Netflix Rolls Out Separate User Profiles

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Netflix now offers profiles for separate family members. Other than the fact that the profiles aren't protected, it seems like an okay option. Personally, I'd prefer the company put a little effort into fixing its horrible recommendation system first.

Switching between profiles is done at the top right corner of the screen via drop-down menu. Just from monkeying around with it here in the Consumerist lair, it looks like all the users can freely switch between profiles without passwords, so parents could check on kids’ viewing habits. But before you start watching everything you’d been holding off on streaming, be mindful that your kids can still access your profile.
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Hmm, will this work with the embedded netflix on my TVs? Probably not
 
Steve said:
Netflix now offers profiles for separate family members. Other than the fact that the profiles aren't protected, it seems like an okay option. Personally, I'd prefer the company put a little effort into fixing its horrible recommendation system first.
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Yes, that shitty recommendation system. I know this will sound very trivial to most, but that's at least 50% of the reason I dropped Netflix. I watch one Kung-Fu movie in five years and all of a sudden it's trying to shove every asian movie ever made down my throat for months. And tell me, Netflix, how many times must I say "no" to Hanna Montanna (or similar) before you stop throwing that shit at me? If I didn't want to watch season 1,2 or 3 there's very little chance I want to watch season 4, now is there?

I actually called Netflix at one point and asked how you turn off that shitty recommendation system, they said you can't.
 
I haven't had a problem with the recommendation system, mostly because I generally only going in already knowing what I want to watch. It's the streaming selection that annoys me. Finding a movie that I actually want to watch and is actually in their catalog is nearly impossible. I had closed my account for a couple years, but I turned it back on to give the kids something quiet to do when they're at my office - worth the subscription fee, but could be tons better with a better selection of movies available to stream.
 
k1pp3r said:
Hmm, will this work with the embedded netflix on my TVs? Probably not
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"Over the next few days, profiles will roll out on most Netflix devices, including the website, iPad, iPhone, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Apple TV, and newer Smart TV’s and Blu-Ray players. We’ll be adding additional devices like the Nintendo Wii and Android soon."

Worked on my Sony Blu-ray player (BDP-s590, i think?) and PS3. Doesn't work in Windows Media Center (surprise, surprise...).

At a guess, if your device asks you whether you want to enter kiddie-mode when you start Netflix, and it's still getting obnoxious software updates at the least opportune times, you have a pretty good shot of getting profiles.

Grimham said:
Yes, that shitty recommendation system. I know this will sound very trivial to most, but that's at least 50% of the reason I dropped Netflix. I watch one Kung-Fu movie in five years and all of a sudden it's trying to shove every asian movie ever made down my throat for months. And tell me, Netflix, how many times must I say "no" to Hanna Montanna (or similar) before you stop throwing that shit at me? If I didn't want to watch season 1,2 or 3 there's very little chance I want to watch season 4, now is there?

I actually called Netflix at one point and asked how you turn off that shitty recommendation system, they said you can't.
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Well, since the recommendation thing is 100% of the point of having Netflix, I'm not sure what to tell you. Actually, I do know what to tell you: RATE THINGS! Rate Hanna Montana one-star; it goes away. Rate several more things like it one star; they all go away. Keep rating things up and down, and -- eventually -- your front page is mostly full of nothing but things that look to be worth watching.
 
I logged on my netflix account on my kids' Wii and now my computer netflix defaults to the wii interface no matter what the fuck I do.

I am not changing a thing or making separate profiles, I just got used to this interface, don't need it to change again.
 
Probably wont even work on a PC lol, Nothing else does, nope they want you to go buy a console or something to get surround sound.
 
XenIneX said:
Well, since the recommendation thing is 100% of the point of having Netflix, I'm not sure what to tell you. Actually, I do know what to tell you: RATE THINGS! Rate Hanna Montana one-star; it goes away. Rate several more things like it one star; they all go away. Keep rating things up and down, and -- eventually -- your front page is mostly full of nothing but things that look to be worth watching.
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This helps tremendously as well as going through the control panel on their website. There are pages upon pages of sub-genres to go through.

It still doesn't help their shitty catalog. It seems like a lot of the good stuff disappears too quickly, yet the amazingly shitty, worse than Sy-Fy channel, D-Grade horror movie catalog keeps expanding.

