Netflix Now Tone-Deaf on Public Perception

Zarathustra[H];1037555805 said:
:p

Naah, as long as I can understand what he's saying and there's no reverberating/vibrating noise from the TV at volumes I listen to, I'm OK.

When you own a condo, you also have to be very mindful about noise levels. I rarely if ever have the TV turned up more than a third of the way as to not bother the neighbors.

If I had one of those surround systems with a sub, I'd probably have the cops called all the time :p
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The neighbors in my apt. complex don't seem to mind my Hsu STF-2 sub. It really helped getting it decoupled from the floor with a riser like the SubDude. I also don't play it much, and only at low levels, after 8pm. If it's Saturday at 3pm, I can cut the 5.1 loose pretty loud without fear of complaints. I'm not big into action movies either, but Star Trek 2009 can really make your couch move with a proper speaker setup.
 
Bigbacon said:
if you were rattling shit in my house, even in the middle of the day, i'd be bitching too...
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In all honesty, I wouldn't. Someone enjoying some music or a movie in the middle of the day doesn't bother me unless I can't hear my phone ring or something. If it was the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep, then I'd rage pretty hard.
 
Freezebyte said:
Hah, I just pissed off my neighbor in my town house cause I had the sound cranked up on my 5.1 watching the TOR opening cinematic. Fuck her, its midday, i'll crank it up if I want
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Yeah she's got to learn that most people have at least one douchebag living next to them at some point of their life. :D
 
Will it still be a great value the next time the price goes up? Or the time after that? Or the time after that?

Face it, corporate greed has taken another company. I think of it like bait and switch. Found a company that offers a great value to consumers, get them hooked, jack up the price multiple times, profit, enjoy, wait for the next big thing to come along and run them out of town.

Have fun. Never was a Netflix customer and won't ever be. Not because of this recent stuff, but the service just has nothing I want.
 
When they can "stream" DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD" then I'll maybe care. Otherwise, the picture is just half of the entertainment value. Yeah for 1080p, Nay for no true HD audio streams yet.... So I'll just get the blu-ray's and rip them thank you...

Plus! If anyone has a half of a brain go to your local library and just get your movies for FREE!!!!!! I do it all the time. Hell you can even get the latest games for FREE!!!
 
somecallmeTim said:
I "love" the sense of entitlement that people feel about anything Internet related. Netflix is a company, a FOR PROFIT company, that is providing a service. They've looked at trends, usage, costs and have made adjustments accordingly. $8.00 a month for streaming? Pretty damn good deal when you think about it. I pay $10 now for streaming plus a DVD, that I never watch.. the current DVD has been sitting on the shelf for about a month.

It's not as bad as everyone thinks.
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Zarathustra[H];1037555248 said:
Exactly.

Besides, they are likely just preparing for inevitable cost increases when their contracts with the studios come up for renewal in the next couple of years. I remember reading that they had a phenomenal licensing deal signed back before anyone thought streaming movies online was going to be big. when it comes up for renewal, it will likely be much more expensive.

Either way, for me it winds up being a savings. I never used the physical disk aspect of my plan. Now its ever so slightly cheaper with just the streaming portion.
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ballistic90 said:
Netflix definitely hit a wall, which is why their streaming options have been on the stagnant side lately. HBO flat out refuses to provide any content to any provider unless they require the user to pay a separate fee to get it, so they've been digging their heels in pretty good. All the other companies are really hesitant to provide their A list content when they know it'll cut into their DVD sales, for movies and TV shows alike. I'm sad to see the price increase, but I have an internal clock set two two months to see new content worthy of the price hike before I ragequit.
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Why is it that I and these three (maybe others) understand that Netflix is just preparing for the shit-storm of higher priced DVD and streaming contracts? There are rumors (maybe) that at the beginning of next year, the licenses that Netflix made in '09 will come up for renewal, and the studios want at least 3-4 times the amount that they got then.

If you've ever run a business, you know that when your suppliers increase their prices, either you find different suppliers, or you increase your prices to absorb the higher expenses to stay in profit.
 
If I had to guess it's more the studios behind this in the first place. Just like their limited collection of streaming content that never seems to increase in volume/quality; because the various studios and such over value their product. It seems very short sighted and I think in the end they'll be screwing themselves hard. It's not like it's hard to safely get any an all TV shows, movies and music from somewhere else that's not even remotely affiliated with the studios.

