NetFlix

XHonusWagnerX - 3-6-2006 at 04:47 PM

Anyone else got NetFlix? Ive ben renting so many movies lately that I think it will be worth it to get NetFlix, for awhile at least. I signed up today and started my movie que list because its been really slow at work. This is what Ive got so far, but I need to adjust the order a little...

The Hills Have Eyes
Frankenstein / Bride of Frankenstein
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Eraserhead
Paradise Lost: Child Murders at Robin Hood
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
Zombie
Helter Skelter: Director's Cut
Scream
Scream 2
Scream 3
Vertigo
The Evil Dead
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
Bad Taste
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Donnie Darko: Director's Cut
The Machinist
The Boston Strangler
Basket Case
Slumber Party Massacre
The Hills Have Eyes 2
Fat Actress: Season 1: Disc 1
Fat Actress: Season 1: Disc 2
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 1
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 2
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 3
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 4
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 5
Carnivale: Season 1: Disc 6
The Fog
Shocker
Carrie
Cujo
The Stand: Disc 1
The Stand: Disc 2
Stephen King's It!
Nightbreed
Walk the Line
Lucio Fulci: The New York Ripper

JUICE MAYNE MSHC - 3-6-2006 at 04:52 PM

I have Netflix. Go buy a DVD burner and download a program called DVD Shrink and you can copy anything you get from Netflix. That's what I do.

JawnDiablo - 3-6-2006 at 04:52 PM

i just got it.
ive been renting a boat load
its cool because i usually warch them right away and mail it back
almost every day i have a new one
but hell
thats what my life has become latley (better than pissing it away on drugs like i did in the day though)
so i have alot of spare time

JawnDiablo - 3-6-2006 at 04:52 PM

haha i got bad taste also

crazyfists28 - 3-6-2006 at 04:54 PM

is anyone gonna see the new version of the hills have eyes when it comes out? just sucks that the only movies being made are remakes on "classics"

JawnDiablo - 3-6-2006 at 04:55 PM

i really didnt like the original all that much, but then again maybe i was in a bad mood. i think i may see it.

crazyfists28 - 3-6-2006 at 05:06 PM

i just know that the original is always included in "best of" type shows like during halloween, i just hate that old movies are the only way we can go to the movies these days, aside from a few stellar movies that is, i know the oscars were last night, but i did love crash, and phillip seymour hoffman is from fairport which is very near to rochester so i give him props for winning last night as well

JawnDiablo - 3-6-2006 at 05:15 PM

crash was a pretty good film, but i was surprised how well it was received. the funny thing about that movie, was that each charachter was evil in their own way, minus the mexican locksmith dude...i have a copy...yeah theres just too many remakes. i argue over the texas chainsaw massacare all the time, i prefer the original for what it was worth.
on a side note, i saw the worst movie ever recently
jason X...that was funny

SAAAAARS - 3-6-2006 at 05:24 PM

my brother does the netflix thing. i usually watch them too, i just don't have to pay. it's awesome. haha

crazyfists28 - 3-6-2006 at 05:24 PM

i couldnt believe that jason x came out at all, especially in this day and age. it seems like a dead franchise and to put such a lame spin on it seemed like commercial suicide but somehow it made money

SAAAAARS - 3-6-2006 at 05:42 PM

jason x was so terrible that i got a little annoyed. especially that silly ending.

BDx13 - 3-6-2006 at 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by juandiablo
ive been renting a boat load
its cool because i usually warch them right away and mail it back
almost every day i have a new one

i read somewhere recently that they move "frequent renters" toward the bottom of the queue for new or popular movies.

Quote:

Originally posted by JUICE MAYNE MSHC
I have Netflix. Go buy a DVD burner and download a program called DVD Shrink and you can copy anything you get from Netflix. That's what I do.

NICE!

Netflix sends frequent renters to the back of line

BDx13 - 3-6-2006 at 05:56 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/10/netflix.penalty.ap/index.ht...

Policy designed to reduce number of films rented for monthly fee

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Manuel Villanueva realizes he has been getting a pretty good deal since he signed up for Netflix Inc.'s online DVD rental service 2-1/2 years ago, but he still feels shortchanged.

That's because the $17.99 monthly fee that he pays to rent up to three DVDs at a time would amount to an even bigger bargain if the company didn't penalize him for returning his movies so quickly.

Netflix typically sends about 13 movies a month to Villanueva's home in Warren, Michigan -- down from the 18 to 22 DVDs he once received before the company's automated system identified him as a heavy renter and began delaying his shipments to protect its profits.

The same Netflix formula also shoves Villanueva to the back of the line for the most-wanted DVDs, so the service can send those popular flicks to new subscribers and infrequent renters.

The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns.

"I wouldn't have a problem with it if they didn't advertise 'unlimited rentals,' " Villanueva said. "The fact is that they go out of their way to make sure you don't go over whatever secret limit they have set up for your account."

Changing the rules

Los Gatos, California-based Netflix didn't publicly acknowledge it differentiates among customers until revising its "terms of use" in January 2005 -- four months after a San Francisco subscriber filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company had deceptively promised one-day delivery of most DVDs.

"In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service," Netflix's revised policy now reads. The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.

Few customers have complained about this "fairness algorithm," according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

"We have unbelievably high customer satisfaction ratings," Hastings said during a recent interview. "Most of our customers feel like Netflix is an incredible value."

The service's rapid growth supports him. Netflix added nearly 1.6 million customers last year, giving it 4.2 million subscribers through December. During the final three months of 2005, just 4 percent of its customers canceled the service, the lowest rate in the company's six-year history.

After collecting consumer opinions about the Web's 40 largest retailers last year, Ann Arbor, Michigan, research firm ForeSeeResults rated Netflix as "the cream of the crop in customer satisfaction."

Once considered a passing fancy, Netflix has changed the way many households rent movies and has spawned several copycats, including a mail service from Blockbuster Inc.

Netflix's most popular rental plan lets subscribers check out up to three DVDs at a time for $17.99 a month. After watching a movie, customers return the DVD in a postage-paid envelope. Netflix then sends out the next available DVD on the customer's online wish list.

Customers catch on

Because everyone pays a flat fee, Netflix makes more money from customers who watch only four or five DVDs a month. Customers who quickly return their movies to get more erode the company's profit margin, because each DVD sent out and returned costs 78 cents in postage alone.

Although Netflix consistently promoted its service as the DVD equivalent of an all-you-can eat smorgasbord, some heavy renters began to suspect they were being treated differently two or three years ago.

To prove the point, one customer even set up a Web site -- www.dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com -- to show that the service listed different wait times for DVDs requested by subscribers living in the same household.

Netflix's throttling techniques also have prompted incensed customers to share their outrage in online forums such as www.hackingnetflix.com.

"Netflix isn't well within its rights to throttle users," complained a customer identified as "annoyed" in a posting on the site. "They say unlimited rentals. They are liars."

Hastings said the company has no specified limit on rentals, but "`unlimited' doesn't mean you should expect to get 10,000 a month."

Netflix says most subscribers check out two to 11 DVDs a month.

Growing risk

Management has acknowledged to analysts that it risks losing money on a relatively small percentage of frequent renters. And that risk has increased since Netflix reduced the price of its most popular subscription plan by $4 a month in 2004 and the U.S. Postal Service recently raised first-class mailing costs by 2 cents.

Netflix's approach has paid off, so far. The company has been profitable in each of the past three years, a trend its management expects to continue in 2006 with projected earnings of at least $29 million on revenue of $960 million. Netflix's stock price has more than tripled since its 2002 initial public offering.

A September 2004 lawsuit cast a spotlight on the throttling issue. The complaint, filed by Frank Chavez on behalf of all Netflix subscribers before Jan. 15, 2005, said the company had developed a sophisticated formula to slow DVD deliveries to frequent renters and ensure quicker shipments of the most popular movies to its infrequent -- and most profitable -- renters to keep them happy.

Netflix denied the allegations, but eventually revised its terms of use to acknowledge its different treatment of frequent renters.

Without acknowledging wrongdoing, the company agreed to provide a one-month rental upgrade and pay Chavez's attorneys $2.5 million. But the settlement sparked protests that prompted the two sides to reconsider. A hearing on a revised settlement proposal is scheduled for Feb. 22 in San Francisco Superior Court.

Netflix subscribers such as Nathaniel Irons didn't believe the company was purposely delaying some DVD shipments until he read the revised terms of use.

Irons, 28, of Seattle, has no plans to cancel his service because he figures he is still getting a good value from the eight movies he typically receives each month.

"My own personal experience has not been bad," he said, "but (the throttling) is certainly annoying when it happens."

defstarsteve - 3-6-2006 at 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JUICE MAYNE MSHC
I have Netflix. Go buy a DVD burner and download a program called DVD Shrink and you can copy anything you get from Netflix. That's what I do.

same here
I buy my blanks on sale usually 50 at a time for 10.00

and we get 6-12 movies a week

can't beat it

and yeah we used to get like 18 movies a week from them but they but us on the list
but still
6 new dvd's a week is fine
that's 24 a month for like $40.00...

DaveMoral - 3-6-2006 at 07:41 PM

I do netflix, I've got over 100 movies in my cue. I go back and prune it once in a while too.

I'm thinking about getting nicheflix when I can get my hands on the xbox dvd sensor and remote... and a disc called region x that allows you to change the region coding on the xbox so you can watch movies from literally anywhere in the world. Nicheflix carries hard to find foriegn and cult flicks. Shaw Brothers kung fu here I come!

JawnDiablo - 3-6-2006 at 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BD

Quote:

Originally posted by juandiablo
ive been renting a boat load
its cool because i usually warch them right away and mail it back
almost every day i have a new one

i read somewhere recently that they move "frequent renters" toward the bottom of the queue for new or popular movies.

yeah thats what my boss told me. after a while they slow it down on the people who have been in for a while...

Quote:

Originally posted by JUICE MAYNE MSHC
I have Netflix. Go buy a DVD burner and download a program called DVD Shrink and you can copy anything you get from Netflix. That's what I do.

NICE!

defstarsteve - 3-6-2006 at 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveMoral
I do netflix, I've got over 100 movies in my cue. I go back and prune it once in a while too.

I'm thinking about getting nicheflix when I can get my hands on the xbox dvd sensor and remote... and a disc called region x that allows you to change the region coding on the xbox so you can watch movies from literally anywhere in the world. Nicheflix carries hard to find foriegn and cult flicks. Shaw Brothers kung fu here I come!

if you use dvd decrypter and dvd shrink you can remove the regional codes completly so it will play in any dvd player without worries

XnMeX - 3-7-2006 at 07:45 AM

I'm lucky, there is a chain of video stores in my area called Movie Scene that has "2 for 99 cent tuesdays" where all old VHS titles are 2 for 99, and any other release (besides their VAST aray of porn) is only 99 cents (even games and new releases).

Why a rental place would do this on a Tuesday of all days (new release day) is beyond me. I would think they would do it on wednesday (when people had rented all the new movies at full price on the day before) but they have it on Tuesday, which works for me.