Every month I lose a little more faith in them, then they throw on some gem from my childhood such as GI Joe and Transformers. Its a rollercoaster with them...I haven't given up yet, they may just turn it around.
 
Please don't rate shit you don't even watch/give a chance 1 star.

Netflix ratings are some of the most retarded shit I have ever seen.
 
XenIneX said:
Well, since the recommendation thing is 100% of the point of having Netflix, I'm not sure what to tell you. Actually, I do know what to tell you: RATE THINGS! Rate Hanna Montana one-star; it goes away. Rate several more things like it one star; they all go away. Keep rating things up and down, and -- eventually -- your front page is mostly full of nothing but things that look to be worth watching.
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Recommendations is 100% point of having Netflix???? That makes ZERO sense.
But let's go way out on a limb here and for arguments sake say it's correct. Now you want me to rate things that I haven't even watched... but I thought you just said rating things for recommendations is 100% to point of Netflix. So Which is it?

By they way, when I did have the service I rated tons of movies/TV shows, I never said I didn't. Also, there was something I could click like "Not Interested" or "Don't show Again", but it didn't matter, still got the same shit.
 
stealthy123 said:
Please don't rate shit you don't even watch/give a chance 1 star.

Netflix ratings are some of the most retarded shit I have ever seen.
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You are right, not all movies deserve it and you can occasionally find a gem.

But Hannah Montana? Come on man. That shit deserves a 1 star regardless.:p
 
Well I'm happy as a squirrel with a nut. I've been bitching about the lack of profiles since my son was born...3 years ago. Now maybe I'll be able to actually find something in my instant queue besides kids shows.
 
To the person that suggested that we should simply rate things to help out Netflix's Suggestion system, it doesn't work. Just because I watch Jurassic Park doesn't mean I want to watch some garbage that Asylum studios puts out, that is generally only shown in the SyFy network till it seems recently, where everything they release is now on Netflix. Even movies you click on as the picture or title seems interesting that you turn off 5 or 10 minutes into the movie as you realize how horribly bad it is, Netflix then pushes out to you as "Because you watched so and so you might like this" They don't even take into account that you didn't even like that movie and just rated it 1 star and yet it still shows up on your list as you just watched it. It was nice before their horribly garbage Suggestion system came out when you could just select "Show all new releases". Then at least you could actually view what is on their streaming instant watch website without trying to break through their broken suggestion system.
 
About damn time. My Netflix was a giant mess since my wife and I use it. I got tired of having to scroll through shit like "Romantic Comedies with Strong Female Leads" to get to stuff that I might actually not die from watching.
 
bpizzle1 said:
About damn time. My Netflix was a giant mess since my wife and I use it. I got tired of having to scroll through shit like "Romantic Comedies with Strong Female Leads" to get to stuff that I might actually not die from watching.
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I'm in the same boat. My young son plays cartoons for hours and hours every day (not necessarily watching, but letting it play).

As a result whenever I load up on my phone at work during lunch I get pages and pages of young kids shows. The things I watch don't even show up.

So I like the profile thing, and it is something that people have been asking for for several years. I know I looked it up one day about 2 years ago.
 
rudy said:
Probably wont even work on a PC lol, Nothing else does, nope they want you to go buy a console or something to get surround sound.
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Logged in on my PC last night and it worked just fine.
 
I think this is a great addition, and I was waiting for it.

Looks like profiles feature is not yet going to be added to the Android app.

What would be very useful is that since now there is this profiles feature, if I create a new profile for myself, I'd really like to be able to "import" specific shows' progress from the "primary" profile to new profiles. And again, be able to delete previous movie/show history from one account. Because for example, if the primary (or otherwise) account is continued to be used by someone, they'll have this mishmash of viewing history from others that may have their own new profile.

Netflix really needs to let users go through their history and delete things now more than ever.
 
joblo37pam said:
I haven't had a problem with the recommendation system, mostly because I generally only going in already knowing what I want to watch. It's the streaming selection that annoys me. Finding a movie that I actually want to watch and is actually in their catalog is nearly impossible. I had closed my account for a couple years, but I turned it back on to give the kids something quiet to do when they're at my office - worth the subscription fee, but could be tons better with a better selection of movies available to stream.
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The problem is that streaming rights are expensive. They would offer more movies if they could afford the rights. The interesting question is how to fix the situation. A law change where you could stream a movie for every physical copy you had every 24-48 hours would be interesting. It would dramatically change the landscape. If you wanted to take it further you could add XXX streams lifetime to mimic wear and tear even.
 
