Netflix - General discussion & technical queries

aidan_walsh · 10-01-2012 9:52pm

There is meant to be a queue/bookmark system on Netflix

I think the queues are a legacy of the DVD model, so not quite applicable to streaming as they are. The way they used to work would be you would queue up a movie, and when you return a disc you have watched the next one in the queue would be sent to you. Obviously with an on-demand model this is kind of unnecessary.

_AVALANCHE_ · 10-01-2012 10:26pm

Now all we need is decent broadband!!

Their is little point to this for a good chunk of the country. All this is going to do is slow down the crap Network that we have for everyone.

Sir Oxman · 10-01-2012 10:31pm

aidan_walsh wrote: »

I think the queues are a legacy of the DVD model, so not quite applicable to streaming as they are. The way they used to work would be you would queue up a movie, and when you return a disc you have watched the next one in the queue would be sent to you. Obviously with an on-demand model this is kind of unnecessary.

Hulu have a queue!
It's very handy.;)

S.M.B. · 10-01-2012 10:53pm

The only way to replicate the queue is to play each video for a few seconds and it gets added to the recent activity page.

I would have thought the UI would be a whole lot better on something as established as netflix.

Sir Oxman · 10-01-2012 11:06pm

S.M.B. wrote: »

The only way to replicate the queue is to play each video for a few seconds and it gets added to the recent activity page.

I would have thought the UI would be a whole lot better on something as established as netflix.

The UI is not what it should be alright.
The XBMCflicks plugin has the option of browsing and adding anything that you like to a queue (although it is useless as picking a queue item does nothing but launch a fullscreen browser netflix which lands on the summary page) so the option is there just not on the PC version as far as I can see.
And the signup page doesn't really show what it can offer either!

BionicRasher · 10-01-2012 11:06pm

is there a way for it to show what items you have watched in say a box set? Similar to Boxee or Media Browser in that it goes to the next unwatched episode in a TV series

L'prof · 10-01-2012 11:12pm

tui0hcg wrote: »

is there a way for it to show what items you have watched in say a box set? Similar to Boxee or Media Browser in that it goes to the next unwatched episode in a TV series

On Apple TV it seems to highlight the next unwatched episode for me when I go into a tv show.

BionicRasher · 10-01-2012 11:19pm

Yup - sorry did a test with Weeds just there and it will go to the next unwatched automatically when you click play on the PC - will test on the Wii and Xbox too and see what happens. If its the same then that would be great as its a curse to try to remember what you have watched before

On a side note playback is very poor at the moment on 8Mb uncontested BB (getting average 7Mb in Speedtest.net). Really bad jitter and jumping frames. Teething problems maybe

starviewadams · 10-01-2012 11:20pm

Watched the documentary The Bridge today,highly recommend it.Great selection of documentary's on netflix so far.

brian ireland · 10-01-2012 11:46pm

woody1 wrote: »

just read there that someone with a 3mb broadband is having trouble getting it to stream for him, im on a 1mb package ( living in the deepest darkest countryside ), is there even any point in bothering with netflix or anything similar , apple tv or whatever..

I have the NG8 meg = 1mg broadband from UTV, 100% like dial up. BUT netfix is working for me. I think it gives you the stream quality depending on your bandwidth. i can't get HD stream but the stream is ok for me.

Mindkiller · 10-01-2012 11:52pm

WolfForager wrote: »

Heh, somehow i seem to be getting High HD quality on my PS3 (Watching the Usual Suspects). Audio seems to be a bit off, not sure if it's the movie or the stream though

4MBish broadband.

Army of Darkness on PS3 was out of sync for me earlier. No idea if it's the same on PC

adox · 11-01-2012 12:10am

been playing around with it on my PS3 as cant get it to work on my ATV2 unfortunately.

Not going to discuss the content as its been done to death on numerous threads, but I have to say the streaming quality has been excellent for me.

HD films and shows have streamed great and also with 5.1 when its available. Handy to keep an eye on the stream quality in the PS3 browser. Seems to start off low, reading something like - medium SD and then improve over the forst 4 or 5 minutes when Im usually on a constant stream reading of - high HD or X high HD.

Im on a Vodafone 8Mb line which reaches about 6.5Mb in the real world.

Im still probably going to dump it after the trial is up. I would have considered subscribing for a while, if I could get it to work on the Apple TV, as thats how I stream all my media. It just doesnt work for me, although I know others have it running on the same.