Almost all of Netflix streaming costs go to the studios. Netflix has already stated that actually streaming the movies only costs them 1-2 cents a piece total. That means the rest minus their needed profit margin is going straight the the studio's and they're still not happy about it. It kind of annoys me; because I loved netflix, but quite using them almost a year ago; because of all of the missing content.
 
wasteomind said:
Will it still be a great value the next time the price goes up? Or the time after that? Or the time after that?

Face it, corporate greed has taken another company. I think of it like bait and switch. Found a company that offers a great value to consumers, get them hooked, jack up the price multiple times, profit, enjoy, wait for the next big thing to come along and run them out of town.

Have fun. Never was a Netflix customer and won't ever be. Not because of this recent stuff, but the service just has nothing I want.
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It's hard to say, it depends on pricing at that time.

Currently no matter which plan you select it's an awesome deal, as long as you use it.

Compare Netflix prices to PSN, XBL or Walmart's rental pricing, hell compare it the lowest cost cable plan you can find and Netflix blows them all away for value.

Even Redbox comes out on the loosing end for convenience, and price as well if you plan on having dvds for more 8 days a month, be it 1 dvd for 8 days or 8 dvds for a single day each but either way you have to go out to get it and go out to return it so there are "costs" to take into account.

As for Netflix getting greedy, I say it's the opposite, people are greedy and are easily butt hurt and it doesn't matter why the price increases to them, they are still going to cry and have tantrums all over the net.
 
The argument that "it's not that big of an increase" is ridiculous. You're still paying 60% more than you were for the same thing. You can argue all you want that it is still a good value, but it's still 60% more than you were paying before for the same thing!

YOU'RE PAYING 60% MORE FOR THE SAME SERVICE!

The real problem here isn't Netflix....it's the movie studios. We all know that. I'm a capitalist. If Netflix feels like they have to charge more to make the kind of profits they want to make, good for them. However, they are going to lose me (and approx. 2 million more people by some estimates) simply because the same service that cost me $7.99 (one DVD and unlimited streaming) last year, now costs DOUBLE that.
 
3DChipset said:
When they can "stream" DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD" then I'll maybe care. Otherwise, the picture is just half of the entertainment value. Yeah for 1080p, Nay for no true HD audio streams yet....
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AMEN!
 
Zarathustra[H];1037555891 said:
Well, think of it this way.

Up until Netflix and the like, people had to rent movies from their local movie store, often at over $4-$5 a piece for new releases.

Say you rent 10 movies a month (this is way higher than me, but I get the impression I watch fewer movies than other people), that's almost $50 right there once you are through with taxes and the like. Make this unlimited, and the $60-80 figure doesn't seem that far off.

A lot of startups like redbox can offer things cheaper, but once they become a big player, the studios negotiate pretty hard with them to drive up prices.
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You can't compare netflix and movie stores because those stores weren't paying even close to that for their selection. They charged that much because of the overhead of operating brick and mortar stores.

Netlix is being squeezed by both content owners, and service providers right now. I just canceled my dvd service because I didn't make much use of it.
 
Zarathustra[H];1037555805 said:
:p

Naah, as long as I can understand what he's saying and there's no reverberating/vibrating noise from the TV at volumes I listen to, I'm OK.

When you own a condo, you also have to be very mindful about noise levels. I rarely if ever have the TV turned up more than a third of the way as to not bother the neighbors.

If I had one of those surround systems with a sub, I'd probably have the cops called all the time :p
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Wish I had considerate neighbors like you when I owned a condo (or my current house for that matter).
 
IMO, Netflix want to get completely out of the physical disk business, and go to streaming only. This price hike is just the first step.
 
JMccovery said:
Why is it that I and these three (maybe others) understand that Netflix is just preparing for the shit-storm of higher priced DVD and streaming contracts? There are rumors (maybe) that at the beginning of next year, the licenses that Netflix made in '09 will come up for renewal, and the studios want at least 3-4 times the amount that they got then.

