Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Netflix 'Throttling' Heavy DVD Renters: Gives Preference to Infrequent Renters
AOL News ^ | Feb. 11, 2006 | By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Posted on 02/11/2006 5:52:44 AM PST by yankeedame

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 181-184 next last
To: frankjr

No. From blockbuster you can chose from 3 out at a time, 5, or 8 out at a time. With Netflix, you can choose 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 out at a time. The higher the number of discs out, the more the plan costs.


101 posted on 02/11/2006 7:46:10 PM PST by lowbridge (I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming, like his passengers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: lowbridge

Does BB offer a lot of choices in Widescreen?


102 posted on 02/11/2006 7:47:08 PM PST by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Stoooopendous
There's a bunch of people out there renting 8 at a time and ripping them to their computers and then sending them back within like a day or so. These are the people that are targeted by this.

No. Everybody is targeted by it. I was on the 3 out plan and was getting 22-24 a month. (and I wasnt burning them. I was watching them). I liked the service so much, that I changed my plan to 4 at a time, thinking that I would be getting 26-32 a month. Instead, I watched the number of DVDs I was getting drop to around 16 a month. I wound up paying more money to receive fewer DVDS.

103 posted on 02/11/2006 7:49:18 PM PST by lowbridge (I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming, like his passengers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: marajade
Does BB offer a lot of choices in Widescreen?

Yes. As a matter of fact, at Blockbuster you can find alot of "Special Edition" DVDs that you wont find at Netflix.

104 posted on 02/11/2006 8:04:10 PM PST by lowbridge (I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming, like his passengers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: lowbridge

BB was slow to adopt and at first when DVD was launching the format would only offer full frame which was detrimental to the format. Honestly, just cause of that alone would never really consider spending one penny at BB.


105 posted on 02/11/2006 8:06:57 PM PST by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: SuziQ
Yeah I'm with you. From Eugene our Netflix mail goes to Salem. I guess yours would too though.

My problem with Netflix is that we seem to keep them too long so it doesn't really pencil out anywhere close to it's full potential value. Seeing this thread prompted me to toss our three movies into the mailbox, so they will go out Monday and I'll more than likely have another batch Wednesday. But they have been sitting here for weeks. And last year I gutted the front of the house and had our home theater stuff stored in the garage while I put in new flooring by myself as time permitted, and the Netflix batch we had on hand sat in the garage for like three months, and we probably didn't get more than two dozen movies all year with all the other stuff going on eating up our time.

Now I need to go back to the website and update our movie list. My wife puts stuff on there like Roseanne and ALF reruns (dunno why because that stuff seems to be on all day on channel 53 or whatever it is) so I have to go in behind her and do a little "throttling" of my own to get something I want to watch in the mix. I suppose she doesn't like it opening the mailbox expecting ALF and seeing something like Animatrix in there, but I ask you which is more cool? Besides, the 5.1 surround is there for a reason and that reason is not to make is sound as though Roseanne's voice is coming from all four corners of the room.

106 posted on 02/11/2006 10:03:59 PM PST by Clinging Bitterly (Oregon - a pro-militia and firearms state that looks just like Afghanistan .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers

I'm on it. But they do have an 8 movie plan and even a 2 movie plan. So it's not like there's no choice at netflix.


107 posted on 02/12/2006 3:48:49 AM PST by tai-pan (Mitch Rapp is my hero)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: avenir

with tax or whatever the 5 at a time actually runs me about $32


108 posted on 02/12/2006 3:53:29 AM PST by tai-pan (Mitch Rapp is my hero)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers

thank you! sheesh


109 posted on 02/12/2006 4:22:52 AM PST by tai-pan (Mitch Rapp is my hero)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: jude24
No, they are not.

But the MPAA thanks you for drinking their KoolAide.

110 posted on 02/12/2006 4:47:56 AM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 85 | View Replies]

To: discostu

Assuming this is the case, then "my bad, I apologize."

