Robert Green writes "Following and complementing the Netflix instant streaming video service for the PC, Roku has produced a Set-Top Box offering instant streaming of Netflix video to your home television set. Set to compete with Apple TV (major announcement pending), it began shipping last week and here is one of the first reviews." As has been discussed before, the device is fairly limited, but inexpensive (around $100).
I tried to, read the review. Something struck me as curiously odd:
The big drawback right now is video selection. While there are over ten thousand titles available, it's possible to get through everything you may really enjoy in just a couple of months. I really think they (netflix) need to step up the licensing and video transfer to make this service great. I have to imagine that it will happen sometime in the near future as the instant video on PC has always felt like somewhat of a beta test program to me.
Bold highlights added by me. Is this supposed to be the answer for marathon movie watching couch potatoes? I realize that I watch much less tv than do many people, but really, do people rent 2 and 3 movies a night? for months on end?
While there are tens of thousands of titles available in netflix's streaming service, only a handful of them are popular films. Personally, only 4 of the DVD's in my 72 movie queue are available to instantly stream. In my case, I could be done with all four movies in a week or two and be out of things to stream until I happen to come across another movie that I think I'd enjoy.
The problem is that there is not a great selection of movies available for instant play, and of this limited selection, far fewer are popular titles.
The big drawback right now is video selection. While there are over ten thousand titles available, it's possible to get through everything you may really enjoy in just a couple of months. I really think they (netflix) need to step up the licensing and video transfer to make this service great. I have to imagine that it will happen sometime in the near future as the instant video on PC has always felt like somewhat of a beta test program to me.
Bold highlight added by me. Most of the titles are crap, but I pr
While there are over ten thousand titles available, it's possible to get through everything you may really enjoy in just a couple of months.
Bold highlights added by me. Is this supposed to be the answer for marathon movie watching couch potatoes?
The implication is not that you can watch 10,000 movies in a couple of months, but that there are very few you're interested in watching. There are 260 movies on my Netflix queue. 25 of those are available from this new device to watch instantly. Of those, I need to remove about 15, which are old TV shows available on Hulu.com for free. The remaining 10 are mostly really old, bad movies that are on there for bad movie nights. Seriously, the selection is awful.
Nice puff piece. It doesn't mention what the resolution is or the surround formats it supports (or not). Who is going to want to watch crummy resolution on a 42" screen?
What I don't understand: is there any advantage to this box over just having my computer output directly to my HDTV (in my case with HDMI) and using full screen with the streaming player on the Netflix website?
The review says we need to use a computer anyway to add things to the queue.
Are people just too dumb to buy a cable for their computer to output to their HDTV? I assume there are some hidden advantages I'm missing? I didn't see anything that says the resolution is higher with the box. Is it?
What I don't understand: is there any advantage to this box over just having my computer output directly to my HDTV (in my case with HDMI) and using full screen with the streaming player on the Netflix website?
You don't have to have your computer in the same room as your TV. You can use a remote control to select movies, play them, pause, etc.
Are people just too dumb to buy a cable for their computer to output to their HDTV?
Not everyone has or wants to have a computer in their living room, or an extra computer sucking down electricity. It's fine for us geeks, but not necessarily for other people. It's not a matter of being "dumb" just priorities.
In the real world - i.e. not in your room in your parent's house - people don't have their computer sitting in the living room by the TV.
I've noticed a certain lack of critical though on Slashdot lately. I mean really, you could have answered your own comment if you had thought about it for just a moment. Really thought about it, like ran through your head situations where people have different living situations/setups than you. You would have had your answer.
This is a comment in line with people who bitch at people bitching about high gas prices cause they ride their bike 8 miles a day to work. "Why would anyone possibly need a car," and "everyone should just bike to work." Its like, people think that everyone must be exactly like them - no family, non-professional job, snow-less southeastern US, and young. They have no capacity to think critically and put themselves in someone else's shoes or see the situation from a perspective that isn't theirs.