S.M.B. · 11-01-2012 12:24am

Interesting. Will see if mine turns from SD to HD after a few minutes.

L'prof · 11-01-2012 12:47am

adox wrote: »

been playing around with it on my PS3 as cant get it to work on my ATV2 unfortunately.

Not going to discuss the content as its been done to death on numerous threads, but I have to say the streaming quality has been excellent for me.

HD films and shows have streamed great and also with 5.1 when its available. Handy to keep an eye on the stream quality in the PS3 browser. Seems to start off low, reading something like - medium SD and then improve over the forst 4 or 5 minutes when Im usually on a constant stream reading of - high HD or X high HD.

Im on a Vodafone 8Mb line which reaches about 6.5Mb in the real world.

Im still probably going to dump it after the trial is up. I would have considered subscribing for a while, if I could get it to work on the Apple TV, as thats how I stream all my media. It just doesnt work for me, although I know others have it running on the same.

Strange, what's happening and what firmware are you running?

adox · 11-01-2012 12:51am

L'prof wrote: »

Strange, what's happening and what firmware are you running?

I'm on firmware 4.2.1. Basically I can log in with my details but then if I hit the first option, which is genre I think, I get a message "Netflix is currently unavailable, please try later". It's been discussed a bit in the Apple Media Devices forum. A few others seemed to have the same problem but some of them got it sorted with a log out and reboot. I've tried but to no avail.

L'prof · 11-01-2012 12:53am

adox wrote: »

I'm on firmware 4.2.1. Basically I can log in with my details but then if I hit the first option, which is genre I think, I get a message "Netflix is currently unavailable, please try later". It's been discussed a bit in the Apple Media Devices forum. A few others seemed to have the same problem but some of them got it sorted with a log out and reboot. I've tried but to no avail.

Have you considered upgrading to 4.4.4 or is it too much hassle?

adox · 11-01-2012 12:55am

L'prof wrote: »

Have you considered upgrading to 4.4.4 or is it too much hassle?

Too much hassle. Don't want to have to lose my jailbreak and reset everything the way I want it. If it wasn't jailbroken I'd certainly upgrade but as it is, the negatives out weigh the positives.

Scram · 11-01-2012 12:59am

starviewadams wrote: »

Watched the documentary The Bridge today,highly recommend it.Great selection of documentary's on netflix so far.

either i missed something or was on the wrong website, but the selection of stuff on offer was very poor.

johnny_ultimate · 11-01-2012 1:06am

Playing around with the PS3 app and there's certainly a surprising amount of good stuff there, from classics to random indie oddities. I can see the current selection keeping me occupied for a few months at least. That said, the app needs some serious work. Would love a far more in-depth filter system, where I can define my search by criteria like country of origin and distributor (loads of old Tartan stuff up there) instead of genre.

My one major complaint is the anime is ****ing dubbed, and I sure as hell can't find an option to change it on PS3. There's not even any point when it's dubbed

And I really wanted to watch Gurran Langen. The Japanese credits and dialogue free first minute were great!

adox · 11-01-2012 1:11am

I do find their page lay outs bizzare on all platforms I've tried. There is a hell of a lot of stuff there that you just have to search for to find.

Bit of a strange search system. For instance , type in the letter B and you will get some listings bit nowhere near all the films and tv shows beginning with B.

L'prof · 11-01-2012 1:34am

adox wrote: »

Too much hassle. Don't want to have to lose my jailbreak and reset everything the way I want it. If it wasn't jailbroken I'd certainly upgrade but as it is, the negatives out weigh the positives.

I'm sure there's a handy way of backing up your settings, but I understand your reluctance!

grimm2005 · 11-01-2012 2:47am

adox wrote: »

I do find their page lay outs bizzare on all platforms I've tried. There is a hell of a lot of stuff there that you just have to search for to find.

Bit of a strange search system. For instance , type in the letter B and you will get some listings bit nowhere near all the films and tv shows beginning with B.

Agreed, I keep coming across stuff I couldn't find at first randomly. I really wish they just had a complete A - Z directory of everything, even just on the website.

