4 ms·

The letdown of Hulu Plus and the horrendous monstrosity that is Netflix (and its even worse iPad app) are at least movements in the right direction. I find sola

by dcurtis 16y ago

The letdown of Hulu Plus and the horrendous monstrosity that is Netflix (and its even worse iPad app) are at least movements in the right direction. I find solace in the mere idea that one day I might be able to go to a website, select an episode, and watch television content on my computer screen. I don't know why this is so hard. I am willing to pay money for it! I will open my wallet and pay money to watch TV on my computer! Even with ads!

Dobbs 16y ago
> horrendous monstrosity that is Netflix What is wrong with Netflix (besides silverlight)? I used the service for a very long time to satisfy almost all of my TV viewing needs.
- joubert 16y ago
  I love netflix. I usually watch on a big ass TV via PS3 - bluray discs, regular DVD, and streaming.
- staunch 16y ago
  Agreed. I find Netflix "Watch Instantly" to be fantastic. The iPad app is prone to problems, and the content isn't quite there, but it's still unbelievably amazing. For $10/mo I have unlimited viewing of thousands of movies/shows. For anyone that grew up with VHS tapes that's just staggering. I have only two requests: Even more content (I'd pay $20/mo for 5 times more content), and a more solid iPad app.
- cwilson 16y ago
  I was about the ask the same question. My girlfriend and I watch TV shows via Netflix on our Roku almost every evening and the experience is very good. The only problem is everything is a bit dated (with a few exceptions), but it's still entertaining and the back log is big enough to last us for at least a year of casual use. The DVD service I can't really complain about as it does exactly what they say it will do, delivers DVDs to my door within a day for much cheaper then renting at Blockbuster.
Groxx 16y ago
It's so hard because the Media Industry has been resistant to change / technology that would help them for a rather long time. Vinyl/Cassettes/CDs/MP3s/DRM-free MP3s were going to starve musicians. VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray/3D home TVs were going to kill theaters. The Internet was/is going to <insert doomsday prediction here, any will work>. Piraters were/are going to kill all content creation. It's all BS, that's why it's so hard. But maybe I'm just bitter about all this.
woodall 16y ago
I do not know how Hulu Plus is steaming data to the iP(ad)hone, but there has to be some sort of encryption. The reason so many streaming sites use Adobe Flash and/or Microsoft SilverLight is because they offer it. Youtube wrote a blog post about HTML5 and included some insight on this[1]. ----- Content Protection :: YouTube doesn't own the videos that you watch - they're owned by their respective creators, who control how those videos are distributed through YouTube. For YouTube Rentals, video owners require us to use secure streaming technology, such as the Flash Platform's RTMPE protocol, to ensure their videos are not redistributed. Without content protection, we would not be able to offer videos like this. ----- [1] http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html
d2viant 16y ago
As a paying customer, the last thing I should have to sit through is ads. Let's not encourage a continuation of that practice.
- physcab 16y ago
  There are lots of cable customers who are willing to pay extreme amounts of money for content and have no problem with ads...
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
mark_l_watson 16y ago
My wife and I watch a lot of Netflix streaming movies, have been for a long time, and are very happy with the service. I think that the combination of having up to 2 blu-rays at a time, and streaming movies all for $15/month is about the best deal in entertainment. Contrast to our $96/month DirecTV bill: a really nice service, but not nearly as good a deal.

by dcurtis 16y ago

Dobbs 16y ago

> horrendous monstrosity that is Netflix What is wrong with Netflix (besides silverlight)? I used the service for a very long time to satisfy almost all of my TV viewing needs.

joubert 16y ago
I love netflix. I usually watch on a big ass TV via PS3 - bluray discs, regular DVD, and streaming.
staunch 16y ago
Agreed. I find Netflix "Watch Instantly" to be fantastic. The iPad app is prone to problems, and the content isn't quite there, but it's still unbelievably amazing. For $10/mo I have unlimited viewing of thousands of movies/shows. For anyone that grew up with VHS tapes that's just staggering. I have only two requests: Even more content (I'd pay $20/mo for 5 times more content), and a more solid iPad app.
cwilson 16y ago
I was about the ask the same question. My girlfriend and I watch TV shows via Netflix on our Roku almost every evening and the experience is very good. The only problem is everything is a bit dated (with a few exceptions), but it's still entertaining and the back log is big enough to last us for at least a year of casual use. The DVD service I can't really complain about as it does exactly what they say it will do, delivers DVDs to my door within a day for much cheaper then renting at Blockbuster.

Groxx 16y ago

It's so hard because the Media Industry has been resistant to change / technology that would help them for a rather long time. Vinyl/Cassettes/CDs/MP3s/DRM-free MP3s were going to starve musicians. VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray/3D home TVs were going to kill theaters. The Internet was/is going to <insert doomsday prediction here, any will work>. Piraters were/are going to kill all content creation. It's all BS, that's why it's so hard. But maybe I'm just bitter about all this.

woodall 16y ago

I do not know how Hulu Plus is steaming data to the iP(ad)hone, but there has to be some sort of encryption. The reason so many streaming sites use Adobe Flash and/or Microsoft SilverLight is because they offer it. Youtube wrote a blog post about HTML5 and included some insight on this[1]. ----- Content Protection :: YouTube doesn't own the videos that you watch - they're owned by their respective creators, who control how those videos are distributed through YouTube. For YouTube Rentals, video owners require us to use secure streaming technology, such as the Flash Platform's RTMPE protocol, to ensure their videos are not redistributed. Without content protection, we would not be able to offer videos like this. ----- [1] http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html

d2viant 16y ago

As a paying customer, the last thing I should have to sit through is ads. Let's not encourage a continuation of that practice.

physcab 16y ago
There are lots of cable customers who are willing to pay extreme amounts of money for content and have no problem with ads...
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

mark_l_watson 16y ago

My wife and I watch a lot of Netflix streaming movies, have been for a long time, and are very happy with the service. I think that the combination of having up to 2 blu-rays at a time, and streaming movies all for $15/month is about the best deal in entertainment. Contrast to our $96/month DirecTV bill: a really nice service, but not nearly as good a deal.