Netflix spins off its DVD-by-mail service as Qwikster

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  • Reply 101 of 127
    It is most likely "goodbye Netflix." "hello qwickster." (did I spell that right?). I have a very nice home theater with high def lossless audio. Only Blu-ray can deliver the audio/video quality that I demand. I was thinking about dropping the streaming already but now, it's even more likely.



    In my house quality >>>> quality (and thereby convenience) except on iPod/iPad where the low quality streaming isn't as noticeable.



    The fall TV season is about to start, so time to watch movies will be diminished, anyway.



    Plus, I just got Star Wars on Blu-ray. I will probably never make it through the 40 hours of bonus content as well as 12 hours of movie.
  • Reply 102 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by airnerd View Post


    [/B]If only they could pipe the movies into my house where I can pause them, and do so after only a month old? SIGN ME UP



    Side note, Cinemark and the theaters will not allow that though.



    They already offer on-demand current theatrical releases at numerous hotel chains, so I don't see complaints forthcoming. Especially since theaters make their money within the first several weeks for the majority of movies. There are rare films that continue to play strong for longer, such as Avatar and The Help.
  • Reply 103 of 127
    reganregan Posts: 474member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tjwal View Post


    They can likely do that but how do they compete with options that have no mailing cost such as Redbox, Walmart and such.



    Redbox still has to service and update their boxes. Plus to equal the amount of output that Netflix warehouses do, they'd have to put out and service so many boxes, i am sure it'd cost them just as much in the end.



    Having said that, i do use Redbox in a pinch when i want a new new release. There is a box right across the street from my house, and having been spoiled by the immediacy of streaming, even waiting a few days for a DVD title in the mail is annoying. Lol. True.



    Thats why i dropped the netflix DVD service. Not because its too expensive for the two services together, it's not. $16 is still a bargain in my opinion. I just prefer convenience over waiting. A product of this ADD world we live in today. Lol. Seriously.



    I would gladly pay $16 to $20 a month for unlimited Netlfix streaming if i could get practically any movie, director or actor i wanted instantly. Now THAT would be worth it. Wether the studios let Netflix do that is another story. But i am sure the selection will get better.
  • Reply 104 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tjwal View Post


    They can likely do that but how do they compete with options that have no mailing cost such as Redbox, Walmart and such.



    They compete with Redbox by having much better selection, and by the appeal of "all you can eat" for a fixed price.



    Walmart also doesn't have an unlimited plan that I could find, just individual rentals for $2 each, and they also don't have nearly the selection of NFDVD.



    Say what you want about how DVD mailing is behind the times but I doubt there's anyone offering online video (even individual sales/rentals) that has even a fraction of that selection. And with unlimited plans that gap is even bigger.
  • Reply 105 of 127
    What's up with the senior management meltdown in tech.... Fiorina, Hurd, Apotheker, Ballsille (& pal), Ballmer, Yang, Schmidt, Bartz, the people at Nortel, MMI (although Jha made out well)....



    Ugh.
  • Reply 106 of 127
    This still doesn't address the main problem with Netflix, which is that their selection for online streaming is terrible. There is never anything new, and it's completely random what will pop up and become available months later.



    I want better selection for online streaming.



    I could care less about Quickster or Qwikster or whatever. I occasionally used DVD shipping when I really wanted to see a movie that I missed in the theaters.





    Guess I need to go cancel accounts so they'll get the hint.
  • Reply 107 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hankx32 View Post


    Qwikster? That was the best they could do? The CEO must have put options...



    Ah.... put options. That maybe answers my question!
  • Reply 108 of 127
    reganregan Posts: 474member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Goldenclaw View Post


    This still doesn't address the main problem with Netflix, which is that their selection for online streaming is terrible. There is never anything new, and it's completely random what will pop up and become available months later.



    I want better selection for online streaming.



    I could care less about Quickster or Qwikster or whatever. I occasionally used DVD shipping when I really wanted to see a movie that I missed in the theaters.



    Guess I need to go cancel accounts so they'll get the hint.



    I agree. Their streaming library needs more titles. Wait...not just more...but more titles by good directors! Lol. This will happen. We are in the early stages of the DVD to Streaming transition. It's evolving. I have already made the switch. I just don't like waiting in the mail for the DVDs so i dropped that option. Even tho the streaming library is currently lacking, it works for me right now. I know it will catch up. In the meantime, the redbox across the street or Apple itunes works in a pinch when i need a new new title right away.



