[jlemons]

I was thinking about starting a Netflix account. Do any of you use the service, and if so do you like it? Are there any better movie rental choices? Thanks

[Scifience]

Originally posted by jlemons:
I was thinking about starting a Netflix account. Do any of you use the service, and if so do you like it? Are there any better movie rental choices? Thanks

I've had a Netflix account since June and I love the service. I started out with the three movies at a time plan and later upped it to five, but am back down to three now due to a simple lack of time and money.

Where I live, there is a one day turnaround on movies. For example, I send a disc back Tuesday, I get my next movie Thursday. I have had no badly scratched discs at all, and the selection is great.

For $17.99, you can't go wrong. Drop me an e-mail ([email protected]) before you sign up if you feel like giving me a referral.

[Mac Guru]

I got mine for Christmas, and the service is awesome... I love the sheer volume of movies, and the quality the DVD's are in... Seems Netflix owners take care of the DVD's better than local rental shop fare do.

I have the three at a time service.

Mac Guru

[ranga]

I have had a netflix account with the 3 dvds out a one time plan since Sept 2001. I really like the service.

I primarily watch BBC/PBS TV programs (ex Sherlock Holmes) and old TV shows that I didn't get to see when they first aired. Netflix has a great selection of these dvds and there is hardly any waiting for most programs. I'm told that WalMart and BlockBuster might have less waiting for the latest movie releases, but that they don't have as many movies/TV shows as Netflix.

Another alternative you might want to look at is Green Cine. My cousin has been using them for about 18 months and really likes it but he mainly watches foreign films and such.

--ranga

[Cubeoid]

Green Cine is nice. I'd use it too. I enjoy the alternative scene of suchness.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by Scifience:
I've had a Netflix account since June and I love the service.

ditto.

[powerbook867]

I've been using netflix for about 2 years now and I couldn't be happier. Fast turn around and every movie is also in the correct aspect ratio. I was getting really tired of going to blockbuster and having to rummage through all the pan and scan crap to find my movies.

It may cost a few bucks more than Blockbuster online, but the service, selection and the fact that they are not blckbuster keeps me as a customer...

[Gankdawg]

I have Blockbuster. $14.99/month, 3 out at a time. 2 free in-store rentals per month.

[TheJoshu]

Had one since May 2003, just cancelled it last month. And I've never felt better.

[Scifience]

Originally posted by TheJoshu:
Had one since May 2003, just cancelled it last month. And I've never felt better.

Care to elaborate?

[hyperb0le]

Originally posted by Scifience:
Care to elaborate?

That may have been the only negative thing I've ever heard about NetFlix

I've had the three-disc service for two years, and I love it.

[fromthecloud]

I've been doing the 8-out program for about a year and love it.

[PacHead]

The F**kers doublecharged my creditcard last month.

I'm still waiting on an answer back from them.

What kind of lameass, crappy billing software do they use ?

If it's not intentional and fraudulent, their billing system is extremely amateurish.

[KeriVit]

Originally posted by PacHead:
The F**kers doublecharged my creditcard last month.

I'm still waiting on an answer back from them.

What kind of lameass, crappy billing software do they use ?

If it's not intentional and fraudulent, their billing system is extremely amateurish.

Such anger! It's not like they did it all the time- or did they?

I love the service myself. It's so much better than the store because of their recommendations and such. I pick up movies I forgot about or didn't realize were there until they suggested. Whereas- at the store you really have to know what you are there for unless you want to spend an hour scanning the store and craling on the floor to see the ones on the lower shelves.

[PacHead]

Originally posted by KeriVit:
Such anger! It's not like they did it all the time- or did they?

I'd been a member for a couple of months, so their f**kup ratio is 50% in my particular case.

I signed up for the free trial, then I ended up keeping it for a month.

I suppose I cancelled a day too late, because two weeks after I cancelled, I saw that my account had been charged again, even though I wasn't receiving any more movies. So, I figure - no big deal, it was perhaps my fault if I cancelled a day too late, so I just uncancelled to get the most out of my two weeks left which they'd already charged me for. Then they charge me again for a third time, as if I was signing up from scratch !

I'm gonna look into the blockbuster one next time. Seems like the same thing, just slightly cheaper. Competition is good, 'cause everybody should lower their prices even more soon.

[QuadG5Man]

I've had it for a year. Netflix is great.

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by QuadG5Man:
I've had it for a year. Netflix is great.

my parents have also been using it for about a year now. the selection is awesome and even tho they are in a small city in coastal oregon turnaround is still just a day.