But please note, I never, ever asserted that Netflix, etc. "SHOULD" violate their agreements with the movie publishers, or any other law.


111 posted on 02/12/2006 6:36:18 AM PST by drlevy88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: discostu

LOL! You still insist that bait and switch tactics are OK if it increases "profitability." Any scandal is OK by those rules, as they all tend to increase profitability, even one that suckers you out of house and home. Keep throwing that flubbering overweight flacid mud-wrestler (i.e., your brain) into the ring with adults and he's gonna talk alot of nonsense in public. Time to recall that ambassador of poppycock back into your skull for another annual consultation, eh?


112 posted on 02/12/2006 7:13:31 AM PST by BagelFace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: drlevy88

I mistated on that.


113 posted on 02/12/2006 7:17:11 AM PST by discostu (a time when families gather together, don't talk, and watch football... good times)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: Chuck54

You're right. Same with me. I have to stick with Blockbuster. Maybe there's a strategy where you put the movies you want at the bottom of your list so you get them faster. Just kidding, I think.


114 posted on 02/12/2006 7:20:17 AM PST by schmootman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: BagelFace

Where's the bait and switch? Simple logic tells you that there is a functional limit to the number of DVDs you can get in a month. All the "unlimited" means is they aren't cutting you off at a certain point, which they aren't, slowing you down isn't cutting you off. The only thing they screwed up on was they didn't put it in the terms of service. When I signed up for NetFlix in 2001 I assumed they would do something like this, it simply made sense to protect their margins.

And as for all your other ad hominems, sad sad sad. Nothing tells people you know the facts don't back you up like resorting to insults.


115 posted on 02/12/2006 7:20:48 AM PST by discostu (a time when families gather together, don't talk, and watch football... good times)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: discostu; drlevy88

And by "on that" I mean the copying thing. The availability has been there since I started.


116 posted on 02/12/2006 7:21:38 AM PST by discostu (a time when families gather together, don't talk, and watch football... good times)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: discostu

in their old ads, they emphasized the fast turn-around (they said something like 'usually a one day turn-around').
by emphsizing the fast turnaround, and then intentionally delaying the turn around, they were providing a lower-level of service than they were advertising.
in New York we would call that a "rip off".
i quit netflix, and i wouldn't deal with them again.
i do that with any company that advertises one thing and provides something else.


117 posted on 02/12/2006 9:50:15 AM PST by drhogan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: LK44-40

i think you made the point very well.
companies can do whatever they want if it is legal. but netflix was clearly violating the deal that they were offering.
any business that operates like that will eventually run into some bad press and law suits.


118 posted on 02/12/2006 9:55:59 AM PST by drhogan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Dave in Eugene of all places
Besides, the 5.1 surround is there for a reason and that reason is not to make is sound as though Roseanne's voice is coming from all four corners of the room.

*snort* I can't stand Roseanne!

We tend to keep them for a while sometimes, then go through a bunch all at once. It's great for those movies about which you're not quite sure, so if it's a real DOG, you can send it right back and get something else, and you haven't wasted $6 for the rental.

Our son rented a movie while he was here during Christmas; the timing wasn't going to work with Netflix. It was Run, Lola, Run. It was quite strange, but very interesting. It's in German with English subtitles.

119 posted on 02/12/2006 11:50:19 AM PST by SuziQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: frankjr

No Netflix has other plans for more money to let you have more than 3 movies at one time. Here they are:
The standard plan is unlimited rentals with 3 movies out at-a-time. Available plans include:


8 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $47.99 a month
7 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $41.99 a month
6 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $35.99 a month
5 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $29.99 a month
4 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $23.99 a month
3 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $17.99 a month
2 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $14.99 a month
2 at-a-time (4 a month) - just $11.99 a month
1 at-a-time (Unlimited) - just $9.99 a month


120 posted on 02/12/2006 11:57:59 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 181-184 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson