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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Netflix
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 05-09-2016 02:53 PM
In the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, AT&T is still pushing its U-Verse Internet product (I get mailings from them weekly trying to get me to buy it), but they are limited to 18 Mbps. You can get faster from them, but you have to be in very close proximity to their fiber optic lines, and they won't promise me anything above 18 until they do the install.
I admit, I do use the streaming services, but I use them for the equivalent of channel surfing. I'll watch House of Cards on Netflix streaming, but their selection of movies isn't that great. I really need to cancel the streaming side, but I keep forgetting to do so. When I'm looking for something to watch just to kill some time, I'll page through the listings on Amazon Prime, much like I would head over to TCM to see what they're playing.
If I had something like a Kaleidescape system, that would remove the convenience advantage that the streaming services have, but those systems are not for the budget-conscious.
If streaming services can increase reliability, increase quality, and increase availability, then many of my objections would be satisfied, but we're still at the mercy of a third party that is really in control. It's probably an age-related thing though, as younger people are being raised on streaming services for music and other media, where they are being milked monthly in exchange for what they think is unlimited access.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 06-04-2016 01:45 AM
I finally switched Internet service providers, ditching AT&T Uverse for Fidelity's cable Internet. My connection went from a little over 3 megabits per second to over 27 megabits per second (according to the Speedtest app). Plus I was able to use a new, higher quality router rather than the cheap garbage router I had to use for Uverse.
The higher connection speed makes a really big difference on all the streaming options. Obviously content on Netflix looks better and streams a lot better than it did with Uverse. But so does the stuff from Amazon Prime and HBO GO, which ran even worse. With this new connection even Dish's on demand service works immediately, and in 1080p. With Uverse I had to download to the DVR and watch later, and even then it would download only around 720p quality levels at best.
All is not perfect however. Even though everything streams in 1080p, on my 65" TV the content varies in image quality. Some shows, such as House of Cards, look really good, but others really show some noisy compression issues. For instance Jurassic Park (which just got added to Netflix) was pretty noisy looking, not film grain noisy but more like some kind of dithering effect was applied. Definitely not Blu-ray quality, but maybe a little better than what you would see from a satellite TV broadcast. Maybe some of the issue could have to do with how each show is compressed/encoded. Internet connections do vary as well. Other devices on the network can sap Internet bandwidth with their own processes.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-04-2016 12:45 PM
I recently switched to Time Warner Cable because they are the only other ISP in this area beside Verizon. I was paying $39.99/mo for for 2 Mb DSL plus another $29.99/mo for a landline phone. (They wanted me to have a landline in order to get DSL even though it's technically not needed.)
So... With Time Warner, I'm getting 50 Mb and it only cost me $59.99/mo... $10.00 cheaper than what I was paying before. Further, my actual bandwidth often exceeds 60 Mb. (Just this minute, Speedtest.net says 61.26 Mb.)
I don't have cable or satellite TV, nor do I plan to get them. I watch all my TV with Apple TV.
I have an account on Netflix and Hulu but I don't allow them to bill me monthly. I go to the store and get gift cards and pay them that way.
I will watch Netflix for a couple of months, until the gift card runs out, then I'll get a gift card for Hulu and watch than until it runs out. Every couple of months, I switch back and forth.
Since Netflix and Hulu have so much of the same content, it's doesn't make sense to pay for both at the same time.
With Time Warner cable at 50-60 Mbps, there's enough bandwidth in the house to watch TV and use two computers, plus an iPad on the wireless network with virtually no chance of stalling any of the connections.
Since Time Warner Cable was recently bought out by Charter Communications, cable service in this area is supposed to change to "Spectrum" and the are promising bandwidth boosts up to 100 Mbps and even 300 Mbps. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed...
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 06-06-2016 01:46 AM
quote: Sam Graham
While I have Amazon Prime (which probably kept me from killing myself during my recent hospitilization), I'm still a disc guy. I want to own something vs relying on a streaming service to keep the rights (and they don't necessarily...Netflix adds and drops stuff all the time)
I'm still in favor of owning physical media, as opposed to buying a "HD Digital" download version of a movie. Movies on Blu-ray still have a quality edge over downloads. The audio-video bit rates are higher and the audio is typically lossless. In some cases the disc will have audio tracks in Dolby Atmos and/or DTS-X for those who have really high end home theater setups. That's not the case for download versions of movies.