If you've ever run a business, you know that when your suppliers increase their prices, either you find different suppliers, or you increase your prices to absorb the higher expenses to stay in profit.
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Just another reason to cancel.
If Netflix sees a huge drop in customers due to the price increase, it will send a message that they can't afford a huge increase in the price of the contacts with the studios. It will also show the studios that they shouldn't get too greedy.
 
nutzo said:
Just another reason to cancel.
If Netflix sees a huge drop in customers due to the price increase, it will send a message that they can't afford a huge increase in the price of the contacts with the studios. It will also show the studios that they shouldn't get too greedy.
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Or it might just encourage them to continue raising prices, so they can drive Netflix out of business and then continue with their bad old distribution models :p
 
nutzo said:
Just another reason to cancel.
If Netflix sees a huge drop in customers due to the price increase, it will send a message that they can't afford a huge increase in the price of the contacts with the studios. It will also show the studios that they shouldn't get too greedy.
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And you actually think the movie studios will care if Netflix dies?
This will be their argument:
"We feel as though this 'streaming' of movies over the internet is just a fluke. The largest provider of streaming content, has actually lost customers, because they were not willing to pay for our content, and we feel that this whole 'experiment' has cost the members of the MPAA millions, if not billions of dollars, and to make up for it the prices of not only movie tickets, but also DVDs and Blu-Ray discs has to increase..."

This is the MPAA we're talking about, they are full of people that only see $$.
 
kirbyrj said:
The argument that "it's not that big of an increase" is ridiculous. You're still paying 60% more than you were for the same thing. You can argue all you want that it is still a good value, but it's still 60% more than you were paying before for the same thing!

YOU'RE PAYING 60% MORE FOR THE SAME SERVICE!

The real problem here isn't Netflix....it's the movie studios. We all know that. I'm a capitalist. If Netflix feels like they have to charge more to make the kind of profits they want to make, good for them. However, they are going to lose me (and approx. 2 million more people by some estimates) simply because the same service that cost me $7.99 (one DVD and unlimited streaming) last year, now costs DOUBLE that.
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Everyone loves tossing out the 60% increase, but let's be realistic, it's $6 not $600 so all the emo-rage is somewhat humorous. Even in this very thread people are saying things like "if people need to decide between food and Netflix....." Give me a break!



nutzo said:
Just another reason to cancel.
If Netflix sees a huge drop in customers due to the price increase, it will send a message that they can't afford a huge increase in the price of the contacts with the studios. It will also show the studios that they shouldn't get too greedy.
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Do you really think the studios care if Netflix survives? Don't you think they would rather limit you to plans like PSN, XBL and Walmart where you pay $3-$6 per movie viewed as opposed to $8 for unlimited viewing? Oh sure they'll take Netflix money, because someone is going to but all things considered they would like nothing better then for Netflix to die and all memory of it to fade away.

What's ironic is that most people crying about a $6 price increase, which only effects those wanting both services, likely pay 10-20 times more for cable/dish service and yet somehow Netflix is the enemy because their offer isn't as great a deal as it once was because it's gone up a paltry $6 a month for people using both streaming and the home delivery plans (and wont effect anyone only using one of their plans.)
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Everyone loves tossing out the 60% increase, but let's be realistic, it's $6 not $600 so all the emo-rage is somewhat humorous.
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Uh, that's why it's a percentage? Why look at it from the consumer perspective--if Netflix had, for simplicity sake, $1,000,000,000 in revenue, they now want another $600,000,000.

Arguing about whether or not we can "afford it" is pretty stupid given this is a website dedicated to buying expensive computer equipment to play video games slightly faster.:p

However, it is the principle of the thing for me. 60% more for nothing? If I had been running Netflix, I sure as shit would not have gone about saying "lol our margins aren't sustainable," I would have said "we are trying to make streaming the best it can be, but these greedy studio fucks have my nuts in a vice, so I have to raise prices." And I sure as hell would have raised the streaming cost some rather than just ass rape my loyal DVD customers, and give everyone a bundle option to make up the difference. Better yet, I would have done it over time so that no one notices / streaming gets better.

Still a 60% price jack, but done in a way that doesn't piss every customer off.
 
They have yet to know the extent of the backlash. I haven't cancelled yet and haven't told them I am but it is coming. I am sure this is the case with others as well.
 
wasteomind said:
Will it still be a great value the next time the price goes up? Or the time after that? Or the time after that?

Face it, corporate greed has taken another company. I think of it like bait and switch. Found a company that offers a great value to consumers, get them hooked, jack up the price multiple times, profit, enjoy, wait for the next big thing to come along and run them out of town.