Just think for a fucking second and realize the rest of the world isn't you.
Really thought about it, like ran through your head situations where people have different living situations/setups than you. You would have had your answer.
Oh sure that sounds innocuous enough, but that can only lead to reading my posts before I hit submit, which is the gateway into spell checking, and before you know it, I'm actually RTFA before I post. It's a downward spiral.
Yep, that's why I'm seriously thinking about picking it up for my wife-no Instant Viewing on Macs, Linux, or anything Not Windows. So in reference to a comment above-it doesn't matter how technically savvy she or I or the neighbors are if we don't have Windows machines.
I suppose it'd be different if I had a virtual Windows machine somewhere, but as I don't it seems to me that the startup costs for us to use Instant Viewing favor Roku.
That is what is important to me since I have a 30mbit connection.
I am a little concerned about the selection. It sounds like a bunch of low quality old source material that wouldn't look that great on a HDTV even if they were run through a good video processor.
At the price though it might be worth experimenting with.
Yeah, I was hoping for a bit more content. Right now I'm kind of torn between this and the AppleTV. Sure the AppleTV might theoretically cost more to rent, but I don't watch that many movies and I can stream the media from my PC, which would be a huge thing for me. Right now I'm leaning toward the AppleTV since buying this box would mean I'd still have to come up with something to stream the music and video from my PC.
That's one thing the NetFlix box is missing. Actually, the NetFlix box might have the ability, but the PC software certainly hasn't been announced. But there's nothing to stop the hardware from talking to a local 'queue' running on some PC or Mac in the house, serving up whatever video formats the hardware can play. It might involve transcoding your library, either on the fly or in advance, but it seems like that would be a strong selling point to be able to stream your 'legal' home videos or whatever in
I think that having subtitles in regular movies would be the deal breaker for me. While the review showed a foreign film with subtitles, does anyone know if "normal" films have subtitles as well?
Misspent youth playing in speed metal bands before turning into a hardcore geek has unfortunately robbed me of a nice chunk of my hearing. So, subtitles are a necessity.
OK, first off I love Netflix Video On Demand feature. It was in fact one of the main reasons I setup my Media Center. I suggest either Anthony Perkin's (IIRC) MyNetflix plugin or the better vmcNetflix plugin (both for Vista)
But here is the deal: What you get is essentially VHS. Both in terms of features & resolution. No subsitiles option (forgien you have them; English you don't) No menus and therefore no special features.
Selection: This is an odd mix. You don't have the full Netflix selection. New releases are hit and miss. It really depends on what the studios let Netflix put on there. The selection compaired to other VoD systems is very good. Especially the TV shows (which aren't in HD anyhow). Also I al amazed by how quickly they are adding titles to the VoD service
So, Netflix VoD is not a replacement for TV. Or cable VoD services (for new releases) However, with your normal Netflix subscription (~$15) it is free. And that makes a huge difference. Now I have a massive selection of shows I can watch anytime I want. I have access to TV shows that really aren't rerun anymore.
Yeah, that's the dealbreaker for me as well, but my industrial band days have only left me incapable of having conversations with background noise (bars, etc.). For me its my wife, who is Japanese. Her English is decent, but I have to hit "pause" to catch her up a lot less if she has both auditory and visual linguistic input.
Here in Japan, talk shows and reality shows tend to subtitle all the funny/important comments for effect, and I, too, find that that often makes the difference between "Huh?" and "H
Clearly, He just didn't care for a while. And then it was too late. I'm not sure if I would buy *those* plugs though. They look a little wonky.
This breakthrough product is the only one of its kind to deliver flat attenuation of sound for musicians. Flat attenuation enables the wearer to hear the music just as it was intended, with a decrease of up to 20 decibels of potentially damaging noise.
So.. is it flat? or is it up to 20 decibels? What's the frequency range over which it's "flat attenuateion"?
Judging by the review they seem to have discovered the 'Zen of GUI' - keep the interface as simple as you can - only include what is necessary to use the device.