[JHromadka]

I've been a member for several years (even got the free holder they sent out to subscribers during the dotcom years) and couldn't say enough good things about the service. Fast turnaround, better selection than Blockbuster, and I never have to stand in line again. It's also let me be more selective in movies I purchase. I don't buy as many DVDs anymore because I can just rent them.

[mitchell_pgh]

Happy Netflix user... but I have noticed a bit of a slowdown with regards to turn around, but it might be the holidays compounded by the fact I drop my movies off near the White House.

[kikkoman]

I've been a Netflix customer for about four years. I have the four at a time plan. Overall I'm happy with the service. There were a few times where the turnaround time was longer than expected. They recently opened a new distribution center in my city and now turnaround is about a couple days!

[TheJoshu]

Originally posted by hyperb0le:
That may have been the only negative thing I've ever heard about NetFlix

I've had the three-disc service for two years, and I love it.

Ah, I'm sorry; it was just a quick post, deserving of an explanation.

I loved the service, which was exactly the problem. The solution? I'm going cold turkey. I'm saving $20/month, and I'm not wasting nearly as much time sitting on my ass watching movies. It was an addiction and it really needed to stop - so I said that when my queue hit 0, I'd cancel. Of course that never happened... so eventually I sort of had to force myself to get distracted in other ways, and my queue slowly but surely shrank. Now I devote more of my time to sitting on my ass reading the forums!

[Scifience]

Originally posted by TheJoshu:
Now I devote more of my time to sitting on my ass reading the forums!

At least its a free addiction!

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Happy Netflix user... but I have noticed a bit of a slowdown with regards to turn around, but it might be the holidays compounded by the fact I drop my movies off near the White House.

UPDATE: The slowdown seems to be permanent. I have gone from:

Monday (put in mail) --> Tuesday (get notice of received, new DVDs shipped) --> Wednesday (Receive new DVDs)

to

Monday (put in mail) --> Wednesday (get notice of received) --> Thursday (new DVDs shipped) --> Friday/Saturday (Receive new DVDs)

I've also noticed that I'm getting "very long wait" listed for more and more movies. I went from having a nice quick rotation to almost having to wait a week for a movie. Considering there is a distribution center less then 20 miles from where I live, I think something is up.

I'm about two more rotation from canceling my subscription
It was fun while it lasted. If I drop out, perhaps I can join back up in 1/2 a year or whatever.

[fromthecloud]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
UPDATE: The slowdown seems to be permanent. I have gone from:

Monday (put in mail) --> Tuesday (get notice of received, new DVDs shipped) --> Wednesday (Receive new DVDs)

to

Monday (put in mail) --> Wednesday (get notice of received) --> Thursday (new DVDs shipped) --> Friday/Saturday (Receive new DVDs)

I've also noticed that I'm getting "very long wait" listed for more and more movies. I went from having a nice quick rotation to almost having to wait a week for a movie. Considering there is a distribution center less then 20 miles from where I live, I think something is up.

I'm about two more rotation from canceling my subscription
It was fun while it lasted. If I drop out, perhaps I can join back up in 1/2 a year or whatever.

That's really weird. I live about 200 miles from the nearest distribution center and have a week turnaround.

Mon (put in mail) --> Wednesday (notice of received and new shipped) --> Friday (receive new dvds)

It kinda works out for me. I'm on the 8-out program and I get 8 DVD's on Friday, watch them throughout the weekend, and then send them back on Monday. Rinse, lather, repeat. The week delay doesn't bother me that much.

Hope things pick back up for you.

[-Q-]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
UPDATE: The slowdown seems to be permanent. I have gone from:

If you're a frequent movie watcher, you may want to read this analysis of the netflix service. It's a bit dated, but very interesting.

And I've been a subscriber for 3 years now and absolutely love it.

[mitchell_pgh]

Keeping profitable customers happy. Wired magazine's Dec 2002 issue reported that Netflix loses money due to postage costs if a customer rents more than 5 movies a month. Keeping your customers who produce the best profit margins happy is a no brainer. The customers who take a lonnnnggg time to watch their movies and then stick their discs back in the mail are incredibly important to Netflix._

So when I rented 21 movies in one month... they put me on the "don't bother" list.

I was like clockwork for a long time... 3 movie plan, 6 movies a week [a few timeshifted when needed]. I guess it's finally catching up with me. I originally thought it I went to the "cancel subscription" page that they would bump my priority, but no such luck.

[sworthy]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
UPDATE: The slowdown seems to be permanent. I have gone from:

Monday (put in mail) --> Tuesday (get notice of received, new DVDs shipped) --> Wednesday (Receive new DVDs)

to

Monday (put in mail) --> Wednesday (get notice of received) --> Thursday (new DVDs shipped) --> Friday/Saturday (Receive new DVDs)

I've had the exact same problems - it's not the biggest deal in the world, but annoying.