Have fun. Never was a Netflix customer and won't ever be. Not because of this recent stuff, but the service just has nothing I want.
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well you are 100% right on "corporate greed " Unfortnatly its not Netflix but the people they buy content from.

redbox is a very good alternative... IF you know you want to watch a movie and can pick it up on the way home. WIth gas nearing $4 a gallon, a quick trip to get a movie is not longer just the movie price (which is excellent at RedBox).

if the money is to much, cancel, its not a hard thing to do, I did it once before untill i understood they had quite a nice selection once i got past thinking of only new movies and started watching older ones I have never saw (lot of turds in there too).
 
If I cancel is because the streaming library.. not because of the price. I watch 1 or 2 dvds per week so for me will be better if I go to a redbox.
 
clok1966 said:
redbox is a very good alternative... IF you know you want to watch a movie and can pick it up on the way home. WIth gas nearing $4 a gallon, a quick trip to get a movie is not longer just the movie price (which is excellent at RedBox).
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Lucky for me, I have a RedBox within walking distance.
 
I still love Netflix! I turn it on and select my wife's favorite show and head to my man cave and play PC games.
 
I've already canceled my account; I assume the mass exodus will begin August 30th, so their comments are moot. For $15.00 a month, I couldn't justify my casual usage anymore and neither streaming nor DVD rental, by itself, could justify the individual costs. I will revert to occasionally renting from a Redbox or Blockbuster kiosks.
 
Big content would love to kill Netflix - and probably Hulu as well. They want to get paid good money on every single show you watch or see - they want to get paid even if you sit in a room with alot of other people watching..

So the fact that Netflix is getting blowback for this is sweet music to their ears. Might as well hang with Netflix for a bit longer..
 
Big content is going to realize no one is going to pay $10 a month just to watch movies/TV Shows put out by one studio.
 
GuyClinch said:
Big content would love to kill Netflix - and probably Hulu as well. They want to get paid good money on every single show you watch or see - they want to get paid even if you sit in a room with alot of other people watching..

So the fact that Netflix is getting blowback for this is sweet music to their ears. Might as well hang with Netflix for a bit longer..
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If Big Content had their way, they'd implement sensors to detect all the people currently in a given radius that could possibly be overhearing their content so that they can promptly send that person a bill for enjoying their fabulous (and never flawed) media! If all those people don't pay, then the person who pressed play should be guilty of a $150k fine for illegally distributing that content through the air!

;)
 
clok1966 said:
well you are 100% right on "corporate greed " Unfortnatly its not Netflix but the people they buy content from.
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I haven't been following this issue super closely, but from all the articles I have read, I have yet to see either Netflix or the content providers specifically noting that a content price increase is what has prompted this change. Please correct me if I am wrong and that information is out there.

If that is the case people are just using that as a rationale for the increase without knowing a true reason. While I don't doubt the content providers want to rape everything they can from Netflix and it's customers, how do you know it wasn't what would equate to a 5% increase per customer that Netflix turned into a 60% increase?

I could be completely wrong, if so enlighten me. Until then, as an outsider looking in, the value of Netflix has drastically decreased for me because I would be afraid of further massive price increases.
 
Bigbacon said:
if you were rattling shit in my house, even in the middle of the day, i'd be bitching too...
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DarkStar_WNY said:
Yeah she's got to learn that most people have at least one douchebag living next to them at some point of their life. :D
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Give me a break. I've asked her politely stop slamming her doors like a pissed off 10 year old for the past year and left notes on her door without informing the landlord and she still does it and then she also blasts her music in the bathroom and I don't bang on the wall like an ogre in retaliation because its midday. And then she has her 3 AM drunk partys with the music cranked up downstairs, booming away and I don't complain as a fair trade off for me blasting my gaming music.

Yet she bangs on the wall when I wanna watch a cool cinematic on my computer, fuck her.
 
Oh yeah, and then there was the time she tried to get me in trouble with the landlord by stating that she asked me to keep my sound system down but I still continued to play my games loud. Thing is, she NEVER came face to face with me to ask me or left a note on the door or ANYTHING of that nature, she just refuses to talk to me. Once I told the landlord that, I think she told my neighbor to deal with it.

Plus, i've been here 6 years, she's been here 1, I have seniority.
 