On the other hand, it's very clear the movie studios couldn't give a rat's ass about physical discs anymore. They don't put much production value into the discs. It's a far different situation from what it was 10 or 15 years ago when studios busted their ass on really great DVD box sets like Fight Club or the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Today, more and more of these coasters don't even have a printed leaflet or anything else inside the case. It's just the damned disc. The studios have also gotten into this stupid habit of spreading "exclusive" extras to different SKU's specific to Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc.
The biggest hint the studios couldn't care less about discs is the release dates. Today a Blu-ray or DVD of a movie may hit store shelves a month or more after the "HD Digital" download first became available. Of course there is an obvious downside to that strategy of putting downloads in favor over discs: the very short release cycle makes it perfectly easy to wait for the same movie to appear on Netflix, cable, etc. It's probably going to look and sound every bit as good as the "HD Digital" download, but for a lot less money.
It's obvious the bean counters calling the shots for these movie studios have very little understanding of just what drives the home theater market. They're giving customers very little reason to collect movies. The product is becoming ever more disposable and as a download or stream it has little if any immediate value. It's no wonder the home video industry is hurting pretty badly right now. Bean counters are chasing after tiny short term gains in the stock market while ignoring the fundamentals of what fortifies the business in the first place.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 06-06-2016 09:19 AM
quote: Lyle Romer
They are (slowly) rolling out their Gigapower fiber service. My neighborhood got it last year and now I have 300 Mbps service. 1 Gbps is also available but I couldn't find any device, program or app that could actually make use of that bandwidth.
AT&T isn't doing anything like that around here. I live a little over 1 mile from their midtown switch. They have some fiber leads going into the neighborhoods, but the rest of the infrastructure (the copper wires running from pole to pole and into homes) is badly outdated. If anything it seems like AT&T just wants to be rid of it. A friend of mine who used to work for AT&T said they have to pay certain taxes or other fees to keep service running in each home. That's on top of the taxes & fees the customer pays. The way it appears to me AT&T is only interested in running new wire, be it copper or fiber optic, into new neighborhoods. The trouble is around here all the biggest, newest homes are on the far east and far west sides of town, too far away from their switching centers.
The former AT&T guy said the company may try selling wireless residential Internet service in neighborhoods like mine, but I think such a scheme would be dead on arrival. So much wireless spectrum is getting gobbled up for cellular service. There isn't enough available for residential Internet that could possibly hold up a candle to cable-based or fiber-based Internet service. The wireless speeds wouldn't be as good and one could expect really stupid data caps, just like most smart phone plans.
Meanwhile the competing cable Internet service has been getting faster. Fidelity's top tier here is 125 megabit service. They're testing 300 megabit service in some markets.
Barring some major technological break through, I see no future for AT&T as a residential Internet service provider in Lawton.
quote: Lyle Romer
As for the topic Mike brought up, as has been mentioned by others, all the streaming services are essentially internet based premium cable networks. At least with DirecTV, you can get all the content from HBO, Showtime, etc. on demand in addition to watching live or recording an airing.
I would imagine that at some point you will be able to get the Netflix Channel on cable or satellite. I'd imagine it will happen when their subscriber growth slows and the burst of new subscriptions will spike the stock price.
I personally have no interest at all of adding a "Netflix channel" to an already way overpriced pay TV bill. AT&T just started selling some stupid offer involving Amazon prime that would actually cost customers more than just getting Prime directly from Amazon.
:angry:
I think cable TV providers are threatening to cut their own throats thanks to way out of control price gouging. My Dish network bill literally doubled between 2010 and 2014, with hardly any new channels being added. My paycheck sure didn't double during that period! DirecTV has been really bad about the price spikes too. Regular cable TV companies have been just as bad. It doesn't make any difference to the customer who is to blame for the price hikes, be it the pay TV companies or the TV networks. The really bad price inflation kicked off a big trend of cord cutting, which has really been embraced in a big way by the Millennial generation. But I know plenty of people in my Gen-X age group and older who have been cutting the cord the same way. The cord cutting is seen as pretty normal now. Even Fidelity didn't try hard selling me on their pay TV service. I only wanted the Internet. Nothing else.
If I didn't care about certain live sports programs I would turn off Dish Network right now. I have absolutely no use whatsoever for the fake news channels that spout different flavors of propaganda and celebrity worship 24/7. There's dozens of channels from MTV to Discovery that have been poisoned and polluted by so called reality TV. Hell, I can't even watch The Weather Channel anymore due to that garbage.
With networks like HBO "de-coupling," offering the streaming equivalent in HBO Now, it will eventually force cable companies to start selling channels al-a-carte. That's what really needs to happen. I could get by just fine with perhaps as little as a dozen channels. HBO, AMC, FX, ESPN, Fox Sports and the local OTA channels would be enough.
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