[MaxPower2k3]

I joined in June and have been doing a pretty steady rotation of probably 18-20 movies a month and have not yet experienced any slowdowns. there were a couple of times when i forgot and held onto my 3 DVDs for a week or so... maybe that threw off their averages enough to keep me under the radar for now.



Oh, and i love netflix (and would never consider Blockbuster/Walmart, even if they were half the cost)

[:dragonflypro:]

SInce August '01.

Can't say enough good about them.

got me some GameFly too!

T

[GK]

Have had netflix for two years and I love it.

[mishap]

1 year here. i've always had no troubles.

one time i received an unplayable disc. submit a complaint over at www.netflix.com/replacement and a new one was sent the next morning.

good service

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Have NY subscribers been having late delays??

It seems my service has went to the crapper since 2 weeks before christmas.

from 1 day turnarounds to 3-4 day turns??

i am canceling next billing period.

[d0ubled0wn]

I still have a 1 day turnaround. This week I dropped off 3 discs on tuesday, and got the next 3 on thursday. It's not always that way though. Sometimes I'll drop 3 off and get 2 on time, and 1 a day later. And a bonus this week... 2 of the 3 movies I got was listed as Long Wait but I actually received them anyways. Must have been a glitch.

[alligator]

Four year member, have the 4 at a time service. Love it. Better than watching TV, and I use it more than my dish.

[BRussell]

I have a tendency to close down for a few months when I'm sick of it and then start up again. They keep you account on file, so if you're careful about when you stop, it works out fine.

[MilkmanDan]

Netflix + MacTheRipper + DVD2ONE + DVD Burner = big collection.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
Netflix + MacTheRipper + DVD2ONE + DVD Burner = big collection.

Unfortunately, i don't think the DVD Decrypter + DVD Shrink combo on a PC can be beat by anything on a mac.

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
Unfortunately, i don't think the DVD Decrypter + DVD Shrink combo on a PC can be beat by anything on a mac.

What is better about those two apps?

[mydog8mymac]

What a timely subject, jlemons! I've been thinking about getting one the last few days. Thanks, everyone for all the good info.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by d0ubled0wn:
What is better about those two apps?

looking at DVD2one again, it does look similar to DVD Shrink. DVD Shrink allows you to re-author (with whichever titles you want) a DVD, or just recompress the full disk. you can also choose specific compression ratios for each title on the disc (compressing the extras more than the main movie, for instance). DVD2one does look like it can do most of that stuff.

The other good thing about DVD Shrink is that it will rip, compress, and burn from within the program, so you never have to deal with multiple programs. I usually only use DVD Decrypter if a movie is too big to compress onto one DVD.

[Shaddim]

This actually may be a good way for me to go. I've noticed that on average we spend between $150-250 /month on DVDs. The girls are notorious DVD buyers and usually account for >75% of that. I suppose the biggest disadvantage to using a service like Netflix is that I now have an awesome DVD library (~2000 movies, including ~300 on LD) and I like to watch what I want, when I want... but the amount of space the movies are taking up will soon become a factor.

So, on the one hand, I have more convenience and the "coolness" of ownership, but on the other I have savings and won't be taking up as much space in the future. Hmm.. maybe I can work out a compromise and rent some and buy others according to how much we really want them.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
The other good thing about DVD Shrink is that it will rip, compress, and burn from within the program, so you never have to deal with multiple programs. I usually only use DVD Decrypter if a movie is too big to compress onto one DVD.

DVD Shrink is hands down the best tool I've seen for the task. It offers the greatest level of re-author control (accuracy down to the frame) produces superior quality results, is faster, and it virtually never fails. The icing on the cake is: it's free. Only some silly platform-war blind ignorance would lead anyone to try and deny the fact that DVDShrink rules.

The downside is, DVDShrink is actually so one-click download/start ripping for free easy that virtually anyone can figure it out in a matter of minutes. The more consumers that eventually put the combination of DVDShrink+Burner+Netflix together, the more the inevitability of the powers that be somehow attempting to put the kibosh on the whole crapshoot. Even now, I notice no one even tries to keep their mouths shut about it anymore. How long can the gravy train last??

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

dp

[malvolio]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:

The other good thing about DVD Shrink is that it will rip, compress, and burn from within the program, so you never have to deal with multiple programs. I usually only use DVD Decrypter if a movie is too big to compress onto one DVD.