As for the service itself, the selection is decent but not outstanding. I have no qualms whatsoever about the lack of current movies, this isn't why i was interested in it to begin with. It's all the old movies or tv shows i may have missed along the years that i'll be using it for. The current selection is good for a newly launched service but I hope more content is added regularly (i.e. several new films/titles a week). Some things I don't understand are the lack of sequels or only having a sequel film and not the original. For example, why only Pirates of the Carribean 1 and not the sequels? Surely they're all owned by the same studio and all old enough to have on the service? Things like that i find irritating.

There's enough mainstream content on there to keep me going for about 2 months but if they dont have a good bit of extra content after that then i'll probably cancel. However, I am impressed by the wealth of content in HD, definitely a selling point for me. If it helps anyone I'm on vodafone broadband 7mb using wifi and streaming from the xbox and I get a pretty consistent HD stream after initial buffering with only the odd slight drop very rarely.

11-01-2012 2:51am

I think this is a great service. It needs a lot more content which should be coming next week (Buffy has to be on here, so does crime drama like Law And Order SVU and or shows like Lost or desperate housewives) And as soon as those big ticket items hit NetFlix this will be a killer service. 24 Season 5 - 8 should be up and since they "showed" on my AppleTV, well 24 ended in 2010, so if they can get a whole range of content made 2010 or before hand.. That's a lot of good stuff on there!

Did a quick count, 262 shows on there in total. Only like 14 of them are good (Why is charmed on there, sure it's a nice show.... but eh, Isn't that not qualified for the "Kids" category?)

Sad Professor · 11-01-2012 3:12am

grimm2005 wrote: »

Some things I don't understand are the lack of sequels or only having a sequel film and not the original. For example, why only Pirates of the Carribean 1 and not the sequels? Surely they're all owned by the same studio and all old enough to have on the service?

They are newer so the licensing costs are probably more.

grimm2005 · 11-01-2012 3:15am

Deleted User wrote: »

I think this is a great service. It needs a lot more content which should be coming next week (Buffy has to be on here, so does crime drama like Law And Order SVU and or shows like Lost or desperate housewives) And as soon as those big ticket items hit NetFlix this will be a killer service. 24 Season 5 - 8 should be up and since they "showed" on my AppleTV, well 24 ended in 2010, so if they can get a whole range of content made 2010 or before hand.. That's a lot of good stuff on there!

Did a quick count, 262 shows on there in total. Only like 14 of them are good (Why is charmed on there, sure it's a nice show.... but eh, Isn't that not qualified for the "Kids" category?)

The newest content I could see was Drive Angry which is just under a year old from it's cinema release (feb 2011), which is definitely an encouraging sign that we will see relatively new releases as well as older content. I'm sure it also depends on how high profile the content is (like I wouldn't expect the likes of Avatar for quite some time) but still better than nothing.

Tweaky · 11-01-2012 10:36am

adox wrote: »

Too much hassle. Don't want to have to lose my jailbreak and reset everything the way I want it. If it wasn't jailbroken I'd certainly upgrade but as it is, the negatives out weigh the positives.

4.4.4 now has an untethered jailbreak for the ATV2. I upgraded last week and Netflix is working perfectly along with the ipad2 mirroring and XBMC etc.

Srooney03 · 11-01-2012 10:45am

Tested this on XBOX last nite..watched 3 eps of Califonacation and the stream was flawless...full HD with no buffers on 25mb UPC BB...so far i would say this service is epic.it will be my pleasue handing over 7 bucks a month for this.

adox · 11-01-2012 11:59am

Tweaky wrote: »

4.4.4 now has an untethered jailbreak for the ATV2. I upgraded last week and Netflix is working perfectly along with the ipad2 mirroring and XBMC etc.

Thanks for letting me know but I am still reluctant to upgrade for a couple of reasons:

Laziness. I just dont want the hassle of having to jailbreak again and then install all the repos etc that I`m using.

Plex. I`m now using this instead of XBMC for all my local streaming(still using XBMC for online streaming) and there seems to be issues with Plex and 4.4.4

I certainly couldnt do withut Plex.

Apologies for dragging the thread OT.

McGrath5 · 11-01-2012 12:23pm

Checked my credit card statement and Netflix have already charged me €6.99. As far as I was aware the first month was free?

Technocentral · 11-01-2012 1:00pm

Perfect Choice wrote: »

Checked my credit card statement and Netflix have already charged me €6.99. As far as I was aware the first month was free?

Like lots of trials I'm sure they "hold" the money then return it if/when you cancel.

Netflix - General discussion & technical queries

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