Netflix on the Net to Offer All-You-Can-Watch Plan

[Geekyfanboy]

Netflix on the Net to Offer All-You-Can-Watch Plan

Source: FoxNews.com

Changes are coming to Netflix.

The company is lifting its limits on how long most subscribers can watch movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections.

The Associated Press has learned the change will become effective tomorrow (Jan. 15), on the eve of Apple's widely anticipated move into the movie rental industry.

Apple hasn't confirmed anything yet, but Chief Executive Steve Jobs is expected to make it official during a presentation Tuesday in San Francisco.

Netflix is gearing up for the increased competition by expanding a feature that streams movies over the Internet instead of making customers wait for their online rental requests to be delivered through the mail.

Until now, Netflix has restricted how long its more than 7 million subscribers could use the streaming service each month, based on how much they pay to rent DVDs.

[Ktrek]

Is the entire Netflix library online for viewing? I wonder what kind of quality their streams are. Most everything I've seen like Joost and Hulu are not that great. I think Studio 6's Divx streams actually give the best picture of what I've seen anyway.

Kevin

[Rico]

No, not everything is watchable via download streams.  But a good chunk is.  I've used Netflix for years and love it.  But, I would much rather wait and get a DVD than sit and watch a movie on my computer. 

P.S.  I think Hulu is pretty good quality actually.  At least when catching up on TV shows via my PC.

[Ktrek]

Well, for me Rico my PC is hooked up to my 40 inch TV and so whether I am on the computer or watching my Blu-ray player it's the same.

Hulu is not too bad but there are noticable skips in the frames. I suppose the software they use cuts out frames to help with streaming bandwidth but it is a little annoying to me. I'll still watch the occasional Simon and Simon on there but it's not as good as FIOS or even Cable for that matter.

Kevin

[Bryancd]

My uncle and brother have FIOS and it is awesome I hear.

[Rico]

Blowing up a compressed image to 40 inches is going to cause some loss in quality.  I've tried that before and it's pretty ugly if you ask me.  Skips are generally traffic hiccups.  Keep in mind no matter what your connection, their "pipe" or feed is only so big.  We are in the very, very early days of this.  But again for me, I prefer to watch movies via at least a DVD.  A quick video or even a 42 minute TV show I can handle via the computer, but that's about it.