Apple seem to understand this as well.
I think that software developers and GUI designers can learn some lessons here (me included).
I've had my box since Tuesday. Overall I'm very happy with it. It's inexpensive, and on my cable modem the quality is reasonable, though it will step down if I'm doing a big download.
The box works up to my expectations, with one exception... It's tied to the remote servers. In most cases, where you're watching a movie, this isn't really an issue.
However, I've had the box 5 days, and last night late the Netflix servers that hand out the video were down. We'll see how frequently that happens.
The other place it comes up is when you're seeking. It has a nice interface where you see stills go by as you are seeking forward or back, but once you select it you then have to wait for it to re-spool the data. Even if you seek forward 30 seconds (the buffer seems to hold several minutes) it will still take a while after seeking to start playing.
It's a great box, but as soon as they have one that I can stick an 8GB memory card in, or a hard drive, or the software for the PS-3, I'll be ready to switch.
By my calculations it's around 600 to 900MB/hour. So even a 2 or 4GB SD card should be able to do pretty nicely. Grab a full movie or two at full resolution, instead of having to stream it it could suck it down at a slower speed, seek more responsively, and hopefully not be so dependent on the Netflix server if it's down for a bit.
So, in short: I really like it, but I'm looking forward to the next rev.
Yup. The product is too good: But AT&T, verizon and COmcast will kill it. Netflix has been the one company which has fiercely focussed on customers instead of quarterly profits and pleasing the wallstreet flip-crowd. I was a customer for 2 long years, and once am back in US, i plan to resume it. I was looking forward to Roku, but...now i guess Netflix is going to hit because the blood-sucking vampires at Comcast/Verizon/AT&T think that reducing service is better than providing better service at higher c
1: Claim to only "delay" Bittorrent traffic while actually killing it with reset packages.
2: When called on the carpet by the FCC, claim that you were only taking "reasonable network management" approaches.
3: Pretend to appease the FCC by claiming in the future that you will "slow all net traffic equally" when managing your network.
4: Heavy users (i.e. those streaming videos to RoKu) find this 8Mbs promised and paid for bandwidth reduced to <800Kbs rendering RoKu unable to stream. And with no onboard storage, no preloading of content ahead of viewing.
5: When Comcast video services are never slowed no matter how contested the network becomes, poo poo critics as oversensitive wusses.
...that this is a work in progress. I love mine, and for now it will let me catch up on shows I missed (I'm a SF fan who has yet to watch the new Dr. Who, and there is it available for streaming!) and there's a pile of classic old SF films available. I may watch Soylent Green next week. Love that film. For recent stuff I have my 2 DVDs out at a time. Getting this box doesn't stop your ability to get DVDs. Netflix is working licensing issues, and the Roku team is free to allow other sources to stream to their
I used to use my laptop as a dvd player. Somehow the act of plugging everything in, turning off the screensaver, rooting around for the proper cables, making sure that the remote control's software was actually working etc really took the spontaneity out of watching a movie.
Because of idiots like you I can't view recent movies on my Roku. The days of hacking and pirating are over and as soon as we can convince the entertainment industry that you are in the minority and most people just want to watch any movie or tv show ever made at their convenience we will have our cake and eat it to. The setup for the unit was brain-dead simple and the quality of the video was better than most dvd players. I had immediate access to my queue and found the interface and remote very easy to use. Considering that they do not charge anything additional for total access to their instant view library, I find it hard to believe that one could complain. Netflix has nailed the distribution model. Now we need to get the a*(holes in the entertainment industry on board.
The days of hacking and pirating are over and as soon as we can convince the entertainment industry that you are in the minority and most people just want to watch any movie or tv show ever made at their convenience we will have our cake and eat it to. The setup for the unit was brain-dead simple and the quality of the video was better than most dvd players.
I have had "movies on demand" in my home for 5 years now. I have over 1000 of MY movies ripped and ready on my Media center.
"but they never get taken off the catalog."