JMccovery said:
And you actually think the movie studios will care if Netflix dies?
This will be their argument:
"We feel as though this 'streaming' of movies over the internet is just a fluke. The largest provider of streaming content, has actually lost customers, because they were not willing to pay for our content, and we feel that this whole 'experiment' has cost the members of the MPAA millions, if not billions of dollars, and to make up for it the prices of not only movie tickets, but also DVDs and Blu-Ray discs has to increase..."

This is the MPAA we're talking about, they are full of people that only see $$.
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And as Ticket and DVD sales continue to drop, they will hire more lawyers to sue people for copying.
As thier revenue continues to drop, they will blame piracy instead of thier lack of vision.

Eventually, someone with vision at a media company, will sign reasonably priced contracts with a company (or a few companies) like Netflix. They will make a ton of money ( a few bucks a month from millions of subscribers with the distribution cost handled by someone else) by offering cheap streaming instead of hiring lawyers to sue thier customers. Then all the other media companies will jump on the bandwagon and we'll finally have decient/cheap streaming available.
 
While I can understand the business case requiring that they up their prices a bit, what I do not like is their execution. The fact that there is no price break for someone who wants to remain with a DVD at a time AND streaming package was a really bad decision on their part. The have a huge installed customer base that currently gets their DVDs and streaming service. Telling everyone that they can either give up one or the other, or decide to almost double their existing subscription price is a real slap in the face. They should have offered the combined package at a slight discount - say $12.99. That would have at least been reasonable. The fact that you get no discount by getting both is going to backfire on them. I've got enough backlogged stuff to watch to last a good year. (Also have a DVR (Dish) and subscribe to HBO.) For new releases, I'll simply use Redbox. I for one plan to cancel my Netflix account at the end of August. They've lost a customer and I'm sure I won't be alone.
 
djgizmo said:
Like most have said... this is a bad for pr, but Netflix knows what they are doing. They are riding the 'streaming' wave.

Personally, I can't stand streaming for MOST movies netflix has... for 1 reason.. The only stream Stereo. Most receivers can at least play back in Dolby Pro Logic II. I would prefer DTS or better, but DPL would be nice... but noooooo, netflix is too cheap.

blah.
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PLII is done on your receiver and "converts" stereo to 5.1

"Dolby Pro Logic II Benefits

Transforms ordinary stereo content into rich, full-range surround sound "

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/understand/playback/dolby-pro-logic-ii.html
 
*looks up from his DVD collection*
Streaming prices? What streaming prices?
*goes back to watching his already paid for DVD's*
 
I guess i'm just upset because Netflix's ablility to get new release's available to streaming. I can watch Aurthur w/ Russell Brand right now for 3.99 or wait a bazillion years on Netflix and maybe they will offer it for streaming. I mean ya your going to pay more with amazon, walmart, apple, and hulu but at least they have current content available.

I downgraded to streaming only just to find there isn't anything worth streaming at the moment. If Netflix wants to bump prices great but provide me a better service for my money not less service.
 
I canceled my netflix sub with this latest round of price hikes
 
Saturn_V said:
I really doubt the majority of Netflix subscribers are agonizing between paying the Netflix rate hike or buying Hamburger Helper fixings for a family of four.
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So families dont pay for entertainment?

Its about making choices, it doesnt take much
to push people over the edge to priortise there spending.
A few dollars here and there, and soon your out of money.

You have no idea.
 
mls1995 said:
I do. Nothing beats a blu-ray disc on a quality system. Ever heard high def audio? It's just as important as high def video. Anyone who has spent time listening to the high def codecs on a blu-ray disc (True HD and DTS HD Master Audio) knows how much better it is than anything you can stream.
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I agree, blu-ray DVD is the way I want to see movies for there quality.
Streaming can be only as good as your connection speed, and
could be crappy. You roll the dice.
 
JMccovery said:
Why is it that I and these three (maybe others) understand that Netflix is just preparing for the shit-storm of higher priced DVD and streaming contracts? There are rumors (maybe) that at the beginning of next year, the licenses that Netflix made in '09 will come up for renewal, and the studios want at least 3-4 times the amount that they got then.

If you've ever run a business, you know that when your suppliers increase their prices, either you find different suppliers, or you increase your prices to absorb the higher expenses to stay in profit.
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...or you go out of business...
 
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