[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;43618684]Do you need to have decent internet for Netflix's services?
I think that's the only thing barring my family from getting it.[/QUOTE]
Netflix will try to scale to the bandwidth your connection has and will change quality dynamically.
So if you have a pretty healthy connection, you'll get a nice HD video stream or DVD quality if HD isn't available. If your watching over crappy DSL, it will be at a lower bit rate and more pixelated, but still watchable. Its worst case is similar to Youtube at 240p. It will try its best to make sure the video continues, and you don't see the buffering animation. I'd say 1 Mbps is the bare minimum for a decent experience.
You can also set the quality to be lower manually in the settings if your concerned about your data cap or are annoyed by the quality bouncing around.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;43616732]Classic cable tv is outdated in pretty much everything. Good to see it die out.[/QUOTE]
Its a shame cable TV is ran by "to big to fail" telecommunication companies that rely on TV to make their massive profit margins. They probably have as much lobbying power as tobbaco or oil companies because of this.
Which is exactly why we are seeing stuff like Net Nutrality being destroyed in office - if there is no net neutrality, that gives free reign for ISPs (who are almost always telecom/TV providers as well) to basically control the internet like they control TV.
They won't switch to screwing you over first. At first it might seem nice - your internet bill will now be teired but cheaper for almost everyone! But slowly more things start being included or not included as the years go by, and if you want the "free internet" in its entirety you'll have to pay an arm and a leg to get it, even then with likely high restrictions (i.e. only the highest paying teir would allow torrent/P2P networking usage).
I just hope something like Google Fiber becomes more widespread before then. While google has kind of gone down the shitter lately, its clear they are 100% for net neutrality because its how Google does its business best. A google ISP would likely continue what we expect out of the internet right now, except at fiber speeds. Which would ANNIHILATE the competition wherever they are at.
I can't wait for February 24th, when season 5B of BrBa will finally be on my Netflix
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;43619066]Discovery is still mostly untouched, its channels like TLC that have hit the pits with reality shows. (I miss shows like Junkyard Wars, or Scrapheap Challenge for everyone in the UK)[/QUOTE]
Discovery is pretty much Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, then mostly Auctioning/Gold Mining/Moonshine Making/Amish? shows that reek of being heavily scripted, aka "Reality".
To actually add to the thread: In the 10 years since we re-activated out cable its been going gradually down hill. I'm half tempted to sign up for Netflix or something if it means I can watch the handful of shows I actually tolerate without being bombarded by increasingly irritating commercials. Its a pretty big kick in the nuts to sit through 2 back to back sob story animal charity commercials, then the 12 minute long commercial for Dragon which ends up cutting into the show.
I paid for TLC so I could see shit like home renovations and science.
I didn't pay for A Wedding Story and Miami Ink.
If only HBO go was available as a separate subscription as well. But that would completely kill off traditional TV. Times are changing and these corporations need to move with it.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;43617745]I'm interested in finding out what effect Netflix and Lovefilm streaming are having on Pay TV over here (In particularly Sky) and whether it will be a permanent downward trend.[/QUOTE]
Sadly It's not having the same effect and it probably won't for some time, in the UK we actually have a fairly decent digital market that is adapting with the times somewhat. I have Sky anytime plus and it's pretty damn good, That said i don't bother with the movies package so it's much cheaper. I'm far more interested in sky sports than films.
The only thing holding back Netflix and other online streaming services are the ridiculous licencing laws between countries.
It makes no sense at all to me why you can watch one set of TV shows and movies in one country and a completely different set in another. Why not just have a single large library? Sure you can get round this by using VPNs and browser extensions, but it's stupid that you have to do it in the first place.
The second problem is the license holders themselves. They will always provide their content to the highest bidders and may not extend contracts with streaming services at all. Much like Stars did when all their stuff was pulled from Netflix.
If entertainment companies would work together to make one unified service that provided content for streaming for a monthly fee then that would be perfect. But as it is that's just a dream because gotta make that profit guys and bend the customers over at the same time.
Well, now that net neutrality is dead, we'll see how long this trend continues. We may wake up one day in the next few months and discover that Netflix displays at 240p and, coincidentally, our Comcast bills just went up another $10.
When I watch the TV nowadays its almost entirely BBC channels with no commercial breaks at all aside from single short show promotions at the start and end of each programme.
Everything else is Netflix. I've discovered some American shows like FRINGE on it that just rock and I watch about an episode or two of that a night. I thought I'd never say this about a subscription service, but its an unbelievable bargain.
About 50% of my "TV" watching is YouTube subscriptions, and 25% is me working through my MST3K library, and the final bit is Netflix. I have no reason to use traditional television anymore.
my parents pay for our house's subscription which conveniently they added an option for multiple profiles. so my girlfriend and i have added profile for our room and watched the entire series of Fringe on netflix. so good!
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