Actually, they ARE. I had some movies in my instant queue that, when I went to watch them, were no longer available for instant watching. I don't recall the titles, but I was pretty pissed.
its still not on my terms. I can order discs out of order, save them to disk and when I get all the parts, THEN I can view them.
many of the things I want (most, really) are not on the instant-view plan. maybe later but right now pickin' is pretty slim.
one tip is to force entries out of order. add a series as discs 2 1 3 instead of 1 2 3. that way the system 'knows' that you are ok with breaking up a series and it will send you next-avail instead of doing a 'blocking' move on you, stalling you unnecessaril
Welcome to Slashdot. If something is digitally based and easily pirated, then you have a right to it. Period. No moral or ethical gray area is allowed here. If your intellectual property is easily lifted then it's your problem, not ours. You can ask for money all you want, but it's not our responsibility to give it to you. Sure, we won't bother, y'know, doing without or just not having a copy of your work that we don't value enough to pay for, but that's because you're an evil, money-grubbing corporate over
You're basically turning Netflix's 3-a-time plan into a N-a-time plan, but the only advantage of having them all to hand at the same time is if you want to watch them a second time. Either you've got a huge appetite for re-runs, or you are wasting your time ripping and filling drives with movies that you'll only ever rewatch a tiny fraction of.
The point is, based on my conversations with people who do what the GP described, is that when someone mentions a movie title they can say "I have that movie".
I think that actual watching the movie part is completely secondary. Just the having of all of them is enough.
There are a couple of reasons for ripping rented movies.
A service like NetFlix doesn't give you very fine-grained control over the order you get the disks in. Sometimes you might not feel in the mood to watch the film they do send you at the time. In this case, it would be tempting to send it back, get another one, and watch the one you had in a week or so when you do feel like it. This goes away with online streaming, since the movies are no longer a scarce resource for the provider, as DVDs are, and
but the only advantage of having them all to hand at the same time is if you want to watch them a second time.
Several others:
1) TV shows on DVD don't like to watch a whole season in the same week.
2) still takes some time from request to door, don't feal like a chick flick when it shows, you got the back list.
3) traveling, my eee pc can't play dvd's, too risky to lose them to carry with, besides uses 3* more power spinning
Indeed. I've got some friends like that. I call them "Collectors." It makes a certain amount of sense at first, but after you think about it, you realize that with Netflix as your movie library, you don't have to worry about refreshing your media when it gets obsolete, and you can watch anything you want, within a couple days of when you think about it. Or right away, depending on what you want.
If your media costs fifty cents per burn, you could conceivably be paying two or three times your netflix subsc
That is probably why netflix doesn't seem bothered by people who rip the movies, all you finish up with is a bunch of ripped dvd's that sit and gather dust for the next few years. As a netflix customer you are already a good customer of the entertainment industry. Many people do not buy or rent movies on any kind of regular basis, $180 a year from you is probably way above the average spend on movies by joe public.
I wouldn't be surprised that you go out for a movie once in a while, after all watching movies
I wouldn't be surprised that you go out for a movie once in a while, after all watching movies is one of your interests.
I subscribe to a service like NetFlix in the UK, and I haven't been to the Cinema for years. I bought a cheap projector and now I can get a similar experience in my living room (with better sound, since the local cinema only has stereo and sets the levels very badly). I can have friends over, pause whenever I want, and eat nice food while watching films instead of overpriced popcorn. The price of two people going to see a film at the local cinema is about the same as a month's subscription to this servi
They throttled me. I have a 3-at-a-time plan, rip all 3, and send them back the next day. Instead of sending all 3 of mine out, they send out two, wait a day, and send out the 3rd. It's not AWFUL, but it's not really that cool.
If I could stream ANY movie that they had (not just their terrible selection of B and C grade movies and some TV shows), I wouldn't do this, since I usually watch the movies I ripped while I wait for my next 3 to come in.
"If I could stream ANY movie that they had (not just their terrible selection of B and C grade movies and some TV shows), I wouldn't do this, since I usually watch the movies I ripped while I wait for my next 3 to come in."