Roxio's Popcorn does everything but the ripping. So for me, it's MacTheRipper + Popcorn = Big Collection.
I just signed up for the Netflix trial, and it took them 5 days to get my movies to me (all shown as available "Now"). Not a good start, IMO.

[d0ubled0wn]

Popcorn has problems on my system. After compression, it always fails burning to disc with a buffer underrun error which can't be true because it never gets far enough to burn anything on the disc. Roxio support was less than useful, only suggesting that I write to an image file and burn it with Toast. DVD2one crashes every 1 in 4 tries or so.

I'll give DVD Shrink a try, since I also have a perfectly usable pc with a dvd burner. I just prefer to work on my Mac for most stuff.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE:
The downside is, DVDShrink is actually so one-click download/start ripping for free easy that virtually anyone can figure it out in a matter of minutes. The more consumers that eventually put the combination of DVDShrink+Burner+Netflix together, the more the inevitability of the powers that be somehow attempting to put the kibosh on the whole crapshoot. Even now, I notice no one even tries to keep their mouths shut about it anymore. How long can the gravy train last??

I think it's sort of the same situation as when Napster was popular; it was before the whole copyright war, and nobody really gave it a second thought, just as now people don't try to be secretive about DVD ripping. Right now, movie studios are grumbling, but not much has been done. Some commercial programs have been shut down/re-designed to accommodate copyright laws, but, like Napster, it'll take them a while to get to all of the free programs (which are often better than the commercial ones, anyway) and tighten up with this stuff.

The other aspect of this is that sharing isn't as much of an issue (yet) with ripped DVDs as it was/is with music. Sure, you can get them on bittorrent and the like, but it still takes several hours to download a multi-gigabyte movie, not something the average user is likely to get involved with. So more often you end up with a guy who's got all of his movies (bought or otherwise) ripped to his PC for convenience than someone who's sharing hundreds of movies for people to download, and this makes it much harder for the MPAA to go after people.

It's my opinion that it will never be any harder to rip a DVD than it is now, just as ripping a CD is just as easy as its ever been, despite the crackdown on sharing. This is because the copy protection is inherently easy to work around. What they'll do is come out with newfangled copy protection schemes, like the one on SACDs. I don't know the details of it, but it hasn't been broken yet. I assume they'll figure out some form of DRM for Blu-Ray/HD-DVD (i know Microsoft's WM9 codec has DRM... does H.264?), also, and the work will begin to circumvent that.

Either way, both Apple and Microsoft are moving towards video as the next step in the integration of computers and entertainment, so there will undoubtedly be increased interest in DVD ripping in the future. I don't think the MPAA has any kind of serious case against it until people start sharing and trading DVDs on a large scale... they'd never be able to shut down programs like DVD Shrink.

Sorry if this was a bit incoherent, i'm pretty tired.

[pschach]

So what does this mean. WHat should I use. I have a powerbook 1.5 ghz so i am sure that it is fast enough of anything. I have all the programs (popcorn, mactheripper, dvd2onex, and a few other ones that do not work. WHAT SHOULD I USEEEEE.

Thanks,
Phil

[slugslugslug]

Count me in as a Netflix lover. Interestingly, I like it 'cause I don't watch movies all that often, but I wound up spending more than $20/month on movies 'cause I would rent movies, not get 'round to watching them right away, forget to return them etc. Now I don't worry so much.. Plus when I think of a movie I wanna see I can add it to my queue right away instead of writing it in my Palm and remembering to look for it when I'm near the video store..

Only regret is that I joined after the free Netflix Fanatic app got canned, but I was pretty happy to pay for Netflix Freak, a nice lightweight interface to the service (I'm amazed nobody'd mentioned it yet)..

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by slugslugslug:
Only regret is that I joined after the free Netflix Fanatic app got canned, but I was pretty happy to pay for Netflix Freak, a nice lightweight interface to the service (I'm amazed nobody'd mentioned it yet)..

on the other hand Netflix Fanatic still seems to work even tho it's not distributed. my parents still use their old copy...

[J_Anderton]

I've been a Netflixer for a year and a half now and I love it.

When I first started, I just bought a DVD burner (I had Windows XP and DVD X Copy Xpress) and my queue was full of films I always wanted to buy and watch, so I would receive the DVD, burn it, and put it back in the mail box and watch it later. I rented so many DVDs a month by doing that, it was insane. My DVD collection grew rapidly because of that. Now, I don't do it as much...

Netflix is 20x better than all the other rent programs (Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, etc.) Two reasons. It comes RIGHT AWAY in the mail and they have the best collection of DVDs. They have EVERYTHING, unlike Blockbuster or the other stores. They have all the classics, TV series DVDs, foreign films, etc.