Ponder said:
The problem is that streaming rights are expensive. They would offer more movies if they could afford the rights. The interesting question is how to fix the situation. A law change where you could stream a movie for every physical copy you had every 24-48 hours would be interesting. It would dramatically change the landscape. If you wanted to take it further you could add XXX streams lifetime to mimic wear and tear even.
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Oh, I understand the reasoning, but the fact still remains: the selection sucks and the only way I can come close to justifying it is for the kids. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't think twice about dropping the service. I have also had Blockbuster's service and Amazon Prime. Neither is any better at streaming, but at least with Blockbuster/Dish, you can get physical disks without paying any more. With that system, I could at least get movies I wanted once in a while. Unfortunately, availability of disks got so poor that I was only getting about one a month, so I dropped it and started streaming Netflix again.
 
Why don't you just switch to amazon prime, the kids will still be amused and you probably already pay for prime. That's what I did and I don't miss Netflix one bit, as said the selection sucks on either. I don't care what their reasons are because I am not paying for their problems in hopes that they will magically fix them. Netflix will fix the problems when enough people leave they are forced to.

Also I would say the streaming rights are less expensive then they are variable and BS. A law should be passed that says you cannot charge anyone any different price for media, right now the movie industry gives better deals to certain players and does not allow fair competition. In a sense the movie industry is actually pissed because they gave Netflix too good a deal at the start. Same with music, and then what happened was they created a monopoly and now they are spending time and money trying to break the very monopoly they created.
 
rudy said:
Why don't you just switch to amazon prime, the kids will still be amused and you probably already pay for prime. That's what I did and I don't miss Netflix one bit, as said the selection sucks on either. I don't care what their reasons are because I am not paying for their problems in hopes that they will magically fix them. Netflix will fix the problems when enough people leave they are forced to.
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I do already have Prime, but for as bad as the selection is with Netflix, it's even worse with Prime. They have a lot of the same stuff, but it's not all free with the Prime membership and the browser based player isn't as good.

Legislation is almost never the answer. Feedback and voting with your wallet is. Unfortunately in my case, I'm still giving them money.
 
Well I assumed all you wanted it for was for the kids, anything we cannot find on prime we just buzz over to a redbox and grab. Between that yourtube and everything else kids are definitely covered. The way I saw it was when Netflix raised their mail order price / package there was no point in Netflix because I don't watch 8+ movies a month.

As for laws, the reality is we are heading for all streaming sooner or later and sometimes we just need some laws to help move that along a little faster. I have been giving my feedback and voting with my wallet for decades and none of it has ever amounted to anything. Look at it this way both amazon and Netflix have removed free features for the PC streaming to try and force you to buy a PS3, kindle etc.... I went ahead and cancelled my Netflix but more than a year later they haven't fixed any of it. Instead we get profiles, which is nice and all but not bringing me back. How about if I can actually get 5.1 sound from the browser,.
 
Because if there is nothing to watch its not worth anything. Plus some people like me got rid of it partly out of principle if Netflix is unwilling to support the device that made them who they are then they can screw off. When I know they have the capabilities etc.... The other major issue I have with them was the pricing structure there was no price break at all for doing mailed discs. What the heck kind of company does no bundling at all to try and get customers everything they need. If they knew damn well their streaming selection was lacking why would they not throw in a couple bucks if you want both?
 
I like netflix mainly for tv shows that I never watched. Its nice to watch 5-10 years of stuff back to back, with no commercials and no waiting for next weeks cliff hanger. I get my $8 worth.

They have this recommendation thing called "Netflix Max". Have you used it? It is a lot better than The "recommendations for you" category.

I use netflix on my ps3. My main complaint, is the interface. Jesus. What the fuck happened to the menus they used to have? What the fuck can I not choose a genre from a menu instead of hitting the up or down button repeatedly to scroll through every damn category. Absolutely infuriating. But it's still only $8. I get my money's worth and then some.

I have prime too. If you are using prime on a pc, it sucks. Go buy a ps3 for $75 off craigslist and experience prime in it's hd surround sound glory. The interface is much better than the ps3 netflix interface.

Whatever short comings they have are offset by the price. I consider Prime free, since I bought it for the shipping.

And I'm still saving $100 a month by not have cable.
 
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