If you had read my entire post, maybe you wouldn't have made a silly comment.
And I do delete the movies when I've watched them once, so it's kinda like that old Divx thing with the expiring DVDs.
The MyNetFlix guy got a job offer from NetFlix because of the plugin, and they're allowing him to work on it in his free time. Not 'official' support, but there are people behind the scenes at NetFlix who want to see that plugin working.
RTFA ??? Huh (Score:2)
The big drawback right now is video selection. While there are over ten thousand titles available, it's possible to get through everything you may really enjoy in just a couple of months. I really think they (netflix) need to step up the licensing and video transfer to make this service great. I have to imagine that it will happen sometime in the near future as the instant video on PC has always felt like somewhat of a beta test program to me.
Bold highlights added by me. Is this supposed to be the answer for marathon movie watching couch potatoes? I realize that I watch much less tv than do many people, but really, do people rent 2 and 3 movies a night? for months on end?
Wow
Re:RTFA ??? Huh (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
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Bold highlight added by me. Most of the titles are crap, but I pr
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Re:RTFA ??? Huh (Score:4, Informative)
The implication is not that you can watch 10,000 movies in a couple of months, but that there are very few you're interested in watching. There are 260 movies on my Netflix queue. 25 of those are available from this new device to watch instantly. Of those, I need to remove about 15, which are old TV shows available on Hulu.com for free. The remaining 10 are mostly really old, bad movies that are on there for bad movie nights. Seriously, the selection is awful.
Parent
So what is the rez on this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So what is the rez on this? (Score:4, Informative)
It's not about "resolution" as you're probably thinking about it. For right now, it is 480p, but that's not what is important.
The amount of compression is varied depending on the speed of the connection. Netflix says it's pretty good at 1.5mbit, and perfect at 4mbit.
Parent
Advantages over computer - HDTV? (Score:2, Insightful)
The review says we need to use a computer anyway to add things to the queue.
Are people just too dumb to buy a cable for their computer to output to their HDTV? I assume there are some hidden advantages I'm missing? I didn't see anything that says the resolution is higher with the box. Is it?
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What I don't understand: is there any advantage to this box over just having my computer output directly to my HDTV (in my case with HDMI) and using full screen with the streaming player on the Netflix website?
You don't have to have your computer in the same room as your TV. You can use a remote control to select movies, play them, pause, etc.
Are people just too dumb to buy a cable for their computer to output to their HDTV?
Not everyone has or wants to have a computer in their living room, or an extra computer sucking down electricity. It's fine for us geeks, but not necessarily for other people. It's not a matter of being "dumb" just priorities.
Re:Advantages over computer - HDTV? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've noticed a certain lack of critical though on Slashdot lately. I mean really, you could have answered your own comment if you had thought about it for just a moment. Really thought about it, like ran through your head situations where people have different living situations/setups than you. You would have had your answer.
This is a comment in line with people who bitch at people bitching about high gas prices cause they ride their bike 8 miles a day to work. "Why would anyone possibly need a car," and "everyone should just bike to work." Its like, people think that everyone must be exactly like them - no family, non-professional job, snow-less southeastern US, and young. They have no capacity to think critically and put themselves in someone else's shoes or see the situation from a perspective that isn't theirs.
Just think for a fucking second and realize the rest of the world isn't you.
Parent
Re:Advantages over computer - HDTV? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh sure that sounds innocuous enough, but that can only lead to reading my posts before I hit submit, which is the gateway into spell checking, and before you know it, I'm actually RTFA before I post. It's a downward spiral.
Parent
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Yep, that's why I'm seriously thinking about picking it up for my wife-no Instant Viewing on Macs, Linux, or anything Not Windows. So in reference to a comment above-it doesn't matter how technically savvy she or I or the neighbors are if we don't have Windows machines.
I suppose it'd be different if I had a virtual Windows machine somewhere, but as I don't it seems to me that the startup costs for us to use Instant Viewing favor Roku.
