I saw all the advertisements for it, and decided that it would be something nice to give my grandparents. I’ve trained gramps to use the computer, and with netflix, they could ostensibly watch any movie they want, any time. They watch a lot of movies.
It just came to Canada, with the (seemingly) amazing deal of 9 bucks a month for all the streaming movies and TV I can watch. Here’s a cross section of what I searched, just to check their catalog based on content I know I can enjoy sitting and mindlessly watching:
-Meet the Parents
-Meet the Fockers
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (any variety)
-Casablanca
-Gone with the Wind
-The African Queen
-Big Bang Theory
-The Distinguished Gentlemen
-Star Wars (any)
-Crocodile Dundee II
Only the LAST one of those returned any. I’m not looking for some obscure Polynesian art film. Some of these are absolute classics, some are just…well, crap I would like to watch with my 8 dollars a month!
It’s on the free one month trial, so nothing ventured, nothing lost so far. But surely the American version isn’t this terrible, is it? These people supposedly drove Blockbuster out of business!
Does anyone else, American or Canadian, use Netflix? Would my Yankee friends confirm whether any or all of those work on your version? I’m finding a whole lot of B movies I don’t want to watch on here…
I love it. We get 2 DVDs at a time and watch a lot of instant viewing. My boyfriend tends to watch a lot of documentaries and I watch a lot of horror and foreign movies. I can generally find something I want to watch.
It must be the Canadian version. The only one of those films that I don’t find available is “The Distinguished Gentlemen.”
In the US, there is an amazing selection. I can find more than I can possibly watch just by sticking to streaming material. The DVD collection is just gravy.
I’m in the US, and IMHO Netflix streaming sucks. The selection is poor for my tastes, which I don’t think are all that unusual. I have a hard time finding anything recent I want to see. Also, the video quality isn’t very good (Amazon Video on Demand is a lot better; even DVD looks better than Netflix’s supposed “HD” if it’s played in a high quality upscaling DVD player) and the UI is poor. I have access to Netflix via two TiVos and my Wii, and I virtually never use it. I use Amazon Video On Demand far more often, despite the fact that it costs me money for every movie and Netflix is already paid for – that tells you something about how much better I like the Amazon service.
I actually like Netflix as a company, and am a shareholder (which has made me a good chunk of money), but Instant isn’t very impressive to me.
You’ll note that the OP in that thread complains of not having access to obvious things like Harry Potter. None of the Harry Potter movies are available via Netflix streaming in the US either. Popular new movies don’t show up there. At least, none of the ones I want to see.
They just plopped up a load of MST3K shows, so that’ll keep me busy during the 1 month trial, but I’m not seeing keeping it with the anemic selection they have now.
I have to agree with everyone saying the Canadian version is sub-par.
I was very excited when I saw that Netflix had come to Canada. I gave up my cable tv when I moved into my new appartment in August, and the only TV I watch now is through (legal) websites. So I checked out a few TV series I wanted to catch up on and none were available for streaming.
In the States, all of the movies you list are available on DVD only. None of them are available as streams (which is what I think you want as “any movie… any time”).
I have been using Netflix streaming since February 2009 and it is constantly improving - but is still very limited by Hollywood licensing restrictions. It is not that Netflix is trying to cheat us, they just can’t get an unlimited license from the studios.
Don’t hold your breath. I read an article about them in the paper today, and the trend is toward streaming. The reason you have what you have is that they don’t want to have to deal with your postal system, and to open distribution centers in Canada. In fact, they aren’t building any more here and analysts expect them to close some as more business goes into streaming. I mostly get DVDs here, but the lack of content is the fault of the studios, not Netflix.
What they have done is opened an Italian restaurant and started with serving Chef Boyardee. In time they may work up to that refrigerated stuff from the grocery story, but they are a long way from homemade.
U.S. customer here and not all that pleased with the selection.
Coverage of TV show episodes is spotty at best. Great, I can watch Season 1, 5, and 8 of Family Guy…
The movie selection is okay. I don’t like that most of the titles are 90’s hits (even if they are classics). Sure, 90’s movies are great, but I was looking for more modern titles. They don’t have to be ones that JUST came to DVD, but still…a bit more recency would be cool. The sheer number of obscure, budget films is staggering as well.
Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I’d say it’s still worth the $9 a month. Any more expensive and I’d drop it for sure.
I love Netflix - I’m in the US. I use the discs to get the movies, and the streaming to watch shows and some movies, especially British films that are sometimes hard to get a hold of here.
I’ve had Netflix for about 5 years now. Most of the problems I’ve encountered were cracked discs or scratched discs, the former most likely due to the USPS and the latter to renters who basically didn’t care about the renters who would come after them.
I just checked and Family Guy Seasons 1 through 8 are available for streaming in the U.S. If you are using a Wii, Xbox, or PS3, you may not see them on the menus that you browse with the console, but you can go to netflix.com and add them to your instant queue from there and they will show up in your instant queue on the Wii, xbox or PS3 ready for you to watch.
I love it. In the U.S. we have the disk renting option as well, so we can get anything through the mail that we can’t get streaming. I’ve watched Arrested Development, Aeon Flux and Pillars of the Earth. I’m working my way through The Tudors and BBC’s Robin Hood series. I have Carl Sagan’s the Cosmos in my queue as well as a few MST3k’s that I haven’t seen (there are still a lot of MST3k’s not available by streaming yet but available by DVD through the mail).
I have a pre-HD 63" widescreen projection TV. With our comcast internet, the picture is fine. It was unusable with our AT&T DSL, but that was because our house is rather far from their hub and the DSL signal was too degraded.
It seems like netflix can’t go streaming only until the studios license everything for streaming.
On on-HD TVs and on smaller HD TVs, the picture is ok (though even on the 32" in our bedroom I notice the flaws). But on a larger HD TV it’s really noticeably worse than true HD, and in many cases worse even than DVD (though I’ll admit I have a Blu-Ray player that does a really good job of upscaling DVDs). This isn’t a total showstopper – lots of cable channels look completely horrible (even “HD” ones). But when I’m turning off the lights and kicking back to watch a movie, I do want it to look good, and Netflix movies are often bad enough that I notice problems even when I’m not looking for them. The Amazon movies have occasional issues, but on average are much better.
To be clear – I love Netflix too. I just don’t love the streaming service. I use the discs all the time.
