OK, another quick update – seeking inside a movie takes almost a full minute on my system, and I have a 10mbps connection (which realistically runs around 3mpbs in the evening, damned bittorrent neighbors). This is really annoying if you’re trying to find a specific point in a movie. Netflix: chapter markers, please!
They claim full-screen, full-motion, DVD (not HD) quality, and what I see on my system, that’s a pretty fair claim.
When they first started this (online video), I passed all the requirements (CPU, connection speed, etc.) yet I couldn’t get the top level of the 3 offered. I contacted the netflix techs and we ran some tests. They said it showed a latency problem, yet my speed tests were far above the minimum (I get 5Mb/sec download consistently). A trip to Charter – my data connection provider – resulted in much finger pointing at each other, but one day the connection worked with full video quality. I found out Charter had upgraded some of their equipment at a hub 300 miles away, and this must have been what made the difference.
I have never used up my monthly allotment of watch now hours, so this feature won’t mean anything to me. I guess I could reduce the number of discs I have at once and plan to see more stuff online, so if I am typical, it will reduce their revenue.
I think their viewer downloads ahead of what you are viewing a fixed amount, not the rest of the movie, because once things are rolling, I can skip ahead just a few seconds and there is no wait. But if I exceed some threshold, it has to re-buffer and that takes time.
Also if I keep an eye on the network traffic while playing, it goes full-tilt at first, then buffers in short bursts every so often, so that lends support to my “short buffering ahead” theory.
Where can we see a list of available movies? If you can get Leningrad Cowboys Go America!, I might well join up just for that.
What Exit?, your links only work for current members.
Interesting. I have Charter also, and I see net throughput hover around the same value throughout the movie. Maybe your connection is “burstier” than mine? Or probably you’re getting better throughput, which wouldn’t surprise me; my connection goes to heck most evenings.
A few people have mentioned this problem, and there’s a way around it. There are Firefox extensions that will allow you to emulate IE in a tab. I use one called IE Tab, and it works for watching Netflix videos.
Well, I gave it a shot and it worked like a champ. The image looked good on my 22" wide screen monitor and it never hitched due to lag. I didn’t try scanning around in the movie though and the buffer never got very far out from the “you are here” indicator so I doubt I could have fast forwarded 45min in without waiting for it to rebuffer. I wasn’t crazy about the IE thing or having to update Media but so it goes. I never use either for anything else anyway.
Still, I can see myself using this quite a bit to see older stuff that has settled into the bottom of my queue.
This is gonna suck for those of us who live in the real world.
Mine is a solid, reliable 5Mb/sec. (No one in my cable neighborhood knows what bittorrent is, and most are scared by computers, anyway!)
Lots and LOTS of Doctor Who stories are on Watch It Now. I was in hog heaven before, now I’m in, well, more hog heaven, yay!
You, sir or madam, are made of AWESOME. As I said earlier I’ve been unable to watch for many months and couldn’t figure out a way around the “freezing my browser to the point where I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL” issue. Firefox never worked (and I forgot that Netflix admits as much anyway).
Last night I was able to watch the UK Office at last. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
– choie, who could’ve sworn she was living in the “real world”
You mean video store employees? Maybe, maybe not. I can’t see video stores ever going completely away.
But in the meantime, can you hold my buggy whip?
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Just noticed something else about the “watch instantly” feature: the titles offered are not permanent.
At least two films I’ve watched previously are no longer available (12 Angry Men and 2010).
That’s not good…
So, any word from one of the Netflix members as to whether Leningrad Cowboys Go America! is available?
No. Its not.
Before you get too upset, consider there might be a reason. I watched An Enemy of the People (Steve McQueen version) online and it was not available a week later. However, it was probably taken down because of confusion with one of the other two versions of the same play available, as the DVD did not match the watch now version, and a dozen people complained. I even made a phone call and the op thought it would be straightened out sometime soon.
2010 is shown as available online now, 12 Angry Men is not.