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I am a little concerned about the selection. It sounds like a bunch of low quality old source material that wouldn't look that great on a HDTV even if they were run through a good video processor.
At the price though it might be worth experimenting with.
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Subtitles? (Score:4, Insightful)
Misspent youth playing in speed metal bands before turning into a hardcore geek has unfortunately robbed me of a nice chunk of my hearing. So, subtitles are a necessity.
Cheers,
imag0
No subtitles; No menu features (Score:5, Informative)
I suggest either Anthony Perkin's (IIRC) MyNetflix plugin or the better vmcNetflix plugin (both for Vista)
But here is the deal:
What you get is essentially VHS. Both in terms of features & resolution.
No subsitiles option (forgien you have them; English you don't)
No menus and therefore no special features.
Selection:
This is an odd mix.
You don't have the full Netflix selection.
New releases are hit and miss. It really depends on what the studios let Netflix put on there.
The selection compaired to other VoD systems is very good. Especially the TV shows (which aren't in HD anyhow).
Also I al amazed by how quickly they are adding titles to the VoD service
So, Netflix VoD is not a replacement for TV.
Or cable VoD services (for new releases)
However, with your normal Netflix subscription (~$15) it is free. And that makes a huge difference.
Now I have a massive selection of shows I can watch anytime I want. I have access to TV shows that really aren't rerun anymore.
Parent
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Yeah, that's the dealbreaker for me as well, but my industrial band days have only left me incapable of having conversations with background noise (bars, etc.). For me its my wife, who is Japanese. Her English is decent, but I have to hit "pause" to catch her up a lot less if she has both auditory and visual linguistic input.
Here in Japan, talk shows and reality shows tend to subtitle all the funny/important comments for effect, and I, too, find that that often makes the difference between "Huh?" and "H
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I'm not sure if I would buy *those* plugs though. They look a little wonky.
So.. is it flat? or is it up to 20 decibels? What's the frequency range over which it's "flat attenuateion"?
What
A GUI That Actually Works? (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple seem to understand this as well.
I think that software developers and GUI designers can learn some lessons here (me included).
My review of the Roku... (Score:4, Informative)
The box works up to my expectations, with one exception... It's tied to the remote servers. In most cases, where you're watching a movie, this isn't really an issue.
However, I've had the box 5 days, and last night late the Netflix servers that hand out the video were down. We'll see how frequently that happens.
The other place it comes up is when you're seeking. It has a nice interface where you see stills go by as you are seeking forward or back, but once you select it you then have to wait for it to re-spool the data. Even if you seek forward 30 seconds (the buffer seems to hold several minutes) it will still take a while after seeking to start playing.
It's a great box, but as soon as they have one that I can stick an 8GB memory card in, or a hard drive, or the software for the PS-3, I'll be ready to switch.
By my calculations it's around 600 to 900MB/hour. So even a 2 or 4GB SD card should be able to do pretty nicely. Grab a full movie or two at full resolution, instead of having to stream it it could suck it down at a slower speed, seek more responsively, and hopefully not be so dependent on the Netflix server if it's down for a bit.
So, in short: I really like it, but I'm looking forward to the next rev.
Sean
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Enjoy it while you can (Score:4, Insightful)
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The product is too good: But AT&T, verizon and COmcast will kill it.
Netflix has been the one company which has fiercely focussed on customers instead of quarterly profits and pleasing the wallstreet flip-crowd.
I was a customer for 2 long years, and once am back in US, i plan to resume it.
I was looking forward to Roku, but...now i guess Netflix is going to hit because the blood-sucking vampires at Comcast/Verizon/AT&T think that reducing service is better than providing better service at higher c
Killed by Comcast (Score:3, Insightful)
1: Claim to only "delay" Bittorrent traffic while actually killing it with reset packages.
2: When called on the carpet by the FCC, claim that you were only taking "reasonable network management" approaches.
3: Pretend to appease the FCC by claiming in the future that you will "slow all net traffic equally" when managing your network.