    Besides the immediacy, streaming also appeals to me as an environmentalist. Clean baby clean. :-)
  • Reply 109 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post






    Edit: I rip them because 1.) Netflix has nothing but crap on the live streaming side and 2.) I mostly watch movies when traveling in a foreign country, in a hotel or on the plane just to pass the time where there is no DVD. I rarely watch DVDs at home. I am not distributing them. I only watch a movie once and then delete it.



    If you already own the disk, but are having trouble ripping some of them, why not just download the files instead? Do you think that there is any difference, morally, between ripping and downloading disks you already own?
  • Reply 110 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DJT View Post


    A non-tech person, buys a dvd player and notices Netflix installed. They then go to the website to sign up and realized for an additional fee, they can get the dvd's mailed too. Netflix doubles their income say 50% of the time at sign up?



    They are giving this up?



    Makes no sense what so ever.



    I think it means that in future, they expect the DVD business to dry up, but by separating the companies, they can keep the decline from affecting the Netflix brand. Another benefit for them is that they can now independently raise prices for one service and not another. For example, if postal rates go up, it would increase the DVD rental prices, but it would not affect Netflix at all. If you keep both services, you'll end up paying more, but you can't shake you fists at Netflix because they divested their DVD business, allowing them to get away with it.
  • Reply 111 of 127
    pt123pt123 Posts: 696member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by regan View Post


    Those that are pissed off about the changes, are the same people who freaked out when Apple got rid of the floppy drive. Lol. If Netflix doesn't switch gears now, they will go out of business. Plain and simple.



    I think it is the streaming folks that are pissed and freaking out. They are just too use to the internet and streaming being free. They complained when Hulu started to charge. They complained when ISP implemented excessive use policies. Not too much complaining when Netflix increased prices on their DVD plans until it affected streaming.
  • Reply 112 of 127
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    I think Apple might be right when all TV shows to buy were $1.99 each. Now some shows are $3.99 an episode. No thanks.



    For what it is worth, I think Apple ditched the rent model though because of licensing fees. It couldn't get all the studios on board to allow it to rent. Even so, I personally think it was a bad idea to ditch the rent model.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by resnyc View Post


    Apologizing for something without making any amends, or correcting the thing you are apologizing for, is nothing but p.r. spin and reveals myopic hubris.



    And parroting Apple's utterly far-fetched claim that viewers "overwhelmingly prefer" to own TV shows vs. rent them is just insulting to readers' intelligence. Let's see, let me pay $5 for a single half-hour TV show of disposable entertainment instead of renting it for $1 - yeah, that sounds like the savvy American consumer to me... not. Streaming Netflix is popular because it's a bargain, it's simple, and it has just-enough variety of programming. Apple TV charging $5 for movies offers nothing more than cable already does (sometimes for less), so if Apple want to move it out of "hobby" status, they'd better take a good look at the $8/month Netflix model, and they'd better keep an eye over their shoulder on Hulu.



  • Reply 113 of 127
    I take it you have all checked out the twitter account for qwikster, the soon to be friendster...



    http://twitter.com/#!/Qwikster
  • Reply 114 of 127
    First time poster long time reader...



    I subscribed to Netflix when it first came out, because I loathed Blockbuster and their late fees. I enjoyed the simplicity of not having to go to the video store and Netflix was a "why didn't I think of that" moment.



    As time went on, I watched less and less movies. I still liked Netflix. It was nice to have a movie to watch if I wanted to, I streamed during snow storms, but I didn't rifle through them like some people do. Even then, I kept my account. When the pricing changed, I cancelled my subscription...Not because I'm a whiner, but because the service was invisible to me. This change essentially made me think, "well, I guess I don't use it that much, so..."



    Point is, those that say people canceling are "whiners", the truth is some of us are a subset that still think its a good value, if you watch enough DVD's or streaming. Similar to a credit card that sat idly in my wallet deciding to charge a yearly fee. Even if that yearly fee is small or "worth it" to some. Or that browser extension you installed that was nice once in a while, but now it is using more CPU than you'd like. For many, the past and current Netflix is a strong value. For those of us that considered it a "nice thing to have" all these recent moves triggered a reevaluation moment.



    As far as a business move, I'm pretty sure most agree this could have been handled better. I'm not angry or sad. I'm indifferent, but as someone who follows business, this seems messy.
  • Reply 115 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by blatopilot View Post


    First time poster long time reader...



    I subscribed to Netflix when it first came out, because I loathed Blockbuster and their late fees. I enjoyed the simplicity of not having to go to the video store and Netflix was a "why didn't I think of that" moment.



    As time went on, I watched less and less movies. I still liked Netflix. It was nice to have a movie to watch if I wanted to, I streamed during snow storms, but I didn't rifle through them like some people do. Even then, I kept my account. When the pricing changed, I cancelled my subscription...Not because I'm a whiner, but because the service was invisible to me. This change essentially made me think, "well, I guess I don't use it that much, so..."



