more then throttling. I have observed what I believe is a new phenomenon over a period of a few weeks while helping some friends and family with their computers,….all in the same area code to eliminate shipping differentials over geographic regions.

Throttling would basically be controlling or slowing the rate of exchange through delayed shipping (outbound) and return (inbound) processing.

This is different, this is more like keeping a reasonably good exchange rate overall but artificially “culling” the availability of in demand “new releases” selectively by listing them (falsely) as unavailable AKA “Very Long Wait”, Long Wait” or “Short Wait” in accounts that have an abundance of “less in demand movies“ and / or large Queues. Whereas accounts with fewer “less in demand movies“ and / or smaller “Queues may be given preferential treatment with respect to “in demand” new releases.

So for example:

You might have a neighbor that has had netflix for years, has about ~100 or more movies in his/her Queue with mixed titles ranging from new releases to classic. He/she always puts the new releases at the top of the Queue to help facilitate delivery of said newer titles but new releases are basically always listed as “Very Long Wait”, Long Wait” or “Short Wait”.

You or a neighbor, in the same geographic area, have a newer account with perhaps ~30 or so mixed titles ranging from new releases to classic and the exact same titles (new releases) are more often then not listed as “Now”,…..not “Very Long Wait”, Long Wait” or “Short Wait”,…..but “Now”.

This is a phenomena that is easier to see if you are looking at or get feedback from multiple accounts in the same area but you basically know if you are getting new releases quickly or not. Now while I don’t have a problem now, seeing how Netflix seems to be treating some of its customers gives me reason for concern.

As for this Netflix HD DVD issue, I see it rather simply. I like having a little thing called “choice” and therefore I would prefer to see HD DVD, Blu-ray and DVD coexist indefinitely. Someone somewhere clearly doesn’t want us to have said choice and thus the demise of HD DVD and likely DVD will be hastened.
 
I cant see why we cant have two formats, its the only thing I can think of that we are forced to have one.
This isnt the 1980's its 2008 where we can watch films in 10's of different formats.
If anything this will do more harm to the movie industry rather than good.
All studios should release on both and let me the consumer choose what format. Any Blu-Ray fan would be silly to think that HDDVD competition wasnt actually helping them.

In 1982 i bought a VHS player at £620 and that was the price of machines back then. So for £120 to watch 20 or so film releases a year is no big deal.

So far only the companies that dont count have stopped so called support , most of these are failing high street stores who dont sell much if any HD product.

The real ones like virgin/hmv/gamestation (uk places) have 40%HDVD/60%Blu on display (seen with my own eyes this weekend in 3 big cities).

The other places which really count (internet companies) are still selling very well. These must be thinking another nail in the hi-street coffin.

One more point (sorry to go on)if paramount etc stay and their market share goes up because they are exclusive it would be more than enough reason to stay. Think of it this way, if people want MP3 players and your the only one selling iPods (ie. Apple) your going to make more product.

This makes good business sense, one I think Toshiba and Parmount are probably looking at. If they stick it out until the end of this year we could possible see more companies cross producing between the format.
 
GET over It!!

My god, Get Over It!!!.....your beloved HD DVD is dead. Deal with it and move on. I owned Blu Ray from day 1. The only thing HD DVD had was extras and a dumb ass interface to watch them when the movie was playing! If HD DVD was the better choice it would have won!

:D
 
Trader said:
My god, Get Over It!!!.....your beloved HD DVD is dead. Deal with it and move on. I owned Blu Ray from day 1. The only thing HD DVD had was extras and a dumb ass interface to watch them when the movie was playing! If HD DVD was the better choice it would have won!

:D
Click to expand...

If all HD DVD has was the movie and a soundtrack, i would have still chosen it over the DRM black hole that is BD+. I do fault the HD DVD camp for their promotion, or lack thereof compared to Blu-Ray and not making it clear to the studios that a signifigant portion of consumers are not going to wait days to download a 20-30 gig movie off the internet so the sheer size of a movie limits piracy.

But its my opinion that companies were talked into believing that Blu-Ray is more secure. Yeah, similiar to how a house with no windows and doors is secure. No one, even legit consumers, are having difficulty using it, even if you aren't. Also, i'm sure the hardware companies see a premium in what they can charge for a player over what HD charges. I know Blu-Ray has some extra costs, but when $200 to $300 separates the lowest Blu-Ray from the lowest HD, that is not all extra cost. A LOT of that is margin, and the margins were pretty unattractive in the latter days for HD DVD hardware makers i'm sure when they looked at the Blu camp.

Blu fans that post to forums like this are a funny bunch. They fanatically support a format that has been more expensive, more difficult to make backups, and in some cases, difficult to use as stated and the advantages over HD DVD are still being debated as we speak.

So I guess we can assume that Blu fans don't really care about fair use, have no interest in running a movie server on thier private network, and don't care for backing up thier disks. But why post to a forum like this?
 
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