4: Heavy users (i.e. those streaming videos to RoKu) find this 8Mbs promised and paid for bandwidth reduced to <800Kbs rendering RoKu unable to stream. And with no onboard storage, no preloading of content ahead of viewing.
5: When Comcast video services are never slowed no matter how contested the network becomes, poo poo critics as oversensitive wusses.
6: PROFIT!
One has to understand... (Score:2)
Netflix is working licensing issues, and the Roku team is free to allow other sources to stream to their
advantage over plugging laptop into TV? (Score:2, Interesting)
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I used to use my laptop as a dvd player. Somehow the act of plugging everything in, turning off the screensaver, rooting around for the proper cables, making sure that the remote control's software was actually working etc really took the spontaneity out of watching a movie.
Re:advantage over plugging laptop into TV? (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, you don't have to plug your laptop's TV-out into the TV, nor do you have to plug speakers into your laptop!
Parent
Re:How About No? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
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I have had "movies on demand" in my home for 5 years now. I have over 1000 of MY movies ripped and ready on my Media center.
Also, what kind of drugs ar
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I can order discs out of order, save them to disk and when I get all the parts, THEN I can view them.
many of the things I want (most, really) are not on the instant-view plan. maybe later but right now pickin' is pretty slim.
one tip is to force entries out of order. add a series as discs 2 1 3 instead of 1 2 3. that way the system 'knows' that you are ok with breaking up a series and it will send you next-avail instead of doing a 'blocking' move on you, stalling you unnecessaril
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JOhn
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Re:How About No? (Score:5, Interesting)
You're basically turning Netflix's 3-a-time plan into a N-a-time plan, but the only advantage of having them all to hand at the same time is if you want to watch them a second time. Either you've got a huge appetite for re-runs, or you are wasting your time ripping and filling drives with movies that you'll only ever rewatch a tiny fraction of.
Parent
Re:How About No? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that actual watching the movie part is completely secondary. Just the having of all of them is enough.
Parent
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There are a couple of reasons for ripping rented movies.
A service like NetFlix doesn't give you very fine-grained control over the order you get the disks in. Sometimes you might not feel in the mood to watch the film they do send you at the time. In this case, it would be tempting to send it back, get another one, and watch the one you had in a week or so when you do feel like it. This goes away with online streaming, since the movies are no longer a scarce resource for the provider, as DVDs are, and
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It makes a certain amount of sense at first, but after you think about it, you realize that with Netflix as your movie library, you don't have to worry about refreshing your media when it gets obsolete, and you can watch anything you want, within a couple days of when you think about it. Or right away, depending on what you want.
If your media costs fifty cents per burn, you could conceivably be paying two or three times your netflix subsc
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As a netflix customer you are already a good customer of the entertainment industry. Many people do not buy or rent movies on any kind of regular basis, $180 a year from you is probably way above the average spend on movies by joe public.
I wouldn't be surprised that you go out for a movie once in a while, after all watching movies
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I wouldn't be surprised that you go out for a movie once in a while, after all watching movies is one of your interests.
I subscribe to a service like NetFlix in the UK, and I haven't been to the Cinema for years. I bought a cheap projector and now I can get a similar experience in my living room (with better sound, since the local cinema only has stereo and sets the levels very badly). I can have friends over, pause whenever I want, and eat nice food while watching films instead of overpriced popcorn. The price of two people going to see a film at the local cinema is about the same as a month's subscription to this servi
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If I could stream ANY movie that they had (not just their terrible selection of B and C grade movies and some TV shows), I wouldn't do this, since I usually watch the movies I ripped while I wait for my next 3 to come in.
I guess that's what BitTorrent is for.
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As a side note, is it legal to borrow three books from your local library, photocopy all the pages and then return them?
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If you had read my entire post, maybe you wouldn't have made a silly comment.
And I do delete the movies when I've watched them once, so it's kinda like that old Divx thing with the expiring DVDs.
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