    Point is, those that say people canceling are "whiners", the truth is some of us are a subset that still think its a good value, if you watch enough DVD's or streaming. Similar to a credit card that sat idly in my wallet deciding to charge a yearly fee. Even if that yearly fee is small or "worth it" to some. Or that browser extension you installed that was nice once in a while, but now it is using more CPU than you'd like. For many, the past and current Netflix is a strong value. For those of us that considered it a "nice thing to have" all these recent moves triggered a reevaluation moment.



    As far as a business move, I'm pretty sure most agree this could have been handled better. I'm not angry or sad. I'm indifferent, but as someone who follows business, this seems messy.





    Well Said.
  • Reply 116 of 127
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    If you already own the disk, but are having trouble ripping some of them, why not just download the files instead? Do you think that there is any difference, morally, between ripping and downloading disks you already own?



    I would buy them if I wanted to keep them and watch them more than once, but I don't. I prefer watching them on my iPad rather than on the DVD player. I know I'm sort of a hypocrite after I scolding Solip for illegal tethering, but it is no loss to Netflix as far as I can tell since I delete them after one viewing and never share the files.
  • Reply 117 of 127
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by regan View Post


    I just use the Streaming service on my ipad and apple tv...so i didnt care about the split. But come on. Even at $16 for both the DVD and the Streaming services combined is a GREAT deal. $8 a month for unlimited streaming? Thats insanely cheap. Content providers are seeing what a big deal streaming is becoming, and charging Netflix MORE when their contracts expire. Some, like Starz plus are withdrawing their content completely! Netflix is just trying to survive and stay competitive.



    And for those complaining about the $8 or so for DVD rentals thats a bargain too. Even in this economy. Cable...now THAT is a rip off. LOL.



    Seriously. If you rent and return 10 Dvds in a month...where else ya gonna get that deal?



    Again...i prefer the streaming service. And when i need a new new release in a pinch i will use the Redbox kiosk in the supermarket across the street...or stream it for $4.99 from Apple's itunes.



    You have to remember, Netflix is just trying to survive. I always knew that unlimited streaming AND DVD rentals for $8 combined couldn't last. How do you expect Netflix to stay in business with that model? Especially when content providers are putting the squeeze on them. I don't care for Hulu. I hate their layout. Right now, Netflix streaming is the best deal in town. My only wish is that they increase their content of older films to stream. Otherwise, until Apple comes along with their own monthly subscription unlimited streaming service, i will defend them.



    Their streaming selection is a piece of shit, selection-wise. I suppose for $8 it's OK for now. The $16 for DVD access (and another $4 for blu-ray) is crap. I had the two at a time plan, and would watch between 2-8 a month at most. I'd watch movies for a few months, work through everything I wanted to see, then not really get anything for awhile.



    For me, Netflix started at around $16 a month. Then they dropped the price to compete with Blockbuster. Then, they started $2.00 a month for blu-ray. That annoyed me. Now it's $4. My 2010 plan was about $18.00 a month with streaming a blu-ray. Now it would be $15.00 for blu-ray (2 at a time) plus $8.00 for streaming. That's 22% price increase during terrible economic times, and with the streaming service sucking. Great move, guys.
  • Reply 118 of 127
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    The really good movies are protected pretty well. Handbrake fails on the copy protected ones. Of course for Windows guys you probably have AnyDVD which always seems to work.



    I've never had handbrake fail on a disc that wasn't damaged, but if you have, just use makemkv. It's free for DVD but costs for BluRay, I think.
  • Reply 119 of 127
    netflix has lost only half its value over the past 8 weeks or so; they must be doing something right.
  • Reply 120 of 127
    I know they believe that streaming is the way to go, but there are some major competitors out there right now, and will be more later bidding up those movie prices. And THEN the isp's and cable companys who sell us their bandwidth every month, are gonna want their pound of flesh as they see their bandwidth costs increasing. Next, passing those costs on to the consumer.



    If they start treating their "Quickster" as the red headed step child, they are gonna kill the goose that laid the golden egg. When was the last time you streamed a movie in "BLU RAY" quality? Its good, but its not blu ray.



    They have a perfect infrastructure in place now for their DVD's. If they start screwin with that, netflix is gonna have a lot more cancelling. This two web site thing is silly. They should be linked. However, the hand writing is on the wall. They want to sell off the DVD division down the road, and go completely streaming. Thats when I move from calling them incompetent management, to STUPID management!
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