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What is Netflix like?

B

bp1000

macrumors 65832
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
1,504
250
I hear Netflix might be coming to the UK soon

What is it like?

E.g. Do they have most of the popular / latest movies and tv shows?

How long does it take before you can begin watching something?

Also how much data does it typically use per film for example.


Currently in the UK, there are 2 main VOD providers and they are both pretty rubbish. I'm looking forward to trying netflix on apple tv 2 but i'm finding it hard to find out what movies they stock. Their site geo-targets me and shows me UK content which doesn't reveal much as it isn't available over here.


Thanks,

----------

just to note, i understand netflix annoyed a lot of you over there with the pricing issues and proposed company split

I am just after a general service opinion really :)
 
They offer a free one-month trial. Sign up and see for yourself (if it actually comes to the UK, that is). They don't typically offer the absolute latest, but there are a ton of movies and TV shows. I watch Netflix TV shows every day.
 
I'd be happy to let you remote in and take a look at their site of you want. I don't subscribe to instant; only mailed; but I can see their lists.
 
Netflix is very good if you don't expect to see the latest films. They do however on occasion get a brand new release.

Last night for example I watched Limitless which is a fairly new release to DVD/Bluray.

They typically run one season behind on television shows with some exceptions.

Overall they have an excellent library of films to watch. I personally like older classic films and don't mind watching something from the 70's 80's or 90's.

I suppose a lot will depend on your tastes and what you like to watch. It's a very nice experience using Netflix through Apple TV. Nice interface and easy to use and discover films you don't know about.
 
i don't find much of their streaming options to be that great, but my gf does.
however, their mail DVD options are great and having two out at a time is fantastic so it works well for the both of us.
 
Their selection of TV shows and movies will be enough to grab your attention but other than that, it takes a while for Netflix to obtain rights to newer movies and shows.
 
I have the three DVD at a time with mailing, and like it a lot. Though our bandwidth can handle the streaming I would rather watch the movies on disc
 
They just announced that the movie studios has increased the time of release until Netflix gets physical discs from 28 days to 56 days. That's just the physical disc, streaming takes much longer to get on there. That said I have never been on Netflix and not been able to find some enjoyable to watch.

EDIT: contrary to the first reports out, it is only Warner Bros. studio that is doing this for now.
http://allthingsd.com/20120105/warn...edbox-blockbuster-wait-longer-for-new-movies/
 
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Well, there's no chance of Netflix entering the New Zealand market. Our broadband caps and slow speeds by international standards deter Netflix (and I guess other large internet streaming giants) away from New Zealand. :(
 
Thanks all for your opinions, largely very positive which is promising. Looking forward to trying it out if it does come to the UK.

Just hope they don't go crazy on the price.

$7.99 - which is about £5 per month here in the UK.

I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to charger £9.99!


blevins321 said:
I'd be happy to let you remote in and take a look at their site of you want. I don't subscribe to instant; only mailed; but I can see their lists.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir, very kind! I have managed to proxy into their site using an American Tor proxy and i can see some info tho. Thanks for the offer
 
It's like your a really good friend slowly turning into a really annoying person you wish you could get rid of (and might).

But I don't think that's what you meant. So...

Streaming: Good for older movies. Really good for TV shows 1+ seasons behind. I'd cancel streaming, but it's actually REALLY good for children's shows. My daughter loves it...at least until/if we run out of material.

Streaming starts a number of seconds after you hit play. Probably 5-10 sec, I really haven't tried to time it. Occasionally a bit more, but not a big deal. It rarely suffers buffering problems at all for me.

DVD: pretty good, though I'm having to wait for my turn on newer bluray releases longer than before...and that's after the 30 day delay (may be growing) between the time the release comes out on and the time the studios allow Netflix to get it.

I know several people who canceled netflix streaming and like hulu more. I haven't gotten around to checking that out. Not sure if that's an option for you outside US.
 
It's decent for what you have to pay, but don't expect the latest movies or shows.. Also depending on your location you will not have access to some of the older tv shows or movies either..

I'm in Canada, some of the content I want to access I can't, you get an error message saying "Unavailable"..
 
