I’ve been thinking about getting a Netflix account now that I have a 360 (and the Wii is getting streaming as well). I don’t really care that much about renting movies, but my parents could certainly use it (they’re always complaining about not having anything to watch on the weekends). So I’m think about splitting the $8.99 plan with them. I’ll have the streaming and they get the movies in the mail. In the fall, however, I’ll be moving to a different state. Can I keep using my account to stream while they get the movies, or is that a no go?
Also, is streaming really unlimited? As in 24/7/365 non-stop?
Streaming is tied to an account. Our daughter streams over our home DSL connection (sloooooowly) via her PC in her room, and we take our laptop with us on vacation and stream via that. Your scheme should work out fine.
We’ve never stress-tested the limits of streaming. Unless there’s something in the terms of service about a limit, I would assume it’s open-ended.
You shouldn’t have a problem with this. If you are using the streaming on a regular computer, you just need to be able to sign into your Netflix account through their website. If you are streaming through a device you simply register that device (location of the device is not important, and not something they can even determine in a way that links it to your account).
Yes. I stream to my laptop, to my desktop and I stream thru a Blu-ray player. As pointed out, it is all tied to the account. When I connect with my laptop I have to either log in or have selected “remember me”. When I first connected with the Blu-ray, it connected with Netflix and downloaded a code. I had to go to a computer, log in to my account and enter that code. After that, when I connect to Netflix via the Blu-ray, it shows my instant queue.
I’ve stress-tested an AT&T Uverse connection by having 4 streams from Netflix running at once into multiple Roku boxes. But those were all through the same IP address.
Edit: How did Netflix pull off being able to stream multiple Hollywood releases at once with no more protection than an login? Did Jobs loan them the Reality Distortion Field generator?
Many services that stream video check your IP and block you outside of the United States. I think that this is also the case with Netflix, although I am not positive. If so you’d have to spoof a US IP address to be able to stream “anywhere”. Still, anywhere in the country is not bad.
Streaming is tied to your account, but you can have only a certain number of devices activated under that account. So you can’t stream to 40 different devices and all share the same payment.
I believe they limit you to 5 devices. So we use our 360, laptop, PS3 and could choose 2 other devices to stream to.
Found the details from their FAQ:
*Can I watch movies instantly on more than one PC or Netflix ready device?
Some membership plans allow you to watch simultaneously on more than one personal computer or Netflix ready device at the same time (for example, watching a movie on your laptop while another family member watches on a TV via a Netflix ready device in another room ).
1-disc plans may watch on one device at a time, 2-disc plans on up to two devices at the same time, 3-disc plans on up to three devices, and plans with four or more discs on up to four devices simultaneously.
In addition, due to requirements from content providers, there’s a limit to the number of unique devices each account can use to watch instantly. Each Netflix account may watch instantly on up to six unique authorized devices, including personal computers and Netflix ready devices.*
So they stop you at 6 active devices. And depending on your plan you can watch from on 1 to 4 devices at the same time.