Thank you all ! :)

It sounds very promising. Over here in the UK some areas don't have cable TV, the alternative is satellite tv from Sky TV, i don't have either.

Unfortunately these 2 companies buy the rights to some of the big shows that used to be on freeview TV that we get through our ariel.


So imagine for me, it will be pretty good to catch up on a lot of shows for free as i refuse to pay £40-£50 per month for 600 channels, most of which i will never watch.

I'm used to waiting to purchase the DVDs of the TV shows anyway.

It all depends on what netflix can negotiate with the tv shows and if there is any american content to watch which is normally v.good.
 
I love Netflix.
The streaming service is the best out there in terms of quality, user interface and availability on many devices: Mac, Windows, iOS, TVs, streaming boxes, blu-ray players, etc.
Yes, not all the latest a greatest TV shows and movies are available right away, but there are plenty of good international content and they always surprise me with fun stuff.
For example, they recently added some special episodes from Dreamworks with Halloween and Christmas themes.
I recently watched a German movie called The Wave (Die Welle), it was very good.
As I write this my kids are watching a Sesame street episode from 2010.
We can simultaneously watch different content on 2 iPhones, one iPad and the TV, this is great value for the price!
I have small kids and it is great for them.
I also have Hulu plus, and it sucks: video quality is hit and miss, specially on ios devices is very poor quality, and it is filled with many, did I say many?, tons of commercial ads that make the TV/movie viewing experience terrible.
How are you planning on watching Netflix?
What TV shows or Movies would like to see? I could provide you some lists of current content.
 
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I am a Britsh ex-pat living in Finland and cable TV here is bad. I just signed up for a free trial of Netflix and used a DNS service to get around the geo-blocking.

I am very impressed with Netflix and have watched several movies over the last couple of days. I do have a 110M cable connection and have not once seen any buffering and the HD quality is very good. I have kids and there is a superb selection for them.

The only downside is that they do not have the latest movies which are released on rental in the shops. New releases currently showing are 'No Strings Attached', 'LimitLess', 'Incidious' etc.

For 7.99 USD I think its a bargain and will be subscribing after the free-trial.

By the way, you can use a foreign /non US credit card to sign up for the service.
 
Now the question is how soon before we can use the Netflix app on our beloved ATV's?

I am using the USA one right now as there is more content available but will be keeping a close eye on the UK one just down to the convenience really of not having to use a DNS hack and can use my UK iTunes account as well.
 
daleski75 said:
Now the question is how soon before we can use the Netflix app on our beloved ATV's?

I am using the USA one right now as there is more content available but will be keeping a close eye on the UK one just down to the convenience really of not having to use a DNS hack and can use my UK iTunes account as well.
Click to expand...

Well thats how I found out about it. Turned on my ATV this morning and under "Internet" it said Netflix!
 
It will be hard to let netflix USA go though on my atv2 as my mate is letting me use his account so it's only costing me 3 quid a month for the dns redirection however when compared to lovefilm i am more than happy to pay £5.99 a month if they have recent movies of good quality.
 
I'm watching netflix on apple tv right now. It arrived sooner than i thought.

I'm not sure if we are getting limited content compared to the USA.

The films are quite old, and possibly what you would get at some stage on the free channels on a saturday night. There are some newish films dotted around.

The TV shows aren't bad but a lot of what we have watched already.


It certainly works very well, very quick and good quality.

I was hoping to see the rest of Lost as i missed it, wouldn't mind catching up on a few episodes. However they don't list it.

Hopefully the content will get better over time, perhaps the USA had limited content at the start.
 
bp1000 said:
I'm watching netflix on apple tv right now. It arrived sooner than i thought.

I'm not sure if we are getting limited content compared to the USA.

The films are quite old, and possibly what you would get at some stage on the free channels on a saturday night. There are some newish films dotted around.

The TV shows aren't bad but a lot of what we have watched already.


It certainly works very well, very quick and good quality.

I was hoping to see the rest of Lost as i missed it, wouldn't mind catching up on a few episodes. However they don't list it.
Click to expand...

I was afraid of this. :-(
 
For example

The app on iTunes shows back to the future and the godfather in the screen shot, both of which aren't available in the UK netflix store.
 
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